It appears to me there are not enough of the original development team left to care about updating the white paper, etc.
The most negative and cynical portrayal is Dan Larimer built steemit as a toy to dabble in social media. He lost interest and moved on to Bitshares and then on to EOS. Ned has been left behind to tend over the slow demise of steemit.
That is the most cynical summary.
There may be other explanations
cheers Dave!