Hey there, freedomnation.
Yes, Zappl hopefully will be a big deal when it's released. I got high hopes riding on that. And "categories" are on the way (It's on the roadmap and should be coming soon). I totally understand why they left it for after the latest hardfork which was a stroke of brilliance in my book.
Your ideas are fantastic and I'm sure you can see how the future will only help Steemit grow as a platform.
thank you for the great comments, buddy. :)