The more user-friendly you make something, the more the waters are diluted. I don't think turning Steemit into another Facebook is really what the place needs. We already have too many grasping beggars and people posting memes for quick upvotes - I see this as the place where you can post more meaningful things than what you had for dinner.
The easier it is, the more people there are, the less meaningful content we have, and the more Steem/SBD/SP goes off to memes, and less to people that try to engage their followers.
Markdown and HTML is really only difficult if you don't know it, and it's easy to learn, but I use MarkdownPad for all my editing. It's free and easy to use.
I agree with some of what you have to say. Coming to Steemit to post a quick meme and try and make a buck isn’t what I want to see either. However, in this day and age Steemit needs to adapt to the world around its and embrace change as it comes.
People don’t want to sit in front of their computer and spend a large chunk of time writing out a post and making sure they are coding it right to make sure they aren’t missing out on an upvote for an off centered image.
Introduce more ease of use for people to come and once they are here, let the community do the rest.