As a total neofite, I state the obvious fact that the crash was related to the bitcoin fork. I would very appreciate @netuoso 's comments on this. Your posts and comments are a main source in my cryptos and blockchain learning process.
Steemd still shows the node maintenance error message. Any comments on this, as well?
The crash (of the main STEEM RPC node) was likely related to a segmentation fault in a plugin the Steemd software uses.
I have no idea about the www.steemd.com website nor their warning message, unfortunately.
Btw, thank you for your kind donation. I will keep track of your name and give some kind of return of support.