Appreciate the initiative, fyrst.
I've made my stance on the matter very clear via this post: https://steemit.com/statement/@therealwolf/public-witness-statement-therealwolf
TL;DR: I'm against forks of that kind, which are threatening the property of stakeholders. If someone wants to have a blockchain without Steemit Inc., they could create a new one, from scratch, airdrop the tokens to everyone except Steemit Inc and people then could choose which to support. But I won't support it on the main-chain. Now, I also want to see more from Steemit Inc, but putting a gun to their head won't result in any positive outcome. Rather, searching communication and being willing to co-operate is the way to go in my opinion. (If that's not an option, nobody is forced to keep their stake on Steem, everybody can sell if they're dissatisfied.)
New chain with airdrop isn't materially any different from a fork. The only difference is a matter of branding (ie. does the new chain claim to be "Steem", does it try to get exchanges to recognize it as the STEEM ticker etc as the legitimate 'STEEM'), or does it forge its own path getting onto exchanges with a new name and ticker etc.
new chain with airdrop is fine - no problem with those - but to fork this main chain like suggested... Cannot support such a heist.
All forks are "new chains". Every new block is a "new chain". New chain vs fork is splitting hairs, especially when an airdrop results in the same accounts and balances carrying over.
new chain meaning new asset symbol, so people could move on if they wanted to, but Steemit Inc (or other accounts) wouldn't just be kicked out of the main chain.
That's fair. A straight fork can and usually does usually have a new symbol, name, ticker etc if there's a split. Sometimes the original chain (or technically the branch without rule changes) is the one that's forced to change name due to less social consensus, such as in the case of Ethereum Classic.
new asset symbol like @therealwolf said, a new chain_id in the code, different infrastructure, new relationships with exchanges etc has nothing to do with Steem blockchain and it will be similar to various Etherium forks
If it has the accounts and balances copied over from Steem, it absolutely has something to do with Steem, the most important and substantial things.