Too many people have gone the Code is law route which I have always seen as problematic...
Sadly they have. I suppose one could rationalize that it could be attributed to the fact that most of the early adopters here were "techies" and they created a little niche centered around what felt natural to them.
But it's problematic. I have seen it said many times here that you need people to build communities, not code, or technology. Some of the techies will argue that Steemit is just a glorified sandbox for people who want to develop apps for the Steem blockchain, but that sounds bogus.
First, why on earth have a White Paper that sells this place as a social content site if that's the intention? Second, Steemit (and the other social front ends) are like the public storefront windows onto the Steem blockchain. Without the relative functionality of the Steemit social site, I have my sincere doubts that there would be nearly as much app development activity. So saying (or implying) that Steemit isn't an essential part of the mix is basically lying... to themselves.
But it's all an evolution. In the early days of the Internet, the nerds were very reluctant to "allow" ordinary everyday people to have access to and de-technify their "toy." We may be seeing a bit of that here, too.
Hope you get some sleep!
I think that in time there will be more collaboration between the developers and
people who have had girlfriendssocial developers and a better marriage between tech and community. The social aspect is Steem and it is the place that the Steem blockchain can flourish. @dhenz actually mentioned in that linked video that the social sphere is so big it would likely require a few blockchains to backbone it. For Steem to be/remain one of them though it requires actual communities of people. The benefit is that actual communities stabilize the platform in ways that people are yet to fully understand including the markets.Snorrrttt!!
That just made my evening a little funnier! I'm definitely here for the long haul... hope to eventually make it to that "middle class" you've talked about, a lot. Not because I am here in search of riches, but because it would allow me to be part of "something" I believe will be big in the future.
=^..^=