Maybe you are assuming too much about what a successful platform looks like

I'm sure if Steem gets no competition, and continues with its roadmap (whatever that may be) it will be successful. I like looking more at ideal solutions or robust solutions rather than ones which are fragile to certain elements of human nature. Granted every solution will be fragile to some element of human nature, but those that are more robust tend to survive and thrive.

I'm sure Steem that will evolve, but will it evolve too slowly? But I guess that's part of the experiment. The Steem developers do have interesting ideas, but they are kind of slow at implementing them (ie Hivemind, Communities)