There are two ways to answer this: Does someone who owns over 50% of the power in a company should ask the community anything? On the the one hand: no.
But on steemit, as we feel are PART of what's happening here - a thing I never felt on FB + I never thought that Zuckerberg should ask me anything - it seems that it will only further alienate the core users [ basically all the people commenting here with 58+ rep ]. Not necessarily because the changes are bad but because we are not listened...
YET!! This is a pre-release and a chance to voice our concerns. So maybe we will be listened to and taken in considerations...