@lukestokes - Thanks for voicing frustrations, which I believe, reflect thoughts of many Steemians. It is true that Steemit has been very unreliable. I am trying to support couple of communities like Africaunited and thealliance in various roles. My support work involves reading posts and helping other members. It becomes impossible to carry out tasks reliably when the servers are inaccessible. As you have pointed out, there is no notice , a decent failure page or any posts with updates about what is happening
I am a newer member but just like you, I have never powered down and have been always very supportive of Steemit. I hope Steemit grows to become way more larger than Facebook and other social media.
For the sake of loyal Steemians, I hope things improve. At my small level, I will keep doing what I can to help Steemit.

Regards,

@vm2904