We're altering a functional blockchain. This is like repairing a starship while at warp. It's tough to do.
You make a good point. I myself understand that there can be issues with updating an active site or blockchain...and although the problems are frustrating, especially losing our ability to vote for an entire day, then losing our VP, the main annoyance was actually Steemit's blog post. Reading that, while we were having issues that weren't really even mentioned as possibilities, really pissed me off. They acted like everything went perfectly, with only a slight minor issue that effected users with low SP. I continue to think that they need to hire a new PR person, because that was horrible. They need to acknowledge when there are problems. And people need to hear from witnesses and Steemit when they're working on things, and what they're doing.