In this current hyper political climate spurred on by elections, terrorism and unethical behavior in public discourse by big social media platforms and supposed institutes of higher learning, the market seems ripe for avenues of commenting. When you attempt to silence people, more often than not, they will cry all the louder. Now the question is, where can they stand?
There have been many series of movements away from sites like twitter and reddit (facebook has been unattractive for years to many individuals). Such was the situation that lead to sites like voat and sealion.club. And yet the often lacked something crucial whether strong servers to handle the load or simple methods of joining, which often left them unappealing for anything than a last resort until further improvements have been made. Though honestly, they often felt like healthy alternative foods you were put on by a doctor that lazily tried to imitate your favorite brands. "How about a nice box of healthy-o's?" People tend to gravitate to shiny user interface (UI), it's just nature. So to give an anciet UI that may work on one site due to nostalgia and it's immediate recognizability with that site is just not practical.
All in all, Steemit seems to have it's own unique style and system that doesn't try to be "imitation milk" so to speak. Influence and the wallet system are still very new to me so I can't speak to those but I have heard good things so far. I feel like this could become a site I open as naturally steam.
Well here's to the future.