Good to read your extended thoughts on this development here. I have a lot of trust in the benevolence of the community at large as represented by top witnesses. I see this as a somewhat drastic measure taken, however, after quite a bit of consideration. I can tell this is not done lightly, even though it is "only" a soft fork.
From a more emotional/visceral perspective, it does make me feel more confident as a stakeholder and active participant in the vision I believe Steem to have been founded upon.
There was definitely a lot of behind the scenes work that went into this outcome. I personally learned a lot. In the future, I hope all changes can be discussed completely openly and transparently. Ideally, token holders can decide before code is deployed on what is to be deployed.