Sadly, I think one of the "weaknesses" of decentralization is that getting anything done (changes) moves at a snail's pace... everybody is very busy down inside their own little worlds; many of the original witnesses are more interested in developing and working on their own apps for the Steem blockchain than working on the Steemit social front end.
In most cases, there is no "they" here, there's only WE. Asher's initiative is just an example of "we" coming together to attempt to effectuate change.