I think you are right that steemit would not do as good of a job with communications being integrated and that discord is far better. Personally I only use discord.

My point is that it should not have gotten this way. This communication should really be inclusive. If they cannot do that good of a job with it then hire people that can make it better. If they cannot hire people that can then it was not monetized well enough.

There are many ways they could monetize their platform and still keep it free.

Look at minnowbooster for example.. They are growing so fast here that they may soon engulf this place. They are certainly attempting a monopoly on the voting bot and sp delegation scenario. That growth is due to them monetizing there motive, thus being able to pay help.