I view it as more a matter of having a place, as you put it, than a core. But I also don't think it (or anything else outside of clear abuse) should be strongly discouraged. Everything is an experiment now and crushing something at an early stage could potentially kill what evolves into something valuable and a big draw. If no one likes these posts and they don't get upvotes, then so be it. I could say likewise about differentiation. There are plenty of blogging sites already too. Steemit has to find its own unique positioning.