It's surprising to hear the assertion that this "started out as a crypto-enthusiast blogging platform."

When I first heard of it, in a YouTube interview with Dan and Ned, they stressed that this was in many ways a publishing venture, on which people with a wide variety of interests could post interesting and informative text, photos, vids.

If it were limited to crypto-enthusiasts, it would not have grown as much as it has. Even though I've been following the crypto world for 5 years and have held bitcoin for almost that long, there's no way that I would have joined Steemit if it were simply a crypto-blog. And I'm sure the same is true for thousands of other current Steemians who are not necessarily crypto-enthusiasts, but still have plenty to offer to the platform and to their fellow Steemians.

We don't understand all things crypto, and our interests are not limited to such.

As I've said before re Steemit, it's a great place where we can let a hundred flowers (followers!) blossom, and a thousand schools of thought contend.

One more observation. I believe that most witnesses and whales are granted certain powers to essentially determine what and who is rewarded and supported. For a platform that is supposed to be meritocratic, that seems to be granting excessive power to those few individuals.

They may have earned that power, but that does not mean that that power will never be abused.