I think you would gain instant access to all information from Dan himself if you opened a steemit thread and it would be really intresting.
I am considering doing this once I am done re-reading the white paper and make sure I understand the specifics of how this could or could not be gamed. Because I also have access to 1000 of people I could Sybil attack this with, so I am looking at my options now, because CoinHoarder pissed me off.
I am beginning to think that Dan has rigged this such that it is impossible for the minions to ever gain enough rep power to game the system. He has I think retained the control in his own hands. A permissioned block chain. That is what I would expect from him.
If that is the case, then I another bit of my respect for smooth will die because of his involvement in this scheme. But I need to confirm first the details...I understand making a profit but given how moralistic he has been about coins and knowing he is smart enough to have studied the details, then he should have been pointing out these matters long ago but apparently didn't because he was vested.
There is no question that insiders have absolute control now. They have said so, and it is obvious from the transparent holdings on the blockchain.
What the future holds, nobody really knows. Where you and I differ is that I don't believe I have the ability to predict the outcome of extremely complex systems with many people involved. That said, most new businesses fail, most cryptocurrencies fail, so objectively speaking the odds for Steem are not good. I'm willing to let it play out though, and see where it goes. Nothing else I've seen here has made even a remotely credible effort to reach a mainstream audience. Steem has at least done that, even if flawed, and even if it fails.