Decred dev funding and governance mechanism are brilliant features, and the airdrop bootstrapped a community of enthusiastic supporters, and staking via tickets system keeps a lot of coins locked up earning income for holders. The whole decred design is very well thought out, that's why guys who messed up the airdrop are still upset.
Blockchain governance's "brilliance" is not yet proven in my opinion. Give an angry, and motivated minority enough reasons, and they will fork, and the chain will split.