Steemit Inc. seems to have a long road ahead of them in regaining the trust of many STEEM users. The fact that they are long overdue on fulfilling their promises of SMTs and Communities has not sit well, even with MIRA, Hivemind and other under-the-hood changes that are meant to make STEEM scalable and easier to create for.

Users can't see those changes, and they've yet to help with onboarding or STEEM prices.

Laying off 70% or so of its work force late last year, a hard fork, the first in well over a year, which didn't go very well to start and which has caused, thanks to RCs, many of the newer and smaller account users to struggle to gain any traction, has not helped Steemit Inc.'s cause. A lack of listening to the community, let alone working with them, has made Steemit Inc. feel insular and aloof.

The systematic selling of STEEM makes people feel nervous to upset. Some blame Steemit Inc., for the low STEEM prices, or at least include them in the list of reasons why the value has been so low below a $1 USD, never mind its highs.

Some are unhappy with the massive ninja mined stake Steemit Inc. controls, and with the way they've delegated it (or not). Some are upset that the SP the company wields could be used for undue influence with Witnesses (through voting), or any of a number of other things, even though Steemit has refrained from doing so, at least through their main accounts.

Yet others would wish they would do more, like changing the code to prevent this or that, or to cause something else.

In short, Steemit Inc. seems darned if it does, and darned if it doesn't because of the myriad of differing opinions throughout the whole of STEEM.

And yet, some progress has been made of late. Changes have occurred and continue to do so. A restructuring of management within Steemit Inc. has brought about quite a bit of cost saving measures, revenue through advertising, and more communication between Steemit Inc. and the Witnesses, along with the community at large.

A new hard fork, which will include a worker proposal system that was chiefly authored by the blocktrades group, and a contentious economic improvement plan that was championed of late by members of the community (albeit higher SP accounts) is now upon us.

SMTs have a tentative roadmap. Communities apparently could happen at any time, in pieces or in whole chunks. When they do arrive, Steemit Inc. will have at last made good on those promises. Of course, these new products will have to deliver results, or some will call it too little too late.

Regardless, Steemit Inc. are the ones, or their predecessors, who brought STEEM into existence. They have been the ones keeping STEEM going, and for a couple years, at great expense. They have been shifting the costs over the last several months to a more community based system and reducing the costs to run Witness servers and nodes.

So, what say you about Steemit Inc.? Do they deserve any credit at all for anything good on STEEM, or are they beyond ever being trusted again? Maybe somewhere in between?

Please check the answer you feel best expresses how you feel about Steemit Inc.

Image source—Pixabay

---

I like Steemit Inc. for the most part. Sure, they've had their issues, and no one should forget them, but lately they've been doing much better, and that should count for something. (50.0%) 5 / 10 I don't really trust Steemit, Inc. They might not be all bad, but they've got a long way to go to gain my trust. (20.0%) 2 / 10 I'm more or less neutral when it comes to Steemit Inc. They've done some good, and they've done some bad. (10.0%) 1 / 10 I'll never like Steemit Inc. They have too much power and too much control and showed their true colors through ignoring the community for so long. (10.0%) 1 / 10 Other (please specify) (10.0%) 1 / 10