Great post. Thank you for taking the time to put it together.
Your perspective as a long time user gives your insight great value to this post regarding the steemit phenomena.

I will disagree with the notion which @stellabelle put forward though. The user is under the impression that it is a creator (the fundamental and valued element to the platform) which is true.... for now. However, with the roll out of SMTs in the near future. The truth is that the user will go from, valued as a creator, to existing as an audience, thus the customer.

No different to how YT existed before it was monetized. Everyone uploaded and in doing so was giving the system value. They were crucial to the system's existence and growth. When advertising kicked in though.. that user base then became the customer. That old line "nothing is for free" then became apparent, as it will become apparent here also (already to many). This is why steemit Inc. has detached itself from the steemit platform. It has made clear that this will exist as just another platform using SMTs.

Those SMTs are aimed at big business and advertisers. It will still work to satisfy those who are 'non-professional' posters. However, pay to win (just like in gaming) will be the central model here. This is also not just my opinion. Ned himself has made this clear on a presentation of SMTs to potential buyers of the system.

At the end though, this is my analysis. Anyone wanting to figure out what is true and what is speculation should do their own research. The steemfest live feeds are on YT and give a full insight into what the dev team and Ned are seeking in the future out of the steem project. They are lengthy but well worth the dissect.