Wow! What a post.
I went through a range of emotions reading this. Very insightful and thought provoking. This part sums up perfectly how I've been feeling in the last few weeks:-

For myself, it's been a crazy love-hate relationship with this platform over the last 16 months, fluctuating between waves of inspiration & elation, and discouragement & disdain. But, here we are.

It's a roller coaster ride from the day you arrive at Steemit and the highs and lows you encounter is what makes it so unique, hopefully the plethora of interesting, generous and talented people posting here will eventually find a concensus as to the best way the platform should evolve.