I agree that what you describe as "fuck ups" are common in tech. I don't see them so much as fuck ups, however, as signs of disdain for their customers. That's what bugs me with any of them doing it, and STINC doesn't get a pass when they do it just because they let me make money on here.
I personally am not bothered by the fact that the change management procedure was less than to be desired. That's something I think the witnesses are really on right now, and I suspect this to truly have been a turning point in how the HFs are done. So all good there.
My issue is with what was intended. I don't think they want everyone to go away, but I do think that the reason they decided to fight spam in a way that also handicaps new users or those too poor/unwilling to buy STEEM is that they honestly don't value those people anymore than they value a spammer.
So for us minnows, dolphins, orcas, and whales, there was only a minor inconvenience with the fork. My voting power was trashed, but other than that I could function normally on here. Plankton, however, couldn't do anything at all. It was only public outcry by those of us who could post that got the 10x for the plankton. And honestly, even that is pretty restrictive to anyone who has just started with the default 5SP. They basically get one or two comments per day, if they don't post themselves.
So is it incompetence? Or do they call the fork a success because in terms of what they care about it was? Of course the public outcry was not what they wanted, but they have advanced on their technical goals and the monied people on the platform have gone back to business as usual already. Nevermind none of my international followers who normally comment on all my posts have been seen since Thursday.
If the Steem powers-that-be are content with smaller accounts being choked out, then they're complete psychos, but I'm hopeful that this is not the case and that they'll be allocated a healthy amount of RC through further patches.
In the short term, I'd love to freely delegate (if it's possible) my spare RC to a number of small accounts. As I said in another comment, I'm sitting on way more RC than I'd ever need to use.
It's a grave concern that it took an outcry to accomplish this, and I'll agree that it's not much. I burned my RC out yesterday while testing one of my dust accounts so I can (in a small way) relate to the frustration...
I don’t think their feelings about the small accounts are antagonistic in any way. It’s more that they want to be in the backend business of providing the blockchain for SMTs to be built on, not the frontend business of running a social media site. That’s why the website looks like something from the 20th century. That’s why we will always remain in beta. This whole thing is a testing environment to them. That’s not as an attitude, but as an actual purpose.
So as long as enough of us keep using it for them to get adequate and accurate data, they are achieving their goals. In the meantime, we put up with operating in a test environment in exchange for having something of an advantage over those who come later. The more we buy STEEM, the more we benefit them, so they definitely want to incentivize that behavior. Hence the way to fight spam is really a way to fight poor people’s spam. Spammers with SP are unaffected.
Really it all becomes purely logical once you see what their primary aim is and what the real deal is that we’re being offered.