Steem was our birthplace, and if things had not happened the way they did, I imagine we would still be called Steem and not Hive. The main reason I feel it is a shitcoin, is it is nothing more than a second layer (maybe even third?) with no actual blockchain running itself and attached to an already deliriously slow network (Ethereum). Maybe 2.0 will be better, idk. There is no perfect method yet and maybe it'll be successful? Who knows? I doubt it though, with offering referral bonuses as that makes it look almost like an affiliate scheme and people don't usually go full board unless they're the top of the ladder with something like that. Or maybe I'm wrong.
There is a stagnant old way of thinking in Hive, I've been trying to open some eyes for a few years now, doesn't mean I'm giving up and moving on to a shiny object that can't compare to the scalability of Hive. And please don't confuse HIVE with Hive - Hive is the blockchain, HIVE is one of the tokens it leverages and produces.