Thanks for writing this and also for posting it here as well as on Motherboard. I wanted to comment there but couldn't.
You've got most things down correctly, but the part about the steemit website being programmed to release Steem power over two years in 104 payments is not correct. The steemit website has nothing to do with this, it's a feature of Steem the blockchain.
Steem Power is a built in smart contract that locks down Steem in return for voting power and inflation protection, and this smart contract can only release the funds back to liquid Steem in equal weekly payments over a two year period.
Steem Dollars is simply another smart contract that is essentially a promise by the blockchain to give the holder back 1 US $ worth of Steem at any time in the future when he requests it, with the slight drawback that this promise of payment of debt will take a week to complete.
Thanks, this is a useful clarification. Although the fault is mine for misunderstanding this detail, I think it does also show that the mechanics of Steem can feel very obscure and hard to comprehend, even for technically minded people who are participating in it. In my opinion, this can be a barrier to uptake.
I'm sure you're not the only one missing some details, it's a complicated beast!
What this site really needs is an exhaustive FAQ section. It would be long as hell but at least there would be answers readily available :)
A comprehensive, simple, steemit youtube guide series would trend big right about now ;)
If you're just using this site like it was Medium or Reddit, you don't really need to understand this stuff. It's easy to sign up without understanding or caring about the economic aspects. All you need to know is that you might get rewarded if you contribute value, and get lucky.
Investors do need to understand all this stuff. But that's part of the due diligence of investing. Thankfully Steem does not ask users to be investors any more than Reddit or Facebook does. But it opens it up so that anybody can invest if they want to. An intellectual barrier to investment is pretty normal, investing wisely always involves paying attention to the details and understand what you are buying into.