Really well written article, really deserves all the upvotes it currently has!
Being a long time member of the Bitcointalk forum, I definitely remember when Steemit was first announced there. You're completely correct that it had a very negative image fir the first couple of years.
I'm happy to say that things have started to change. I'm seeing more steemit-related threads there that are rather positive. Steem still doesn't have the same amount of buzz as some other projects, but together we can hopefully change that!