Heellooo @hobo.media, and nice to Steem you! :-) Thanks for your article, that could sparkle a cascade of comments! I'll begin with your introductory mention that "Steem is indeed the only blockchain actually functioning as an economy within itself and rewarding work outside of the coder community".
As far as I know (and I'm not omniscient, hehe) there are at least other 15 blockchain-based processes having built a cryptoeconomy which allows its actors to be rewarded for their content creation, or even just on the basis of their social interactions and the added value they provide, thus not only opening the rewards outside of the coders community, but also outside of the bankerized users (I myself have no bank account).
Among those projects we may find other blockchain-related "social networks" (Sapien, Akasha, Sola,...) - there's more or less one project of this kind launching each month -; and projects that integrate the Universal Basic Income (UBI) regime, rewarding any users activity on their streaming platforms (like Musicoin, Bit.Tube, Vialy,...).
I'd say that one of the conditions for a sane and enriching debate to unfold here on Steemit is avoiding being (too) STEEMcentric ;-)
I think we need the glue that can connect us to those before they do it the other way!
Agreed @richatvns! Developing cross- or inter-chains processes :-)
Hey ijatz, thanks for the post! I'm aware of those other projects, but I really don't value them. Not meant as any insult to anyone, I use to be active on Sola, its still kind of cool, and I signed up with Bit.Tube and might like it. But honestly, I think they will all fail. I even think Minds.com will fail and they actually do some cool stuff I wish Steemit did.
Not to argue with anyone, they can like whatever they want. I'm not a maximalist coin type of person, I do believe that 50+ coins will live on and be adopted, but I doubt they will have similar roles. I expect the copycat coins and tokens to either die or exist in a lame way, sort of like MySpace, where it is technically there, but no one cares and its rather valueless.
Don't get me wrong, I'm actually working on a social dApp myself, its going to be called Steether and its a merged social coin between Steem and Ethereum for Web3. But I don't believe anything competing with Steem will win in the end, but dApps that work with and support Steem will likely be adopted and do well.
I'm not saying forks and new ideas can't succeed and co-exist with the earlier ones, but they have to provide something truly valuable that the earlier one does not. For example, a lot of people think they're going to get rich off of ADA, and while I love Charles Hoskinson and realize ADA has not pumped yet so it could, long term, I don't see the value add. Where is it? What does it actually plan to do that Ethereum doesn't plan to do? All it promises are different from Ethereum but not incredibly important ideas, and the main claim is that it will be developed with better quality, which I find very debatable. Ethereum has the legacy, it has the reputation and it has big name brand clients chomping at the bit to use it. Nah, Ethereum already won.
Likewise, Steem already cornered the crypto social media market. Its what the dApps want to build on, it has the SEO prowess, when I type something in crypto there is a very good chance that a Steemit page comes up. Right now, even huge blockchains like BCH, which is a major player want to carve out Steem's spot for themselves because they see the value in what Steem is doing. The problem is, its not a win-win situation on sites like Honest.Cash, you spend money and hope to gain from it. Steem allows people to not ever lose their money, the unique inflation as compensation model cannot be replicated by BCH, BTC or anything else. They could use a token, but it still wouldn't actually be their real coin, and it would not be something to build upon like Steem is.
Steem is a toolbox for developers and businesses, these other sites are just single sites with limited functionality. Nah, Steem already won...