I hope everyone reads this objectively before commenting and checks their ego in at the door.
I'm not perfect, am still a crypto novice, not an economics major nor am I business savvy and am still learning basic HTML, but I do have some valid opinions and questions I'd like answered. I don't expect anyone to agree with me, but compromise can't be found if no one is willing to listen.
I've seen Steem in its many stages of growth having signed up in 2016. I didn't start using the platform until 2018, because it wasn't user friendly in it's early stages. You think Ninja Mining was too difficult for the average user? I couldn't even easily upload an avatar when I first signed up. I don't blame Stinc for that, because it was early beta and crypto was way more niche than it is today. Regardless of this I can call myself a pioneer.
Whenever a new guy is introduced to a tight-knit community, there's at least one person who becomes jealous of the attention they are getting. I get it, they were used to constant praise with their whale status. Many wanted to get their attention for a generous upvote, delegation or simply an attempt to be recognized by the popular(rich) ones to help them flourish in the Steemisphere. Please come down out of the clouds, because this is bigger than you.
This is bigger than the old guard and certainly much bigger than Justin and Tron.
In the beginning when Blockchain Technology was first introduced to me it was sold as a Central Authority killer that was going to be the catalyst to bring the power back to the people. This of course hasn't happen, nor will it in the near future. Steemit though was the platform we could use as a testnet, in theory at least. A virtual place where we could test out alternative forms of income generation and different governmental systems. Possibly even to prove that Anarchy could work.
These claims are what brought me to Steem and in January of 2018 I decided it was time to figure out the rules of this new territory, akin to the Wild West and prove just that, that Anarchy and true freedom were possible. It wasn't long until that dream was dashed. Over a period of three month's I dove in, blogging for the first time, teaching myself Markdown, HTML, crypto and learning about the governance of this new experiment.
What I learned was that Steem is modelled after the structure of the United State's Government. The witness structure is a mirror of America's Representative Republic, where you vote for the lesser evil to decide your path forward. The economy, while not quite based on debt was all about building monetary wealth, which increased one's power over another. This closely mirrors America's Corporatocracy and creates the same type of Oligarchy.
I realized this early on in my exploration of Steem, but rationalized it away like the majority of others, because there were no viable alternatives at the time. It wasn't long until I was forced by my ideals to see the spade for what it was...a spade and left. My exit post can be seen here. I came back a year later to give Steem another chance, harboring the possibility that I was being too tough in my judgement, but quickly realized that Steem's Governance went against the very fiber of my being.
Fast forward to a few days before Justin Sun announced he had purchased Stinc. I heard that Communities were on the brink of release, which would change the structure of the Steemisphere. With SMT'S on the horizon, this would further the possibility of actually becoming a decentralized platform, but alas!
Then Justin Sun arrived and the Old Guard(witnesses)took it upon themselves to further Centralize the platform or simply showed Steem's true colors by locking up a single entities assets, holding them as ransom to blackmail Justin into talks?
Was it just to bring him to the table or were there specific demands they had for how he used his own stake?
The former can be justified, at least subjectively, but the latter cannot. To me it looked like the latter, even though I recognized the damage Justin could do if he followed through with his initial Roadmap. For this reason, my life's quest for true freedom and vision for a truly free market, I could not support the softfork.
Then Justin used his powerful connections to show once and for all that Steem is fully Centralized and cannot be Decentralized under the status quo. This to me at the time was ten times worse than the softfork, but after stepping back, discussing the pro's and con's in multiple Discord servers, especially my conversations with 
Whether one person is denied their inalienable rights or a whole community, the negative action is the same.
First they came for him, but you were complacent, because it wasn't you. Then they came for them(plural), but you were complacent because it wasn't you. But then they came for you and now you think everyone else should care!?~Unknown
This was a popular quote in meme's spread across the web when the Mainstream Social Platforms started to censor specific ideologies.
While I disagree with both sides, one side has a fuzzy vision, but at least it's a forward vision and the other is against that vision, but is offering no vision for moving forward. I do not support Justin's vision nor do I support the lack of vision shown by the Old Guard. I need to see concrete answers for moving Steem forward. Not Justin's vision to feed his greed that will harm Steem and certainly not the Old Guards stance of simply stopping and trying to blackmail him to giving up his property.
I need to see the the two sides listening to the community and campaigning for the leadership positions by offering solutions. Solutions that'll move Steemit towards becoming a decentralized entity. This means that the current governance model needs to be addressed, so a single entity can never again take over the Blockchain and so a few can never again lock up another user's property.
While I don't agree with all of or even any of your wants 
We need to step back as a community, get all the facts objectively and vote based on our ideals, rather that in the heat of our emotions.
Some of the questions I'd like answered,
What changes will be made to avoid future coups?
How will we fund development without Stinc's funds?
How will we prevent another user's property from being frozen by the few in the future?
What's the most fair powerdown period for the user's and economy alike?
Should weighted stake voting continue for governance?
How do we decentralize Steem?
There are more, but this is a good start.
Let's vote for something, rather than against someone and Steem-On.