"How do you think the community should improve that in the short term and long term?"
My 2 cents:

• We as a community need to continue to step up and be vigilant on creating, commenting, and curating quality content
• Additionally, we need to provide the Dev's inputs on improvements, fixes, and new features
• Show patience and appreciation to those same Dev's who are working their butts off. Remember, it still says 'beta' in the upper left corner of the screen. They are working to improve Steemit while it is growing rapidly. No easy task!
• Invite others, who would enjoy and contribute to Steemit, into the platform. Giving warm guidance, a helping hand over the current rough spots (beta), and setting the right expectation (beta) as we move towards v1.0
• ...oh, and have fun! This is a social platform. Be authentic, turn up the music, dance, and have fun in the Steem(it)