Well, there's nothing stopping Steem from becoming like the subreddit for crypto. It would definitely do a much better job at it. Just cause the Steemit team isn't focusing on the front-end doesn't mean they wouldn't hope for someone else to come in and create something of the likes, they'd probably support it with a delegation as well, who knows.
I guess their plans are much bigger for now. Also Reddit isn't the main platform where the CEO's and team leaders of crypto projects use, that's Medium nowadays which is probably a lot more alike to Steem. Why Medium is doing so much better is beyond me considering they're just a middleman on centralized servers that could sell out or shut down any day.
RE: Steem stigma from outsiders