Errrm... it's simple, is it not? There is a war going on for the hearts and minds of the people. Reddit is heavily gamed and censored. /u/spez showed that the admins are not beyond tinkering with the database itself, either for the lulz, for ideological reasons, or at the behest of "TPTB". While I disagree with everything that happened or is happening in /r/fatpeoplehate or /r/the_donald, I disagree even more with shutting down these subs.
Reddit's canary has died.
The blockchain cannot be censored. True, you may receive downflags and a bad reputation for misbehaviour, but what you say will be immutable. I would prefer a world in which that is not necessary. But we're not there yet. That is why Steemit running on a blockchain has more of my trust than reddit, or any other comparable platform.
Other evidence that running a social networking platform on a decentralised blockchain is simply a good invention includes imdb, who closed and scrapped their forums without forewarning (I, at least, got none) and destroyed some of my best ramblings, among them an exegesis of "Awake"; and MySpace, which became unusable and essentially destroyed years of blood, sweat and tears.
(Sorry if that is what has been said in the images, I have to browse Steemit without images because my internet is slower than a turtle on valerian).
Steem/Steemit is an experiment, and I'm looking forward what it is going to prove.
But it's true, the UI (still) sucks.
RE: Does Steemit Need a Blockchain to be Successful? An Interesting Take on the State of Steemit