Some of these are possibly tough questions to answer. If so, I would argue that it is even more reason to try to answer them or explain why that is not possible.
Steemit.inc is a company with shareholders with at least one primary goal of generating profits. The status and purpose of the primary company/community asset (the Steem controlled by Steemit) must be clearly understood by the community.
It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that everyone understands exactly what that steem is for now and in the future. The incentives of Steemit.inc shareholders and the rest of the Steem community and outside investors could very easily go out of alignment. The argument for having all the Steem in the Steemit 'benevolent whale' account was to pay for development of Steemit the Steem blockchain and nurture the Steem economy and community. Seems reasonable....so on the face of it, a community based asset for which Steemit.inc is the custodian? No, that's not right, Steemit.inc's asset that is currently being used to benefit the Steem community because it's in Steemit.inc's interest to make Steem succeed? Ok, well there's a world of difference between those two states and I would like to understand the reality. There is ample room for conflicts of interest between what is good for Steemit.inc's shareholders and what is good for the Steem community in general. Steemit.inc has a vast advantage in every regard as a result of the unparalleled influence it has at the centre of this fledgling Steem economy. It is only rational for anyone with a stake or weighing up the intent to build a stake to understand precisely what the deal is.
I want to believe the best of Steemit.inc, I really do, but important matters have not been discussed publicly for too long. Now that some of the scaling issues have been recognised with updates provided, I'm really hopeful this new willingness to communicate will be extended to other critical issues.
These questions are genuine. If they are difficult, they are still offered with respect. I may be wrong to have concern....I sincerely hope to be.....but I, we can't know that unless you offer answers.
Questions
Is the Steem in the Steemit account a community asset or a Steemit.inc asset? What are your plans for the Steem in the Steemit account? Do you recognise its existence as a possible threat to the future of steem as a result of perceived influence or the potential for conflicts of interest between Steemit.inc shareholders and the Steem community?
What is the total amount of Steem that Steemit controls including latent pre-Steemit-app-mined-steem accounts, (sometimes referred to as steem 'premine')? Are these accounts Steemit.inc assets? What will the Steem in these accounts be used for?
Do you have a communications manager at Steemit.inc? What is your Steem community communications strategy?
What are your current development priorities in order of importance? (Eg. Scalability, account creation bottle-neck, non-linear voting, documentation etc.)
Will the voting reward algorithm be changed to non-linear once more to address the explosion in self-voting reward pool abuse?
Is the SEC's latest ruling on crypto an issue for pre-Steemit-app-mined-steem accounts? Do you consider any Steem related token to be a security?
Do you need any community help at the moment? If yes, what do you need?
Happy Steeming