I have the same questions. Synereo hasn't even begun alpha, so anything "better" as an overall system is purely theoretical at this point.

And for someone who has made thousands and thousands of SD and SP - largely by praising Steemit and benefiting from other people's stories - it seems a bit odd to now throw the platform under the proverbial bus because of some misconception about decentralization and "user safety." Why the sudden change of heart in conjunction with powering down?

Yes, this platform has problems (compensating dana-edwards is apparently not one of them), but it's still in beta and it's an entirely new blockchain concept. Problems are expected and they won't be solved overnight. I don't understand most of the criticisms here. They seem misplaced.