upped :D interesting post

I agree, Steemit needs something analogous to [worker proposals in BitShares](http://docs.bitshares.eu/bitshares/user/worker.html), however I disagree with your assertion about hard forks. There is no reason for hard forks to be a big deal, and a big part of the reason that they are perceived as such is because employees of Blockstream have spent the last 3 years spreading FUD about how they are so dangerous they must never be attempted. 
This supported by the censorship regime over at /r/Bitcoin, which has turned that subreddit into an echo-chamber through a variety of mechanisms including hiding vote tallies on comments, rearranging comments putting the ones they want at the top regardless of whether users downvote them, shadow banning (or outright banning) people who attempt to engage in intelligent debate, and armies of trolls and shills, and more.
Hard forks don't even have to be a big deal for PoW coins - which are much less agile than DPoS when it comes to performing network upgrades. Monero is living proof of that - it has 2 hardforks per year currently, regardless of whether there are new features that necessitate a HF (however, so far, due to the fact that it is being actively developed, there always have been).

thanks for this post... I enjoy reading the comment section. it answers lot of question on me, followed you and upvoted

@deserttree thank you for posting about this because the Steemit team has been thinking the same thing and is even planning to break the main Steemit account up because it is a big target with holding so much power!  @dan left Steemit Inc as far as I know and still makes posts here which I think means he is now mostly leading EOS and his company.

A lot of crypto is still questionable to me, but I really like the concept of steem. I also, have tried to find an updated whitepaper along with information behind the changes. I don't think everything has been clear. It would be nice if there was an update on the steem platform itself on the changes.

It could just be a steem post, with reposts with some whales to get the information out there to us. I haven't seen anything informative regarding the steem platform. I think a steem post about the fork updates would be useful if released by @ned or @dan on their channels. 

I would upvote that for sure.:o

To add to what neoxian has pointed out, Steemit.com is not decentralized; Steem is. There are other frontends like busy.org, chainbb, eSteem which use the Steem blockchain.

Steemit.com is run by Steemit Inc, the founding developers of Steem.

Aww - you posed some great questions

>  Although, witnesses are crucial part of the network, I don't believe it is within their functions to do the decision for the future changes on the platform. Correct me if I am wrong.

You're wrong.  The top 20 witnesses do decide which code to run, and they are stake voted on by the rest of the users in the system.

It is good that you are getting your ideas out there.

I'm convinced the future of the platform depends on the community.

Ok so i loved your post and I am still trying to wrap my head around the whole idea of cryptocurrency but i love the idea of decentralized network and things of that nature, so if steemit is not decetralized wouldnt that mean the whole blockchain isnt neither??

Upvoted, cos I have learned something new. Wonder how many Steemians really know how to use their power by voting. For the future we will probably need to build a better reward system, SP not to be the only inspiration and motivation for users, also self and bot voting should be re-considered. Reputation should also be included as a part of someone's influence not just SP.

So to make Steemit mainstream and better platform I suggest this:

1. Educate Steemians about voting, witnesses  and system itself - better communication.
2. Improving rewarding system, so that it will be more fair to creators of good quality content
3. Reduce the power  of SP. Reputation and quality should be more rewarded than is today regarding to SP.
4. Plagiarism fight. Code should automatically when possible prevent someone from doing copy paste.
5. Campaign in mainstream media. We must tell the World about Steemit and it's advantages over social networks like FB, YT...
6. Format some kind of policies with witnesses having own blogs where they can in detail explain what solutions will they support if it comes to the next HF. If i  vote for someone I want to know what that person stands for. 

I believe that there will be less complaining when people will better understand the system and use their voting power more. Not going to elections is the worst you can do for your self but also good for politicians who want to maintain their seats.

Commenting, upvoting and hopefully resteeming for decentralization research. There us a true decentralized internet being worked on. It is only a matter of time and understanding.