Ah, so you’re the same Jesta that does greymass - cheers! Sqrl is an awesome wallet; thanks for laying the foundations! 👍
Based on what you said, I think I misread the situation slightly. The impression I got was that Steemit.Inc’s coins were to be confiscated, not frozen. There is a case that separating anyone from their funds by force unwillingly, even if temporarily, is theft regardless of what you call it, because it would be depriving someone of the time they save using those funds to make their lives more efficient during that time. I would even go as far as to say that your comparison of “theft” and “governance” in that context is quite apt. 😄
There are times when ‘centralised governance’ must be wielded however, whether by hardfork or config file and one can only hope the methods are appropriate to the situation, otherwise a less than harmonious result can occur. Personally, I don’t think the situation called for that type of action, and thus Ned was justified in his appraisal, but he should also have considered that the actual risk of that eventuating was very low, and not inflamed the situation with a massive knee-jerk reaction. Still, as others have pointed out, communication doesn’t seem to be his strong suit..
Re: Telos, I would highly recommend you check it out closely, as I reckon you’ll be pleased with the foresight and planning of that chain. The more I interact with the community there, the more impressed I am with their unified vision and commitment. We haven’t faced some of the challenges Steem has yet, but I think the launch group has given the platform the best possible chance of making it the premium EOSIO chain for DApp development. 👍