Block ... metaphor. Most people don't possess your encyclopedic knowledge of digital history ... I was going for close-enough gist.

Yeah, I get it. But the true believers actually believe Steemit can compete with Facebook. As they bang the bongos they chant their lovesong "Kill Facebook! Kill Facebook!" as if decentralization has a fighting chance. And I agree it does. Like the Soviet brand of communism had a fighting chance against capitalism. Your metaphor was a bit of a hyperbole. Nothing wrong with it as long as we all know.

Absolutely correct. I was a sniper. I believe in aiming. Machine guns make for good movies ... but are notorious for, most often, missing their targets.

Gold. Pure gold.

Steemians are THE primary group of initial users he should be targeting

I don't know that I would go that far. There are a lot of blockchain enthusiasts who have no interest in Steem, or who haven't tried it, for whatever reason. Steemians certainly are a segment of the audience. And a very strong one, I'd admit.

Block ... derivatives (specifically, call and put options) will be like a country acquiring nuclear weapons. The difference between the "Have" and "Have Nots" will be the difference between night and day.

What you're suggesting would involve the CFTC, which most blockchain advocates want to avoid. I think the CFTC is going to end up getting involved anyway. And the SEC, and FINRA. But that's another story. Derivatives would also create a class system similar to the real world. Only a few people would understand the instruments well enough to invest in them. Though, I'll admit, it would reduce volatility. That, in turn, would increase the chance of institutional investment.

I said I didn't care about how many DApps a blockchain has ... because 99% of them will be commercial failures. I DID NOT say that I did not care about a blockchain's ABILITY to create DApps. The former focuses on present reality, the latter on future potential.

It's all numbers. Venture capitalists know that most of their investments are going to fail. Over half. Probably closer to 80%. That's why they don't bet on just one horse. They realize that one winner among 100 wannabe startups will more than pay for all the losses on the ones that don't win. The same can be said for Dapps. They don't all have to be good, but the fact that a blockchain has a large selection of them means that there is facility for creating them. What will be infinitely valuable to any investor is to see that a handful of them are popular, gaining traction, and useful. Steem Monsters is not a Dapp, but it is a successful business built on the blockchain. It's an example of an attraction that could draw investor attention if Steem could fix its other problems, especially the one you and I agree is the elephant in the room.

To that last point, there is a push now to attract businesses to the Steem blockchain. One of the leaders of this movement is the @aggroed, witness and co-founder of Steem Monsters. It's a great idea and I hope it succeeds. Steem has the underpinnings for a great business environment. While everyone else is focusing on Dapps, Steem could be the one blockchain that invites innovative business models. BUT, as long as there remains the bidbot disease, no true business-minded person is going to bet on this environment. It's like walking into a farmer's market with a wagon full of fresh fruit and vegetables only to find that all the other merchant's are trading each other last year's crop and making pennies on the spillover business of the dupes following the crowd, thinking they are getting a bargain because they are buying "the most popular fruits and vegetables" at the market. Who'd want to sell in that environment. Only other farmers who want to get in on the game.

Institutional investors are not venture capitalists. Once a core product has proven successful ... THEN they'll become interested in the future growth potential represented by the ability to spawn a plethora of DApps.

That is true, but they will follow the VC's. A blockchain that has something going for it should be able to attract VC money. But there is an interesting shift taking place in venture capital investment of tech startups. VC's are being very picky. If EOS gets early backers, especially ones known for making good picks--like Goldman Sachs and Kleiner Perkins--then it should take an early lead. The ICO era is dead. The next blockchain breakout will likely turn to traditional money.

Indeed, hundreds of poorly-performing DApps would actually HURT a blockchain's chances with such investors as everyone would be focused upon measuring WHAT IS (actually bad) vs dreaming about WHAT COULD BE (potentially positive).

You have to look at the ecosystem and not focus on just one element. If you browse Google Play, there are thousands of apps not going anywhere. But it's a thriving marketplace with some clear winners. A Dapp marketplace on any blockchain is going to have a lot of Dapps that go nowhere. What you want to look at are the winners. Which ones are most popular, what do they do? Are they useful? Do they serve a purpose? Why do people like them? On Steem, almost everyone of them do the same thing--serve as a frontend interface for the blockchain, and for posting on Steemit. If Steemit had a decent UI, none of them would be necessary. That's not a good marketplace, in my opinion. There needs to be a diversity in Dapps.

So, I advised @dan to think like Napoleon. You've been a military officer. If you were in his shoes, would this not be the primary thrust of your attack?

Napoleon was an imperialist who had his ass handed to him when he underestimated the weather. The primary thrust of my attack would be weapons superiority and rational thinking. I'd approach it more like Von Clausewitz. Instead of applying military tactics and strategy to business, I'd be more apt to apply business tactics and strategy to a battlefield. But to do that, you've got to understand business-minded tactics and strategy. The idea is not to dominate the other players. That's a goofball approach to business. The idea is to make the best product you can make, find the right audience for it, and sell the hell out of it. Persuade your audience that the benefits you offer will be delivered as promised, or better. Napoleon was a lunatic.