There was always a risk of a HF and it was only intensified after the the idea was brought up. Ned probably went pale in a second and reacted instantly. Jesta writes more about it in her post.
Now the genie is out of the bottle and theres no going back.

The fact of the matter is that Ned will not budge 1 millimeter from what he wants to do and he will not do a single thing the community asks of him. Not a single thing.
Probably one of the most rigid, inflexible, stubborn CEOs ive seen in my life.
He admits failure of delivery... but does not change course unless forced to.

If im being honest i couldnt care less about STEEMIT.INC if we werent so dependent on them.
Since we are... every move they make has "life altering" potential.

STEEM is built on trust and when trust is diminished like in this case, the untrustworthy player in the ecosystem that wields a lot of power becomes a liability to everyone.
And should be treated as such.