I think it's not necessarily a bad thing that a blockchain frequently forks. Steemit is at HF18, while Ethereum is on, like, the sixth? (Counting minor forks.)
As for needing to fork, Proof of Stake research has begun since the genesis block (although it's picked up speed recently.) The other major topic, scaling/sharding, is because Ethereum, as-is, will inevitably occur to every blockchain that gets popular. Again, it's been talked about for ages (see the ancient twelve dimensional hypercube-chain, simpler than it sounds, but since abandoned.)
Disclaimer: I'm a major hobbyist who hangs with the devs on one of the main chat rooms (it's open to the public.)
Wow Steemit has HF 18 times? That could be part of why the price has fallen from its high. I believe in Vitalik and Ethereum Community the key is making sure it runs fast and it brings in the safety protocols needed to stop any hacking then I am sure the forking will at some point come to an end and investors will be happy. Then it will be smooth sailing from there. Can I get a link the the main chat room?