Well done, @blockurator--informative and well-written. I will check out those sites. It's not my way to stay in a niche. The idea of a closed frontier is unsettling to me. However, I do like Steemit a great deal. In the short time I've been here (everyone's been here a short time), the platform as morphed. At first it seemed that if you couldn't get on the 'trending' page you were irrelevant. Then I discovered different groups, such as SteemSTEM, finishthestory and ASAPERS. It was kind of like moving into a new neighborhood. I had to be around a while to discover which bake shop made the best rolls. But, just as Steemit evolves, so do I, and so looking abroad and finding new outlets for my writing, in addition to Steemit, makes sense.
Thanks for the heads up. As always, your energy impresses me.