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When in really comes down to it the functionality I need is VERY sparse.

I need to be able to Stream blocks.
I need to be able to post to the blockchain.

That's about it.
Input/Output

In the future I expect I'll be able to acquire all the functionality I need without even having to use Steemit's garbage API.

You know, I was wondering about that.

I thought they were going to make the switch to dsteem,
so perhaps I'm wasting my time.

dSteem was developed by a former contractor, and they forked it, which is now updated less than their main steem-js. nordeberg has been updating his original though. He's also the one who started the whole "fork Steemit out of their stake" pull request, and fiasco. So I don't think Steemit cares or wants to keep going with dSteem ;)