My bad, man. I hadn't done it in a while and thought it was Steem Connect. Maybe that's an option they'll introduce soon. It is only the posting key, so if someone from SM misuses it, the worse they can do is post garbage on your blog. That could be damaging though, so I get not wanting to use it. No worries.

I don't think the powers that be in SM are trying to prevent people from using it or create an unfair advantage for certain users. They just had limitations on how many people could use it. As such, many didn't get to. It's fine. We'll see how things shake out once the tournament opens.