Perhaps the phrase 'hard fork' is too negatively perceived currently in the Bitcoin space (especially in the /r/bitcoin sub), a hard fork sounds like BTC-U proposes to meddle in Bitcoin's currently established mining consensus mechanism, where as in fact it operates entirely outwith the traditional Bitcoin ecosystem in a secure and inexpensive manner.

How about a different/additional visualization for explaining the snapshot/sharedrop?

The Bitshares starship drops out of hyperspace in planet Bitcoin's orbit, the crust is collapsing into itself as the various militarized mining corporations have bored the planet hollow to the detriment of their species. We stretch our transporter to maximum capacity and make a backup of every Bitcoin inhabitant on our starship just as the planet is destroyed. The Bitcoin species will live on, riding the Bitshares starship off into the cosmos!