I agree. I stopped using whaleshares with this HF. In order to make a profit, you have to tip less than you earn. How do they expect that to work out for everybody in the long run given that the primary way of earning is tips? Yes, you also earn based on your stake but unless you stake a lot, it isn't going to make much difference. With no curation rewards, what's your motivation to tip? It's going to take some pretty strong motivation for people to give up their limited daily reward or to keep adding money in order to tip and I just don't see it happening.
The effect of this change would seem to be drastically limiting the number of people who are rewarded. This creates a pretty limited market for that crypto, further driving down the price.
Steem has its problems too but its still the best social media based crypto by far and and getting better, at least in my opinion.