DAO funding gets 10% of the inflation budget. The reward pool gets 65%. Fundamentally with this structure the DAO can never be a full substitute for directing funds where stakeholders think they should be directed to add the most value.
IMO a better solution is to improve the front page and not just show highest payouts, which aren't necessarily cosmetic or interesting.
I intend to make more proposals to the DAO once there is enough unused funding there to not have a million little proposals. We've already used up most of what is available right now.
But does a 400$ post have a real impact on that?
That's not really the question. In directing the reward funds, the question is whether that $400 adds more value this way or more value going to some other post payouts.
It's fundamentally not limited to $400 either, that depends on voting, number of posts, etc.