Eric, to be honest I think "quality content" is a bit of a unicorn and even though I was among the OGs who clamored for quality content I have gradually come to the perspective that it's less about quality than about whether something adds value to the community. And "value" is very subjective, depending on who you are, and who you ask.
Part of why I say this actually predates Hive by a good three decades, and goes back to my University days and creative writing courses — one in particular — where the instructor pointed out that when you go to a bookstore, less than ONE PERCENT of what's on the shelves is what you might consider "literature quality" writing, while 99% is pretty much illiterate pop-pulp.
Look at the top names on YouTube, IG, twitter/X, Tiktok and other places and quality is hardly the term that comes to mind. Value also is a more niche-based idea than quality. Photos of cute kittens have value to cat lovers. But unless you happen to be a professional pet photographer quality is dubious.
VALUE, however, is important and matters. I'm not trying to split hairs with semantics here, though. However, let's look around at many of our dApps, quite of few of which are now built around short form/quick content that will never have quality... as you well know, being part of the front marketing wave of LeoFinance's "Threads"* initiative.
But when it comes to attracting new users, the content people find... SPECIFICALLY what a first time visitor who has never been logged in sees... IS super important; a bit like the storefront windows of a shop. And I will say that has improved a lot in the 6 1/2 years I've been part of this gig!
Value comes in many forms. Sometimes (this from my own personal content consumption patterns) the value comes in having favorite authors who produce "reasonably good and interesting content" with consistency and regularity... I know I can find my favorite authors, and I return to read them... and even worry about them, if they miss a couple of weeks. That regularity is another aspect of value.
You've really nailed it here, imho, with your value vs. quality argument.
The issue then becomes: what is valuable to me might be complete garbage to you. That is why we need some level-headed downvote reform. It is far too easy for a whale to massively DV the 'garbage' that I find valuable, which negatively impacts both me and the content creator.
See my comments here for some suggestions on how to potentially reform the system.