Yes I think you're pretty right there. The quickest route to being a whale or making significant money is to put steem in. That is what @jerrybanfield did. Dan and the other creators put in sweat equity and let's face it, this is pretty amazing what they've done. Even if not perfect.
But I think the better thing to do is look at it from a different perspective. Sure if you want this to be your job then work hard and you'll earn. But otherwise we can also simple get on here and enjoy ourselves and over time we'll see a little reward.
I would like it to have a little of both. I wish they could add a feature to turn off voting power in regards to it's function, or maybe create a secondary upvote system. Like many I will not allow myself to fall below 80% and this keeps me from commenting on many posts I like because I can't upvote them. If a post is one worth commenting on for the most part, it would deserve an upvote.
Yes it's a difficult balance to find.
You do get rewarded in other ways for commenting with more reputation and that I believe impacts who can downvote you. Ultimately though I think the answer is to treat the vote and reward like a bonus and simply make comments as and where one sees fit.
@practicalthought , I get what you're saying. The platform will need to evolve as time passes. I've always come in midway through new projects and beta testing. The middle is a difficult place, you're visible, have a whale or 2 as a friend, and they get pulled into a new, confidential project. So the whales leave the platform, which dissolves into nothingness, and at the end, you've gotta rush and download all your content; or if you're like me, I save myself the headache because I know I can easily reproduce that content again (and make it fit for a newer platform).
I was on Twitter a few months of its release, the same for YouTube and loads of other, now, dinosaur platforms.
Currently, I'm beta testing near 10 platforms. If you Google MissNikkiAnn, it will speak for itself. Being the first to brand my name is what keeps my $500 a year coming in. Yes, $500 a YEAR. That's it.
I know I'm rambling, but typing this is opening my eyes a bit.
And maybe someone else will find my words helpful, the same way I felt reading this post and seeing @practicalthought's comments.