Everyone loses if quality content doesn’t rise to the top. This means that whale bots will develop a minimum quality threshold.
This is a real important point, and I think it is what is holding steemit back. I have seen multiple posters with "quality" content come and make a few posts that were good, but got no attention. Checking on some of the accounts now, most have not been back. Quality content is the most important thing period.
Quality content is extremely important. But there's a difference between what is "quality" according to site developers and administrators (content that helps SEO) and "quality" according to real humans that consume creative original works (content that is useful/informative/artistic). Dan talks about the former while non-whales and non-bot creators are interested in the latter.
By the way - if I have to spend hours on end every day again this week just trying to get my posts seen by a handful of people, I may not return next week. Rewards aren't as important as knowing that the content is actually being read and appreciated. I can spend half as much time and simply freelance some work in local newspapers or magazines - and actually know that people will at least see it and I can make a few bucks in the process.