One of the issues when it comes down to quality is that this platform highly rewards multiple daily posts (quantity) over one really solid weekly post (quality) with a result that most of the posts are made for the primary reason to get post earnings above anything else.
It is hard for new members to make it on this platform, but only when they come with the wrong intentions (most cases). Anyone who starts here to make a blog they would otherwise also make on another platform and aims for the long run should be able to pull it off by putting time and effort into it.
To me the problems is not that the whales control the platform, but that the platform itself highly encourages sellout behavior. Curation is really broken at the moment since it does not earn any SBD. Selling upvotes is far more profitable and less time consuming compared to actually curating which leaves this platform with very few 'free upvotes' that are actually worth something.
I got inspired by your background banner to create my own in a similar style by the way. I hope you don't mind.
Good Luck!