We have lost some good content. Curating has become very difficult and time consuming for a different reason. Before, it was because there was so much good-to-decent content that it was hard to pick when you had limited upvotes. Now it's tough to find much good quality, period.
In one sense, the experiment worked. Minnows and dolphins saw their voting power increase, which was good for the community. But by doing it as dictators rather than having a community discussion with announcements that would at least strive to interact and bring everyone on board, people were hurt and the community as a whole suffered badly, losing some great writers.
The 7 day payout only added to the perception of low payouts as the pool fills. It may have been wise to start with a full basin rather than set it on this course. I'm sure others have left as a result.
I'm looking forward to it shaking out. It will. But I'm not producing much content right now either. I had a decent payout just before the HF. My most recent one was better quality content, but got 1.5 peanuts. Nah. It's not worth the time invested to provide quality writing.