Really like the "curation by sharing" (I think the term resteeming is ridiculous, and try to avoid saying it) idea -- it makes a lot of sense.
I also agree with what you suggest about the way content is organized on Steemit / Busy / Steempeak -- and have thought for a while that organizing by value or by number of votes is broken, considering how easily votes are bought and sold...
I've been working on my own Steem app (fitness content), and currently, all the posts are ordered chronologically. I've been considering for some time now to add an option so that it could be sorted as "Under-appreciated Activities" -- effectively, "various runs/bike rides that are impressive (long distances, etc...) that have a low payout value". After it hits a certain threshhold, it would more-or-less be removed from that list, and could only be found chronologically, or by browsing that users account.
Regardless, it's true that things could be improved. Big believer in keeping things as simple as possible.
I've always been incredibly confused about alternate front-ends. They copy the way Steemit.com does things way too much. Thankfully, things are starting to change, even if very slowly.