Yes, I spoke to smooth. He feels that for steem to rise, obviously the community needs to grow, and if minnows and dolphins have votes that actually carry weight, it stands to reason that it would be more appealing for people to be here, producing and engaging. He's more than willing to sacrifice rewards in the short term towards this aim, and he feels those that are opposed to this are being short sighted.
Of course I understand why everyone (including me) was upset the first day or two having absolutely no idea what was going on, only that their posts were suddenly being downvoted by whales. But by now most people have been clued in I would imagine. As soon as I understood it I made a post that we needed to stop complaining and start making this experiment work for us, use our newfound voting strength to vote on the content we like and make a difference. And I have certainly seen a difference--I just added eight cents to this post :)
steemit is one big experiment in and of itself, why shouldn't people experiment within it to see what works best?
Thank you Tim for being a voice of reason and encouragement!