@anonymint - You make many valid points. Indeed you may be reading the situation perfectly.

Steem is offering its imperfect onboarding paradigm and so far it is generating enthusiasm.

I agree with.

..too much cognitive load on the whales to be the deciders for millions of blog posts in a diverse ecosystem of preferences.

I agree with.

I agree with #1 and #2 in terms of your analysis of the vulnerabilities....

However I do think the analysis is incomplete without an acknowledgement of how the Curation Rewards play a factor (if the whales are acting rationally).

I also can't say I've seen the vulnerabilities in #2 manifest in terms of pacts amongst whales just yet. Of course it is possible. It certainly would be in tune with what happens in the rest of crypto.

However it would be so transparent and foolhardy, that I struggle to believe anyone can be that short-sighted, especially given the inroads Steemit is making into the social media space in such a short space of time.

I'm now convinced a blockchain based social media platform will take off. Steemit has first mover advantage. It doesn't need to be perfect (and isn't) it just needs to top Facebook etc., in terms of censorship and rewards to contributors, they can muddle their way through the rest. Steem could easily x10 x100 it's marketcap in short order if it reaches a critical mass of users. To blow that because whales are stuck in a crypto mindset? After only a month after the soft beta release? I guess stranger things have happened...