Well, I'm new to the site. I actually found it by accident, maybe I just live under a rock or something but to me it's fairly new. I'm an artist so Steemit seemed instantly like a really cool concept to get my art seen by folks who would not normally see it. There doesn't seem to be a large majority of folks on Steemit who are just here for the social platform aspect and often times I see things that do not seem like anyone has put any time or effort into creating the content they are posting. The way I see it is the current system is designed to prevent people from gaming the system for profit and actually supports original content that time and effort was put into. The whales have a vested interest to see the platform succeed...They are in it for the long game. It makes sense in my opinion that their vote be worth more than the average persons vote or you're going to having a bunch of newbies figure out how to create 100 account and have them voting each other into oblivion and diluting the value down for the rest of us who see the long game and enjoy the ride. The higher than reputation score the more value you are injecting into the platform via content, votes, and comments....But if you don't have any sp or are constantly selling it and diluting it then you aren't actually vested in the success of the platform.
I have written for blogs, magazine sites, etc. In those situations you must conform to what the blog or magazine expects will be popular instead of creating content that you love it are passionate about. You are in that instance lucky to get noticed at all and if you do it makes you perhaps pennies a day unless you really hit it it big and then you have to keep your content constantly hitting big or it's pointless. With Steemit your goal is to become part of a community and share content that gets the attention of like minded followers.
Anyway, that's just my opinion. :)