Indeed, the transparency and the involvement of the community in the decisions regarding the future of this platform are essential things which stay at the core of Steem, and this proposal debated publicly here by @timcliff is the perfect example that this blockchain is running healthy. His proposal has a completely correct intention, but the side effects, as you pointed out too could be devastating.

Earlier today I decided that I need to get involved more with small minnows and help them grow in order to increase together the value of Steem, as I concluded that they are the foundation which gives a big value to this blockchain. Curation projects as the one you highlighted above are perfect and we all need to interact more, to create here a better social network than any other one. After all, considering censorship resistance and decentralization of this blockchain provide the means to do so!