I agree with the underlying criticism that you have and understand that it stems from your desire to improve the platform, which is admirable. After all, steemit is inextricably tied to steem, and if the perception of steemit as a platform is poor, then that may correspondingly reflect in a diminished market value for steem.

I've only been on this platform for a few weeks and it's quite apparent to me that quality content is not regularly seeing the light of day. I'm not sure why that is but it is something that will need to be addressed in the final version once this beta pilot expires.

Whale accounts are cool and all but ultimately if a newcomer's content isn't afforded an opportunity to gain visibility due to consistently trending whale posts, the platform will essentially highlight only a select few viewpoints/interests. I do hope that it gets better with time and constructive feedback for improvements should be encouraged by all.