Spot on. It's viewing the large amount of crap on the trending page that will be a major obstacle to attracting new members. Minnows also get disheartened/jealous when huge amounts are made on these type of posts, while their efforts go unnoticed.
Not everybody has what it takes to provide consistently quality content, so many minnows will not succeed. BUT I have read some of the most amazing articles here and they made 1c. :/
Sadly not all the articles that I think deserve a decent chunk of pie for their effort get rewarded justly.
I may actually attempt to run as a witness in the future in an attempt to fix this sort of stuff from happening.
We can change the way the system runs by actively shaping it. I am a firm believer in that.