Nothing was taken from @dollarvigilante. It was an estimate of the value that his post was going to produce. It turned out to be a lot less than the original estimate... Nothing that was in his possession was ever taken from him. Now, he might have gotten his hopes up, because of the potential earnings. But that didn't materialize.

Though I do agree with some of your larger points.

Steem has a disturbing problem in its platform that demolishes the claim that all members’ content has an equal chance of rising to the top. If you really want to do well on Steem, you must please its board of directors, known as “Steem Whales.”

This is unfortunately very accurate.