I have thought about it from that standpoint as well. I asked myself. How much would it take for people to "Whale UP?" The number is too great for sure to make their vote worth anything. I have been here for over 3 months cranking out content and my vote is worth $0.01. I can only earn about 5 Steem Power each week from curation. So let's say I don't have the money to Whale UP the question is would others?
The answer seems to be just like what you are saying. The investment is too big for the return at this point. And it is too big of a risk. The investment could just erode away as the biggest accounts continue to power down.

You are so right about the correct course of action being to interview people who have been on this platform to really figure out how to address some of the issues.

To be fair some of the feedback has been taken into consideration for sure. Hopefully somehow some way we can save Steem / Steemit.