Good points. IMHO while quality is somewhat subjective, I do think its somewhat measurable.

There are posts on here that I don't personally like, but I consider them quality as you can tell when thought goes into a post, you can tell when someone took time to make a post, and then you can tell the shit that's just been slapped up here. It's not a matter of do I like the post or the subject matter, but is this ia halfass post or something someone put some effort into.

As far as having skin in the game, totally agree with you that people with big money on here are invested in the platform but I guess the bigger question is are they giving something to the platform, are they adding to it or are they just taking from it?

I see some people criticize some of the big youtubers as comming on here, taking rewards but not interacting with the community, not upvoting other people and not telling their Youtube audience or social media following about Steemit. Basically peoplle are saying they take take take and don't give much back. I think to some extent the same thing could be said about some whales, not all but some