I do see your point, and this issue has always been there. Whales and large dolphins could always self-fund a good enough living where they do not need to interact. The hard fork has just pushed that ability down the ladder.

We could definately see less interaction, and sadly, there is some evidence that we are seeing less viewership as well. That could certainly be due to people who are just self-funding and no longer curating others..

It certainly will be interesting to see how this plays out over time..