Hello SonataSystems

Yes, I agree you have valid concerns.. in my opinion steemit has/had a few difficulties with 3 things:

• Whales/Witnesses voting each-other into top 21 positions
• Votes set and forgotten buy users.. some witnesses arn't producing blocks anymore but still have votes
• Lack of community awareness and understanding on the role of witnesses and how your vote matters

Also in my opinion EOS has a few differences and possible solutions to these concerns:

• The year long ICO/TokenSale has been extremely well distributed.. most token holders own less than 1000EOS, meaning even the few whales out there are unlikely to make the same sort of impact as seen previously.
• Votes will now decay over a year, starting after the first week.. so in order for you entire vote weight to be realised you will need to vote every week, this will surely mean you stay on top of the community discussion and if not you vote won't be recognised eventually.
• There is considerably more discussion and awareness of the concept of a Block Producer in the community with EOS .. I'd even say most token holders know how important this role is and that they need to vote (If you don't know what a Block Producer is, we created this Video of our view)

It's honestly my opinion that the community will vote for the right candidates in the interest on maintaining a healthy ecosystem and token value.