Wouldn't increasing curation rewards encourage self voting? 

Also, the downvote is under utilized, because of the fear of retribution more than depleting mana, so the logic just isn't there and will only motivate whales to downvote more.

We need more details, because the current explanation doesn't make much sense.

What it looks like is that the big guys will only benefit more and the little guys even less than currently.

Keep in mind that your competition is only increasing and Steemit is losing it's headstart.

The RC's and mana feature is what's limiting interaction, which in turn is limiting growth.