Maybe the solution to curating so much content appearing on Steemit is to make some Steemers Steemitors. People with high reputations can edit topics and get some sort of reward for doing so?
That way we can reduce the amount of repeat content coming up, and plagiarised content. They can also monitor flagging so that abusive posts are taken down and people don't need to use flagging as a down vote.
That would also give people who are active on the site, and not necessarily whales with lots of money, have more of a say in curating posts.
I guess there would also need to be some sort of appeals process but obviously as the platform gets more popular some sort of governance will need to emerge.
Just a thought...