This is exactly what I have intuited from what I've seen on Steemit even though I haven't delved deeply onto the mechanics of the platform. I've been watching for several months but not wanting to invest any time/energy/money into it because it seems like this is the seriously rigged game where the big whales literally profit of the contributions of the little guys voting and writing and posting. Can you explain specifically how this rigging occurs. Is it just by upvoting themselves or are there other tricks to it?

This is a real shame because the idea of a blockchain based social media platform is brilliant and has so much potential. Its said that it has turned into a Feudal society where a handful of people own everything and the masses toil to line the pockets of the lords. That is not something I want to participate in. I hope Larimer does launch a platform an EOS. Hopefully a less complicated one without 3 fucking tokens to make it work as well.