The reward pool is static. Meaning all of the rewards are handed out regardless of how many votes and downvotes there are. So, whale downvotes help the smaller posts earn more whether someone changes it or not.

We all have different standards and that is where consensus comes in.

I think how some are approaching it is bad judgement for sure, but it is their bad judgement to make.

Yes, communities and SMTs will be a lot like SE tokens and tribes, only included in blockchain consensus.

No amount of internal messing around with rewards is likely to change anything. Steem will struggle until the market picks back up or we do some marketing.