I'd suggest that I'd rather have 12 random strangers judging me, rather than a single small group
Small group? THere are hundreds of orcas, thousands of dolphins here and tens of thousands of minnows. While still far too few, there is some diversity still.
I think that saying that "those who opt in" have a "decent" chance at affecting anything is a huge overstatement, unless you qualify it with "opt in AND purchase a gigantic portion of SteemPower".
I disagree as there have been several people who with very little stake have built themselves a presence that has influence over the system in some way.
That's just social interactions between people, as normal.
That is PoB in my opinion and those who are generally successful socially in IRL, do pretty well here socially too. On steem, no one can get banned or blocked.