Reading this reminded me of 9rules[1], which used to be pretty popular some 8-10 years back but eventually withered away. As with most communities, scaling svbtle without comprising on the quality is going to be the greatest challenge.
This is why I'm really interested to see where things are headed (co-founder of 9rules here). It is easy to get great people together when the reason for joining is set behind an idea that everyone can share. In this case it was to bring great content back to the web. However, once money starts to enter the equation it changes the mindset of things a bit. Instead of writing because you are passionate to share your thoughts, you begin to start thinking about what you can write about that will get you the most views/money.
I hope this doesn't happen to svbtle because some good content is coming from it, but as you said it is a difficult balance that will need to be achieved moving forward.
[1]: http://9rules.com