It will be bot-proof, but not through automation, but via enabling humans to 'curate' user accounts via the various mechanisms.
All accounts on steemit will be migrated, every last one, as current at the day prior to launch. They will all be reset to default starting values, and then everyone can have at it. Basically, you will just take your username and password from here, and it will unlock your new, clean, baseline level beginner account.
The initial users will even have the power to blot out all the bots and premine whales and trolls right from the first day, by muting them en masse, well, as many as they have the power to make transactions for (I'm thinking to make the initial account start with granting 12 transactions per day). Even if they show up, they will be stuck with one transaction a day, if enough people mute them. Then, if they want to stay, they can work their way up slowly by being good.
I like it :) New game, same player shoots again :)
Yes a limited # of transactions should favor humans over automated behaviour.
Do you think comments should be more recognised as a signal of a "quality" post worthy of a part of the reward pool ?
Yes I guess in the end bots can be programmed to replicate any human behaviour.
I naively thought that you could score a post as human interaction through counting the comments, subcomments and upvoted comments and the number of unique commenters.
Assuming flame wars would not be voted or flagged down.
But I guess once the bot programmers figure that out and they have access to 1000's of bots that could be defeated as well... sigh....