“They are rewarding mediocre content based on relationships, influence, etc “
I don’t think we can ever do away with this part. I think it’s just how society runs on every level. If you give people free will, this is what always happens.
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True but it can be curtailed to its minimum. The same way we curtailed abuse. A system predominantly based on merit will always bring about innovation and improvement. That's what separates most first world countries from third world countries.
I think we should focus our attention on improving things than policing people around. The downvote pool hasn't necessarily improved the quality of content, it basically stopped people from abusing the reward pool. Like we all have agreed the quality is subjective. What we can only do collectively as a stakeholder is to make sure we reward the best. I want to look at the trending page an aspire to be there, knowing only the best contents get the spotlight. This is the only way people will change their posting habits. The challenge is that this is isn't a centralized system although power is concentrated in the hands of a few and in my opinion, this is the best time to change the steem social culture. Some things just stick and are hard to correct when they are allowed to tarry for too long. I guess that's one of the reasons we have been struggling for too long. People are only willing to do the barest minimum. Maybe it's time to change the narrative. Easier said than done.