That's an interesting question. Self policing relies on the goodness and honesty of the population or you end up with FaceBook. I've been told there is actually good content posted on facebook.
I hate the idea or the practice of censorship at any level but my own. I think that the 'front ends' can do some (they do) and I'd like to see an increased filtering system so I can just decline to look at any user.
With that said, we also have to consider downvotes. All of us have to consider downvotes. When you find something that is spam or scam or plagiarism, down vote it. In the end, it's up to us to police our own zone.
Once upon a time my photos- not for years now :)
The frontends need to definitely improve their filtering and search functions.
Yeah, FB is just a faded memory to me...
I think PeakD and Hiveblog are both working at it. Their search functions are so far superior to anything on Steem that it's hard for me to complain after only a few months.
I looked at Hivesearcher today and was impressed enough that I voted for their proposal. They have some real possibility.