But I wonder if the rewards are too conspicuous on many front ends for the reason you mentioned.
Yes, I think so. I was going to put it here, but I think it deserves a separate post. I think it would be interesting to even put the payout behind an extra click and use some other measure for "approval rating"
Speaking of the quality of my content, there are millions of extremely prolific content creators of Quora, for instance, who put out quality answers all the time. I'm in a Facebook group for Finnish hobby photographers and many of them publish stuff as good as the best on Photography Lovers here.
Yes, and some might even earn on it but, they don't earn publicly. It creates a different dynamic in a culture that says "don't talk about earnings"
Quora pays only a few of those who ask questions and no one who only answers them.
I think the culture of conspicuous earnings should be reconsidered if this place is to become more novice friendly. Never underestimate the power of envy.
I think this is a topic that is often avoided here. "You're just jealous" is likely one of the big issues between accounts as people compare rewards and perhaps content for current posts, but not the history and consistency.