Define "manipulating the system". It's really a free market and anyone can do what they want with their Steem power.. And its up to everyone else to decide whether a person's upvote is justified. or should it be countered by a downvote.
The current iteration of user direction inflation model may have it's flaws but it's the best one we can work with.. I have my hopes up for the potential it can go.
Manipulating the system: the original intent of Steemit was to reward quality content, not increasing your own payouts just because you can. It is the content creators who make the platform interesting, not the bots, voting schemes and 1000s of sock puppet accounts.
You see, as it stands, Steemit is promoted as one thing, but in reality is another. This is what leaves a bad taste in people's mouths.
They are in effect, "duped" into participating on the platform, only to realise at some point later that simply creating good content does not win you a fair share of the rewards because others are gaming the system. This is no better than Zuckerberg and FB.
You hit it right @leoplaw!