Hey @surfermarly.
I think this video is what you're looking for.
Personally, I have a strange feeling much of what was said has been misconstrued and people are jumping to conclusions.
I'm looking at the SP I earned. I can't see why Steemit Inc. would want to make that worthless. So I'm guessing, maybe the most organically popular to the point of trending post could have $2 worth of rewards next to it, but since it received 10000 votes, it sits in the number one slot. That would solve many problems(at least in the reward pool department). These folks could then spend $1000 for their 5 votes and stay at the bottom and from there they can stop misleading other members into thinking they are popular and good at what they do.
People seem worried about abuse but imagine if someone made 10000 accounts just so they could trend every post while their post only has $10 beside it. They could just sit there and look foolish. It would be incredibly easy to figure out if someone is using a trail of sock puppet accounts. We wouldn't have to sit around arguing about whether or not that member is exploiting the system because it would be painfully obvious. And their rewards would be much easier to flag away. They'd be left with one option. Organic growth.
I'm not saying this is how it's going to be. I'm saying that's how it could be. A wild guess. A shot in the dark. We wouldn't have to be guessing if these communications were clear.
Clear communications would relieve a huge pain point for the community. I should have to watch a 2 hour talk that is half in Korean for a 30 second quote about Steemit Inc's vision. Agreed
I think there are a lot of solutions on the board for blockchain identity that may help with the multiple sock puppet account. It will be really interesting to hear how they solve for that. It will need to be addressed or it won't make sense.
Moving from one experiment to the next just means leaving old problems behind and creating new ones. The issues many face now could be easily solved by placing posts like yours(don't take it personally) into the promoted tab when the use of these bots is detected. Then make the self vote something that can't contribute towards trending status. Those tiny changes would help push all of the organically popular content to the top. Something so simple yet seemingly unimaginable to so many. The common sense approach. Your post here today would be marked as an advertisement/paid programming. The high value self voted content would lose it's automatic advantage over everyone else, and from there everyone is given an even playing field. From the wealthiest to the poorest, it would be the content coming first, not the bank account or the false image presented when one purchases their fame.
That would be indeed an excellent solution.