@iamnotback
You are way overthinking it. Perhaps you are trying to fix the Internet and make sure that quality work gets rewarded, all of which is noble, but is almost entirely irrelevant to Steemit.
Steemit is a social media platform, and like all the other social media platforms it is not high art or journalism, but a platform for people to pass their time (consider how much of peoples' time has shifted from watching bad TV to social media), communicate (often without any lasting significance), have fun, show off, and generally do the things that most real people spend most of their time doing in this world. This will never change, regardless of technology or algorithms, because people basically don't change.
It will work fine for that. In doing so it will also introduce a large number of people to cryptocurrency, something they have never seen before in a reasonably usable way (if at all). Now there is a theory that most people have no use for cryptocurrency and if that theory is correct then that aspect of it will fall flat on its face, and probably the coin won't be worth much either (though the platform may still survive). On the other hand, it is possible that a large number of people from a wide swath of society with access to cryptocurrency, something we have never seen before, will find something interesting and perhaps unexpected to do with it. Or at least some subset of them will, a subset that wasn't being reached before. That might be enough.
The main obstacles are not that the incentives or game theory "aren't right" but more mundane things you have identified earlier such as the feature set of the platform (is it fun enough, can people get lost it it and pass the time, etc.), reliability of hosting (currently atrocious, and this is costing a lot in user growth), etc.
You are missing my point I think, which is that a circle-jerk doesn't bring in a new demographic.
Any way, I might see a solution (to bringing in a new demographic), but afaics it isn't voting. Voting will be an insoluble circle-jerk and stay mired in the same demographic mud.
The cryptocurrency folks can't escape their own circle-jerk. They can't see outside their delusion. That is why mom doesn't join.
I appreciate your effort and I upvoted you. It doesn't mean I agree with you. I support meaningful debate and giving different points of view due consideration.
I would have done so earlier but my time on the forum is limited and by the time I come back these threads have moved far enough that I don't see the older posts.
I almost feel guilty now. Because it is better to not fight what can't be changed. But something good came out of that I think.
I am done with writing on Steem, because I can't change it from within. I would only write there again if I felt like kissing ass to try to make some money, but I am sure I already pissed off enough whales that I will be a persona non grata there from now on.