I'm not sure how much tinkering theymos wants to do with this current software but I still think we should considering adding those reporter badges that come with a few small perks as I certainly think that would help boost reports and clean up spam.
If you really think that would help, then we are really in big trouble. If the members of this forum have to be motivated in this way to do something good, then at this moment it is crystal clear how much they care about this forum.
"I'll clean up the spam if I have a badge, and if not then I don't care", how low someone can go to get one more dot in their profile?
If every active member reported at least 5 posts every day, so let's say at least 100 members do so - 500x30 = 15 000 fewer spam posts per month.