I do realize pool hopping prop. pools and taking advantage of gullible newbies is the most profitable option, but that's not a 'pool model'
that's just taking money from those with limited information on how mining works.
Well it could be. I think it will take a 110% payout PPS pool which hops other pools in order to make people realize the stupidity of proportional based pools.
+1
Actually what I'd prefer to see is a pool which gave out 0% PPS + half of anything extra the pool operator is able to make with that hashing power, be it merged mining, alternative blockchains, taking advantage of weaknesses in existing reward systems. Provided the server was reliable and I could withdraw all of my income at any point I'd definiely send it hashing power! They would be providing a useful service to miners and accelerating the evolution of mining. Of course, the business model of such a pool would be based purely on irrationality of miners and pools but I doubt this is going anywhere anytime soon. Unfortunately, the meager profit is not worth the work of setting up such a pool so it's unlikely to happen.
Sometimes I do things for non-economic reasons. I thought the rise of pool hopping mining clients would be sufficient to drive people out of "unfair" payout methods. Maybe a hop-pool could do it. I like your thinking of 50% cut of the "bonus". Since determining all the bonus amounts could be challenging (no way to know hop "bonus" other than after the fact and that is subject to variance) then maybe pay 100% PPS and at end of the month issue a "bonus" payment based on the pool's revenue - PPS payout. It would be less risk to the pool operator and worst case scenario it is a 0% PPS which isn't bad.