Hey there Kenny thanks for the insightful post on the way forward with HIVE or a better alternative. We anarchists and freedom lovers need a more decentralized platform with more than 20 validators or witnesses running the show. It's way too centralized.
The downvote is an odd concept that has its place but leads to personal censorship by one group over another and affects freedom of speech by manipulating the incentives to post.
I guess any collaboration or meeting place of the masses like HIVE will always have some clashes of interest, despite making it as egalitarian as possible.
You make some good points and with more team work and thought, I'm sure someone will come up with a better system. So let's keep brainstorming.