Autovoting is not the problem Rosa. Well it is a problem, but only because of how curves...and auction windows...and "penalties" on voting strength for not crossing the 20 Hive mark on posts etc, work.
That's what needs to be fixed...imo.
For example my 100% vote is worth $1.3(?) - $1.4(?) sometimes even less if there's that penalty and issues 3(?) 4(?) Hive maybe? What if that's what one will get (50% of it) no matter if they front run whales or if they vote after 6 days. That would allow users to read before they vote...and would push more people to manually curate.
I see no reason for "taxes" on votes and stuff anymore. There might be abuse but there are also a lot of tools to fight it. Plus, we are not on Steem where abuse nowadays is something normal.
Nothing is 'the' problem, but we definitely should tweak a few smaller ones anyway, right? :D
But yeah, I honestly never have worried about the 'taxes' on voting, I just vote whenever I see something worthwhile, and am not too worries about the ROI I get. BUT for those that do, maybe something proposed as you describe makes them feel more clam/less inclined to 'chase optimal ROI' - and actually start manually curating instead of automating everything.
Thanks for adding your thoughts (and TIP! Thanks!), I didn't even take the 'taxes' and curves into account while writing this post, that's how much they're off my radar :D