Good points Dave!
Steemit inc. makes this website. Their involvement with how steem (the blockchain) evolves is separated.
All in all the self voting thing is not really a problem to be addressed at all. In fact, there are very few glaring things to change, apart from designing a system entirely differently.
I am confident that steem will continue to evolve and prosper. I am certainly interested in anyone doing things differently. See Akasha.
I have just checked https://busy.org
I like it.
I am surprised that it did not get enough attention yet.