if they find those others to be worse for the platform then to either downvote those or upvote these.
I love that point. That, to me, makes this worth it and could be emphasized in future versions of this experiment. If someone is going to go through the trouble of spending voting strength on something like this, why not flag some abuse instead? The main thing, I think, is visibility on abuse. If that was more obvious, maybe more stake holders would choose to downvote. That's why I'm supporting the work that @patrice is doing via @spaminator and @mack-bot because they seem to be actually doing something about the problems beyond just taking rewards for complaining about them, like so many others.
I also really like your point about a daily perspective on the rewards pool for that day and whether or not it's in alignment with our subjective understanding of rewards. The problem is, for many, they view the trending page and think that's the rewards going out that day when it's so much more. It's posts all over the place from all different communities and perspectives including comments and (yes) spam and abuse. The account farming is a big problem, for sure, and we all can treat that more seriously, but, again, most don't really know what's going on because it's well hidden or at least not obvious.
Also a great point that someone could choose to downvote this if they think too much of the rewards pool would be burned. I've chosen (at this point) just to comment and not vote. Even if there may be issues with it, I like new ideas and the conversations they start about what we as a community think about rewards pools and how they are maintained and distributed.
The funny thing is, other cryptocurrency projects have few conflicts over stuff like this. Sure some may complain about this mining farm or that mining pool, but there's a general acceptance that if someone obtains mining equipment, they can do with it whatever they want within the limitations of the protocol to maximize their investment. Things are different here because we all have a different expectation about what the rewards pool is for and how it should be best used. The funny thing is, under the hood, the cryptocurrency itself continues to be secured by the witnesses and function well, regardless of what happens on steemit or with the rewards pool. I plan on doing a post soon about the important distinction between STEEM and Steemit the site.
Thanks again as always for the intelligent and respectful dialogue.