I didn't quite get the technical part of this post so i am going to give my suggestion as a lay man:
What do you think about an algorithm which calculates the 'voting influence' of any person, on the basis of his Reputation Score, SP, Followers and the number of upvotes on all of his previous posts. All these metrics could be weighted as per their importance.
Reasons for this suggestion:
- The sum total of all the above mentioned metrics (weighted), IMO, gives a true picture of the value contribution of any person. (His worth on the platform)
- What a person may be lacking in one of these metrics, could be balanced out with another metric.
Say, a good content creator doesn't have a lot of SP, but since his content is good and he gets a lot of upvotes and followers and reputation score, he should have a say in what other content is good enough. A great content creator can also be a great content curator. - When this happens, newer, diverse and valuable content will be more appreciated as their fate won't be in the hands of just the whales. Even if that means $10-$50 per post, it will be motivation enough for everybody to write daily, which will bring in more diverse content.
These are just suggestions that I thought as I was writing this. Anyways, I am here for the long run and I am sure that the whole team will do the right thing. They are some of the smartest people I have seen. :)