We share the same sentiments regarding original content, but I do think that a verification/reputation system would prove to be very beneficial to Steem. Sure original content is great no matter if the author is verified as who they say they are or not, but what if the author is claiming to be Roger Ver? People would upvote regardless of the content most likely, simply because they claim to be Roger Ver. Then what happens when the person running the account, after making many worthwhile original content post, tries to setup some sort of business deal with someone on Steem? This is not a great example, just the first to pop into my noggin'.
We could also potentially run into issues with people claiming to be from a certain company, a certain crypto-magazine and on and on and they could be earning money off of the reputations others have built up in the cryptocurrency ecosystem or end up scamming someone once they've established a foothold on Steem. There are many users here that are not used to the kind of shenanigans that go on in the crypto-world. Even long-time crypto-enthusiast are taken by crafty scammers from time to time. I feel this type of system could help alleviate a lot of that from happening and put a lot of people at ease, make communication easier with high-profile account names and increase business for legitimate businesses and professionals.
No one wants to continually have to prove themselves to new people. Doing it once and getting it over with should be enough and then everyone will know this person/company is controlling a certain account and dealing with them should be less burdensome with all of the verification out of the way. They can just do business with a certain level of trust right out of the gate without having to repeatedly prove to a new reader/customer etc, that they are who they say they are.