That's a really interesting idea! So users with red reputations would have a harder time tapping into the rewards pool, correct?
Perhaps the color scale could also be reflected in terms of which applications / upvote services a user could even have access to... which could help filter out abuse and spammy transactions.
Yup, to discourage those with bad behavior to tap in the reward pool. With the recent pool rapping issue happening repeatedly, it is saddening but an expected one. That could be a way that Steemit could adopt and implement.
Whereas for bot service, the authority is still up to the service provider to set the rules right?
Yep! The bot services would have to decide how to interpret this. But perhaps (since the colors are 9 in all) the lower 3 colors would be blacklisted from using upvote bot services... or something along those lines.
Yup, that would help the whole ecosystem to grow better. Reward flowing to the right place :)