I agree that the fact that it should not be a faulty system and that the current referral system is not effective or totally serving the utility/function it was designed for. The problem is not really the system, it's more a problem of the people abusers. This makes a simple system worthless. Technology is great in theory and sometimes all it takes is a few people to F it all up for everyone.
Hope it gets fixed, but I'm happy with being included in the first Steemit airdrop. That's one for the books ✌️😎