Hey, I am new to steem and definitely noticed this. I think a possible fix is that it really needs to incorporate a downvote button. I don't think this will get fixed without one (and it would also need to cost the account steem). As someone who used reddit a lot, and thinking of all the people who post just for karma (which isn't worth anything) these spam posts will exist as long as there is money to be made and no downside.
Perhaps there could be a system where the amounts of steem you make is held for a week, based on your net rating (up and downvotes). That way lazy spam would cost any steem you potentially made that week on upvotes because users would downvote more. This would also make the curating side of things more useful.
I think this is necessary, because again being new here, I notice a few great posts swimming in a sea of lazy spam, and it would be hard to convince people to sign up here when their first visit gives that impression.
There is a flag button. Personally I have never used it. It can bring flagging revenge. I do not recommend using it. I think education is a better answer. Steemit is not easy at first. I hope you picked up some tips from my post. Good luck to you here. Thank you for visiting and commenting!