Because of the technology behind it, the entire idea was decentralizing and freedom. The blockchain itself has very few if any rules. Preventing account creation isn't really a good thing either. Essentially each one is a wallet. And they require a loan or deposit to open an account. It's not bad for the price of Steem.
I think what needs to happen is at the interface level. There will always be people who build their own interfaces but for those who are doing so and community oriented- perhaps having a roundtable for them to share ideas, technology, blacklists, etc.— since most of the issues have to be handled at the interface level.
On interfaces willing to cooperate such as steemit, steepio, busy, esteem, faucet, etc. perhaps adding a similar username filter so usernames have to be significantly different when coming from the same IP or when registering in a similar time frame.
It may also be worth it to make multi-accounts created by existing users marked safe and be allowed delegation if they meet a certain criteria upon creation— recent positing activity, steem sincerity rank (human), rep 50+, no chetah flags, etc.
Steemit Inc remove its own corporate delegations when a rep hits -1
Or, simply stop Steemit Inc delegating to all new accounts. Require money. Hey, Medium does it.
Peer Review. Instead of a company reviewing the accounts, have a second role below WITNESS called Ambassadors who have the power to vote on new account approvals. And the people vote for Ambassadors like we vote for Witnesses.
Separate the downvote from the flag so that flagging abuse doesn't cost the community and make it universal on all platforms. Make an official downvote/thumbsdown button. And make the flag a reporting feature.
A report this post button on @steemplus @adsactly plugin would help immediately— if folks from steemcleaners, cheetah, etc. all wanted to get involved. Steemplus could make a seperate button almost immediately alerting various groups to spam.
Incentivize real content further.
Incentivize reporting spam (after separating it from the downvote)
I don't really know. :( I just wish I could introduce more people to the platform but it's frustrating. And it's an expectation jerk honestly.
great ideas here..Ambassadors - ending automatic SP delegation -both good ideas that would help to quicken the registration of legit users while preventing spammers from draining the system ...
Thinking outside the box here. Throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks really. I don't think ending all SP delegation is a good idea. I just think ending Steemit.com (and interfaces) from delegating SP is a good idea. As far as Ambassadors, I think how Utopian works is a good model also if they couldn't add a second role to the system.
Really great ideas @omitaylor. I most especially like and second your suggestions on peer review, separating downvote and flag, and the 'Report This Post' button. Will not say much but will tag @ned @steemitblog and two of the witnesses @timcliff @themarkymark hoping they'd notice.
Thank you so much for the contribution!
Thanks for your acknowledgment. I think my spunk gets under their skin sometimes (or they don't notice me lol)
Maybe your are on to something, steem has been going down, maybe someone on the inside is trying to artificially prop up the price.