"but we need some enforcement mechanism to remove scams and illicit material"
Yes, we would need the ability to actually remove posts, not just hide them.
"but we would need some sort of automated "proof-of-brain" and protection against people controlling hoards of sock-puppets)"
That could be accomplished by limiting the number of votes any member can make within a given time period, and perhaps even start charging steem to menbers who go over a certain limit. It would also be a good idea to limit memberships to only 1 per person. This can be easily accomplished in a number of ways, such as through the tracking of IP addresses, Google 2FA Authentication, and so on.
"but we need some enforcement mechanism to remove scams and illicit material"
Who would make such a decision? And how would you mitigate the damage potential of a "rogue mod"?
I heard an interview with a fa.cebuk flag-checker recently, they were paid a fractional wage and worked from the Philippines. They said that they were so overworked and borderline traumatized from viewing all the horrendous flagged content, and under pressure to review 1000 flags a day, that they ended up just clicking "denied" repeatedly on all their cases.
Yeah, but that New Zealand shooter, "subscribe to pootiepie" video took them several days to clear out... AND they're literally rollin' in cash-money-dollars.
Yo.utube BY ITSELF is raking in more profit than either VIACOM or COMCAST.
What are your "clearly defined violations"?
4 minute story about fa.cebook moderators
You're going to need to be slightly more specific.
Are you familiar with the difficulty of defining pr0n?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus
The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus (Italian: Nascita di Venere [ˈnaʃʃita di ˈvɛːnere]) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably made in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown (called Venus Anadyomene and often depicted in art). The painting is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
Although the two are not a pair, the painting is inevitably discussed with Botticelli's other very large mythological painting, the Primavera, also in the Uffizi.
Ah, not all functioning cultures are frightened by the mere sight of a human body.
I'm pretty certain molestation is a crime, quite distinct from "p0rn".
And I'm also pretty certain molestation is not a new crime.
I've even... Let me find a citation for you,
Here we go, now, don't blame me for this, I'm only interested in the science,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault
This is a non-trivial problem.
Many users have access to hundreds of machines with unique ips and have the scripting resources to automate nearly undetectable sock-puppets.
The one thing they can't fake is steem. So, under the current system, they can't amplify their vote with multiple accounts (well, except for the free steem delegation and (25) rep that each new account automatically gets, which is sort of a problem of its own).
Some people have access to hundreds of computers with unique ips and unique hard-drive serial numbers.
Yes, you can reduce the number of accounts operating from one computer (hypothetically anyway), but that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm pretty sure they're not using their massive army of zombie machines EXCLUSIVELY for steem farming. They could probably do any number of things simultaneously while maintaining reasonable efficiency.
Marky is exactly like TRUMP, you can't get rid of him and he's not accountable to anyone.
And even if you did get rid of him, it would just move the next guy up a spot and they'd do the exact same things.