This is something that I am putting together in my morning post. I believe you are onto something here. This is one piece to a larger puzzle but I think you hit upon a major point. The value of STEEM is tied to what people value...when there is a lot of spam and abusers, that is not valued.
We will see a shift. If some of what I think is happening, just from connecting the dots, it will really make this place a desired location.