This idea of ranking could be added as one of the members of the list 'hot', 'trending', etc. 'most-voted' would be a good name. Because it is vulnerable to sybil attacks, it would not be in the top of the list.
Regarding payouts, I think they should show more information, not less. The estimated current value, plus the curator share/author share, and perhaps even the SP and SBD that could be awarded.