The whole issue, IMO, goes back to certain then successful authors deciding that flagging overvalued posts and or talking about content value vs reward was somehow tantamount to abuse

This comes not only from successful authors. It runs deeper. I agree with you it is wrong and ultimately harmful. Part of this is a learning process for the platform and the user community. Nothing like this has existed before and important conclusions about it are reached by different people at different times (if at all).

BTW, I upvoted your critical comments on those poker posts, because I felt your comments were legitimate and deserving of visibilty, but even there, that is how the system is supposed to work. Supporters of those poker posts voted as they saw fit, as did you and I.

These differences of opinion don't need to turn into feuds, nor should they.