I wish I had some solutions, but people are going to chase rewards, and I don't blame them a bit.

True... and given that we're a decentralized structure, it strikes me as an open invitation to take a long hard look at structuring rewards as "tool" to guide how the site develops. In short "Put the carrots where you need the work to be done."

If course, that would require a lot of people to step OUTside their short term interests and instead look at big picture/long term benefits.