@ned look into UX designers or non-dev improvements too. The technology is pretty sweet alredy, although personally I think the rules (7 day reward period) stimulates quantity over quality. There is some empyrical evidence in the "new" section.
If even a two year old post could reap some rewards when it's still popupar and relevant enough for people who come across it to vote on it, quality would be rewarded.
On a 'classic' blog, no one would switch off ads/revenue on a post after 7 days. The biggest reward often comes in months, when a quality article is propagated through the internet.
Many excellent creative ideas here!
I agree. The highest quality work is appreciated orders of magnitudes longer than the 7-day voting period. But content discovery tools are crucial for older content.