You absolutely raise some valid points. At the moment, curation is also done based on the expectation of a high payout and likely established users or users that have a proven consistent payout benefit from this. Probably because they have a good quality post. The only fact is that this model is clearly not working as it is anticipated.

A flatter curve will not solve all the problems, but as I see it will definitely improve the distribution.

The thing is, we do not have to think like investors, or primarily for investors. We need to think about mass adoption so think about what is good for actually 95% of the people. We need a massive amount of users, so think what is best for them, investors will follow the money, and that is mostly where all the users are.

How I see the recruiting and retaining process:

1. Get potential clients in the door,
2. Make them interested by giving them a sample (votes in this case)
3. They become hooked and invest some of their money
4. These people feed the newbies and the cycle continues

Thanks again, I really like these discussions