First of all, it took me a lot more than 30 minutes to read the comments on this post. Probably longer than any post ever. But I still agree with reducing this penalty period. :)

Second: thank you. Finally. This thread is EXACTLY the adult discussion and open conversation I've been hoping to see. @blocktrades , thank you for starting this thread. <3

Overall, I agree that steemit lacks a "proof of brain" enforcement mechanism for up and down voting. Which sucks. I need to think about it some more before I can suggest anything actionable.

My favorite idea in this thread: hiring curators. I curate A LOT. My VP is rarely above 70%. Most of my curation is manual. I trail steemstem because I know their curators are awesome and I support the initiative, but I also make sure to invest the time in manual curation and commenting. So... anyone wanna hire me? :)

What I'd like to add: An interesting concept would be somehow connecting comments with post payouts. For example, if the post author could assign some of the payout to a particularly useful comment on the post, it would encourage people to provide insightful comments.

(shamelessly self upvoted this comment for some visibility in this lengthy discussion)