This actually makes a lot of sense! I really like the idea that by burning a post you can gain visibility and followers; Deny immediate reward but potentially gain more in the future from new followers. Works exactly for small authors who don't lose much anyway if all they got from a quality post is few cents. That would also be an option for upvoting bots. Although not seeing the burning mechanism replacing them (especially for wealthy Steemians) it would at least be an alternative, much more "organic" way of gaining visibility, if that makes sense.