My feeling with steemit is that it has the correct mechanisms, but lacks the critical mass. I think once the number of genuine users increases beyond a certain point, selling votes just won't be profitable.
Here's why:
User A posts spam and buys a $1 upvote for $1.
The vote seller is making money from the sale of the vote and some of curation.
If the spam posts gets flagged and makes no money, both the user and the vote seller stand to make losses.
So hit them where it hurts and flag them! They will soon stop, nothing focuses the mind like financial losses
Yes, learn from punishment. Right
Except that the curation is just an added bonus. Vote bots still make from the upfront payment.
But if your posts are getting flagged when you get votes from a botvotes, will you pay again?
I guess it depends on who is flagging. Also, there will be plenty of other people to take their place. The bots always win.
I can't change everyone, but if spammy content comes across my feed. I will flag it like I am an Englishman in someone else's country in 1776