Yours is the first idea that I have read which actually makes sense! "Paid Advertising" is actually a BRILLIANT idea. People can't come to a platform where earning money is literally the perk that drives it's new member signups and then complain that capitalism exists. (It's like... Noooooooo you don't say? You mean to tell me people like money and those who don't get it are hating on the ones who do? I never would have seen this coming in a million years! That's almost like... everything else in life!) There are plenty of different sodas which taste great but when I go to my favorite chili place I have to drink Pepsi Co. Products because they pay the cost to be the boss and poor little Faygo and Big K can cry all they want. People may give transparency by saying Pepsi spent 30million USD in advertising last year and it's like "Thats why they are running things, if you spent 30million in ads you would be too or atleast a strong competitor." I agree.... Paid votes can leave the Trending page but the worst thing is to join a platform based on open speech and money, then pretend its not about money. We (we are a team) personally do not sell to make any profit on this platform but we do believe in good business and only a child thinks that you are not dealing with business when you are handling money but our business in particular is not Daycare so moving on.. Your idea is wonderful and may become an actual solution that can be implemented into a H.F I personally have been friends with a witness on here in real life since childhood and we have had discussions about this very topic on MANY occasions in various chats/get-togethers and not once have I heard anyone mention something as sensible as what you just have. If you can afford to invest on a higher level, why do broke people get to cry that it's not fair because while you were working hard sacrificing for the future they were "enjoying life". If everybody got their way on here... everyone would get paid everything and we all would get nothing (figure that one out ^ ^) How are we EVER going to get investors here if people whine when you make $50? Do they not understand that the actual monetary value of steem still comes from real money? Cold Hard Cash of investors and a few lines of code are THE ONLY difference between a steem dollar and a facebook like! If people want their visibility I say give it to them and restrict the marketers from those areas such as Trending.. There are only so many slots on it anyway and everyone wont make it to it and they will whine about something else but Whales wont delegate their votes for free now that they have tasted the warm fresh cash flowing from the necks of the steem users... ohh so warm. Tell a vampire not to be a vampire but instead to wait in line at a blood bank until someone notices him and wants to give him some blood and see how well that one rolls over. Sorry for the book of a message but GREAT IDEA that might satisfy a lot of individuals plus @transparencybot will be out of a job.... .... I digress. I would LOVE for transparencybot to announce large winnings for the week in a community-approved marketplace/steem exchange!! The only complaint that we would have is that it doesn't use big enough text and spam more people to let them know how well we roll. Give steemit something for everybody, rich, middle, and poor beggars alike! (now ur talking) We have not cashed out anything from here (and won't as of now... we are here to stay) but as a Day-Trader I would love to bring my marketing skills here and bust those steemy chops wide open, you haven't heard a real cry yet ;-)