I too study people and behavior. I've always been analytical, a natural born critic and lover of details.
All negatives can be reduced to selfishness, which is inherent in all species. Few are 100% selfish, but most are very selfish and don't even know it. They hardly know themselves.
The trick is to counter this selfishness in a way that doesn't turn users away. This will be difficult, because if you force most to counter their nature, they'll just leave regardless of earnings.
Or, they'll simply game the passive earning potential and not add any value. Why comment, when you can simply upvote and earn?
One thing we need to do is add the functionality of Discord or Telegram to the platform. That's where the interaction is. Earnings through this format is unnecessary, because few earn through those platforms directly.
The increased on platform interaction will increase post earnings, which will further increase interaction. Couple that with your idea to incentivize commenting and you have a truly social media platform.
An absolutely perfect view, respectful of the execution in this clarity.
The ego, of course, is something that affects many of the situations in life and I agree with them as the cause. Especially because I would not want to talk myself out of this perspective. Dealing with this lack of awareness in recognizing this is the key to improvement.
Discord and Telegram, are certainly the intermediaries for these and other networks. A meeting point. There used to be a chat on the Steem, as I have been told.
To reopen such a chat, would certainly make sense and was already demanded and desired with the recognition that the users meet all on the Discord for the entertainment.
A view as you show it, is probably missing, unfortunately, but in the places that these certainly not easy undertakings could make possible. I hope that somehow it will be heard after all.