@themarkymark I am building a new Steem app now which is specifically designed to capture more votes in 'comments' and thus overall engagement. It all has to do with reframing what the OP is trying to achieve. In our case relying less on a 'blog' format and instead incentivizing viewers to leave top-level comments which can be voted on by other viewers.
With this new 50/50 reward split, the idea should work even better for all! For those interested follow @blocktally.app (newly formed) and @doon as we will be starting to make posts to seed the idea and get interest in the next week or two.
It is a completely custom UI and backend (not your standard tribe) so it is taking a while to build but I intend to release the MVP the end of September/early October. In addition to the new user experience it will have its own Steem Engine token as well (naturally). Feel free to DM if you have any questions or interested in getting involved on the ground floor.