The way I see it, the current reputation system should more or less be replaced by KE Ratio, with the difference that delegation also should count toward it. Too many people now who make content have the delusion, or at least highly overestimate the fact that their content has actual economic value. This makes it feel normal to them to use Hive as an 'income genrating' platform. While in reality, most of the value from Hive comes from those who actually buy & hold. Don't get me wrong, I do believe good content really matters, but it should be both where both the content and the stake in the platform relative to the earnings matter.
Where I see things go wrong mainly is that there is just too much free lunch now on Hive with all the Curation projects that seem to totally neglect KE Ratio and sytematically upvote pure value extractors. Just go to any of the curation compilation posts, click a random one that got upvoted and check the wallet behavior, almost everyone is cashing out and nobody is buying hive even at these prices. Often these are users that get systematically upvotes because they are meeting the quality standards and are on the list of a curator who also just wants to earn and cash out.
There are just not enough reasons right now to Buy Hive and the only real way to change that I would think is that people stop upvoting the pure value extractors by looking at their KE Ratio. This still allows anyone to come in new and do well on Hive. I have no issue with those who quit Hive to cash out everything they earned, but if they ever come back they have the duty to fix their KE Ratio. I also have no problem with those who cash out making content which is upvoted by individual whales who really like their content (which rarely ever happens).
In the end, Hive needs good content and for the price to slowly trend up instead of down. Right now, being a 'Hive Investor' feels more like being a donator.