any rewards system based on ads will ultimately put the power into the hands of advertisers to determine the value of content. When that happens, it will inevitably lead to censorship.
100% agreed. It already does, through opinion flagging.
...the best ideas expressed in the best way by the best creators should receive the most rewards.
There is a wisdom of the crowd, and meritocracy is a thing. However, I don't reckon that is synonymous with plutocracy, and agree that somehow expecting curation to precisely effect such perfect synchrony with talent isn't realistic. However, that doesn't excuse circle jerks, or the derangement of curation by curation rewards and farming ROI, that create dramatically different incentives and reward plunder, rather than reflect societal values other than money. Mike Tyson once said that Don King would sell his momma for a dollar, and that's not the incentive structure we should maintain on Hive for content anymore than Tyson wanted to suffer it in boxing.
Until we can devise a rewards mechanism that isn't money, a governance mechanism that isn't money, I dunno how we can better make the mousetrap. I am happy better minds than mine are on it.
I don't agree...
I have had carefully collected metrics explained to me in detail, and have been forced to accept that, at least at that time, whales took ~90% of rewards. I don't personally care about money, as I'm here for something far more valuable: free speech. However, many people do care a lot about money (I don't blame them. I've just seen how easy it is to steal, so prefer to hoard goodwill, which is immune to theft) and are greatly discouraged by the skewed distribution here.
I have come to acknowledge that not only does that skew favor an oligarchy here, but that the current structure of Hive governance being a pure plutocracy renders the suppression of distribution critical to the survival of Hive in an environment where IRL capital could gobble the platfrom for pocket change, as Steem proved. Hive can't grow without attracting sharks that will entirely consume it by assuming governance unless and until we secure governance from the influence of stake, which I haven't come up with a plan to do, and doubt extant stakeholders will ever allow.
While Hive slowly dies it's a fun place to learn from other folks, and rant my screeds, so I enjoy it while it's here. It's a tenuous foundation of greed on which the platform rests, and I have no confidence in it's long term survival. I believe some slight alterations could change everything, but the wrong ones will just give it to sharks worse than our oligarchs. The devil we know is better than the devil we don't, and we can look at Steem for proof of that.