Having read all the comments up until my response, it would seem as if this is a one sided view issue. That people see it mostly as a content producer issue. in one respect this is true, I would however like people and the hivewatcher type accounts to also try looking at it from a genuine user point of view, by genuine user I mean someone like myself, that seriously enjoys reading and looking at and consuming the content produced.
I don't need to pay to read a book, I can vote on the book page/chapter part and actually be rewarded for reading the book. I bring the book issue up because that is why I first initially joined the steem block chain. To read for free. Books have gotten expensive for me, new books are $4.95 on up to $12.95 for a paper back version. The number of free books on Amazon Kindle are becoming fewer and fewer, Most other free book sites want all my info so they can track and spam me.
Everyday there are more and more new users on Hive Block Chain. Every time spam is brought up or reward pool rape is brought up, it is always put on the content creator. The content creator is the evil person. Not the person that gives the content creator day after day after day post after post after post, a big reward vote. Spam and piss poor content creators are going to be on Hive block chain until the groups like hivewatchers are able to apply their power to the Real spam enablers, to the real reward pool rapist. When a down vote system is created that allows for the down vote of the excessive rewarder,(disagreement on reward), against the plagiarist, or against the abuser, there will always be crap spammers on Hive.
An artist reposting a piece of art they created to a new community or a new group of followers is not in my own personal opinion Spam. A writer reposting a published book they still have the full rights to, for a new audience to read, or the old audience to re-read is not Spam. A singer reposting a song they have all rights to for a new audience to listen to is not Spam.
The people (content users like me), we know what spam is, we know when a post is over rewarded, most of all we know what we like. I have no problem not voting on content I don't like. Trying to control spam by only down voting one side is not ever going to work, you need to be able to down vote and have one effect against the person, or group that are up voting/rewarding the spam. The abusive up voters also need to be added to a black list. (and I hate the McCarthyism of black listing).
This is a very interesting perspective and I definitely think that it should be considered.
Content is a conversation between the creator and the audience and with a large enough user base, it would be much easier to mitigate abuse, as pretty much the earning content will be popular. At the moment, there are more creators than readers.
There are more creators than readers, however there are also more large voters, curation accounts, and curation trails than readers. The down vote system not only punishes the perceived spammer but the readers also in possible over looks because of bad reputations, low reputations and blacklisting, meanwhile the large voters, curation accounts and curation trails continue to reap the rewards of highlighting post that may not be that great, and driving viewership to post they want to be viewed. One of the reasons why I like the community concept so much, the hot and trending pages are becoming more and more useless everyday.
Yep, I barely go there these days, unless I want to see what is happening on Hive :)