okay so I read through most of your post, except the last 2 columns. Id like to give a reply before your comment feed get spammed by the thousands.
I'm sorry to say that I cant think of a creative way to automate the rewarding process or well at-least your rewarding system. I would say you can curate a small amount on what the other curators are curating on ( I hope that makes sense) But if you do that youd only end up giving a small group bigger upvotes and not really spreading your votes across more people.. I dunno seems pointless..
The matter where you refer to people maybe leaving or not posting as often after getting big upvotes, that factor might be true or it might be false..
Yes people get discouraged especially when they really put in effort to make a post/article good. I myself get discouraged from time to time, but the point is not to make something great in order to get great rewards? or is it? I mean its nice getting rewarded. I get a good up-vote here and there and then I have a few weak one's .. more than often weak rewards.
None the less I'm trying to post regularly even though I was away from Hive for a long time shortly after the hardfork happened with steemit, why I went away I really cant remember. But im back now sharing daily stuff I do and some noob photography... What makes it more fun is that I also attracted my life partner @misshugo to Hive which makes it I dunno? It makes it more enjoyable being able to write stories and share stuff together (Again I hope that makes sense)
Although being rewarded is very nice. But what I would like to experience more is actual and genuine interaction with people and so far there were only a hand full of people that actually provided meaning full interaction and genuine conversations such as @futuremind @meesterboom @erikah and @bertrayo @jesustiano (Apologies for mentioning you here) I really cant think of more people? The rest gave of that feeling of saying something nice just for an upvote on a comment.
Anyway that's my little piece of useless input.
I've had interesting conversation with @futuremind and @anttn. And some others here and there. The interaction means a lot to me. Anyone can give a short and useless comment, but there are a few who truly wants to have a conversation. I abandoned social media due to the fact that everything became one sided. And so far I'm enjoying the interaction, even if it's just from a few peeps.