I know both of them, but nowadays I am often getting rewards like $0.005 HBD (+0.016 Hive Power), so technically the three decimal is in present in the system. This payout threshold is completely pointless. It only makes the experience of the poor people more hard.
I agree. The current system is torture on the little guy with no whale friends. Who gets to keep all the dust that doesn't get paid out? Probably those who make most of the money now. I personally think that this cut-off is what is holding Hive back. Get rid of it and allow the little people to make a few bucks. That should attract more little people. It demonstrates that Hive is actually trying to make things more fair, because everyone knows it has been stacking the deck since inception.
When you get 100 .001, or less, votes on a post it makes it difficult to keep splitting the rewards smaller and smaller, it has to cut off somewhere.
I don't much like it, either, but the logic behind it seems sound to me.
Ask Blocktrades why they keep it?