Except that's not quite what you are doing. You are disabling features that others have already done.
Also, circle jerking? You really think that's a problem? How you gonna stop that? It's human nature to support who they align with and there's nothing wrong with that. Now, get rid of stake in the votes and have it only affect the value of the post through the author's stake, then maybe it could be more fair.
Maybe not though, cuz popularity simply brings more votes consistently and can't be stopped. Hive has managed to suppress the noticeable greed shown openly, but that greed isn't going anywhere.
But again, you haven't offered here any actual necessary fixes on the second layer. Good luck though.