I personally think positive reinforcements are a lot better ways for building a community/tribe, but I'm wondering if this metric will attract some toxic individuals who would normally get downvoted?
This is a legitimate concern. We will not hesitate to mute accounts that blatantly try to spam the tribe.
More importantly, though, will be how we handle borderline cases. We will be very transparent about those policies -- they are still under development at the moment (generic feedback is welcome now, specific feedback will be solicited once they are ready for public comment). Even after they are finalized, though, we will likely need to make adjustments as time progresses and we learn what works and what doesn't work.
The guiding principle regarding Verify Your Brain anti-abuse policies will be one of reliance upon checks-and-balances. In other words, we intend to go to great lengths to ensure that anti-abuse enforcement is largely community-driven.
We are, admittedly, venturing into unknown territory here. We will no doubt get some things wrong and need to make adjustments.