lol "the crazy guy".
Yeah man that was inevitable and you were a little too careless.
I support your project but warned you that the place had become a shitposters paradise. You simply said "we are aware of it" and didn't really do anything to stamp out the garbage.
The script thing obviously put you on the outer with many who have some weight around here so you can't blame only "the crazy guy". Your management skills is what led to the current state. I think you are not completely out though and rebuilding is not very difficult.
You should aim to have a regular 'shitpost dump' area and a somewhat 'original/dank area'.
To achieve this you simply need to let the shitposters continue but their rewards must be capped at a few dollars. Simply to keep them fed and returning... as you have them as possible 'converts' from shitposters to dank meme makers once they start to see where the real rewards are dished out.
Running weekly competitions is all you need to do. Memes with a theme. For example first week could be: steemit related memes only. This will force users to get creative and apply a certain message/image to their memes. As, this is the real issue with memes. Sure some are funny but if they have no relevance then people don't have a need for re-usability. So a meme will live.. shine. ONCE... and then be gone. That's not a good system. It's what then fits the label "shitposts". It is also then the reason why your own platform is calling upon memes from "memeful"... (wtf!?).
You should be utilizing your own memes.. I even envisioned such a thing becoming a reality and one which would boost your existence... way back when you had a zombee/dmania post in 'promoted'. I was only days old here then actually so yes... I visited the promoted section. You need to realize what you believed in back then. You wanted dmania to be a contender to 9gag. It's a good goal to have but you let the shitposters take over. 9gag is also full of shitposts.. they have their purpose... but the memes that become DANK and then go on to become a part of internet culture have always a powerful message or something that relates heavily with human/internet/emotion/comedy etc..
This is what I believe a weekly criteria would achieve... and in time.. (will take time) you will have built a wealth of re-playable memes that the wider community of steemit will begin to utilize and then possibly.. the wider internet.. if they obviously meet the standards. This is all very achievable. But if you let it continue as just a dump for whatever, where any useless maggot can create or even find crap elsewhere and dump it on your platform... then how do you seriously expect to reach a status of 'dank' ? It's not likely. You need to direct the outcome.