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I feel like people aren't searching for new authors though like they used to with the new feed option a lot of people just vote on the top earners daily for the most payout for their buck. I think it might be a good idea to give a bigger reward to curators if you find a new good author that hasn't stood out yet that way the site doesn't just turn into a circle jerk of only vote on the top earners.

I am 100% on board with that. I try to spend more time on new posts like this one than on the trending items. Of course your payout for being the first to upvote something that ends up trending is huge. But that is less likely than something that is already trending going higher.