This seems the most likely downfall of this approach. Still, it seems odd that the low quality content would have the advantage when there is a greater cost associated with it proliferating it. No doubt, there may be a stronger incentive to produce it now. If these factors are at play, I wonder how they will balance out. That said, the motivation to experiment like this is because we want to create something that can scale and maintain its integrity and purpose. Other funding models aren't well-aligned. IMO it's an open question if we can find a better one, but this will likely help us in the search.
Of course! Which is why I'm glad we're doing this experiment in the first place--I want to see how this plays out. I don't think hubski has reached the critical mass of popularity where the content starts declining in popularity, and this system may work very well with how the community currently exists. I'm a little excited to see what direction this gets taken--it could be awful, or it could be really cool!