One of the very first issues I raised here after joining Steemit in January was this:

*"What are you guys going to do about the inevitable horde of 'squatters' who will move in by the 1000s and set up camp here for NO OTHER REASON than to use the platform as a giant coin dispenser through whatever forms of spam and automation they can bring to bear, completely burying legitimate content in the process?"*

Not a popular thing to say, alas. HAD SOMEONE said *"Oh, we have countermeasures in place"* or even *"the community will self-regulate that"* I would have been OK with it, but it was the utterly naive *"Oh that will never happen (here)"* feedback that made me worried. Before I even got significantly started.

My question was back by *twenty years* for watching content-for-rewards sites go down in flames for little more reason than the founders of each venue pathetically underestimating the sheer of *greed* in human nature that will drive thousands and thousands of people to go to almost any lengths to extract half-cents from web sites in lieu of actually going out and getting a job. To wit: sites like Amazon's "Mechanical Turk" have over half a million users registered for the opportunity to make two cents per supermarket receipt they transcribe... operating *fully in the belief* that their activity (which earns 20 cents a day) constitutes *making money online.* NATURALLY, they will flock to a venue like Steemit with all guns blazing, seeing this as no more than a huge cash cow. 

Jeebus! Wake the frak UP, people! Smell the reality. *"Because we're on the blockchain"* is not a magic pill that exempts anyone from the roots of human nature, it merely ensures that said "human nature" is *perpetually recorded* on the blockchain.

/end soapbox

But yeah, I also agree with @blocktrades that 50/50 curation and ending that 30 minute clock might be a positive for manual curation... or at least it would serve to make manual curators feel a little less disadvantaged.

**Footnote:** perhaps that's the part of using zappl to throw out questions for debate I *don't* like... there's no room to share our own opinions, except in comments. But thanks for asking!