I mostly agree on those points, especially the $0.02 cutoff, but I think there needs to be a way for someone somewhere to get higher returns from curation than they would get by self-voting, so that they can stabilize the lease market and make the worst kind of abuse much less profitable (this is what I was doing before the change).

Unfortunately for anyone that thinks things have just improved, as far as I can tell it's only true for the lowest possible ranges of curation, and anyone that was getting 10%+ has just been dragged down into that range. I'll be looking for the silver lining and if there is one, I'll find it. The benefits seem human-centric in the sense that they damage the optimal behaviors, turn the game theory more towards the exploits, but offer positive sentiments along the way and some extra freedom. I think being able to vote on whatever you want and getting the same return is certainly a positive for usability, but it is no longer "curation" and that's the problem I have with it, because those systems existed for very good reasons, and it seems like they were deleted rather than improved. (just to be clear, I don't think the old way was perfect, but I think it was in the ballpark)

Other than that, small accounts will always have small voting rewards, it doesn't make sense in any other way, because the rewards have to be % based to avoid bot army incentives. Even something as small as a penny being added as a flat value bonus would be most likely be exploited. The trick I think, is to make the exploit into something positive, a system where the optimal behavior is also beneficial, and I don't see things moving in that direction if people can just mindlessly vote through trending to get the same rewards as anyone else. Honestly it's so silly that I keep second-guessing myself to wonder what exactly I have missed.