If promotion could be implemented, either directly into the Steemit front end or through some private initiatives I will be all for it. Problem with the current solutions is that they wreck a system promising to be something else: proof of brain. You can't have one number with a dollar sign in front showing both the community's assessment of and reward for quality content and a user's need to have people see his or her post. This is as I see it the main problem - that the most fundamental thing in Steem distribution becomes ambiguous and even illogical.

The trend in online advertising is to reward people for watching commercials, and steem is perfect for this. Instead of paying for not seeing adds, you could pay people to have promoted posts in their feed. Psychologically it would probably make much more sense to people. If someone set up a system like that with a sort of trickle down economy I would be all for it. Could be tons of market solutions I couldn't even fathom. I just think it is important to make sure they are not built in the same place that is already occupied by important Steem infrastructure.