@lolahuss I apologize I've not responded to this article until now. I didn't see my mention on this a few days ago but now that I've come across I'd like to explain why we can't adopt your ideas above for the time being.

As I'm sure that you already know SPORTS operates on top of the Steem blockchain by utilizing the SCOT system provided by the Steem Engine team. This is not a free feature and requires a deal of investment into the SE platform through their ENG token. For each feature there is usually an initial fee for implementation but then there is an ongoing investment requirement in the form of staked ENG tokens for each user of the platform. A user is defined by a Steem user who has your token staked.

For #sportstalk we currently have a requirement of 3 ENG for each member. With our current 1,422 users that means we must have 4,266 ENG staked. If we were to adopt a split payout then we would presumably have all of our 3,193 users with staked tokens and thus have an ENG requirement of 9,579.

To date the Steem Engine team hasn't started requiring this yet but have been clear that if these conditions aren't met then they will disable a tribe's consensus functionality. When this becomes an enforced rule to all SE tribes I imagine we'll see a number of them go offline. My intention is not to be one of those.

As for moderation we currently have a 5 member team in place that is tasked with this duty. They've each been given the keys to a @referee account (@referee1, @referee2, etc) and tasked with downvoting content that is not acceptable for the platform. When there is a consensus of 3 of the 5 @referee# accounts then our @referee account will remove the rewards of the offender based on the % each referee voted for. These moderators have been in place for a bit over 3 weeks now voting on content. If you'd like to follow how they are voting you should follow @sportsinfo from the great @voltaire that makes a daily post on what each referee is downvoting.

We aim to make the @referee system an elected position in the future based on SPORTS POWER but are still developing the functionality to make it happen. This should be something we have in place before the end of the year. Until then I've appointed the referees that are serving but would be willing to consider new applicants.