except for the cost-benefit of the community/social aspect

Look at the numbers. We're spending about $15 million per year on content rewards with a user base of about 15000, that hasn't grown significantly in years. That's $1000 per year per user. I can't see where that cost benefit comes from, it is wildly out of line with the customer value of any social platform or internet platform or even most profit-generating businesses (possibly all). Yes, there is also some value in terms of distributing stake and increasing network effect potentially, but it isn't infinite and even that doesn't work if the user base and stakeholder base doesn't grow or barely grows.

In no way is any of this the "fault" of content creators or users. They're mostly sincere and doing their best to create good contend and engagement. We just don't have a platform and business model that has the pieces put together to work in a sustainable way.