A popularity contest will always bring out the manipulators. This is true in everything, everywhere, all the time.

The fix for the platform is two fold:

1. Add a tipping button so that good content, in the eyes of the reader, can be rewarded at the valuation of the reader.
2. A stable transfer of valuation. HIVE increased from $0.16 to $0.75 in three days. Am I going to send a 1 HIVE tip via peakd's tip button or hold on to my coins?

So, in my opinion, HIVE should have two sets of coins... one set for staking and one set for trading. The staking set of coins float, while the trading coins would be some sort of pegged stable coin... either to USD like TETHER or multiple blockchain coins like DAI.