I was super excited when I found SN but was disappointed by the zapping incentives. I quickly learnt how the system could be gamed due to being rewarded for "zapping top posts and top comments early". This affects user behaviour in a negative way, prompting them to zap based on their prediction of what might benefit them rather than zapping good content regardless of who has posted/commented. I have mentioned this several times in the past. It's pretty much what you are saying here. IMO SN need to find a genuine and equitable model that rewards users for zapping content that is genuinely good and not just because a particular user posted it (something which is denied but is blatantly obvious to some of us) or just remove it entirely and rely on people zapping each other accordingly for good content and engagement. I don't like MSM and chose not to get myself caught up in it (I wrote about why previously). My engagement definitely went down on SN because of the above points. I'm just so tired of mainstream social media models and, whilst I'm being manipulated in these ways, I don't feel I've left big tech manipulation. I guess the issue is SN is it's VC funded and they want to see ROI, so I'm skeptical as to whether an equitable, non-user-manipulative model will be found and implemented - but I remain hopeful.