>But since then, things have changed considerably. Spam is less of an issue, and the current payouts make it unlikely that it will return in force... at least not in the near term.

I agree with that being the case *right now.* I just don't know how that will change when the limit is removed. I tend to think that it will increase. The other concern is about auto-voting, but I'm sure that those using auto-votes will notice that their voting power is declining and should take the appropriate steps to adjust. That's how it would work *in theory.* Who knows what will actually happen. I think people will be taking advantage of it until they see their votes/rewards drop. 

Honestly, I have no problem with a reward limit for "over" posting. People can still post as much as they like - they just won't be able to receive max rewards for every post. With a limited daily pool, I really don't see an issue with that.

>I'm somewhat skeptical about the change of payout from 24 hours to 7 days.

I'm also skeptical. If 24 hours is too short, then 7 days is also too long. Split the difference and maybe make it 72 hours? In reality, most posts make nothing after the first hour. Some will occasionally pick up a significant vote after several hours have passed, but the way that curating is designed, we shouldn't expect to see a lot of votes after the first 30 minutes to one hour. 

Unless they're going to change curation, this extended period won't matter much at all regarding payouts. It will only delay gratification, as you mentioned, and probably become another issue that new users won't be so thrilled to learn.

>Comment Payout

I'm completely against having a separate rewards pool - especially if it's at the expense of current post/curation rewards. I think it will just encourage more comment spam and abuse/gaming of the rewards. If this actually becomes a thing, the rewards pool should be small and it should *not* come at the expense of curation. With curation being only 25% as it is, a 38% haircut would make holding SP damn near pointless, which then makes the entire three-token system, including inflation and interest, pretty much moot. 

By reducing curation rewards further, there would be no reason for investment in STEEM/SP. This will then have an effect on voting/engagement/distribution of stake...and likely STEEM prices.

There's not really anything wrong with comment payouts right now. As I've stated many times - the issues of engagement (and consequently, comment rewards) are due to a lack of a sizable active user base. You can't expect a bunch of engagement and comment rewards when not many people are actually reading, commenting, and manually voting. We need more users, not more reward pools (or guilds, for that matter).

I think the single payout period simplifies the system which is a very good thing.  On top of that, users who vote with their eyes and real time will have more time available to them to dispute what posts deserve more or less rewards in their eyes.  If the cultural stigma attached to a down vote is successfully diminished we should still see different content at the top of the trending page every day - as the same post for the whole week would definitely be  problematic.  But I think with 6 extra days of voting this should be self correcting.

Thanks for a nice summary overviewing the changes that are expected, and highlighting some of the current features. I have only been here a month, and thought that I understood the main workings of the site. I was surprised therefore to learn that there are rewards for commenting. I have always tried to comment on my reasons for upvoting, but in many cases this as consisted of a single sentence. Seems strange to reward someone for what is essentially a polite comment. From what I have seen most comments are along the lines of  "nice post, I liked it a lot." We have bots voting, how long before automatic commenting appears.
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ColdMonkey mines [Gridcoin](http://Gridcoin.us) through generating voluntary BOINC computations for science...
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I haven't chimed in until now on these changes yet either.   I do have some opinions.

I do not necessarily think the single 7 day payout will be a good thing.    I think it may just result in whatever is trending soaking up 7 days worth of rewards instead of 24 hours.   That may not be how it works, but it is a concern.

I was fine with the 24 hour and 30 day, but the 30 day doesn't seem to benefit much simply due to how curation rewards work.   There doesn't seem much benefit for curation rewards beyond 24 hours at the moment.

I personally would like to see the 24 hours remain, and maybe change the current 30 day to 7 day.   I also wouldn't mind seeing a TIP button that makes it really easy for someone to click TIP and choose to send steem or steem dollars to someone as we read their post regardless of how old the post is.   We could do this currently by going to our wallet, clicking on transfer, typing in a bunch of information, and then making it happen.   Yet if there were a way anyone could easily do this on IMPULSE as they were reading I bet there are people that would use it.   It would extend the potential earnings of ANY post as far back in history as wanted too.

Those are my thoughts at the moment.

Thanks a bunch for the comments and ideas shared. I also take a bit of time to digest the content of things, especially if there are important issues at hand or the content difficult to relate to. 

I am on e of those people posting for posterity, hoping to give to the communities involved with me here on Steemit something to read even years from now and still either marvel, ponder, be entertained by or simply relive the feeling of encountering such posting as mine. Therefore, the idea of having an instant gratification reward, the 24 hrs reward, a mid-term reward, after a week, a mid long term reward and, finally a full on long term- reward would be of great interest and, of course, joy to see such processes find the light of day on this platform. Nevertheless, what is here right now in relation to the rewards, I already really like. the so-called "instant gratification" is definitely a motivation that most consider and get incentivized by.

That was my short to cents on the matter. All for one and one for all! Namaste  :)

I for one am for an 7 day reward period as this should allow more posts being displayed for longer. Before being sent to "The Graveyard" hence giving more value to readers and showing more accurately our community values. I have previously asked that the 30day payout-period-posts not lose their "Rank" but rather be Featured such as a Magazine type website. Perhaps with a more "Full page" compared to the current single file graphical representation. I fully believe that the fact that some brilliant post that only lives for 24H is the sole cause we have not yet reached our goal audience. Or at least 100 000 active accounts regarding votes(curating) And preferably not via bots or "copy-cats" of other users but Individual and sincere actions. Otherwise, this site could very easily become brainless. In my opinion, the reputation system should also be questioned and altered with math to more correctly interpret our communities opinions. Our new weighing system could use an ELO system or and Avg. of the current users, and target (a number? ) 25 with the maximum of 75 as we have now. Systematically reducing or increase the reputation of users would then vary based on the systems total change/weight.

> Unless there is going to be some increase in the rewards pool, I don't see how this could be the case. I'm sure that some authors might stand to earn more, but it's not clear to me exactly who would benefit and who would have to absorb the cost of the change.

Excellent point. I likewise have no idea who will earn less vs. more. I'd guess quickly that curators may earn more since the existing 30 day payout pays nothing to curators. Beyond that it is unclear.