I can see the sense in keeping a bigger pool. This also allows more elasticity in the reward calculation scheme. Bear in mind that I do intend to add the self-hosting code down the track, but that will be part of a total re-implementation based on SporeDB. I'm not sure what exactly this would involve, it seems to me like this might be a subject for a post-release hardfork.

I want to specifically point out some points that maybe you didn't connect directly - direct self voting is banned, as now added as item 8, using reputation to modulate rewards allocation. There does have to be an initial pool or the rewards will be horrible to begin with. The distribution will not follow the patterns we see here, if there is no direct self vote, and vote power is reduced by reputation position. It will help ensure, in theory, that the distribution balances properly. I think a slow and gentle path to equilibrium is better - yes, at first there will be a frenzy, but it will take not a very long time for people to realise that the numbers they see mean in reality about 6.9% per week of that reward can be seen a week after, and so on. So, it will mean a lot of high rep, small accounts will power up a lot.

This will help level the playing field sooner, I think.

I have thought a lot about the issue of stake and weight of votes, and I don't see how unbinding them produces a good result. I do, however, think that reputation scores should have an influence on payouts. This way, a big Stake account can be punished in its ability to influence by downvoting from high reputation accounts. If the big stakeholder returns to good behaviour, and maintains it, they regain their influence.

I have discussed this in my proposals for how to monetise code using votes, where the ability to use stake in a negative way is very patently obvious. I don't think it is any less applicable to the forum in general. I might then perhaps make an 8th proposal that reputation becomes a factor in rewards calculation. The current scheme with reputation is only to implement community driven censure, a way of punishing bad behaviour. But bad behaviour includes using one's stake in ways considered negative by the community.