Well said. I totally agree.

One interesting thing though - technically the current algorithm discourages "dog piling". If you vote on a post that already has a high payout, you get less than if you vote on a post before it receives a high payout.

The problem is probably better described in that it encourages voting behavior based on the predictions of what posts will receive a high payout. In theory this was supposed to be one and the same as "good" content, but in practice these two things have turned out to be different.