RE: Flaws cripple STEEM potential.
Nothing is perfect. Everyone who knows Steem history knows how and why the system works. That's irrelevant right now and I say that as a witness nowhere close to the top ranks.
Not all top witnesses got there by circlejerking and you see a number of them dedicating more hours a day than a full-time job to various projects not just on the Steem blockchain but also on the site. There's a few who sit on Steemit.chat all day long helping people. I'm doing the same since I don't expect anyone to just randomly throw votes my way for doing jack shit except running the actual witness. It's long hours and a lot of work.
What I'm getting at is you've got some great ideas man and starting a project to actualize them is what will get both results in terms of site improvement and being a witness.