I agree that delegation exacerbates it, but the same problem existed before delegation was in widespread use (and you can still see it with certain accounts who are not using delegation, but are gaming the rewards).

IMO, the fundamental problem is that these changes were always done based on a hunch, but no one ever took the time to study the problem and perform a careful econometric analysis. As a result, it has remained too easy for large stakeholders to overvalue any post of their choosing.

Google built its entire business on the back of its PageRank algorithm. Steem's reward system serves the same purpose, but no one has taken the time to give it the attention it deserves.