In My Not So Humble Opinion the Number One Modification to Steem(it) that needs to be done FIRST.

is to add a third payout period, which lasts....forever.

When an author writes a book that is published dead-tree, that is hardback or paper. As long as it is in publication, readers have the opportunity to buy it and the author continues to receive royalties. (nevermind for the moment that the legacy publishers are as crooked and corrupt as washington DC)

When an author writes a book that is published as an E-Book it never goes out of publication. The author continues to receive royalties as long as someone buys the books.

The Steemit 'business' model of publishing is too much like the corrupt legacy publishing model and not much like the E-book model. The author get's paid the FIRST DAY for every unit "sold" (voted for) during the initial 24hr period (first pay out), then at the end of the first MONTH, for every unit "sold" ( voted for).

After that...So Solly Chawlie. No more pay.

That ain't right.

That in itself is a DIS-incentive for professional authors (those that want to be paid) to publish anything on the blockchain. After the first month the content is available to be seen...for FREE! Ok...to be clear it's always available for free but those reading it (who can vote) sometimes DO vote, and sometimes that vote counts for something. After the first Month...So Sollie Chawlie....the votes don't count. The author get's nothing, from that point on, forever. (the block-chain is forever)

This should be changed.

I suggest that after the second payout (first month) that the value of the vote, at that point in time, be directly deposited in the authors SP account.

The results of this new policy I leave to the student to analyze.

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Ask and you receive. I asked and @mattclarke delivered.

He said (see below in the comments. Posted here since a lot of people don't READ the comments and he made a good point) :
He said:
......share that day's total payout not just between the thousand other posts but also the million items which have been posted in the last 3 years?

When you put it that way it doesn't sound so good.
Good Point.

@mattclarke also said

setting aside 1/4 or 1/3 of each day's total payout for legacy posts.

My thoughts on that:

Great idea....at minimum
Or...we could acquire additional sources of revenue other than just new steem.
The dread advertising comes immediately to mind.
I hate and despise advertising, but like assholes, it is required for proper organic function.
A method of integrating advertising might be found that doesn't destroy what we like about Steemit.

I have a (tentative) idea.

Perhaps...
....anyone with vote power(check your vote power meter...we need one)...can view/read any post and vote/not vote as the case might be. The act of 'clicking' on a post removes a small amount of 'vote power' THAT might be a source for Legacy Posts. In other words, every 'look' costs a little bit. The more you look the more you pay. If you VOTE...It cost more. You get to decide what percentage of what you have left you "pay". When you run out...you need more _VOTGE Pow Wah . You can wait 24 hrs for it to recharge (like it does now ) OR get more power by looking at ads. Click on a link to an ad...get more vote power.

The more ads you look at, the more your recharge your power reserve, the more vote power you get. Eventually data would be accumulated to aide in determining what to charge for ad. In other words....suppose someone wants to buy an ad. They pay "$X" for the add. The $ is converted to Steem. When someone view the ad they get steem. Then they use the steem to view and vote on posts.

TANSTAFL!

It would seem that everyone would benefit.

(This is just the germ of an idea...it can be refined. Not everyone reads the comments. I'm adding this to my post)

Hmmmmmm....this causes me furiously to think. Why burn it? why not use it for upvoted legacy post?

Which leads to further thoughts. Do legacy votes merit curation? Should legacy votes be all the same weight (as they are now) or should every legacy vote be the SAME weight?
Curious and Curiouser.