I have thought of another solution to this voting (Steem distribution) problem. Add a time element to the voting power calculation.

Take the following simple formula as a basis:

time spent reading a post (in seconds) + ({time/ [some factor]} * account SP) = "total voting time reward"

• that factor can be 1, 10, or 1/1000, or any other value that we choose, depending on how strongly we want "time spent reading a post" (TSRP) to weigh into the voting power, compared to SP of the voting account. If we make the factor very high, then SP weighs weaker compared to TSRP. If we make the factor very low (such as a fraction, lower than 1), then SP becomes weighted much stronger compared to TSRP. In other words, we have total control over how much power each factor - TSRP and SP - have on total voting power.

Put a cap of, let's say, 30 minutes worth of voting time payment per account to any one post. Now, if a whale spends 30 minutes reading a post, it has clearly kept his/ her attention for 30 minutes and is likely a good article; therefore, it deserves a high reward, and it will, due to the combination of high time spent on it and the high SP of the account.

If, however, those 30 minutes were essentially sucked away by a long article that was of poor content, then that whale, or any other account that experiences a similar scenario, has the option to "take back your voting time/ points" (by clicking on a very visible button that makes its purpose very clear to the end-user), making it as if they had spent 0 time reading the post, or some percentage of the actual time spent on that post (decided solely by the end-user).

I think this should help minnows, because they're likely to spend more time on a post (reading posts) than a millionaire whale; yet, it's still fair to the whales since their high SP will more than make up for their limited time spent reading posts, meaning that they'll still earn much higher rewards compared to minnows, although likely less than they do under the current system (in terms of percentage of Steem distributed into their accounts versus the smaller SP accounts). Furthermore, it would make it far more difficult for Steemit users, whales and minnows alike, to game the system by setting up automated bots, since they'll now be required to stay on a post for 30 minutes in order to get the highest possible payouts from it.

I go into this idea in more detail in THIS POST.

Please check it out and leave a comment if you have any improvement suggestions to my idea and/or an alternative solution to the problem.