I agree with you that quality would be key.
The issue is that on some posts I spent 30min-1hour writing I would get no upvotes and then on posts where I spent 1-2 min I would get a bunch up upvotes. I would just put BItcoins sign there and would get upvotes.
I would much rather talk about something meaningful if only people would read it or at least comment on it.
RE: I give a guy 100 upvotes, get no thank you, give him 1 flag, he writes a post about it!