A big obstacle on this platform is that we never know how a proposal will turn out until will test it.

The only hindsight we've had at any juncture, is taking what's currently happening and using to predict what will likely happen.

As a result, you're very much correct when you say people will continue to use it to their advantage.

It also means not everyone will abuse the downvote pool. The ones who're currently using upvotes for the betterment of this platform will also use downvotes for the same cause.

Other than using downvotes for whale-fightings, the JerryBanfields of Steem and spammy contents, I have never come across a scenario where well known/well established content curators/curation movements get flagged.

But again no matter how many years one spends on this blockchain, it remains an unknown beast.