This would limit 2 problems that I perceive.
- Comment spam
A lot of users have realised that while there is a 'cost' to over-voting, where you reduce the power of your vote, there is no cost to commenting. If you have a look at some of the generic comments a post gets and cross reference them with the author with the voters you will find that a lot of the time they have not voted, despite their comment of
great point, couldn't agree more
well you could agree more you could've voted on the post!
- Lack of engagement with the report/downvote
I am not sure if there are any studies done on what is a healthy mix of upvotes to downvotes but I think steemit has missed the mark. While people are happy to comment on a post they dislike they do not feel willing to downvote it. A required vote may help fix that, and increase acceptance to the idea of downvoting.
Thanks for reading, any thoughts?