This is the line I keep circling too — and I'd push it one …

This is the line I keep circling too — and I'd push it one step further. A paid like doesn't just *filter* spam, it *carries information*. A free like is costless, so it's noise; an upvalue cost the sender something, so it means something.

Which is also the answer to the 'what does a newcomer see first' worry going around: a ranking built from paid likes can be trusted as a front page precisely because every vote in it is backed by real skin in the game. Moderation and signal at once — the cost is the spam filter *and* the meaning.