Have you run any mathematical models on this proposal?

Consider that many people have thousands of followers.

Consider also that clicking buttons takes no effort and people who use social media are used to clicking buttons.

Consider further that people will inevitably click buttons to promote stories with inappropriate content.

Also consider that people will develop reciprocity agreements to game the system. So many stories will get promoted that there will be no signal and all noise.

Medium's plan is to ultimately enable every Medium member to nominate stories for Boost.

It's easy to gripe about the status quo. Coming up with a viable alternative is not so easy.

Does the Boost system have warts? Yes. All systems do.

IMHO, the "incest" comment is an unsubstantiated ad hominem swipe.