Youtube just needs to increase the barriers before a channel can be monetised. Then, with a smaller pool of channels, they need better human review to prevent exactly things like this from happening.
If they are worried about the costs of a lot of non-monetised videos, just limit non-partner channel quality to 720p30, until the channel is made partner or coughs up something like $100.
Then, they need to allow micro-pledges in addition to likes. I would happily buy a pack of 100 pledges for $10 (ie. one pledge = 10c) and tip that towards the videos that I've really liked. Youtube could take their cut but it would represent a great extra revenue stream for content creators, and the number of pledges made public.
If they are worried about the costs of a lot of non-monetised videos, just limit non-partner channel quality to 720p30, until the channel is made partner or coughs up something like $100.
Then, they need to allow micro-pledges in addition to likes. I would happily buy a pack of 100 pledges for $10 (ie. one pledge = 10c) and tip that towards the videos that I've really liked. Youtube could take their cut but it would represent a great extra revenue stream for content creators, and the number of pledges made public.