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Two things make this not as gameable as it may first seem:
- Piling on late is just tipping late. It still counts, but later tippers get the smallest share of the credit, so waiting has a price.
- Nudging a rival under the line means paying for a downvote, and that money goes into the rewards pool you're competing for. Plus it gives everyone else still in the running a tiny raise, not just you.
On "most time in the top half", I like it in theory, but we'd have to track how every post's score moves all week, adding complexity, and like you said, it also has its own quirks.
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“finishes the week in the top half of content by net votes” <- that’s easy to game: hold votes until Sunday, pile onto what’s already near the cut, or nudge a rival under the median in the last hours. It also trains people to wait: why post/upvote on Monday if Sunday frontpage tips still pay?
“Most time of the week in the top half” is better IMO: reward what stayed good, not what won the bell. Measure share of the post’s own lifetime above the median, not raw hours, or Monday posts just win by existing longer :)
(still gameable though: posting later in the week is easier to qualify: a Saturday post only has to hold the half for a short(er) window).