Maybe for the better. I think personally I’d be more inclined to upvote posts/content that I enjoy if I knew it directly supported them.

Same reason I buy albums that I love despite me already having Spotify—to give back to the creators.

I was thinking this too. I'd be even less inclined to upvote low-effort posts, knowing that I'd also be paying them for that low effort. And more inclined to upvote high effort, less visible posts - both because I think they deserve my money more, and because being more upvoted = being more seen = getting paid more by others as well.

I'd also give out upvotes more sparsely overall, since upvoting a post reduces the amount my previously upvoted posts will get paid.

I keep thinking there should be two upvotes. One that is just internet points and one that is a paying-upvote.

That way you can interact with the site and upvote shitty memes as you normally would, but when it is time to be serious you'll using the paying-upvote instead.

Reddit kinda landes on a similar formula with Reddit gold.

I remember back in the Slashdot days their moderation system didn’t give out Karma points for “+1 Funny” moderations so you could make fun of a hysterical or simply wrong comment by upvoting. Also you could stack negative mods with funny mods to really nail their karma.

If I pay to upvote I’m not pushing meme for sure. Only content that I actually read and that I enjoy.

You don't pay to upvote, you pay to use the site and then upvoting changes where your money goes. It doesn't affect you are much you are paying.