I sort of feel like the problem isn't with the measuring stick -- the points system -- but with the people doing the measuring. And that problem won't change regardless of what measuring stick you're using to try to encourage certain types of skating.
I actually like the spins, but I feel like the skater should be penalized more if they are noticeably traveling while they do spins. To me it's distracting whenever the camera has to move around to keep the skater centered on the screen. I do agree though that some spin positions are good but quite a few are sort of meh.
Say we're satisfied with the base value rewards for higher levels and the real concern is GOEs...
How should judges score spins or other elements that are very good in some aspects, adequate in others, and distractingly less than good in one or more areas?
Is it OK to balance out pluses and minuses -- and maybe end up with +1 or even +2 GOE if there were enough more pluses despite an obvious weakness but not outright error?
Or should all obvious weaknesses in centering or position quality automatically cancel out all positive qualities? The skater can still get full credit in base value for higher levels if the skater meets the criteria, but the GOE cannot be higher than 0 if . . . what? The judge thinks at least one of the position variations was ugly? The spin traveled more than X feet?