Resteeming this to look at it later.
I sometimes upvote my post to jump on the "replies" queue. Maybe that should instead be called pay for promotion, or pay to be heard... you get the idea. Although that also introduces the typical unfair problem of, who has more money always wins...
I need to think about this.
Yeah, I do the same thing. I also do it for other people's comments that I want to raise as well though, so to me, it doesn't count as 'abuse'.