I'll preface by saying that the "social norms" aren't fully developed as yet and may fluctuate, but I'll give you my take on it!
Yes, I upvote positive comments on my own stuff. Steemit needs more people to enjoy using it as fans and not be pressured into being "content creators," and commenting is the best way they can get involved and be rewarded. It's also the best tool you have of helping to sort the comments on your own post. Consider it your home turf and do as you will! If a comment seems generic or off base it may be spam though. Some folks are trying to make a cottage industry off of spam commenting and relying on authors to upvote them. So be aware and vote accordingly. You can check anyones commenting history to get a better idea if they're a spammer or bot. Personally, I'm also not shy about flagging (down voting) spam comments on my blogs as well, but there are some folks who shy from "confrontation" and avoid doing that.
The added benefit of supporting your audience is that it can come right back to you! As your votes improve their power on the platform, their votes will then do more for you and so on. It's a virtuous cycle. Now, I'm in no way in favor of vote trading or "circle jerk" arrangements so I never feel obligated to go vote for vote or follow for follow, (you may find a lot of that begging in your comments right now too!); but when it's natural voting behavior within a community it makes perfect sense and is extremely beneficial.
Yeah, I think I got ya. I'm fuzzy on voting power and all that, but seems like if I just post good content and be supportive (things i do anyhow) the rest'll take care of itself. I'm making a list of stuff to ask you, then I'll bug you on discord. In the meantime, how do I resteem? Thanks for this help by the way!
Exactly. Try not to think much about the underlying systems and just use it like you would any other social media or forum and the rest will come.
That’s your resteem button. No thanks needed, glad to help! I’ll keep an eye on Discord.
Am I on the right site here?
Looks like it to me! Just sent a friend request to you there.