Ok, so I am asking for some advice from wiser, more experienced Steemians out there, but I’m also hoping to start a discussion on this topic that has been on my mind.
So, as I imagine many of you may have done, when I started out here, I was so excited at all the great content! I mean, yes, there are some posts that I just can’t relate to or maybe don’t fully understand, but there is no lack of content when you search the topics that interest you! So, me being the friendly person I am, started upvoting posts. Not just willy-nilly, mind you. I read them first and I didn’t upvote everything I read, but if I could tell that the author was really trying, then I clicked the little arrow! And, when skimming the comments, if I found one I was particularly drawn too, I gave them my version of the digital high-5. 
(Wait, I’m dating myself, aren’t I?) Right…So, I gave them a digital fist-bump with an upvote! 
Then I started seeing a couple posts about making your upvotes more profitable. Hmmm… I skipped past the first few because there were homesteading and inspirational posts that were more interesting to me at the time. But then I came across a few more and started reading and discovered steemd.com and steemstats.com. So I took a peek. Yikes! My voting power was down to 50%! Uh oh. From what I’ve read, that is not great for me, but it’s also not great for the folks whose posts I was upvoting, right? Please correct me if I’m wrong. So, I decided not to upvote until my power is back up.
However, now I’m up and wanting to read some posts. This is my time to decompress and read some good material! I’ve spent all day wiping bottoms, noses and countertops (not necessarily in that order) and now that everyone is snug and sleeping, I want to enjoy myself. Only, I can’t upvote yet!!
So, I went ahead and read some really good articles and I felt compelled to thank the authors or tell them what I had learned, or what my experiences had been and at the end of each comment, I apologized and promised to be back to upvote them when my voting power was back up.
Is that like some Steemit faux-pas? I mean, I see both sides of it. Some might see me as greedy or trying to benefit by posting without upvoting, but if we really are a community committed to supporting one another, then doesn’t my advice or support to authors mean something, too? Perhaps something greater than the measly .01 that my newbie upvote would give them?
What do you think? I would love to hear back and if I got some of this wrong, please correct me! Most of all, I want to learn and grow.
When you’re green, you’re growing! !
When you’re ripe, you rot!
Great post, I am relatively new to Steem myself, so I can't say as I know the rules of the road exactly either. But my view is upvotes have to be earned, by me, or others. The mere fact that your post caught my eye enough to trigger me to read it, doesn't by itself mean that an upvote is justified.
I upvote when the quality of post or comment is greater than average, in my mind, meaning that the post is better than most other things I see on here. That is the base level of approval I assign, so if I think your post is better than 51% of the stuff I see, I upvote.
The second question I ask myself about the content is how good was it? Good, great, superb?
Since I have enough Steempower, I can control my upvote's value, I manipulate it to lower or higher thresholds depending on the degree of insightfulness, or importance I ascribe the the post or comment.
If I think it was pretty average 50% upvote, if I think it was great or superb 75% to 100%.
Like you I know I only have so many upvotes per day, and I need to respect that fact by not just throwing my approval around. And when my voting power is down I like to take a break, lean back on my upvotes, I will still approve if its great but the standards become higher when my vote power is low.
Your post, 100% UPVOTE, mind you my vote is diminshed today, but still not bad. Enjoy! Blessings.
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response. I have so much to learn, but am just constantly impressed by the support available for newbies here. I hope I can just start helping out some fellow newbies who might have the same questions as I have had on my Steemit journey. Peace!
Love it! That is the attitude that in my view makes Steem worth buying, and Steemit worth investing time into. I really believe people like you, and hopefully myself, are making this place worth being a part of, and as we do that we simealtaneously improve our own opportunity to earn something here, because we begin to attract more and more great people, hopefully all of whom contribute and deepen the pool of great content.
Hopefully....
Thanks.
Question. At what point do you get to control you voting power?
From the FAQ: "Once you reach about 500 STEEM Power, you will see a vote slider appear when you vote."
I'm relatively new myself even though I started back in 2017. I was on pregnancy hiatus and just now coming back.
As for commenting without upvoting, I don't think that's rude. My upvote is mine to give based on what I believe in:
So based on what you came for you can upvote however you want. Comments - I don't really want to read a one liner that's not meaningful or are really helpful. Btw, comments are in itself a post too. So you can upvote your comments and other's comments however you like.
Note the "profitable" is #3 because, heck why are we creating content for steemit? We like to create content and if it reaches the right audience get paid for it!
My husband also figured out that you can still give someone a 100% upvote when your voting power is >= 80% So for us with low upvote $ value, I'd like to give it to a very good post.
One of these days we'll have that coveted slider so we can adjust our voting power.
@lovenfreedom Thanks for weighing in. I guess I'm just so trained to "like" posts that I was feeling almost rude not doing it, but now I'm realize that those 'likes' (referring to the social media site which will not be named, lol) have become like paper money-meaningless and that is why they had to come up with other more volatile reactions, like love, hate, sad and wow! It's almost the equivalent of printing more money to pump up the system. Like maybe they realized the 'Like' was losing its value and they had to pump new emoticons into the system so people would start reacting more! And then people started craving those reactions more! It's such a cycle!
And folks here, most anyway, understand that and are here for more than just the upvote! We're here to co-create, right? To experience connections via the things which we hold dear and also via people we've connected and with and perhaps even become virtual friends with! @coruscate just did a really nice d-tube post about this and I think it would be fitting to share here. https://steemit.com/steemit/@coruscate/2m5ahijb
I was having similar moments of doubt, then I read this nice post by @kaylinart
https://steemit.com/steemit/@kaylinart/why-you-should-upvote-comments
I agree with her idea that upvoting spreads positivity and interaction, and not to worry too much about your voting power. Especially for people like us who are relatively new on the platform and whose votes don't count for much anyway. At the moment, I feel like I'd rather give the upvote and the symbolic token of my appreciation, Later on when I have more voting power I'll... - well I'll probably vote for just as many people. :D
I've been enjoying a few of @kaylinart 's posts. I will definitely look that up! Thanks.
I did like that article. She made some very good points. It's still a fine balance. I just want to not worry about the $ or the SBD or whatever and just be good to people. Treat others the way we would like to be treated, right? Thanks for the link. Peace!
Thanks for letting me know what you thought! Actually, your post inspired me to read more about upvoting and I have to admit that now I've learned more about voting power and how it works I think my view has changed a bit between now and when i wrote my first comment. I've heard about people having bandwidth issues, and that has made me a bit more wary about what I upvote. Still there is so much great content here, it's really hard to limit myself. I'm sure you're having the same problem.
Absolutely! It's a conundrum for certain! And, did you read the post that mentioned following too many people? I don't think I follow too many now, but maybe I may need to go weed a few out in the future and I don't like the thought of that. Hmm... We have much to learn here!
There is a whole range of opinions on this so I would say read all the replies you get to this post
Take them worth a grain of salt and decide fir yourself what is best for you
That said here are my thoughts since you asked
I think up until you get the vote power slider just upvote as you like until you get the slider
Once you get the slider then build up your vote power and try to keep it above 80%
I see no problem with a nice and meaningful comment without an upvote because I know sometime out vote power needs to be built up and hence we cannot is upvote
Cheers
Thanks for taking the time to respond to this. I am not much a photographer, but here is one of my N. Idaho favorites. I'll be writing a post based on it soon, but it's my thank you gift to you for taking the time to read and advise on this post.
With such beautiful scenery up here it's almost a sin to not know how to work a camera!
Peace!
My pleasure to reads and reply
That’s a gorgeous winter wonderland scene
I look forward to seeing the post with it
Yes, this is what I try to follow @tattoodjay :)
Learning to ration votes can be tricky! Once you're above 500 sp you get about ten 100% upvotes so you have to start being choosey if you want them to pack a punch.
Then there's upvoting others comments on your own posts...
All a learning process!
It is all a matter of working out what works best for you
If you are commenting on a post with a lot of upvotes already, I don't think it matters. Who's going to check anyway? ;-) I feel the same as you when commenting on something with not that many upvotes, though. I suppose in that situation saying you'll come back is nice, but I would say just upvote anyway. If you're not doing it too much your voting power won't suffer.
@Dinobot, thanks for taking the time to respond. Btw, I read that you used to play instruments, but you still like to bang on stuff. Does that make you a percussionist?
Also, how did you come up with your name? My kids are into the Transformer RescueBots cartoon, and in one of their books, they turn into Dinobots.
Yes, percussion was my first instrument (instruments?). I don't play music anymore unfortunately, but I still tap beats with my hands on whatever surface haha.
Dinobot is a character from the Beast Wars Transformers spin-off show from the 90s. It was my favorite show as a kid and its revolutionary CG animation makes me more nostalgic than anything.
Nice post! I would love to comment and upvote every post but since I'm not a whale account I really can't, I am forced to reduce my interactions on Steemit due to the bandwidth issue a lot of new Steemit users are also struggling with.
I wrote an article about this in case you would like to know more:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@maxdigi/the-bandwidth-issues-on-steemit
Have you already experienced this problem?
But on topic I also feel an upvote should be earned by qualitative content; meaning useful information that educates readers or amuses them. I also find the structure of articles and posts important.
Feel free to check out my blog @maxdigi, this way we can support each other.
Cheers
maxidigi
Interesting! No! I have not, but I powered up-it wasn't very much, but perhaps enough to make a difference? Also, I've got 4 kids I'm homeschooling so I don't get nearly as much time online as I'd like, so that might keep me out of trouble as well. I didn't realize following too many people was a bad thing. I am picky with who I follow. There are a lot of great writers out there that I have commented on their post or given an upvote to without following simply because most of their posts were not aligned with my interests, but now I'm thinking I should be more cautious with that too perhaps. You given me more to think about, that's for certain. Thank you!
Yes leaving comments adds value even if you can't upvote that shouldn't prevent engagement! I appreciate your detailed comments ^_^
A bit of advice is to not put your posts to 'power-up' and choose the 50/50 option as sbd being at it's current value you will get more that way, and can just convert sbd to steem after payout :)