I totally get your point, it's a hard sale to pitch however... In the sense that if someone buys their SteemPower, telling that investor that he/she can't self vote probably would not fly. But all your frustrations were once my own @ohicklin and it was not that long ago.
That being said, I'm glad you are actively looking for answers, and appreciate your thoughtful comment... so this one is on me...
Cheers
I love all the creativity I see here, but can also see why some would get frustrated and walk away before figuring out how to work the system.
I am definitely enjoying it, maybe too much, despite those WTF moments.
Thanks for the support!
I have never had a problem with people upvoting their posts. If it was not allowed on steemit, the option would not be available. As a small minnow, just starting out, upvoting your own comments might get you another 1 thenth of a cent. I'm not sure where the "upvoting your own comments" goes from self help to "raping the reward pool". It's an arbitrary decision, depending on who you ask. I haven't upvoted one of my own comments in a while, but I did when I was first starting. Sometimes it was about the only rewards that I got from the post.