I love to manually curate. Never have auto voted. Don't even know how. Almost always I only vote for quality posts. Sometimes I do vote for "friends", out of loyalty, but that loyalty was earned over time, through good work and connections. And sometimes I look for posts that need a little boost, posts that have just a few cents under them. Wish I had more Steem (trying to get more, but in NY it is hard to buy) so I could give a bigger 'boost'. That always feels good.
And yes, the drama (I don't even notice it) is worth it.
Have a great day :)
I would expect normal people to do the same as you.