nice post @samstonehill! I'm sure I'm probably not really maximizing my curation rewards, but that's also because I tend to spread "a lot of love" among comments as well. But it's all good, as I feel that helps me (and others) even more in the long-run.
I had heard of @curie, but only really learned about the project a few days back when @lindahas, who I've been trying to give a bit of a boost due to the great heart-felt articles she's been writing (especially as a newbie steemian). Turns out she was recently submitted to @curie by @deserttree and won a full vote (her post is currently poised to payout over $150)!
As you can imagine, she was pretty ecstatic about it! Write great posts and content, and sooner or later, you will be recognized and appreciated on STEEMIT! :)
I know what you mean about spreading the love amongst comments. It feels right to do it when appropriate. Even though you know it is unlikely you will receive any reward for doing so.
And yes, the Guild are amazing! They've been around since I started. And I used them a bunch to boost me many times before my rep went above 52. I owe them big time.
Am working on the creation of a Guild of my own now. Designed to curate the work of those who are being guided by my Bali Steemit School, all of whom will fit perfectly into the optimum reward category. Perhaps you might be interested in joining this guild? I am looking for a total of 12 people willing to gives upvotes at the value of $1 to our selected posts before resteeming them.
Everyone involved will benefit and as the power of our guild grows we will be able to look beyond those who have been trained by my Bali Steemit school!
unfortunately Sam my votes aren't quite worth that much yet (though they were worth nearly $2 each for a while after HF19), that was kind of cool! :)
Also, I don't tend to be a big resteemer, not directly at least because of the feed clutter. I generally prefer to "resteem" post links in my comments and posts (when relevant, of course). Sort of like my version of a resteem with added "color". Granted, I've resteemed a bit more though since I released "Hide ReSteems", but of course it's not something most people are using, well, not yet at least!
Are you also planning to post summaries as well, sort of like @happyphoenix does? I've found his posts great at catching and upvoting posts that I may have otherwise missed earlier on. Of course, that doesn't work to "maximize" curation rewards, but for me it's all good nonetheless. :)
so many projects going on it's hard to keep up (-:
You gotta keep your ear to the ground around here :)