Interesting read @paulag; I really appreciate the transparency!
In Social Media, everything is a form of social proof, and what you build often rests on fragile ground.
If someone tirelessly votes for the very best content, regardless of the author's ability to reciprocate, that is one "statement." If someone only votes for Big Fish who can reciprocate in-kind, that's a different "statement." If someone mostly votes for themselves, it's yet another "statement." Vote for developers? "Statement." Vote for content creators? "Statement." All of it creates the complex pudding that is "Social Proof."
Steemit is a complex ecosystem with a lot of different ambitions. Approaches seem to run the range from short-term "maximize cash" to long term "community building." Our task — our challenge — becomes to align ourselves with those whose vision for Steemit is in alignment with our own.
I think you and Asher are doing something right with the direction of your witness, so I am behind that. Your self-voting confession doesn't alter that fact. My personal perspective on self-voting is something I've seen in a few posts: Your first self-vote per day is a "freebie." After that, you're welcome to continue self-voting, but each following self-vote drains your voting power 5x (or some multiple) faster than a vote for someone else.
=^..^=