I know its a small comfort from such a newbie as myself, but I will never engage in self-voting. I find it ethically dubious. I'd rather up-vote things that make sense to me, that I feel contribute to how I'd like Steemit to be.
Thanks for the post, I'm trying to wrap my head around various concepts used by this platform and every bit helps.
It's a new world. You've landed on the beach. Let's go see what is out there.