I think the new atmosphere here requires a slight change to my usual routine, and I would like to share my thoughts on the matter for public discussion. These are just my reflections on how Steemit has changed since the last fork, and my conclusions are open to debate, so feel free to chime in below.
When I first created my account, I had nothing but the basic new account stake. I invested no money. I bought no STEEM. I just started writing. It wasn't all very good, but it was a fun learning experience. Back then, the interface had an option to self-vote by default, and I used that. My vote was worth nothing, so it didn't really matter anyway. My real concern at the time was the fake views from the broken view counter and all the bot votes just trying to game the rewards.
Fast-forward a couple years, and STEEM had changed a lot. Bid bots dominated the scene, but STEEM was spiking in price. I was able to self-vote myself a dollar or so, and it seemed like the only way to get rewarded when bid bot reward pool manipulation ran rampant. I started to feel like I was being a bit too self-serving when I could self-vote a couple bucks, but I was also curating content I liked, so it didn't seem too out of line. And I was just a large minnow or perhaps very small dolphin.
Now after the latest fork, I think the overall change has been for the better. The vote bots are back in force, but the manual curation trails seem to be more active than ever before, too, and the old bid bot accounts are starting to curate as their bid revenue declines, so at least they're starting to contribute something besides paid manipulation of the daily payout. It is odd to see bid bot accounts upvoting even my own content from time to time. It still feels a little sleazy to see them listed as supporting my content, but I didn't pay for it, so whatever.
With that in mind, I think it is time for me to stop voting on my own content. For now, I intend to only vote for myself as a counter to flags on my comments. #newsteem means better reward distribution from organic votes, and if I don't vote for myself, that's also one more vote per day for curating content I like. I will continue to follow 