There's a distinct difference in curation rewards, i can see that on this gauge at 60sp, there would have been none before. However , i don't know what all changed but i do get the impression that you get more for high-value posts as well , which, (i hear from a lot of upper-echelon rich kids that that's bad but they seem to all DO it themselves) leads me to actually vote on posts i never voted on before (that part is true) however, those tend to be high-value posts, not all of them are utter marketing crud ofcourse, some witnesses have sound stuff to say and do and my power lies not in being able to boast that i can just throw $100.000 at a sinking ship in a bear market like some people who got propagated as new saviours (i absolutely realize the prime goal of Steemit.inc is making money as they need that to survive and pay their people so i mostly try not to react to the dirty-glass-see-through salespitches they throw)
My power lies in being a virus in the heads of those who can't help but go with the flow because if they don't they starve as outside of the current there is no plankton to feed on. Wether they like it or not, you can not remove ideas, so the only option would be to put me on ignore lol ... how that idea keeps festering and growing and wether it comes out as someone elses of their own is beyond control, the only thing you can do as a mudskippker is plant it)
... so in essence i vote LESS on the people i used to before and more on posts that in the first place have high value as one of my prime goals STILL is at the very least get the money back i dumped into it ... relatively speaking , percentagewise that's probably more to me than $100k would be to some but its not about fingerpointing and strife because i dont have competition in me, its a waste of time and it diverts one from ones goals ...

Self-voting is still interesting if you have a lot of SP but barely if you don't and i don't see anything wrong with it either ... its about keeping the balance there and i always say bill gates is in a bettter position to save the planet than i am ... not just b/c he's a smart school dropout lol
i'm sure my self-vote %age is quite low , even through all accounts combined but i dont know if the last HF will be nothing but a patch since the prime problem to actual value is still inflation and as inflation rises so will countermeasures have to ... so whats next ? 6 free downvotes, lol ?

that's not gonna solve anything ...

despite that i'm not going anywhere but its not about power to me, but it has become to some, the idea of wielding power (definitely not, you, right, Simon, i doubt you hardly ever downvote or flag either, just 'some' ... lol)
because its definitely no longer about money, anyone throwing 100k at this thing in this state ? if i had 100k right now i would certainly go for BTC on the dip lol, but i would NEED the money so im guessing they don't ...

i'm not a tribalist and i dont grasp the point where tribalism is de-centralized either, but that's not the only weird notion i have lol

hm the thing sticks on the center tag ...

i just hope we can see this all through but anyone who comes in at this moment thinking of making it big by 'writing' ... im sure you know that for quite a while now, we put in more than we get out because its interesting and cool to play around with but very , very few (other than the top 20 scrapers) actually get money out of it, right ...

but well

i think the life i'm in now was halfway born on teh interwebz, im sure more stuff will come along and if they don't adapt to it they'll be history ... it WOULD be a shame :D

truly, the technical beauty of it all ... that would really be a shame

but think about it, clear and pure numbers : steemmonsters pushes up 120k steem, realwolf pushes up 70k steem, the new little emperor spends $100k (allegedly) and pushes up 1kk steem, steemit.inc does not sell off this month , powerup is bigger than powerdown for 26 consecutive days yet the price
stays the same ...
??!?
lets not count the global market dip as i dont think that has anything to with this specific token thats just global, lets just see, since the HF21 propaganda started until now, without the global dunk it would be down AT LEAST 25% at the moment from then, despite the powering up, steemit not selling

no one seems to be buying ... not at high levels , my guess is they're pouring liquid into the chain they had lying around from the golden days, and they're not buying one pro-mille for dollar, its the only way i can think of to explain this

... which, (not done yet with the always-positive view) ... means in essence, all that liquid that was lying around will now drain more curation from the pool ...

those are clear numbers and thats what numbers show me, i dont even need to add my opinion, your vote is nice already but it wont make a difference in the powerdrain the top-accounts represent (mine even a lot less) , and MORE SO now with increased curation and power-ups (from liquid is my real guess, most of them were witnesses , a.k.a. 'block producers' waaaay before so they're bound to have a pile they didnt sell as they're used to a price that's over 3 , maybe 5 dollar and always keep thinking this will get a fibonacci jerk 'because' ...

so i try to keep silent on the big feeds most of the time but the numbers tell me what they tell me :)

it doesnt pay to be the realist lol ... but it suits me better since my resources are quite limited ..

anyways, as always a pleasure and see you around mister J :p

let's hope it turns out for the better and we're all driving lambo's two years from now (lol) and otherwise let's just hope steemit adapts from the elder doctrine of "thou shalt WRITE good content for a hyperinflated share of hyperinflation and bring a friend to pay for it" or we might not be posting at all (no one has picked up to co-develop since afaik ... its very very strange in a way ...)

don't lose sleep over it , you don't strike me like the guy who would risk rentmoney on a gamble anywyay :p