Great explanation! I was thinking about writing something like this and now I don't have to. (Maybe I still will... we have overlapping audience but maybe I will attract some readers that miss yours.)

I never heard anyone complain the received an upvote increasing their potential rewards on their content.

This has happened to us at SBI, actually. In most cases it was because somebody didn't understand how curation works - "Your upvotes are 'stealing' my curation rewards".

In some cases it's because people somehow believe that a 100% voluntary self/crowdfunded upvote subscription is somehow 'socialist' and don't want any support from it.

And in some cases, it was because they thought others deserve it more.