Hello @torico,

I've had a different experience before when up voting my own posts days on end. My mentality completely derailed into; "what should I post today, surely it'd good enough for me to vote on", and I wouldn't be as compelled to write amazing pieces. I spend a good amount of time on each article I write, and sometimes, my posts are good- but only to me xD

Using votes on others, whether on a post where rewards go to them, or their own posts is admirable. Helping out another author is a great use for these services.

The part that remains a mystery to me is that I believed Steemit's goal was to build a solid database on the blockchain with innovative content not found in other places. Maybe I have that wrong idea, and the goal is to create a hub and a person can bring all of their experiences here instead? I'm aware that professional writers paste the same article in a multitude of places, or even throw small spins on them. Yet, I still feel that is misleading to copy/paste the whole thing without saying anything at all to the reader.

I feel you on the people who do it for profit, being able to pin down something like that takes a lot of manpower and can't be easily determined. I only did the extra digging after finding multiple instances of other offenses from the same account.

Thank you for the advice as well,
@shello