I actually have a hard time getting through my feed every day because there's so much good stuff to read I can't keep up with it. But I know what you mean because I see a lot of very highly-rated garbage too.

I've been so grateful for the autovotes I do receive - they might be modest by whale standards but it means a lot that people have liked my material enough to indicate they want to support me even when they might not have the time to read. I also understand it when an auto-vote goes away. I write about a lot of different subjects and maybe whatever tangent I'm on during a given week doesn't resonate with someone.

The auto-votes also keep me from posting short, throw-away stories. I know these people have invested in me and I want to live up to their expectations.

I think the bigger problem is when the autovotes go into a round-robin of multiple big accounts, often controlled by the same people, that keep boosting posts through the roof - often at 6 1/2 days when people aren't as likely to notice the circle-jerk. If these posts were really interesting and valuable, why hide the votes with a sneaky 11th hour transaction?