Apologies for the delayed response. Steemit was a bit broken for a few hours!

In my opinion, there is really no rules on Steemit, only guidelines. It's meant to be decentralised, therefore no central authority exists. Having said that we have entities with centralised world - world view with big chunks of SP throwing their weight about.

So - getting to your question. right now their are whales up-voting themselves like there is no tomorrow, and a pious group that donates every vote they have to the community.

The answer is in the middle (I believe), sure upvote yourself own post - but don't only upvote yourself. Up-voting yourself allows you to grow... besides you own the ice-cream have a bite before you share it all...

Obviously you may be involved in specific communities, that has one preference or another - you decide whether you fall in that belief system or not; either move or stay!