Thank you for this. I've been upvoting my own posts and some comments, but I've been re-thinking this. My voting power gets depleted pretty quickly and the upvotes do not amount to much. Self-voting takes away VP that I could use on other people's posts and comments. I'll check out that article by @denmarkguy about self-voting.

I'm also considering delegating some SP to Minnow Support as they have helped me out since I've started, and they still help today.

I prefer to MUTE people who are not following good Steemit practices. It's really satisfying to see all their posts and comments disappear. There are some high-profile whales (I won't mention names) that I've muted, just because I find them obnoxious. I also MUTE most BOTS. They can be obnoxious too.

I very rarely downvote (flag), unless it's something really bad. I've seen too many downvotes on content people don't agree with, rather than actual evil stuff.

Steem on, my friend. I'm really enjoying Steemit. It's a unique platform like no other. Steemit and STEEM will have stay power, i'm sure.

@ironshield