Some interesting questions - I've been fortunate enough to have had steemcurator backing in my short time here which I feel extremely privileged by. What I have noticed is that steemcurator gets tagged in hundreds, if not thousands of posts per day with people seeking their attention (and subsequent upvote). I'm miffed as to how they can possibly get through all of these tags.

From my perspective, I feel that they've enjoyed the content I've written and as such, have decided to support me as a content creator in the hope that I'll continue to contribute to the community (almost like a sponsorship programme). So whereas some of the posts I've written probably don't deserve the upvote, they've seen me as an author that they wish to support - which could explain some of the upvotes that appear undeserving.

I also hope that they've seen me as an author who once "powerful" enough, will support other authors, which I fully intend to do (in 10 years from now 😅)

It's also possible that they see me as somebody who will reinvest in the Steemit platform to help it grow, as opposed to "cashing out".

I can only guess.