I've never paid for a vote, nor will I. I do believe that minnows should upvote their own stuff in the beginning. You won't have many if any followers, and there really is not another good option. Curation pays absolutely nothing, or at least close to it. I also believe that upvoting your comments moves you out of the mud of the BS comments that people tag on and run, hoping to get some pittance from them. Abusing the system for money is like beating the crap out of a vending machine to get it to spill its coins. The machine's all busted up, you got no coins for your trouble, and now no one else can use it legitimately.