Thanks for the detailed comment. I will move through it backwards.
I love @yallapapi's posts. He is a bit more coarse than me, but he is genuine. His motives and mine are totally in alignment, but I like his spirit and his ambition to help people in his own way. He wants to earn, but he doesn't want to do it at other people's expense rather to do it in conjunction with others. Also, I don't think he tries to take advantage of his followers (many influencers do including "communities").
You have hit the nail on the head with pay for vote "communities" versus "vote-bots" or "upvote services". The biggest difference in my opinion is the amount of resources they have and not their mission so much. There are many bots that are doing good things with their earnings like Jerry Banfield, Eco-Train, and others (at least they claim to be).
Regarding self-voting. This is YOUR choice. I won't be bullied by others on how to spend MY money. I also won't tell them how to spend THEIR money. Your self votes aren't hurting them and it helps you stay on the platform and reach your goals. "Friends" should be encouraging you and not trying to make you cater to their belief system. My favorite example of this is when I have vegetarians/vegans over to dinner and they request that I make something that fits their diet. I'm a nice guy so I do that. How many times have they catered to my tastes in meat at their house? If you guessed ZERO, you'd be right.

Good talking to you. Talk to you again soon Mizzourah!