This is interesting. I found this post while searching for how to stop auto-upvoting your own posts because, apparently they have added that feature since this was written a year ago ;) I also wrote a brief post recently about whether or not whales upvote their own stuff--I see it as being a visibility thing like someone else mentioned--and also a "confidence" thing. It's almost like, if you aren't willing to "invest" in yourself, then why would anyone else want to?! That kind of thing. Then again, I am quite new to the forum--about a month, so... we'll see :)