What I find interesting is how many people have strong feelings on these issues. Seems to me like just differing vote strategy. After all the point is to grow an account.
My reasoning is my penny votes won't help me much in the long run. However testing out the best places to show consistent support opens the opportunity for building connections. Over time those connections could have a higher value than the penny.
On the other hand if one were to put some money into SP, a larger vote value may yield a better ROI with some self votes thrown in.

I would probably have less followers honestly. Everyone likes to earn a little bit.

You are probably right. But you might be surprised. I know spend a lot of time in conversations that do not result in votes. I am amazed sometimes at the engagement on some of my post, considering my comment votes are useless.
But you have got me thinking. Maybe we should start hubs account with an investment of SP. Would be great to compare how much easier it would be to grow an account by starting out with enough to offer a decent reward.