RE: Steemit/Steem: Reputation Voting Analysis
Hey @trumpman, I am certainly no expert. But you have an interesting question at the end, so I thought I would weigh in.
As it regards to you voting out of "respect" to the people that supported you early, I believe it depends on the type of person that you feel obligated to support. If that person would want you to vote for them even though you have a limited amount of votes to use, then I can understand the loyalty.
However, if that person would want you to support the platform instead by spreading your vote to encourage good community development, then I think you should consider better alternatives. The only way to know is to have the conversation with them (if you don't already know their answers).
I am very new and nowhere near where any of your all are at, but I feel the same debt of gratitude to the writer of this post @abh12345. He has helped me grow and kind of taken me under his wing. Of course I feel a debt of gratitude to him that will never be able to be fully repaid.
But without even asking, I know what Asher will want me to do when I get some real SP one day. He will want me to grow the community and would encourage me to spread it out. Of course not everyone is as humble and gracious as Asher, but its something that everyone should always think through and find out.
Is it in our own interest for the platform to grow? Or is it time to milk as much out of this cow before the milk runs dry?
I know what my "big supporter" would want, but obviously I have an easy choice. I would advise everyone to have that conversation though, because that's the only way we can discover solutions to any dilemmas we may face.