Out of respect for those who think that users should not upvote their own posts, even though there is nothing wrong with upvoting your own Stories (If you don't think your 'Proof Of Brain' is good enough to upvote, should you even post it?) I will temporarily pause my own self-upvotes.

For clarity, I have been around since the very very beginning. I watched others rise and didn't really understand how it all worked, and then I worked very dilligently to earn my Hive Power for years and years, until I finally reached the modest level of Minnow with more than 500 HP. Eventually I reached around 1200 and floated there for way too long, but I have never been a big earner.

You can browse Trending to see top earning users, who consistently earn large dollar amounts on their questionable posts, some who obviously are putting in great consistent efforts, and others who are just fortunate to have large followings with big upvotes. I don't judge, everyone gets what they give and this is not a charity economy, although people can do what they like with their upvotes.

Users can power up, they can give back to the community, and I have always encouraged this. Good behavior is best, and it's no secret that users should be on their best behavior. Everything is written into the blockchain, so even those mischevious actors are writing their own tickets in the long term.

Is self-upvoting wrong? I don't think so. You earn rewards from Authoring and from Curating, and as I said before, when you write a story you should put in enough effort that it is worth at the least your own upvote. Also, your own upvote is what is 'guaranteed' meaning, even if no one else likes your posts, you can at least upvote your own post and get that half penny if you believe in your own work.

Some have different ideas, some think this built-in mechanism is unfair, because users can simply upvote their own content and get rewards. Yet I think it is more important to note what is done with those rewards once they are paid out. I could go on but this brings me directly to my next point.

As of late it has become clear that some users are 'milking' the system, earning rewards and selling the price down. The low low price is largely due to the fact that, some users DO need to sell Hive in order to pay for their costs. That tokens are sold is not a problem, but users who are willing to sell their rewards yet not willing to BUY at a higher price, is concerning to me.

At rock bottom HIVE valuation, every user on here with HBD should be converting to Hive in order to support a higher price. Maintaining a low Hive price deliberately seems irresponsible in the long term prospect of this chain. That we have allowed the price of Hive to fall below 2000 Satoshis is not only a shame, but a Disgrace. Some of us, spent BTC to buy our first Hive power in the first place, and a more realistic person would have simply kept the Bitcoin. Yet we believe in Hive, we find utility in this blockchain when so many other coins have less. We come back day after day, week after week adding our thoughts, opinions, ideas, and data to the chain. We have INVESTED and earned VESTS for our efforts, and yet some users have squandered it.

I am not here to judge, I am happy to see that users have obtained value from the chain. But what concerns me are the users who do not replenish the value they have received, and seem happy to withdrawl as much value as they can get from Hive.

It is not my intent to judge anyone, I don't think anyone should tell anyone else what they have to do, but sometimes it can be important to lay certain facts out clearly. To see a user that has withdrawn 30,000 HIVE, still asking for more money, is embarassing. You sold your stake, for a camera, for some rent, for a ticket to travel. That is all well and good, but when will you return the value to the chain? When will you add the value back that you have withdrawn?

If you use the PeakD front end, you may have noticed that a new KE stat has been added to profiles. This is extremely helpful when curating /Created as I do as much as I am able. When I was just a redfish with barely any HP, I hoped and dreamt that someone would look favorably upon my humble posts, and bless me with some upvotes. Yet now I look out across that same equal feed of new posts, and see users with KE over 1.0, over 5.0, even over 17.0, and I wonder. Will these users eat because of my upvote? Or will they just sell the Hive at the low price of 0.048 HBD and continue asking for more? A year from now, will their KE remain low, or will they power up any of the Hive they are earning? I do not want to judge too harshly, there are many around the world who are in fact eating because of the upvotes we share with them.

My KE is low, I have repeated the mantra "POWER UP!" for nearly ten years. I encourage new users and I offer my 100% upvotes to almost anyone who is willing to engage in respectful conversation with me. And in the spirit of those who might feel that the mechanism of voting for your own posts is inherently wrong, I will not upvote this post myself. I might accidentally upvote occasionally, but I will try to abstain for July. However I will lay out what you will miss out on as a result of my abstinence. I may not post as much, I might just be too busy this month anyways.

You will NOT share in the rewards that my vote offers, when you upvote my content. You will NOT recieve the Hive-Engine tokens that I have been sharing with everyone who interacts with my comments. That means No MEME, No BEE, No NEOXAG, No PAY, No LEO, No CENT, No POB, No VYB, No LIST, or COM, or CTP, or CINE, or FOODIE. I have been sprinkling users with tokens, and that may not happen this month, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make to show others that while I might not agree with the sentiment that voting for your own posts is wrong, I will pause temporarily.

Additionally, I will mention that I am not going to be upvoting creators that have a KE less than 1.0, nor will I be voting for anyone who does not have at least 150 HP in their account, not delegated, nor majority HP delegated away. Users who do not, as me, power up their rewards and instead immediately sell it, will not receive my upvotes. The reason is simple, I protect my Hive. I believe in guarding the value of our Hive. My Hive is worth at least 8 HBD and if you are not willing to pay 8 HBD for my HIVE then you cannot buy it. I feel very strongly about the utility of Hive, the value of our small chain, and the honest and authentic authors who dilligently compose their proof of brain here daily.

A higher price benefits all. A lower price is a shame. Are you willing to buy the HIGHER price of HIVE, or are you merely here to sell HIVE for the lowest bid whenever possible? Are you earning a little or a lot, fine and well, but are you selling your Hive? Are you powering down? Do you do it for survival? Or are you doing it for manipulation, or pure greed? I am not here to judge you for your choices, but I will not be rewarding users who are simply gaming the system, focusing on the reward pool, and judging others or distributing downvotes, policing new users who are just here to share their thoughts with the world and learn how it works. If you feel I am being harsh, understand that I am simply explaining my position. I have been around a long time, and seen many different users.

Every day I look at /Created, and I try to read through /Trending as well. When I read your posts, I try to see where you are coming from, and put myself in your shoes. I care a lot about Hive and Hivvers. We are a small and fierce group of blockchain warriors. We do not all think alike, nor do we have to, but we must start working together for the benefit of the whole chain, and not fight amongst ourselves so much. The downvotes need to chill a bit. The upvotes need to be generous, treat others as you would like to be treated. Restore your account KE to at least 1.0 or lower, so you are honestly 'giving back' to the community. At these Hive prices it is actually cheaper than ever to do so. If you have ever powered down, buy some HIVE on the market and Power Up! It's easy to do.

Write quality Stories each day, show us that you are a real person with hopes and dreams and love in your heart, for whoever and whatever you believe in. Upvote your own Story out of love for the users who will share in half the value of your upvote. Whether you have a little HP or a lot of HP, use your voting power to reward users who are here for the long term, and not just here to drain the value they can from the chain. Increase the value of your Hive Portfolio, and fill it with your poems and your knowledge as a message in a bottle to the future. Leave helpful comments for others and rather than criticize, try to encourage and assist others. Send them some HBD if you have it.

Help them create that idea they have been writing about, think about their Stories and consider what real human struggles they might be going through. Consider for a moment that we are all more similar than we are different. We might be a small group of Hivvers, but we are dedicated to an idea-- that we can compose and vote on great content here, every week! And maybe the real value is the friendships we make along the way. Eh?

@Darkflame