I understand the instances where it does indeed divert funds from other content that add value to the network/community but that is also where I'd draw the line. In my instance it wasn't a pure sell of upvotes, I did bring value to the community by bringing a good handful of people from outside the community in, engaging those already inside, exposing people to the concepts of blockchains and bitcoin, testing the steem system, and in some ways forcing the discussion on limits and incentives.

If on the other hand I was purely buying upvotes, I get it. But I wasn't and I did it in the most responsible way that I could.

I know that recognizing/deciding whose bringing value to the community can be have quite the fine line that has some added subjectiveness to it but what I'm trying to show is that what I was doing wasn't a straight off wasteful drain on the system. Can you see where I'm coming from?