The other day I got a strange notification: my account was listed in some curators top, on a respectable 60th position, out of 100. I didn't even think at myself as a curator until I saw that, but then I realized why I got there: because I do have a significant number of upvotes each and every day. I upvote almost all the comments on my posts.
Granted, I would love to spend more time reading other people posts, but I barely make it through my tiny feed of 223 people. If, at some point, I could become a full time Steemian, then probably 20-30% of my time here will be just reading other people stuff.
But until then, I upvote the comments of my posts.
Why I do this?
Well, there are many reasons for that, but I will list just 3 for now.
1. Distributing wealth just because you contribute
That's probably the main reason. As I accumulate Steem Power, I decide to use it directly, and distribute a few cents to commenters. Those people took the time to read the post, to articulate a few sentence, or, who knows, to even point some flaws in my own thinking or writing.
And distributing wealth by rewarding other people contribution is a cornerstone of this platform.
2. Encouraging participation
I tend do this even when there isn't much contribution, but at least I know the person commenting, there is a history of real interaction between us and I want to create a healthy relationship.
So sometimes I upvote just as a sign of "I see you".
3. Encouraging free thinking
Sometimes I don't agree with what the other person says, but I still upvote the comment. This might seem strange, but there's a small subtlety here: I don't upvote only because the other one agrees with me, but also to encourage healthy debate and discussion.
When I don't upvote
- if you copy / paste other people comments and paste them under your name
- if you have poor grammar
- if you're aggressive or overwhelmingly troll (I can tolerate a certain level of healthy trolling, but not too much)
- if you're literally asking me to upvote, or to follow you - this game is not played like this
- if you spam with your own blog links, without contributing first
- obviously, if you're promoting scams or other shady operations
Why I don't flag
There is this metaphor about two wolves living inside us: a good wolf and a bad wolf.
The good wolf is representing courage, honesty, creativity.
The bad wold is representing violence, lies, manipulation.
And the bottom line is that the winning wolf will always be the one you feed.
So, while I do see and acknowledge the presence of malicious behavior (not only on my posts, but on the entire platform), I just choose to reward good behavior, knowing that this is the only way for it to prevail.
It is my deep conviction that even the violent action of flagging is still a form of nourishment, one that will keep supporting that "wolf". So I just ignore the bad wolf and support the good one.
Which kind of wolf are you, by the way?
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me 
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