Oh grasshopper...the old wax on wax off..to self upvote or not to self upvote???

As a relative newbie...I know not the answer...but let's remove the monetised aspect from the equation for a mo shall we?

If I value myself, and the energy I have used to write articles then surely I should upvote them, standing solidly behind the ideas or thoughts I have expressed?

But isn't it also a tad narcissistic? And heaven knows there are enough of those in power running the world already!

I sometimes see whales upvoting their own comments, (and their own posts) and then commenting on others steemians post but not upvoting them, or their comments, and replies....it seems to happen rather a lot! And in the ethos of a caring sharing community this, I admit, puzzles me greatly!

I would love to know what your opinion is Hive account@realtreebivvy? And Hive account@barge and @ jakeybrown?