After 3 or 4 decades in the work force, dealing with bosses and being a boss, I think I've got a pretty good understanding about how to motivate (and de-motivate) people.
So,
If you've been frustrated because you took the time to read through a lengthy post and wrote an on-topic and thoughtful response, only to watch someone else make a glib reply and get 72 upvotes...
If you've taken the time and made the effort to write a thoughtful post, filled with useful and topical information (as witnessed by the fact that your post got a decent number of upvotes), only to watch someone make a meaningless response that shows they didn't even bother to read your post but their reply gets more upvotes (and a higher payout value than your actual post)...
If you've written a thoughtful comment, resteemed and upvoted the original post, only to have the author ignore your comment and upvote something like, "Loved your post, you are very beautiful"...
You'll understand how this is not the best way to motivate the people who will ultimately either help grow Steemit, or make it yet another platform that had great potential, but just never quite made it over the hump.
Maybe I'm still too new here, or maybe I'm just some naive putz, but I get excited when the little red flag pops up over my "Replies" tab and when the "upvote" button next to my post or reply turns blue.
There are contributors here who do a very good job of motivating and encouraging the people who follow them.
Unfortunately, there are also some shallow, attention hungry individuals, who don't care about anything except getting upvotes and sticky, syrup-like adoration from strangers (and payouts).
For all I know, some of these "smokin-hot babes" might be a 40 year old, 350 pound dude, posting from his Mom's basement who gave some chick $50 to hold up a sign that said "Steemit @h%$#! June 11, 2017" so he could take her picture.
Note: (As I write this @h%$#! is not a real steemit user's name).
For the record, I am a 55 year old, 250 pound dude, living with his wife, kids and dogs.
I understand that society is made up of a variety of personality types and, in my opinion Steemit actually seems to have a better ratio of considerate, genuine, intelligent and articulate people compared to the shallow ones.
But it can be frustrating.
So, I'm making a public promise, here and now, not to hoard my Voting Power and to upvote quality, regardless of whether it's a post or a reply or a comment.
I figure if you can take the time to read a post and reply or reply to a comment and you obviously put some thought into it, I'm going to upvote you.
Oh, and I'll upvote witty humor too.
Right now, that means you'll probably get a whopping 0.01 reward.
But, like those red flags that pop up over the "Replies" tab, it's encouraging and even exciting to see that "upvote" button turn blue, even if it's just a 0.01 acknowledgement.
That is all.