Thoughts about Voting

I'm on holiday this week, so I've had a bit more time to investigate Steemit. I was intrigued by @steevc's post about voting, in particular, about some Steemians fretting that they don't have a slider. I'm not sure why this is a worry, perhaps someone will explain in the comments.

I'm staying in Oroklini, a village outside Larnaca in Cyprus. This is the doorway of the tiny village church perched on the hillside. Oroklini originally had a population of about 3,000, it's now 10,000, mainly English immigrants ex-pats.

I like the discipline of only having 10-15 votes a day. It means I'm selective about what I read and even more selective about who gets a vote. Over the course of seven days I usually distribute between 95-100 votes across 55-60 accounts. I check each time before I start reading and voting (I use steemworld.com) roughly how many votes I have available and how many accounts I have voted for. If the number of accounts has dwindled, I'm a little more active in seeking out well-written posts by other people, instead of staying in my comfort zone.

I have some priorities - I tend to vote for:

• thoughtful comments on my posts and replies to my comments.
• community driven posts eg #runningproject #steembasicincome #freewritehouse.
• well-written posts by Steemians who contribute community value.
• posts which bring some joy or brighten the day in one way or another.

I do check what other Steemians are doing. A poster that only votes for twelve other accounts over a period of a month or who has more than 10% self-voting is unlikely to get a vote, or a follow. I don't think it matters what your vote is worth or whether it counts in the payout. Reading and voting, and using your 70 or so votes over the course of a week, is a contribution to the community.

Here's my voting pattern over the past seven days showing 99 votes across 59 accounts. The largest segments are posters that I interact with regularly, the next segments include community accounts like #runningproject.

I try to make sure that I've used all the votes available to me and tend to keep my voting power in the 70%-95% range. If I know I'm going to be busy and not have much time for a day or two, I'll run it down to 70% (actually, usually just under)! I enjoy coming back after a day or two and sitting down with a cup of coffee and a fat (to me) budget of votes to distribute.

I recently reached the stage where my vote adds a penny (or a cent, whichever) when I vote. I like these milestones in my journey. I enjoyed it when I had earned enough that I didn't need any delegated steem power to operate the account. I enjoy it when I reach the next reputation level. I enjoyed it, ever so briefly, when I reached 200 followers (it rapidly became 203 followers - welcome, but a different thing).

If I have enough time, I try and comment as well when I vote on a post. I guess that's my next priority after making sure I use my votes. Sometimes, I'm out of time or I haven't got anything very enlightening to say other than, "I agree" and I guess that's covered in my vote, so I won't leave a comment.

But if I can, I try to respond to what the poster has written. That seems the most interesting thing about Steemit to me, the interaction in the comments. Occasionally, it's hilarious and that usually involves @nathen007 😎 but I also appreciate the openness and warmth that many people bring, or the sheer inventiveness of so many Steemians.

The Miltos Taverna at the top of Oroklini. I went in the Communist Club opposite, darker and with domino players.

I can see where a slider would be useful with comments on your own posts. Then you would be able to weight your votes to order the comments (other people adding their votes to comments might throw this out a bit). I look forward to that milestone when I get there.