I gave you a full upvote. I have been contemplating the same questions, and my vote is very similar to yours.
I have always been a fan of the ability to upvote your own comments. If you can upvote your comment, it will appear higher up in the comment section, even with a few cents. It might get more traction there. I believe that this is a legitimate use of Steem Power.
However,
Today I saw a comment with a self-vote of $100. Was this the best use of the rewards pool? No, I dont think it was. I would much rather see 10x 10% votes at $10 each go to minnows who have put out good content but are struggling getting views.
But really, where would that $100 have ended up before the hardfork? Likely, it would have went to a few whales, instead of going to just one whale...
Very true but were would the community need if we ask did this, there would be no need to interact
I do see your point, and this issue has always been there. Whales and large dolphins could always self-fund a good enough living where they do not need to interact. The hard fork has just pushed that ability down the ladder.
We could definately see less interaction, and sadly, there is some evidence that we are seeing less viewership as well. That could certainly be due to people who are just self-funding and no longer curating others..
It certainly will be interesting to see how this plays out over time..
There are a lot less votes, members being cautious, hopefully that will ease of soon