I'll start by saying that this is just what I do personally. How you vote is entirely up to you.

I've been on Steemit for well over a year. It's changed a lot in that time. There was a different voting algorithm back then so that minnow votes really counted for nothing. I can remember a time when having 1000SP might make your vote worth a cent and I think it got worse. Now your vote is proportionate to your SP and the high Steem price means that votes are more valuable than ever.

When you first join you will only be able to give a full vote. You need several hundred SP before you get this slider. That becomes necessary as the value of your vote rises to adjust how much you give and it also allows you to vote on more posts and comments without using up your voting power.

![Voting](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPmYzyyhfnyJGSrhhH537jJ369pqewRgjZgfU8XJp4Web/image.png)
You won't normally see the dollar amount. That's provided by the [Steemit More Info](https://steemit.com/steemdev/@armandocat/steemit-more-info-1-4-chrome-extension-firefox-extension) extension.

I use [Steem Voter](https://steemvoter.com/) to support some friends and charity accounts. I just don't want to miss voting on what they do.

![Steemvoter](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTHQQHvtLQ4GZs8hasUFYHKFXo8dDmgA4PWX8b7BKtnL3/image.png)

I've also used [Streemian](https://streemian.com/) that allows you to follow the votes of others. I'm going to turn that off for now as I plan to make more of my voting manual.

![Streemian](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeUHdy283iKsHFJ34o51ZQqhRDUDaejUqAYGm1GgsMLYf/image.png)

So the rest of my voting has been manual. I mostly look at the posts in my feed. Those include the people I follow, but also any they have re-steemed. I'm looking for posts that I think add value to Steemit. That means they can be entertaining, informative or just interesting. It's a very personal thing and your criteria will be different. I vary the slider value according to my own criteria too. I'll generally give a larger vote where more work went into the post, e.g. if some art or music. My vote is worth several dollars, but I want to help as many people as possible.

I also vote on comments. Good comments on my own posts are very likely to get something. Even 1% from me is a few cents. Any comment that shows no indication of having read the post gets nothing. If it really looks like spam then it may earn a small flag. I just tend to use enough to move it to the bottom and possibly hide it. You can [report persistent spammers](https://steemcleaners.org/abuse-report) to @steemcleaners if you don't have enough SP to flag much. That can even earn you a reward. Nobody wants spam here, so do your part.

If I see someone else's post that has a mix of good and bad comments with no votes then I may give some small votes to move the good ones up.

I [also delegate SP to others](https://steemit.com/steemit/@steevc/lsbfa-delegation-s-what-you-need). That reduces my vote, but I can't use all my voting power and so let others do it on my behalf.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned curation rewards. That's because I'm not that bothered about it. What I make from curation is a small part of my earnings and I leave it to chance. I'd rather support others who need it. I may look at the trending page, but they tend to not need my votes and by then it's likely to be too late to make anything much from curation anyway. You need some serious SP for that to be a real income. 

If you are looking to earn something here then write good posts and comments that engage with the post. That will serve you much better than a thousand 'follow me' comments that may get flagged. Saying you voted on a post in a comment is not likely to do much for you if your vote is not worth much, but a good comment may earn you a few cents. We are all busy people and don't like having our time wasted.

I and others are looking to encourage behaviour that enhances Steemit. We want this platform to succeed and are doing what we can to encourage new users who enhance it. If you put in a similar effort you will build connections and a following that will serve you well. There is money to be made here, but you have to earn it.

Any questions?

Steem on!

<p><b><div class="pull-left"><img src="https://steevc.keybase.pub/steemit/steevc.png"></div>
I'm Steve, the geeky guitarist. </b></p><p>I'll buy <a href="https://steemit.com/guitar/@steevc/steem-for-picks">guitar picks for Steem Dollars</a></p>
<p>If this post is over seven days old you can vote up one of my newer posts to reward me.</p>
<p><b>Spam comments may be flagged</b></p>