Well Hive would change if that happened. For now I see self-votes as a simple money grab. In most cases it's not about getting on trending as that would take the sort of investment most can't afford.
As always people get to decide how much a post earns and you can get judged by what you do. Most of the people I support could only add a few cents to their posts. I choose not to self-vote as the extra money is not worth it to me.
I've never heard a coherent moral theory of why self-voting is teh evilz.
Not necessarily 'evil', but maybe not always a good thing. When I see it then my voting is influenced. I realise people can be sneaky about it via proxy accounts. I know of an account that upvotes every post and comment they put out.
Yeah, but even the hivewatcher police upvote their own stuff.
I've even pointed it out to them and they say, well, it's ok as long as you don't abuse it.
I have no idea.
If you own the stake, you should be able to self-vote.
The "reward pool" doesn't know and doesn't care who you vote for.
It literally makes no difference.
You can do what you want and so can others who will judge you. People make up their own minds about stuff. They won't necessarily agree, as we obviously don't, and that's okay.
Is it perhaps like when someone spends money in their own restaurant ?
Is that some sort of rude gesture and an insult to all the other restaurants ?
These analogies do not really work IMHO. Hive is not like 'real life'. There are new norms.
Look, if you're trying to say it's bad to self-vote, you're really begging the question of exactly what MORAL THEORY you're basing this on.
(IFF) "HIVE is not like anything" (THEN) NONE of your "moral instincts" apply.