Brother, if you have read any of my other posts then you would know that it’s all an act. I’m the first one to admit that I’m steemit great pretender. In fact I may even make that my official title.
Without paid upvotes I would have gotten nowhere. I owe all my success on here to them and the trending page and I have admitted that frequently. In fact I even detailed it as a strategy in some of my earlier posts.
It isn’t not cheap, but it is what has enabled me to grow so quickly and get eyes on my writing. That is why I stick around. Not for post rewards or to raise the value of the token.