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<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84666869/oaldamster/itsjustme.jpg">
<center><em><code>image "Stardust" cc-by-sa @oaldamster</code></em></center>
</div><strong>So, today I decided to experiment some with the way SteemIt / Steem on Graphene works, before the scheduled Hardfork is kicking in. The voting strength of my account was somewhere at 87% when I started. For this experiment I went way back to my posts that I could still vote for, in the second, and last payout round. This time I set my focus on Reputation Score and my Voting Strength. This can be done with the use of <a href="https://steemd.com" target="_blank">SteemD</a>. </strong><br/><br/>
Any use to this? Well, I did notice that most accounts did seem to vote for their own posts and comments. Sometimes this helps in the actual payout. But it also counts as a vote, so it will lower your own voting strength. And after a few votes the value of voting for yourself is as good as useless as in getting some dough out off it. For comments it is different. So I will go and upvote my own replies as far back as possible, about a month. As I allready upvoted all the posts of the last 31 days. And there I saw pattern emerge for a possible reason why many accounts upvote their own posts. Because at a certain point it only makes sense for one thing: Reputation...?!

Well, that and of course getting a lot of mentions on the blockchain that point out to your account. And when you start to think about the economics of attraction, wasn't there a law there somewhere too, then it is best to upvote yourself. Thus, as from today I will indulge in the pleasure of auto upvoting. Let's see where it takes the values of this account, because I have already seen how it influences the huge reputation value. Which one seems to have to uplift oneself too. Being a little weird though: "Trust me, I upvoted myself into a higher reputation." But if it works, and that is part of the game, then let's do this! That is one thing I forgot about competition, it is the rules that hold the key to open the door to a certain outcome. So, if I want to maximize the results, according to the rules set by the Steem ON Graphene {SONG} system, then I'd better find out how it can be done best. 

### Does auto upvoting actually influence reputation

Yes, it does, the reputation of this account was: 21,418,901,587,329, when I started this little experiment. Almost 21 and a half trillion, a number that might be nice to have as VESTs. After some heavy self upvoting the Voting Strength of this account allready dropped to 66.32%. And that got me to a reputation of: 21,544,820,352,147, which is quite a gain. Not enough to get this account to 64 reputation on the SteemIt website, but it helps. So, now I'm going to see how deep I can drop my Voting Strengh even more, by self upvoting the comments I made using this account. This will take a while, going back 31 days of commenting, but I want to see what effect it has. Boring job, and after I got below 50% Voting Strength I decided it was time to make up the balance.

When I began this experiment my Voting Strength was at about 87% and when I stopped it was at 49%, [according to SteemD dot com](https://steemd.com/@oaldamster), that was at 11:50 Central European Time, at the 8th of november. But it is all there for you to see at the blockchain, a lot of auto upvoting done at this account. And, what did  this account, @oaldamster, gain in reputation by self upvoting: 21,580,286,868,827 - 21,418,901,587,329  = 161,385,281,498... And it only cost me 38% of my Voting Strength. Now, you have to take into account that the more Steem Power (VEST Power) you have, the more reputation gain you could create for yourself. For me this has made me 161 billion and then some. But for accounts holding tenfold Steem Power this could make a reputation game changer.

### You could help other accounts gain reputation

Now before you are considering starting auto upvoting in a fanatic way like me, for the sake of an experiment, you may want to consider some things first. High reputation accounts can help low reputation accounts gain a lot in a very short period of time. Recently I noticed this when a fresh account posted for the first time, reputation 25, and got my upvote amongst other 64-64-65 reputation accounts. And you could almost see it go up instantly, after 18 hours that account made it to 50! But, the higher the reputation gets, the harder it will be to make it go even up 0.1 point. 

There is a mathematical threshold involved. To put it simple, you first need 1 vote, then 1, then 2, then 3, then 5, then 8, then 13, then 21, then 34 and so on, to gain a 0.1 reputation point growth. This is the [Fibonacci sequence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number) though, not the math that is actually used, but I think you get it. The further you get in the reputation score, the harder it will become to get to the next level. 

Accounts with a higher reputation then your account will help you gain reputation faster. And you could help out each other, or help restore other accounts their reputation. Or help yourself to the next level. That is something I had not considered before, but now I know this is part of the set of rules, just like auto upvoting to gain part of the reward pool, I've decided to make use of it completely.  Because I think reputation is going to weight in heavier in the near future at SteemIt. 

Thank you for reading, feel free to reply.

_EDIT: Remember that your Voting Strength needs 5 days to fully recover from 0% to 99,9% It works like a battery, it slowly recharges._

https://i.imgur.com/FFru4Oe.jpg
_photo "Fibonacci food for thought" cc-by-sa @oaldamster_

- 50/50 payout post