thanks for this clarity on the upvoting of comments. i did'nt realise that it was seen this way, during hf19 and for the first time ever i had a little bit of voting power on comments i would vote up comments purely from a perspective of them getting seen. from a web perspective i've always been been taught that everything that you want to see is 'above the fold' that line at the bottom before you scroll and when you have lots of comments after a few pages some people might not see your comment so i guess when i have voted up my own comment it was never from a money perspective it was more about being seen i guess to be above another comment.  now that i know it causes mild rage and is 'not the done' thing i'll be more wary, thanks!