While voting on somebody's post is not hard but...
I've seen people asking some more in depth questions about how voting and curation work. I figured the easiest way to find what you're needing is a simple question answer format instead of a full blow written post. If you have a question feel free to ask it in the comments and I'll get it included in here for others curious about the same thing.
Q: Why do I see posts with many more votes but less earnings?
A: How much money an individual upvote gives depends on how much Steem Power the voter has, including what's been delegated (shown in parentheses under SP in wallets,) as well as their current vote power percentage. So the person with less votes, but more earnings on a post had voters with higher Steem Power.
Q: Why does the estimated earnings change even when no votes or flags were added?
A: The dollar (or whatever your fiat currency is) value of the reward pool is based on a rolling 30 day average. So for example we've been seeing the price of Steem go up, which makes the 30 day average go up a bit each day it remains higher.
Q: How much do I earn through curation rewards (i.e. voting on posts/comments)?
A: This depends on a few factors:
- How much Steem Power you have, including what is delegated to you (shown under SP in parentheses)
- How much your vote power percentage is (100% give you maximum possible reward for your SP level)
- How early you voted compared to others (you earn more if you vote before something becomes 'popular')
- If the pre-30 minute penalty applied (voting before a post is 30 minutes old applies a percentage penalty on curation)
Q: How exactly does the 30 minute penalty work?
A: The penalty is a linear percentage between 0 and 30 minutes. So if you vote on a post that is 0 minutes old, you'll get 0% of the what you would have earned as curation rewards. At 15 minutes you would get 50% of the maximum possible reward for you and at 30 minutes or older, there would be no penalty applied.
Q: How much of a posts payout goes to curators?
A: The short answer is that when a post pays out 75% goes to the author with 25% be split among curators. How much each curator gets is based on the factors mentioned above. However, any of the curation rewards lost to the 30 minute penalty are instead given to the original author of the post. Frequently this will end up have more of a 80/20 or 85/15 split of things.
Q: Should I wait to vote on myself instead of upvoting upon post creation?
A: Go right ahead and click the 'Upvote post' box when you're writing you're post. While it's true that you will get zero curation rewards due to the 30 minute penalty, what you lose goes right back to the author....which is you! So don't worry about trying to come back later to upvote yourself 20-30 minutes later.
Q: So when should I vote to get more curation rewards?
A: This is where you have to make a judgement call. Vote too early and you take more penalty. Vote too late and tons of people have already voted. So you have to decide how popular something will be. If you think it will grab a lot of people's attention to vote...it may be better off to vote earlier, say when the post is 10 minutes old. If you don't think it will be picked up like that...probably shoot for more the 20-25 minute old mark.
[NOTE: Personally I don't focus on curation rewards, preferring to just vote on what I like, support and/or want to see more of.]
Feel free to ask any questions about voting or curation in the comments. I'll get them answered and added to the post. If you have a question about anything else Steemit related, I'll still answer, but just include in a separate post.
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