I see a lot of people asking if it's
acceptable to vote for themselves.

In the end, this is your choice.
But here are my thoughts...

First I want you to understand that YOU are able to vote any way you want. I'm writing this to newer and smaller users. The rules don't change depending on how much Steem Power you have, but how it's viewed is a little differently. I'm not here to preach about what you should do with your votes, instead this is simply my take on the matter.

With all this said, this guide will be covering my personal answers when asked about voting for one's own posts, comment, etc. Please feel free to leave your own views on this in the comment section, since we all have our own opinions on the matter.

Q: Is it against the rules to vote for my own posts and comments?

NO! Absolutely not!

You are in fact free to vote however you want to...whether on your own stuff or others.

This is the only answer here that's not my opinion, but objectively true. (However people may choose to downvote/flag to counteract this.)

Q: SHOULD I vote on my own posts or comments?

(This answer is just my opinion!)

Personally, I vote on my posts, 100%. I honestly feel that what I publish is worthy and it's the benefit of having built up my Steem Power. However the other side of this is that I typically only post twice per day. So this means that I've only used 2 of my 10 daily (100%) votes on myself. I feel quite comfortable with this level of what I give myself versus what I give others. My personal judgement is based on the question, "Do I feel greedy?" When giving 80% of my votes to other people I'm quite comfortable.

The caveat of this is that:

I don't post many times per day
I have a drive to make what I do most more valuable
I almost never vote on my own comments (only when I have some specific visibility reason)

You will find what works for you though. In the end it's your comfort level that determines if you should vote on your own stuff.

Q: But what about HUGE WHALE votes? I've seen all drama about taking too much of the reward pool.

(This is answer is my opinion!)

This essentially comes down to the same self (or collusion) voting question we discussed above. There rules still say we can do whatever we want with our votes, even if you hold a ton of Steem Power.

BUT...

this does have an effect on our actual community. Imagine if one person started taking 25% of the whole reward pool! This means that Everybody else has to share the rest. Regardless of the stated rules, I'd get many of you would see this as being greedy. Especially if it was done by upvoting a bunch of nonsense posts or comments. (There is a little more flexibility if it's on really good posts.) We each decide what we see as being too greedy or abuse.

It's assumed that the community will police itself in these matters, dealing with looks like abuse, even if not technically against the rules. In this sense...

We the community decide what is acceptable.

While I'm do not get directly involved in the comments, I do downvote things that I see as being "too far over the line." Even when the effect seems minimal. In the end, people with high Steem Power are going to do whatever they want to do. But I feel too much greed can cause major issues in our community...there are many that seem to agree with this statement and other's have a different concern.