As my follower count approaches 250, I’m finding that keeping my voting power up to a respectable level is more of a challenge each day. I want to stretch out and meet more Steemians, but the more people I connect with and meet, the more up-votes I dish out, the more the power goes down, and the less I can give to everyone. It’s not cool really. ![voting.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeNEAYX3qZnA6ojqEBotSw8nfxVyHApjd8BYxFUtC57Kk/voting.png)

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/hands-raised-raised-hands-arms-up-1768845/

I can appreciate that it is hard work if you don’t have the slider, but it’s the same when you DO have it, and you need to spread the voting. I guess I will have to decrease the vote percentage on some of my up-votes, what else can I do? Some people don’t up-vote comments, and some do. To not up-vote comments would go a long way to solving my problem, but I won’t do that. I feel it’s important to reward for good comments as much as a main article. @appguy mention's in his [article]( https://steemit.com/steemgigs/@appguy/my-upvote-is-still-worth-0000-after-all) recently that he was happy that his full vote had reached $0.01, and he could give something back. Then he discovered that his vote was considered a ‘dust vote’ and was in fact, wasted. He went on to mention that he will no longer up-vote comments but will focus his rewards on main article’s and add to other’s comments to make the cumulative value more than $0.02. It’s an interesting solution to the problem he has, and it may be valuable to others who are in his situation. Another proposal to fix the ‘dust votes’ has been made [here]( https://steemit.com/community/@dustsweeper/ann-introducing-dustsweeper-a-new-service-to-turn-dust-into-profit). If anyone feels they are wasting their vote because it is less than $0.03, then they should have a look at this. ![solve-2636254_960_720.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUz4VpA3apzSL3DDSJeXvTszXHh5DoQe8f5edkVFk27X5/solve-2636254_960_720.jpg)

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/solve-jigsaw-problem-concept-2636254/

I am fortunate enough that my full vote will always be more valuable than $0.02, unless the price of Steem suddenly plummets to near zero. However, I can sympathise with @appguy and others that he feels he is not giving anything back, due to the way the current rewards system work. I don’t think I have an answer to my problem. Cut down the percentages? Ignore Steemit for a few days? Purchase some more Steem? For now I will just have to do juggle the votes, so please understand if my vote level is a little lower than before, it’s just my way of trying to stem the flow. ![RedLine.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/slobberchops/BqIuXs6C-RedLine.png) ![CurieCurator.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/slobberchops/f5zec6UG-CurieCurator.jpg)

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![RedLine.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/slobberchops/BqIuXs6C-RedLine.png)

![Drooling Maniac.JPG](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNfnfWNzzjZDZ7b1PukhSHLgL5g55apzyDpT4Jp7dP2CH/Drooling%20Maniac.JPG)

If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, resteem, engage me or all of these things.