Up-voting comments means people are more likely to receive comments. And every time your post gets a comment, you go back to be listed in the "active" tab, and should get a wider audience.

I actually appreciate a reply to a comment from the author more than an upvote. One problem I see with Steemit is how fast posts date and become neglected, even though I still find them interesting. I have commented on posts that are more than 3 days old to a few weeks old. Often with genuine questions or points of discussion. For these questions or comments of mine to go unresponded to is what I find disheartening. If I get an upvote, sure that is nice, but it is the author's prerogative to do this and I'm not going to beg for upvotes. I think begging for upvotes is bad manners too.

Author get too Greedy. 
Boycott  the upvote to them.  I stopped follow them.
As they don't follow back. 
Strike strike strike !!!! 💯 💯 💯

Yes you do have to be careful some people reply like spam just to try to get votes instead of actually replying to peoples thoughts.

Totally agree. Some of the whales sometimes thought my comments were worth replying to but didn't upvote leaving me feel like my voice wasn't valued. Especially with variable voting power everyone should upvote a little.

I typically upvote and reply to any comment... but then I'm not all that popular :-( so its not too taxing to do...

Question: Is it *faux pas* to upvote one's own comment? Some people do, some don't. Whats the effect?

I really agree,Authors should upvote comments,as a part of a steemit etiquette. But etiquette must be based  on a value system, or some basic value agreements at the very least ,and we lack this on Steemit. We need to focus much more on  values, like solidarity and empathy.The etiquette is then a consequence of those values,not a mindless act.

another little tip; upvote your own comments!

it's all about moderation, if you do it too much it does have a negative effect

but if you think you made a really good comment on a new post with just a few other comments, by upvoting your own comment it will go up in the list, so that way you might get some more votes and replies

but you do have to be careful, don't overdo it

I keep seeing it; people comment and the author replies, but the author doesn't upvote the comment ... 

> ### If the comment is worthy enough to reply to ... why not upvote it?

But ok, the good news is, that besides one small annoyance, the overall [**Steemit etiquette**](https://steemit.com/steemit/@luminousvisions/steemit-s-unique-selling-points-usp-steemit-etiquette) is really remarkable polite and civilized.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/https://i.imgflip.com/19tjfe.jpg

Unfortunately upvoting every comment can quickly drain one's voting power.  I recommend authors upvote insightful and well thought out comments.  And if you get in a discussion upvote just one of that users comments. 

I sometimes use an upvote as the "end" of a conversation and upvote the last comment made by a user.  Sometimes if I find the comment useful or interesting I'll look at a user's post and upvote it instead. 

Of course if you're not concerned with curation rewards.. upvote away!

I can't believe this so true post was downvoted to this degree. Is it really an open discussion platform?

I've actually been meaning to write a post along these lines. Sometimes it seems like people forget comments can be upvoted!

I upvote every comment on the posts I make as long as they're not what you said, spam or a bot. Not like I matter but it is what I try to do.