Manually curating and looking for great content takes a lot of time. You know that well. For that reason most of us have set automated votes and then use the rest while browsing the site and to reward users that comment on their posts.

If I happen to make a good comment that I put effort above average (This is subjective, of course) I also vote it for better visibility.

Lately, however, with the influx of new users I've noticed how I'm running very low on voting power and I've been thinking of switching 100% to manually curating.

The most important issue currently with the platform is that new users aren't found and rewarded for their efforts. The same faces habit the trending pages over and over again and it might not be deserved every day but thanks to automated voting, that's how it is. Safe voting.

I do understand it's a way to build a loyal author base and reward them for sticking through but I feel it's not working perfectly as is.

I will be looking in to setting up a curation trail thanks to your post. We'll see how it goes. If you have any more advice on this topic, it's more than welcome!

Edit: I just noticed your special addition! From today onwards, I'll do manual curating only and start the curation trail. (I'll probably do announcing post about that). I'd like to focus on finding devs, new ideas and new people and support those the most!