WoWa!
Cool! Your a GOT fan I see! Me too!
I still think its the best show ever made!
So on a "slightly" more serious note ;-)> ur posts raises some good question.
Though as with all good answers there are MANY factors!
So FIRST off #5 is a HORRIBLE IDEA! as I am sure you already know (hopefully or I loose all respect and thrill I am getting out of finding your profile....)
#1 I think its always great to up vote posts that you legitimately like. Because you are CASTING your VOTE for the content you want to see more of and or the people you feel deserve to be supported!
This is the best way besides the fact that there are SOOO many posts and you only have so little time to actually go through so many posts.....
So that means that option #2 is an option but makes the least sense besides #5 OBVIOUSLY! if your on Steemit you should vote and you should vote for what you like/support. I don't think you should vote for people just because they message you or comment and I also don't think you should up vote just because someone isn't making much. It should be because its legitimately good and you support it.
Now option #3 is a decent option especially if you don't have time to vote as you can set an auto up vote for the profiles you feel you like the most or are most deserving and you will be able to support them while getting some curation rewards.
Though following a curation trail would actually be the way to make the MOST off of voting. "Expert" curators are abel to vote on the right posts at the right time to get maximum curation rewards. If you want maximum curation rewards then go this route as you will not likely be able to get the results of an "expert" curator. However the down side is that you now have a lot of voting power going to posts you may not have actually up voted on your own....
Option 5 is somewhat similar to following a trail as if you delegate your power (AT LEAST ITS BEING USED) but again votes will go to accounts or posts you may not choose your self and you can GUARANTEE at least a little bit of bias and selfishness to whoever is delegated power.
SO as you can see there is NO perfect or right answer and I could go on but that is some insight into your options and things to consider. Would be happy to further a discussion with you should you use desire.
SteemON!