Is it okay to comment but not upvote? All signs point to yes

Maybe you're waiting to charge up your voting power, maybe you've expended almost all your voting power.

There could be all sorts of reasons why you may be holding back that upvote, but does that mean you should hold back on your comment? I say no. Steemit is first and foremost a social network.

We come here to laugh and learn, to share and think, discuss and explore. That's what we've always been doing on social media, and that's what will happen on Steemit. However, this new platform challenges convention in that it provides financial incentive to blog, vote, and comment in a way that is germane to the OP's post. If we behaved as though there weren't any financial rewards, maybe we could relax a little and enjoy a great new social network without worrying if our discourse is sound financial strategy.

But now that the financial incentive cat is out of the bag, are all bets off? Can we show appreciation for a post without upvoting it? Is that rude? Though I feel dirty sayings its name, on Facebook I would often comment and forget to like.

In fact, I hated "likes" because the constant notifications would quickly drain the battery on my phone

Of course, now upvotes mean $$, sometimes BIG BIG money and I have no doubt there are highly intelligent Steemians who have developed and executed strategies to maximize their time and effort, as is their right. But are we tying our own hands by withholding our comments when we feel guilty about not upvoting?

While it's generally understood how voting power works, for many Steemians its a new experience to wield financial sway with the simple upvoting of a post. For Steemians who enjoy a variety of subjects but understand that their voting power is less and less the more that they vote, it may feel awkward participating in a conversation without upvoting the OP, as though you're a conversational freeloader.

For me, the comments section is where the good discourse goes down, and if presented with a choice between upvotes with no comments and comments with no upvotes, I'd prefer the latter. It's wonderful to have many people, including Steempowered whales and dolphins, enjoy your work and show you their appreciation through an upvote, but there's something deeply gratifying about the discussion that succeeds an interesting post, especially knowing that the author of the post is directly in communication with you, and is considering your opinion in real time.

I haven't seen anyone identifying this as an issue so this is more of a steemosophical exploration of upvoting and commenting, and the effect of tying financial rewards to social behaviors.

tl;dr I've commented on a few posts without upvoting and felt weird

Happy Saturday Night. Time for Stranger Things. See ya in the morning, Steemit