A big YES on the payouts of the debates for giving me a steem power and a confidence boost as a newbie. I had less than 20 steem power when I won a debate. After the debate payout, my upvote value went from $0.00 to $0.01. I was so excited my upvote finally was worth something (even only a penny) to those who had spent time and effort writing their posts. :-) In addition, meeting new people and getting to know them better is another BIG bonus!