The delegation versus curation conundrum
Every wee while I have a now familiar conundrum - should I delegate my built up HP or should I build it up and thus have a higher upvote? There really are pros and cons of each option and I generally lean towards the side of delegating for a few reasons, I would love for some to give me their opinion as to why to keep building and curating.
The case for delegating
There are many reasons for delegating - the major one for me is that it gives me a chance to support communities or manual curation projects that I believe in. I delegate to @ocd, @curangel and @qurator - all of whom are dedicated and do an amazing job. In this way I am trusting that they will use my HP to find and curate great content, which is great for everyone here.
To be honest I have never been a great curator, and struggle to find the time to dig through 100s of posts to find the rare gem, so I leave that to the professionals. In return I get a good daily payout in liquid Hive - more than I could get through curation.
I also delegate to @actifit (and considering pulling this one) - it is a great project but one I am not using and have delegated to for over a year and so might be good to look at something new to delegate to. They are great and payout in Hive, but also in Actifit tokens which can be sold on Steem-Engine (and hopefully Hive-Engine soon).
As I return to work soon I am going to have less and less time for Hive (sadly), and dont want my vote to ever go to 100% as this is just a waste! A big part of me feels that delegating the majority of my HP is best as that means it will never go to waste.
If I go down the delegating track I would love to hear some thoughts and ideas about who is worthy of delegating to.
The case for curating
The major cause for curating with more HP is that you have more control over the rewards pool, and people will also gravitate towards those with more HP. But in saying that, are those the people you really want following you.
I must say it would be nice to be able to make someones day with a nice big upvote. I feel if I did have a big chunk of HP I would spend it looking for newer users to support as this is the hardest time and when support is needed the most. Supporting those new users with a sprinkle of good size upvotes might be all they need to keep blogging here.
But as I said before, this does take alot more time! Some even argue for a more balanced approach of having some HP while also delegating some. This hasnt worked for me in the past but its something to consider.
You basically wrote all here :)
To me the decision of either delegating or curating depends on how much time you can put into it. If you want to use your own stake and look for posts and vote that is (to me personally) the best option, but it does take time.
You already know delegating is good too and that is a great option for those that do not have the time, or passion to look for posts. Maybe some just want to comment and hang out. It is a way to get some passive income without spending much time here.
There is also a third option - joining curation trail. So you keep your HP on your account, but follow the votes of a person or project you trust. They will vote and you will follow their vote with the exact same %, or scaled. That is up to you. This way your account probably never gonna be on 100% HP :)
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 15/20)
I've always been adamant I would not delegate and curate myself. I also don't do any vote trails or auto-vote. I want full control of my gesture of appreciation to another, believing that fosters the best growth of community. Of course, that won't maximize ones quick profit voting on a post that may be hours old, but I think most people miss the idea that value will come quicker here when all in the communities one appreciates rise in value.
I often find myself to have run out of voting power before I wished, and just can't see myself giving the limited votes I have to someone else.