To you as an author, it makes no difference.

Well, if I cared nothing of my curators, maybe,...

I'm not worried about the money I am getting, I would have to go back to using FBA if I were, only the money that is getting pocketed from the pockets of folks that really need it.

When large accounts take out, literally, thousands of usd each month, it comes from the pennies that the poor would have gotten, but now can't get because the gaping maws of some folks, most of the largest earners here, needed it more.

If I vote on a post at 0 min + 1 block I will forfeit nearly 100% of my curation rewards but the author would get the full author share. If I vote that same post at 5 mins I would not forfeit any of my rewards but I will get less curation as many people voted before me and I can’t earn curation on any vote unless it is after mine.

Allow me to clarify my question.

If I have a .01 initial vote at nearly 0 minutes, how is the 3htu vote that comes in later, after the window closes, affected by that?

That vote clearly won't get its 1.5htu because there were votes before it.
Where does that .01 top out at?
What percentage of that larger vote goes back to the trending authors?

I know curation can be used to deny rewards to my voters, my question is of the impact of small immediate votes on the return of later voters.
Is it large enough to be concerning, or inconsequential?

Curation is a broad, blank area of how to play this game.
Not much light has been shined on it since I got here, that I recall.