I never self-upvote because that's where I draw the line. Nor do I promote my own stuff anywhere but my own blog or beg for anything on Steem. I do not appreciate self-upvoting comments. That said, penny-ante operators self-upvoting their comments is a comparably small problem on this platform. Bidbots and vote selling are much bigger problems.

Anyone who wants to improve the quality of their comment section might be wise to also consider upvoting comments by their regular commentators or other high quality comments. It is possible to curate comments, too, and not just by flagging them. Many whales, too, do that to good effect.