This has been a demonstration of optimal posting strategy under Hardfork 20. For those coming in late, this was the original appearance of this post: ![15.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmc6eUwWDAVHUp36xs2Rrg8W4wwjULbvPWLDuENKfPPRMq/15.jpg) I edited it at the fifteen minute mark to add content.

Why did you do that?

Under Hardfork 20, when a vote is given in the first fifteen minutes of a post's life, it will accrue curation value, but that value won't go to the curator or to the author of the post. Instead it will be redistributed among all posts in the reward pool in proportion to how large their rewards are.

So when I vote early a bunch of my curation rewards go to Banfield and Haejin?

Yes! You have it exactly. But it means more than that - every time someone votes on the post after you, some of the value of their vote goes to your nominal curation reward. So not only are you supporting Banfield and Haejin by voting on the post early, you're also tricking later voters into doing it.

That seems like a bad idea.

Doesn't it? But wait, it gets worse! If nobody votes on a post before fifteen minutes, the total rewards for the post's curators will be 25%. But for every vote that comes in earlier, that percentage decreases. (This is how it works now, too, except the extra money goes to the post author.) So you're supporting Banfield and Haejin, you're tricking other users into doing the same, and you're taking money away from other people who voted on this post to do it.

OK, but at least that's as bad as it gets, right?

That also means that people who want curation rewards will be more likely to pass up voting on this post in order to vote on one that hasn't had votes in the first fifteen minutes. When you upvote a post in the first fifteen, you will be discouraging other users from upvoting it later. So everyone who posts will be trying to keep you from doing that. My method might be a tiny bit over the top.

OK but it's just posts that are the problem, right?

Wait, there's more! This also applies to comments. If you upvote a comment in the first fifteen minutes after it's made, part of your vote will go to rewarding popular posts in the pool. So you have a choice between feeding Banfield or delaying your votes and making your comment section less friendly to active, immediate discussion.

This seems like a bad plan.

Now you understand why I made this post.

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVJ2rJuhqEmhknNUjqyTWJ6w7SRQoWekDZtJMzWym9u25/Steem.png