The only time I self promote, is if it is directly related to the topic at hand, and I have a reason to link to it.

But you are right. I spent a whole 30 minutes chasing one self-promoter who was begging for his family. But he was spamming steemit, non-stop, across every new post for HOURS!

I didn't earn any money for downvoting him, but what I did do is help protect all of our investment in keeping shamless comment spam links off the system.