Have we stopped to consider why vote selling is wrong?
I have yet to hear any good explanation that would not apply two-fold to self-voting in excess. I consider 'in excess' to be anything more than 5-10% of total deliverable vote value from the stake. Others may have their own threshold.
Rather than 'this mechanism is always wrong' we should judge each case by their overall impact on Hive.
In this case, burning tokens that were won from live-streaming to get a vote is no different than asking guests on the livestream to share their posts in the livestream chatting and dropping votes on them right then. Tokenized is in fact better, because it removes the time pressure and allows the user to evaluate post quality more effectively.
So there is an intermediate step of having the ability to trade the tokens and let somebody else get the vote. You could take the same value, buy HP, and self-vote. You could take that same value, pay for leased delegation, and then self-vote.
At the end of the day, some behaviors support small hivers, encourage them to grow their accounts and build their stake, and benefit Hive as a whole. Some behaviors enrich whales and allow them to bury their profiteering behind posts that nobody reads, in comments that nobody dares downvote. Which is better for Hive's growth and adoption?
RE: [ENG/DEU] Anniversary! CryptoCompany Is 3 Years Old Today! Thank You! You Made It Possible! Let's Rock On!