Smaller users in my opinion should self upvote more.

I agree in that these small votes are not really hurting the reward pool, but I also think there is a better option, for 2 reasons.

The up-voting of good comments on popular blogs (in your interest area) I think is a better way for minnows (and dolphins at times) to spend their precious 5 cents. If you pick the right comment, give a good reply and a vote, at the right time (usually before post author), then you have 2 chances for this comment to be seen and up-voted by someone who can probably smash a weeks worth of self-votes with their 1-5%.

The second reason is the greater chance of these people coming to check out what you are doing on your own blog. If your recent stuff is decent and in the same area, you might get another up-vote, and maybe even a follow.

This is what I suggest when asked anyway, and I've had plenty of minnows come back to me excited about it working out for them - in fact, I still do some of this myself :)

Cheers!