Votes and family/friends is always a difficult issue to discuss. I find myself agreeing with both sides. It shouldn't become a popularity contest. Here's an interesting link: 
http://www.renderosity.com/news.php?viewStory=13102   

With Renderosity getting 200 new memberships daily, and with 3 days of voting, 600 new memberships during our voting period, there's bound to be people voting who haven't posted before, some may be family, friends, colleagues, etc. I know I don't keep silent about my gallery, and try to spread the word that I do post stuff here and try to bring more new people to Bryce. I've been invited to speak in classrooms at the university here, ~30 art students a class, and I tell them about my only gallery on the 'net.. here at Renderosity. There are also those people who follow a particular artist, rarely ever leaving a comment, just one of those nameless viewers.

But yeah, careful about making it extreme.