The prevailing thought before the election was that since the polls indicated there were really only two potential outcomes....Hilary or Donald...that people should vote for the candidate that more accurately represented their views. As long as the presidency is winner take all, this is the only strategy that makes sense. Mental gymnastics aside, from a political scientists viewpoint, voting for someone who cannot possibly win is the same as not voting, the votes are invisible.

One case where the third part vote makes sense if you truly embrace and adhere to the "lesser of two evils" mindset. That is, Trump is exactly as evil as Clinton. Second, if you love Gary Johnson/Bill Weld and their platform specifically, and were truly indifferent between the two primary candidates, that would also be worthy of a vote.

I personally think that Trump was far, far more evil and as a result I could not possibly consider a third party vote.

I think third party energy is far more effective when targeted at campaign reform and fairness.