Witness/SirCork News Update - Slipped from 102 back to 103. Meanwhile, Dead Witnesses Block The Chain.

Hey Again, Steemitizens

This is just a quick update to let you know about a few current events going on with me and to mention an issue affecting all steemitizens which needs more coverage so that you all are aware of it and can continue to make smart, informed decisions around your witness selections and votes.

I was elected to be a PAL Discord Mod this week!

Probably the biggest news is that I became a moderator on the Minnow Support Project/Peace, Abundance & Liberty Network discord chat server, home of over 5000 minnows swimming together trying to find their way to success as each of them defines it for themselves in the steemit ocean. Here is my application for that role which was graciously accepted by votes of confidence in me by our favorable witnesses and the current core management team and existing mods of the channels:

This is my bid for a mod role in the PAL discord. If you'll have me, I would like to do better and find more ways to give back.

Ironically, the day before I was approached by @aggroed and encouraged to become a mod, I wrote this letter to the members of the PAL/MSP community, expressing my love and gratitude for all of them becoming like a family to me:

My turn for a love letter to the MSP/P.A.L. Network Community [Following the lead of @aggroed, and the example of @crimsonclad & others who have done similar posts lately.]

I was interviewed for my 3rd time on Steemit this week!

I am honored and flattered to have been interviewed this week by @steembusiness on their blog. That article is located here:

Random Witness Introduction: @SirCork - A Man With A Vision

Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you and your followers, @steembusiness!

I was as flattered and humbled as a man can be by someone I totally respect this week!

I was called out in an amazing show of friendship love on one of my favorite witness's 1000 follower celebratory post here:

🎆 Celebrating 1001 Followers 🎆

Way to go @drakos! Thank you so much for the amazing words of recognition! I am damn glad to know you and still remain filled with gratitude for the technical help you have provided so generously to me and others! I find it so amusing we are running so close "statistics-wise" since we came to steemit at such a relatively close time. Onward and upward, my new friend!

My witness position climbed quickly then fell back a notch unfortunately

I entered the week at witness position #106 then climbed up to a dizzying #102 before ending up today, slipping back a notch to position #103. I am grateful to all of you who vote for me, or who have chosen to proxy your votes to my careful and judicious control. I continue to try to serve you all to the best of my ability and thank you with all my heart for your support.

I continue to be frustrated, as do all the active witnesses about "dead witnesses", and you should be concerned too!

So the biggest thing that's bothering me about my work as a witness are the sobering facts I've come to realize about the witness pool and process. First off during my interview with @steembusiness linked above, I learned that a full 79% or more of all steemit users have never voted for a witness at all. This is terrible news, as it seems folks either don't understand or choose to ignore just how important it is to choose effective witnesses to maintain and operate the nodes that keep the steem block chain alive and kicking.

Without witnesses that are concerned about the future of the platform, operating the systems that make the steem block chain operate, the entire eco-system wouldn't even exist! It's critical to choose stable witnesses that have an eye on the ball and whom are looking toward the future of the platform. Get out and VOTE people, or proxy your votes to someone who is paying attention and has care for our future. Without witnesses, the whole place will cease to exist. And ain't nobody got time for that!

So what are "dead witnesses" and why should you care, and what should you be doing about them? Well first off, have a look at this link:

Witness Stats List - Created by @netuoso

This list will tell you the current position of all your witnesses and also illuminates a huge problem. All of the witnesses on this list that are illuminated in a red lined entry, are what we call "dead" witnesses. These machines are offline and not operational anymore. There are a LOT of them, and this is a very bad thing.

These witnesses are still listed because people have still got votes tied up in them, but these votes are 100% wasted and not going to support the people and witness nodes that are actually, actively keeping the block chain operational. They are preventing dedicated, hard working witness node operators from climbing the ranks to top 100 where a witness can do the most good and process the most blocks to keep the block chain moving at scale and smoothly.

So what to do about dead witnesses? Remove your votes from any you may be currently voting for who have gone red on this list. The only way to get them out of the way of the dedicated, hard working active witnesses below them is to unvote them. There is no other way to remove them from the witness ladder. People voting for dead witnesses are being done a huge disservice by these dead node votes and are wasting their votes completely by not keeping their voting list up to date.

This issue affects us all by preventing solid nodes from getting the chance to better serve the community by processing more blocks and these dead witnesses are blocking the chain for all of us. Unvote them if you have them on your list and free your votes up to be applied to people actually doing the work for you.

Witness selection and viability is mission critical to the future of the platform.

Get 'er done!

For your convenience, here are some links for further information about my witness journey.

Here is a link to my last, more formal witness report for some tech stats about my server:

Current Witness Report for @SirCork - Witness #106 as of 08/30/2017

And here is a link to my original witness announcement:
Please consider my bid to become a recognized Steem Block Chain Witness!

Last but not least! MSP Waves Radio continues our growth and mission!

I won't spend a lot of time on this topic, but my witness/mod project focus continues to be my role as a founder and the director of the MSP Waves Radio broadcast network, now with 22 live streaming shows presented by nearly 30 great and talented volunteer show hosts, running live and automated content to live audiences on twitch.tv and in our discord chat 24/7/365.

We are a fully licenced radio station now, offering news, education, information, self improvement and steemit related content plus many great music shows featuring fully licensed commercial music you know and love all day and night, and we pour our hearts and souls into the project to bring you great value and content every day.

It's a lot of work, on the tech and content creation side of things, and it's a bit expensive to operate and pay the royalties for the music and all, so don't let it all be for naught, come take advantage of all we have to offer on MSP Waves Radio and join the fun in the live audience room on the discord during the live streaming shows!

We do it all to contribute and give back to the community as well as to realize our core mission to help others in all the ways we can, all over the world via the radio project:

MSP Waves Radio Station - An Introduction to our Radio Mission Statement and a taste of a day in the life of a radio station manager

Get full station and show schedule information on our website right here:
MSP Waves Radio Global Broadcasting Network

Just like that, this post is over.

Full steem ahead, steemitizens!
@sircork

Tune into my show: Monday Night Minnow School on The MSP Waves Radio Network
Get more info about this and other great steemit MSP talk-radio shows at:
http://mspwaves.com

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Believe in me and my values and principles also? Well, I'm a witness who believes in steem, steemit and YOU!

Vote for me, @SirCork, as witness to show your support.

Witnesses I support:

@aggroed, @anarcho-andrei, @ausbitbank, @clayop, @dragosroua, @drakos, @followbtcnews ( co-witness partner with @crimsonclad ), @good-karma, @gtg, @jesta, @lukestokes.mhth, @neoxian, @netuoso, @personzzz( @personz ), @pharesim, @reggaemuffin, @roelandp, @rycharde, @someguy123, @steemed, @swelker101, @teamsteem, @thecryptodrive, @theprophet0, @timcliff

Think you deserve to be on this list too?

Earn my vote. Tell me why!

Be sure to learn what witnesses are and vote here!

All Steemitzens should be choosing their preferred representatives to make reliable, positive, growth oriented steemit.com and steem network decisions for us!

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The Peace, Abundance, Liberty Network (PALNET) Minnow Support Project (MSP) is home for a minnows best new friends!

Find us on Chat with the PAL/Minnow Support Project peeps at: https://discord.gg/HYj4yvw

See you on the air at MSP WAVES RADIO!