So it was over a month ago that @nainaztengra tagged me in her half year review post to do my own half year review. I have been planning on doing it but every time I think I will do it - then something happens and it stops me. Anyway I was reading her latest post today and it reminded me I still needed to do this, she is also not very well at the moment as shared in this post so if you have time to call in that post and leave her a get well comment that would be super awesome.

January

After all the craziness of December with Steem price increasing rapidly which had seen some of my posts reach to above $200 reward - the value slowly declined in January and with it the post payouts. After being on Steemit for around 9 months, I was still essentially on my own. I had a few people I kept up with regularly reading their posts, and always got comments on my own posts. But some how I was lacking a channel - a direction for my efforts because in reality I was just aimlessly wandering through a multitude of posters. One person I had always seen doing well from her posts was @nainaztengra , and I was curious enough to ask how she always managed to get such great post rewards - community and networking were key factors she told me, and also joining @thealliance had helped a great deal.

I had seen #thealliance banners around Steemit, on various posts I had read but I never really appreciated what they were about. It didn't take me long to find information on the footer of @tatoodjay post, and a Discord link that took me into an entirely different side of Steemit I had previously totally missed. Finally I had a focus, and I also discovered new content creators to enjoy while also rediscovery quite a few I had found and lost again. The Family values in @thealliance fell in perfectly with my own feelings, supporting each other with upvotes and comments - I already spent a great deal of my time leaving comments on posts so this worked perfectly and I had a direct source of posts to enjoy and comment on. I'm not sure of the exact date I joined, but in this January Vlog amongst the snow I definitely mention the tag and many members.

February

At this point I have encountered a problem, because I was going to refer to previous posts as part of this journey. Only they are impossible to find, it took me 5 minutes to scroll back just 20 days at which point I have up - my Resteem obsession does make my own posts very hard to find indeed. I did find one of my old vlog posts which is probably the earliest start of the format I used where it started to include my week on Steemit. The cold snowy winter months were ideal for doing the monster Vlog post, it's not so easy in summer when everyone wants to be outdoors more.

March

The UK turned into a frozen wasteland of Snow and Ice, that in turn gave me an amazing new water feature at work when the pipes burst from being frozen upstairs. In this March 10th Vlog I cover that watery encounter, the weather at the start of 2018 was very unusual for the UK - little did I know it would get even stranger! Meanwhile I ploughed on reading and commenting on posts, trying to fit Steemit it my spare time has always proved a challenge, especially as I keep increasing the number of people and posts I can reach. For when I don't get chance to manually curate, I still ensure my VP is not wasted by making use of SteemAuto, it is strictly set to turn off when I drop below 89% Vote Power and will then start and stop in short bursts but it really helpful to ensure I am always upvoting my favourite posters when I do not have the time to get there in person. Currently I have 187 accounts registered in the FanBase and I also follow #thealliance trail.

March also marked my first year on Steemit, quite incredibly I joined on the exact same day as @battleaxe - and although many many others joined the same day I think we are the only two remaining active posters. What makes me stay and remain active here? The people of course, I enjoy reading posts and actually find every week posts that truly astound me for the quality of writing, photography or just being outright entertaining.

April

The weather started to finally pick up, and the posts on Steemit were relentless. In this April Vlog it became clear I was starting to spread out around different discords even more - Joining in the SteemStarNetwork shows and also heading into SteemitRamble for shows like Pimp Your Post Thursday. They are a great way to get your name seen around and your account remembered, in the fast pace of Steemit we are all easily forgotten and being seen and active is the best way to stay fresh in everyones minds. I'm actually amazed how many Steemit related discords now exist, you have so may different useful places together I recently was introduced to @helpie which is an amazing community where they put a great deal of effort into supporting and growing new accounts on Steemit.

May

While attending the Witness Chats on Steemit Ramble I had become enthralled in the discussions between the various Witnesses who keep our beloved blockchain running. When I first started out on Steemit it took me a long time to even realise there were Witnesses I could vote for, and even once I did vote it was more just ticking the vote button next to a few names without really realising the relevance of what I was doing. It was only once I joined @thealliance that it became more evident what Witnesses were all about, I learned a great deal through @enginewitty Witness posts about how they support the platform and ensure smooth operation of the blockchain.

And then @thekitchenfairy contacted me, asking is I could spare her a Witness vote. It surprised me a little, because I had really placed Witnesses up on a pedestal - making them almost deity like. We had a long chat about Witnesses and becoming a Witness - and that day she not only got my Witness vote but also created another new Witness in the process.

And at the end of May, after a great deal of time invested in setting up a server capable of running a Steemd Witness - I was ready to announce My own Witness Application which surprised me - because so many people were quick to give me there support and Witness vote. I did not expect to climb the ranks quickly, and my Witness goals were not as exciting as others who develop applications and websites that interact with the Steem Blockchain - all I am offering is to keep on reading, upvoting and commenting on posts - especially those making incredible content but getting nowhere near the reward they deserve - and do my best to share the work so others can appreciate it.

June

April was warm, May was hot for the UK and June turned into an incredible burning heatwave. It was too hot to be indoors, and too hot be outdoors. In fact the coolest place was driving in my car with Air-Con on. Ploughing on despite the heat I managed to release a few June vlog posts continuing to share the content I have been enjoying. My Witness server continued to run smoothly, and with a steady stream of votes I was slowly climbing up the table of Active Witnesses - receiving blocks to process quicker every time I moved up. I was doing my best to attend the popular Pimp My Post Thursday shows, but it proved difficult because the morning show is my afternoon when I am working. And the evening show starts at 1am so that gets very awkward when I have to get up at 7am the next day for work!

July

The heat continued to be well and truly on, in more ways then one because at the start of July the blockchain stood still. Thanks to someone finding a glitch where negative vests could be exploited the blockchain shut down to protect itself from corruption. The Steem devs quickly worked a patch for the issue and all Witnesses had to install it to begin processing transactions again. I quickly updated my own server and after a short period of downtime the blockchain sprung back to life.

The month continued hot and stuffy, I manged to fit in another vlog post or two and also issued another update on my Witness Server to v0.19.10.

August

I know we are just 12 days in, but they have been a crazy 12 days! @derangedvisions another #thealliance Witness announced he had too many other Steemit projects and things happening in his own life to keep running his Witness server. He is popular for his Photography contests, and also for his active networking being present in many community discords. He had worked hard to earn the trust of many accounts on Steemit gaining their Witness vote, and instead of seeing that work go to waste we decided to team up as Joint Witnesses , where I administrate the server and @derangedvisions continues to support the wider community with his Photography contests and curation. Each week we split the 7 day producer rewards 50/50, ensuring we are both able to continue supporting the wide range of content creators we visit each week.

That's just the bits I remember!

I'm sure I missed many other things, but on the whole it's been quite a year including joining one community, finding a whole load more, becoming a Witness and then joining forces with another Witness. And of course all those posts I read, commented on, upvoted and resteemed - my blog contains far more interesting posts to read then Trending ever will.

Some of my previous posts you might have missed

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Witness Update by @c0ff33a v0.19.11

The C0ff33 Vlog 27th July 2018

Sublime Sunday by @c0ff33a ☕️

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Last Confirmed Block Number 24,997,240 Last Aslot 25,075,101
Steemd v0.19.11

Kind thanks to @enginewitty for employing his Ninja graphic design skills and producing this 🔥 banner

If you enjoyed my post don’t forget to leave an Upvote, feel free to comment on what you liked or where I can do better even. Follow @c0ff33a for regular and varied posts, photography, my weekly VLOG, posts on coffee roasting and brewing - just follow and see.

To grow your presence and following on Steemit, be active in the community Discords that offer the chance to learn, network, share and be found. The #SteemitRamble discord https://discord.gg/HZYzEry hosts a range of shows where you can join in and get your name shown, every Thursday there are two Pimp My Post Thursdays which are hugely popular and give you an opportunity to get your posts seen.

For fun and entertainment then #SteemStar is the discord to be in, https://discord.gg/ZDANjzy with regular shows during the week it’s the best place to relax, and also network the friends you make could be your future biggest upvoters.

All photos are my own, taken with my iPhone. All my Steemit posted pictures can be freely used by other Steemit users in their own blog posts - all I ask is that you follow me and credit @c0ff33a linking to my post you took it from. You can also follow me on Twitter

The picture to the right kindly sketched by the wonderful @bridget.art , be sure to check her incredible art out https://steemit.com/@bridget.art

The greatest challenge we face on Steemit is getting our posts seen, I have always believed the simplest and best value way of doing this is by commenting on the blog posts of others, the more you engage people and interact with them the greater the chance they will visit your own blog and return the favour. Other then spending all my free time commenting on Steemit posts, I also distribute coffee roasting machines and also espresso coffee machines and roast my own Speciality Coffee Range. being one of the premium coffee suppliers Yorkshire including a wide range of filter coffee sachets

!steemitworldmap 53.766547 lat -1.801500 long Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. d3scr

This awesome animated Banner has been kindly been created by the wonderful @snook

Don’t forget to vote for Witnesses https://steemit.com/~witnesses
And you can vote for the Witness team c0ff33a and @derangedvisions - click below to vote easily