RE: If Something Smells Phishy, It Most Likely Is!
I understand some may feel this way about witnesses. Everyone has different opinions of this platform and the witnesses. It is only the witnesses in the top 20 that are receiving thousands of steem daily. Witnesses in the lower ranking are barely making enough to pay for server costs, but some of these witnesses do show community support.
I will shamelessly list my top three witnesses if you care to read. None of these witnesses are in the top 20 so they are not making thousands of steem, but they are doing their best to show support to the community and make STEEM a better platform. That is why they have my witness votes. The steemcleaners community are also doing a wonderful job helping users regain their account after being hacked. Who else would help these users? It's not Steemit Inc.
@steemcommunity is a witness where @abh12345 is co-partner. Asher (abh12345) hosts a weekly contest for engagement and steem prizes are given out to people who engage on the platform. He also delegates to individuals (myself included) to help us grow. He doesn't ask anything in return, and in fact, did all this when many accounts had barely any SP.
@yabapmatt is a witness that co-founded @steemmonsters, which encourages user activity here on the platform. Once the game is "live", users will have the opportunity to earn steem/sbd by playing in tournaments. The current prize pool is estimated to be in the 1,000 sbd (or maybe USD) range. I love the steemmonsters concept because users no longer have to be a writer or video producer to succeed here. They can play games and earn if that is their preference. They also have weekly contests where users could win cards and sbd. Matt recently donated to a contest where over $200 sbd in prizes were given to newbies/minnows. He also delegates to community-oriented members.
@danielsaori is a witness that co-founded @dustsweeper. The bot will come "upvote" any votes received that do not meet the 0.02 dust threshold required to be awarded. He also hosts a weekly contest for quality commenters, and users could win sbd and SP delegation.
Great comment @beeyou !
You are right in that the vast majority of witnesses are losing money on STEEM mined verses server costs. Even the base set-up is not going to show any profit at all for around half the active witnesses.
Many (including @steemcommunity) have the plan in mind that if the node starts turning a profit, more equipment will be added thus balancing the expenses. I would suggest that at present if you are not in the top 20 and have all the kit, then you wont be making money as a witness right now.
Thank you for the kind mention of @steemcommunity :D
In my 7 months of being on here, it is witnesses such as yourself, Matt, and Daniel (all not in the top 20), that have shown support to us small fishes. It is this very reason why many of us redfishes and minnows try our best to bring awareness to the importance of witness voting. Imagine the many lives you would impact if you had the financial support of being in the top 20. We minnows may lack influence, but I know a lot of us will continue to spread awareness and aim for our favorite witnesses to make it to the top 20. :)
Appreciate you stopping by Asher!