SBI Member Interview: featuring @enginewitty
Steem Basic Income
Steem Basic Income is a voluntary social experiment to bring a crowd-funded basic income to as many Steemians as possible. Members join by sponsoring others into the program. Steem Basic Income is delivered through providing regular upvotes to member content.
Welcome to @steembasicincome's nineteenth member interview!
To provide more interaction within Steem Basic Income (SBI), we are continuing our interviews with prominent members of SBI! We hope to bring a greater sense of community, get to know our members, and gain a better understanding of why Steemians are choosing to be a part of SBI.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmS2sV4UEKN2rUnjqwFoGbzpByzYgvAwswSV7xCZsZfMnT/SBI%20Member%20Interview.png)
Graphic by @katysavage
Writer Intro: @wesphilbin
Greetings, again fellow Steemians, I am @wesphilbin. This will be my nineth interview for the Steem Basic Income group. I have interviewed the following Steemians:
@eturnerx
@ecoinstant
@jonnyla08
@rishi556
@tattoodjay
@mariannewest
@solominer
@r2cornell
@freedompoint
@shadowspub
Subject Intro: @enginewitty
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/363691959812096011/596212270732673025/The_Alliance_Banner.png)
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/o6NdcZ4.png)
@wesphilbin: I have been off the radar as it were... dealing with my Multiple Sclerosis flare-ups, as well as some nasty upper respiratory issues, so do apologize for the lack of amplifying the awesome of our Steem Basic Income members. I am sure this gentleman needs no introduction, but to be fair, let's do that... shall we?
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/o6NdcZ4.png)
@wesphilbin: From his Steem page: "Witness on the chain, to maintain the mainframe... better learn the name, I play like a chess game..." You may know him as @enginewitty, or maybe "Witty aka 'X40L1N'"... either way, he is a Witness on the Blockchain, and has been on said Blockchain since May of 2017. Let's dive in, and learn about Witty...
@wesphilbin: Would you mind telling our readers, a little about yourself... what brought you to the blockchain?
@enginewitty: Above all, I'm Dad to several. That's been my primary 'job' for the last 20 years and I don't see that changing before I die! HA! As for finding my self here, on Steem, that's an interesting little tidbit. I was involved and fairly successful with an MLM company called Empower Network. Being a writer by trade, it just fit really well. I was looking to expand my own marketing base as I was having some decent success on a few blogs like Tumblr, and I came across Steemit.
I'd already been familiar with cryptocurrency, being an early adopter of Bitcoin, so I didn't pay much attention to that aspect. I signed up and didn't even touch it for almost 3 or 4 months. Then as I was watching a few alts on Coin Market Cap, I saw STEEM being stable so figured I would check into it. Turns out, I was already here! So, what brought me here and why I'm still here - two different avenues now.
@wesphilbin: I'm curious... what was the reason you decided to become a Witness?
@enginewitty: Why did I become a Witness? I don't like red tape, and I see a lot of that. I think with the proper leadership, this Blockchain has the capacity to literally change the world as we know it. Right now, it's infested with greed - which is part of the reason the price of STEEM hasn't risen back up to a lovable level.
"The SBI model is one of the few that is truly sustainable by actually giving to receive - and you know how I am about that!"
@wesphilbin: I think I first met you at the Pimp Your Post Thursday, with @shadowspub... this MLM company... Empower Network, can you share more with our readers about this... are you still there?
@enginewitty: EN - Empower Network. We did probably the biggest prebuild for an MLM triangle Facebook had ever seen at the time. This was before they were ghosting people's posts and an ad you paid for was actually seen. We called it the Beast. In all honesty, I was never really in it for the marketing and building aspect as I was so much that I was finally getting paid something for writing a little here and there. Like virtually all Network Marketing companies - it started to get stale and I had to move on.
@wesphilbin: I know the ghosting posts is a real thing, as well as Shadow Banning. Sorry to hear it didn't work out. So are you still involved with Tumblr? Or just strictly "Steem" related avenues?
@enginewitty: LOL no, haven't made a post on there since I joined Steem, pretty much. Every now and then I 'share' some content over there and push an article over that way but - it's probably been a year since I last did that. I pretty much threw everything else out the window and created a whole new foothold on Steem. I mean, people on Facebook are like, "What the fuck is Bitcoin?"... and since that was one of the larger 'recruiting' pools, I didn't see any point trying to push an agenda and creating time to again 'be ghosted'. You know Facebook has a strict policy against other cryptocurrencies, right? Pansies.
That doesn't mean I don't make it known. My profile picture over there is me wearing a Steem T-Shirt. I updated all my LinkedIn info to reflect my Steem relation and have a few accounts on Twitter that honor the Blockchain. I believe @jackmiller has it set up on our budding website thealliance.io where it auto-tweets an article someone writes. So we have a cross platform presence, I just don't think the general populace has accepted cryptocurrency yet. Hell, there's people who still ride horses, cook over an open flame and write letters.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/6QgGUBy.jpg)
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/o6NdcZ4.png)
@wesphilbin: There are many that still don't know about cryptocurrency, my friend. Or, if they do... scared of it perhaps. I'm curious; where did you first learn about SBI?
@enginewitty: It was @mariannewest that first introduced me to it. I really didn't pay much attention and believe I was one of the first 40 or 50 to be sponsored. She just said I'm gonna sponsor you and thank me later. Then at The Block Party, I got to meet her and we had a live video conference with @josephsavage and it was awesome.
@wesphilbin: Oh yes!! I remember @mariannewest talking about this when I interviewed her... what a wonderful person she is! Slightly jealous you got to meet not only @mariannewest, but also @josephsavage; definitely two people that bring positive energy to the Blockchain. With the continued growth of the thealliance.io , are you utilizing SBI in any contests or challenges? I'd love for our readers who might not know of The Alliance to have the chance to learn what you are doing for the Blockchain, as well as the many other communities...
@enginewitty: The website is still in its youth and I have to give a heavy thanks to @sayee and @latino.romano for being so consistent with steady content flow. Also a big thank you to @jackmiller for keeping tabs on it.
As for contests? Every couple weeks I'll drop a question in one of my posts for people to comment a certain thing and hand out SBI for it. Think the last one was your favorite bug 😋 I also throw some out from time to time for other contests. A couple weeks ago I threw some into one held by @innerblocks over there with @freedompoint and @freedomtowrite. I also pick a random Sunday each month to throw SBI out to people that come to our family meetings. I don't publicize it because like with my own blog, I want people to actually read it or be there and stumble on it. With the meetings, I don't want them to think I'm paying them to be there but rather, a thank you for coming this time.
I used to loudly profess all the things I delegate to or support, but actions speak, ya know? One of our main focuses right now in the fam, is retention. Those that want to be here on chain. We ask a commitment and in return, commit to them. Win, win. We don't force you to write or make comments, but we appreciate it. If a person chooses to do a thing, it gets noticed. Simple as that :sunglasses:
"Right now, we have a #spreadlovenotwar campaign we started with a former bidbot. With the help of @contrabourdon, we turned it into a curation account and have a small whitelist of allies that can activate it on chain. Pretty neat, actually. We tend to focus on undervalued posts and great content. We just made it possible for the account to resteem anything we vote on so whoever reads this and wants to see the kinds of things our curators are looking at, follow @alliedforces 💪
"
@wesphilbin: You know, I think it's wonderful that you are setting such a positive example. Interacting with so many members and communities... I have to ask; considering all this "New Steem" mindset, do you feel what you are providing via SBI units is still a positive addition? I certainly do, but I am curious of your thoughts. In the same context, do you feel more pressure representing SBI while holding the responsibility of being a Witness?
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbjtPL7249HEAfnv88a7fDajscJHTsnfpjGEZ3eSp3LBz/Enginewitty_1.gif
)
@enginewitty: #newsteem, pssh. It's the same blockchain man! And did you know the rewards have been 50/50 before? I have chameleon properties though, or maybe ninja, so it's easy to adapt to changes for me. I don't always agree or like them, but I find a way. As for SBI being a positive addition? Hecks ya! People can't BOT their posts anymore so they need that little extra boost. The SBI model is one of the few that is truly sustainable by actually giving to receive - and you know how I am about that! As for being a Witness in reference to SBI? I hold no accountability to to any organization other than my own family here that I've been cultivating and nurturing.
Sure, I love other ones. For example, I am a frequent visitor to the shows in The Ramble that @shadowspub puts on. When I remember, I try to check out the @freewritehouse and @heyhaveyamet peoples. I mingle with the Veterans and my Pirate stakkers, gamers, musicians, you name it. The only responsibility I feel is to everyone that wants to see this Blockchain still onboarding new users in 20 years. That's why I became a Witness. The potential here is unmatched by any other chain and I really care about it, even though I'm no master coder or developer. What we build now, our kids will see. I want to give them a castle :wink:
@wesphilbin: Oh yes... I see you everywhere, my friend! I remember when I first heard of The Alliance... I was always looking to see how things went, and learned about everything you stood for; family, friends, positive content on the Blockchain; it is appreciated... before I let you get back to Witnessing (is that a word?) I am curious of your thoughts on STEEM, Steem, SBI moving forward...
@enginewitty: Moving forward, I see a bright future for those that remain here on chain and stick out this #newsteem nonsense. It never changed, it's the same Steem I joined over 2 years ago except, there's a few different protocols now. If I was a consensus Witness, I would have voted against several things, but it is what it is and this marathon is far from over. How about you Wes, you gonna run with me?
Yes, my friend... I will be right beside you...
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/o6NdcZ4.png)
Interview Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this interview with @enginewitty ... if you'd like to see what other topics Witty believes in, why not catch his next Words With Witty at @shadowspub's The Ramble... lot's of good people there, who support the Steem Basic Income initiative!!
![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmda2gu39pLdpQA2fe1NKWhhYXGZnCcRKsaUYwspfppKbx/www%20practice.gif)
Click image and sign with Steemconnect to give @enginewitty your Witness vote.
Nineteen total interviews for the @steembasicincome Group... and my eleventh to date, as a writer for the SBI Group... With each Steemian I interview, I see a similar vibe my friends... sharing the positive effects of promoting community, a greater sense of why these Steemians are choosing to participate in the Steem Basic Income initiative... for not only themselves and their interaction on the block-chain, but also sharing the understanding of engagement, by sponsoring others. I thank you for sticking around, and reading yet another interview highlighting a prominant user involved in the Steem Basic Income initiative. Appreciate your continued support, involvement, and community interaction.
Who will we see on the next Steem Basic Income interview?
Until then my friends...
Wes
SBI Writers Group
Do you like what you see? Would you like to contribute to interviewing and highlighting more of our quality members?
Read about our Writers Group initiative here and then message @josephsavage on Steem or on Discord to show your interest.
Previous | SBI | Interviews | |
---|---|---|---|
dynamicgreentk | f3nix | andrewharland | |
improv | dosdudes | holger80 | |
reinaldoverdu | josephsavage | eturnerx | |
ecoinstant | jonnyla08 | rishi556 | tattoodjay |
mariannewest | solominer | Who will be next? |
Enrollment
If you want to get involved, or to increase the level of basic income that you receive, enrollment is pretty straightforward:
Just send 1 STEEM to @steembasicincome. Include the name of a Steemian to sponsor in the transaction memo (preceded by @). You and the person you sponsor will each receive 1 unit in the program. You can sponsor any active Steemian (except for yourself), it does not have to be a current member.
If you're unclear, please check out our full transaction memo guidelines and then let us know if you have any questions.
https://steemit.com/busy/@steembasicincome/transaction-memo-guidelines
The official currency for enrollment is STEEM. If we choose to accept SBD without refunding it, you do not receive extra value for it. Enrollments are processed automatically every 144 minutes.
Questions about Steem Basic Income?
Most questions are addressed in our FAQ or in these helpful resources. If you still have questions, ask in the comments section or join us in our discord channel.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYyGi4HvKXuvQJ7sWPQHH5W33ThfAE74dpsJgMJ6n8UiZ/SBI%20Promo%20Banner%20PNG.png)
You honor me Wes! This was really fun to read and participate in with you! I'll be looking forward to the next one and checking out some of these people that have commented about their SBI contests down here. You are a great Steempeep, glad to be running with you!
@enginewitty,
I appreciate you taking the time to take part in this. Also good to see others replying and showing they are still participating in the SBI initiative... Good to be running with you too!!
!sbi scilwa
Wow @enginewitty! Great to be featured here :P
Pick me next please @steembasicincome ;)
@alliedforces curate 2
I had a great time interviewing @enginewitty... appreciate your reply my friend. I'll get with you soon, and we can chat! Thank you again for your support, and curation.
Keep up the great work and join us in The Castle sometime!
The #spreadlovenotwar curation campaign is under the guidance of witnesses @enginewitty and @untersatz.
Hello @josephsavage
I'm missing the regular posts of @steembasicincome e.g. for contests. I know that the upvotes for posts don't count any longer (or at least in a decreasing way) for SBI upvotes with might be fine. But anyway the upvotes could help the SBI project. So what happened? Maybe you just have a deserved break from posting and organizing - which I really could understand ☺️ Thank you @peekbit
I miss them too. We stopped posting because of downvote pressure. We will start posting interviews again soon on a new account, and if it goes well we can do the same for contest lists.
The steembasicincome account could simply ignore it. SBI itself has a reputation of 73 - so downvotes probably don't harm the accounts reputation if I understand the system right. And everybody only has 25% voting power for downvotes. So it would need a lot to counterbalance all the upvotes. These downvotes go somewhere against SBI anyway - either to the steembasicincome account or to accounts of members of SBI. Why not giving these downvotes some posts where the enviers of such a nice idea (and it's nothing more than that) can spend their downvotes. Anyway -they just want to harm the minnows with low SP to feel themselves great and need to demonstrate that they can stop all minnows on Steem. Most even don't post by themselves - probably they have nothing to contribute - they just fight to keep their 'position' in the SP ranking list. Why not just ignore them? 😊
Check the last published interview on the account and you will see what level of DV I'm talking about. At some point we will just ignore them and publish again, but I don't want to waste member vp in a pointless war.
long time no see @steembasicincome 💙
welcome back ♬♬♬
Posted using Partiko Android
Still delivering votes as normal, just posting less frequently until whales figure out that aggressive downvoting is driving STEEM to 0.
thanks ! 💙
Steem ♨ On !
Posted using Partiko Android
Too late for me, I have pulled back the last of my delegations, which was SBI and ssg-community. As soon as those clear, I am powering down and moving on. And it is interesting to me that enginewitty fancies himself such a defender of the underdogs and yet his refusal to stick up for me when sircork went bat shit crazy on me is why I am not part of the alliance any more. My experience on steemit has just been a long, slow death spiral; time to cut bait and find a better fishing hole!
Opinion is subjective. Truth is finite.
@bluengel,
I appreciate your continued replies, and support. You always chime into my interviews, and I thank you for that...
곰돌이가 @bluengel님의 소중한 댓글에 $0.023을 보팅해서 $0.019을 살려드리고 가요. 곰돌이가 지금까지 총 6983번 $84.725을 보팅해서 $93.470을 구했습니다. @gomdory 곰도뤼~
My compliments @wesphilbin I loved the interview, you can make a job out of it and I would Definitely subscribe
@brittandjosie,
Why thank you, my friend! Make a job out of it you say? I am just trying to interact with others... spread some positive energy on the blockchain! Let others see just who is involved in the SBI initiative... we aren't trolls under the bridge :) I thank you for always supporting me.. whether here, or the Terminal, or just everyday blogs...
Thank you...
Right? He's done some pretty dang good ones!
It’s love darling its love
@enginewitty,
Thank you!! I try my best, to focus on those who agree to partake in these interviews. Not only for their involvement in the SBI initiatives but also their respective goals and content. Much like the mindset behind the SBI movement... Win! Win!
Is SBI planning on doing anything to combat the down votes for using SBI?
I asked a similar question. Crickets so far...
the next question is, will the invested Steem e returned
I apologize for the late response here; I had a terrible week in my personal life and I've been dealing with this issue across other channels.
We have organized a #vote-recovery channel in our Discord for verified SBI members to help each other counter the downvotes. There are also informal campaigns launched by some SBI members to help each outgrow the downvotes.
We think freedom is a valuable thing, and we have no power to stop the downvoter if he won't come to reason, just as he has no power to stop our upvotes. The final consensus on what gets rewarded is stake-weighted, so his stake can disagree with ours and hurt people that don't deserve it, but we don't have extra 'manual' resources available to counter it ourselves.
Hello @steembasicincome!
Are you aware that SBI members are being targeted by @mmmmkkkk311 and a bunch of his (I assume) bots?
This lead to a fellow Steemians initiative to shut down already: https://steempeak.com/palnet/@upvotebuilders/upvotebuilders-is-closing-down
What are your thoughts on @mmmmkkkk311 accusation that SBI is wrongfully spreading upvotes amongst members of SBI?
Cheers!
Lucky
just got a visit from him and his bots on my 0.005 comment up vote. dont get it. a undarstand the hate to bit bots but this is not a bit bot. a think the mmmm has misunderstand the ide of basic income how its actual helping the steem special for the small steem users. just steem on and ignoring it. a gess.
Yes, you're probably right. Even more so because another fellow steemian mentioned to me that this guy had a bid bot service before! Hahaha! This makes the whole thing even more absurd!
Cheers!
Lucky
We are aware. I apologize for the late response here; I had a terrible week in my personal life and I've been dealing with this issue across other channels.
We have organized a #vote-recovery channel in our Discord for verified SBI members to help each other counter the downvotes. There are also informal campaigns launched by some SBI members to help each outgrow the downvotes.
We think freedom is a valuable thing, and we have no power to stop the downvoter if he won't come to reason, just as he has no power to stop our upvotes. The final consensus on what gets rewarded is stake-weighted, so his stake can disagree with ours and hurt people that don't deserve it, but we don't have extra 'manual' resources available to counter it ourselves.
Thanks for your response!
I hope you're fine now in regard to what you've mentioned about your personal life!
I guess at the moment I'll just accept these downvotes as an anomaly like a few other things on here that sometimes have this weird feel to them. Hahaha!
On a serious note though, I found it interesting that to some "upvote-circles" are seen like the flat out buying of votes we had before with bid-bots and so on.
I still think SBI is a wonderful idea and I'll keep supporting it!
Cheers!
Lucky
@wesphilbin, Hope that soon you will be healed from your Health Issues. Stay blessed.
@enginewitty, Great to know about your Steem Journey and all the Initiatives which you brought here or part of. In my opinion one thing is for sure and that is Steem Ecosystem needs more Community Development Initiatives and it's reflecting as in this blog some of the Community Development Projects are mentioned.
Have a wonderful and successful journey ahead and stay blessed.
Posted using Partiko Android
@chireerocks,
Thank you for your reply and kind words... and of course, support for the SBI initiative...
Welcome and have a great time ahead. Stay blessed.
As @shadowspub would say - It's all about community - and one thing I've noticed is that since these last few hardforks, it's the people that are closely tied to a community that have remained here and are toughing out the hurricane.
!SHADE 2
@chireerocks you have received
2 SHADE
from enginewitty!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
This tip bot is powered by witness untersatz!
Yes. Community is the real boost,and in a way it's an aspect which inspire us. Stay blessed.
@steembasicincome
War es das jetzt mit SBI? Alle meine SBI upvotes erhalten downvotes, wie sehr viele andere auch. Sind unsere SBI-Shares nun nichts mehr wert? Was gedenkt ihr zu tun? Verkauft ihr weiterhin eure Shares!
Is that it with SBI? All my SBI upvotes get downvotes, as do very many others. Are our SBI shares now worth nothing? What do you intend to do? You will continue to sell your shares?
I apologize for the late response here; I had a terrible week in my personal life and I've been dealing with this issue across other channels.
We have organized a #vote-recovery channel in our Discord for verified SBI members to help each other counter the downvotes. There are also informal campaigns launched by some SBI members to help each outgrow the downvotes.
We think freedom is a valuable thing, and we have no power to stop the downvoter if he won't come to reason, just as he has no power to stop our upvotes. The final consensus on what gets rewarded is stake-weighted, so his stake can disagree with ours and hurt people that don't deserve it, but we don't have extra 'manual' resources available to counter it ourselves.