Phew, Understanding Witnesses Is Not Easy Deal!

^Source

I'll be honest with you. I thought I understood what witnesses were supposed to do for the Steem blockchain long ago. But as time goes by, I keep learning new things. Not necessarily about what a witness role is for the blockchain, in theory (although this knowledge refines in time too), but mostly about what some individual witnesses stand for.

That's the complicated part. Understanding what each witness (or at least those you are focused on) bring to the table. Being able to discern major incidents from minor ones. Reading between the lines to see who still cares about the Steem blockchain and who runs the witness node on autopilot.

The fact that not all witnesses bother to communicate publicly, makes it somewhat difficult to put the pieces together, or even know some pieces at all. Therefore voting for them in an informed manner is not always possible for a regular user.

Today I have approved three more witnesses, one which is already in Top 20 (@ausbitbank) and the other two from Top 50 (@netuoso and @themarkymark). That brings the total of witness votes I have given to 29 out of 30. No approvals are definitive, which means I keep a close eye on what happens with the witnesses I approved, and when I learn of something that is detrimental to the blockchain, or they don't seem to evolve in some way, I withdraw my (small) vote, temporarily or permanently.

The main reason for approving the three witnesses above is they run at least one full RPC node, and there are so few witnesses who do that currently (read @timcliff's updated list to get the picture).

I'll continue to do my best to take informed decisions when approving or disapproving the witnesses on my list. Please consider setting me as a witness proxy, if you don't want this responsibility for yourself. By setting me as a proxy, you increase the voting weight of our votes for witnesses.