Where is Steemit.chat? [ concerning witness voting ](PSA)

Steemit.chat has been a place that I go to daily for all sorts of things such as to help newbies who DM or try to get some support for authors I think deserving but mostly, to relax and spend time with people I regard as friends. I just tried to log on to Steemit.chat and was confronted by this message:

If you are reading this then @riverhead, and by extension steemit.chat, has been fired.
What?

The Steem blockchain is run by paid witnesses. As many know witness positions are highly coveted as pay at current prices is around $200,000 - $500,000+ per year versus around $50k - $90k for the 21st position and dropping sharply after that. There is a HUGE difference between the top 20 and backup witnesses. As @klye mentioned the other day, "These are the rockstars of witnesses".

One should be able to look at each name in the top twenty and understand what value they bring to the ecosystem versus those outside of it.

Witness List

Most in the top twenty bring a lot of value to the system other than just signing blocks and running a price feed. My (@riverhead) contribution was running this chat service. That has worked out well for about a year or so now but as time passes folks in the top 20 get complacent, and large stakeholders lose interest in keeping track of who does what for the ecosystem.

In my humble opinion this chat service provided a lot of value to the community and worthy of a witness postion. Those with the voting power to shape the witness list disagreed which brings you to this page instead of whatever community you’ve built over the last year or so on steemit.chat.

Don't Panic!

I have found a willing and able team, lead by @followbtcnews, to take it over. That should happen by the end of the week but it's entirely up to him. He'll have the full data set so things will likely just pick up where they left off but on better hardware if that's the direction he wants to go.

In the meantime we can all take the next couple of days to reflect on what it means to vote for witnesses that bring value to the ecosystem.

Have a look at your top twenty witnesses, who votes for them, and try to figure out why. For example @jesta is a strong witness and you can see who supports him here.

I wish @followbtcnews all the best and I hope you show him the same kindness and support you've given me while providing this service to the community.

See you space cowboy...

Riverhead

I don't know what is really happening with this but it brings up a familiar topic, witness voting is an important part of the platform yet, many do not do it. One of the reasons is that many do not understand it. Here is a relatively quick guide, read it.

Many of the witnesses I vote for are also regulars at steemit.chat and I see them regularly helping out in many varied ways. Regulars (off the top of my head) are: @pharesim, @pfunk, @gtg, @nextgencrypto, @reggaemuffin, @patrice, @themarkymark, @ocd-witness, @drakos, @klye, @aggroed and of course @riverhead.

Having some access to some of the most knowledgeable people at Steemit has been an invaluable resource, even if it is a few words here and there or an answer to a basic question. I think many of the new users do not understand who they are really talking to there, which is perhaps a good thing.

Being a part of this community requires understanding how parts of the community work, it isn't good enough to post, comment and sit back waiting for the cash to roll in, you have to be active. If you are unsure about witnesses, while you are learning or can't be bothered, find someone you trust who understands the platform better than you, and give them your proxy vote.

Here is the link to voting.

When it comes to steemit.chat, I hope that @followbtcnews will do a great job when they take it over as it is a place that helps me and many, many others connect with the real people of the steem blockchain in real time.

Thank you @riverhead for all your efforts.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]