Meeting Our Witnesses - @pharesim

As Steemians who want to see this platform continue to grow and flourish along with the steem token, I feel it is our duty to elect witnesses who will not only serve as masternodes but also add to the development of the Seem/Steemit environment. Most people are able to run a node with a little but of research and the proper equipment, but Witnesses vying for the top spot on the steemit network are rewarded for there position and should be doing more for the community. We all have 30 votes to cast for the witnesses of our choice and these are the 30 most important up votes you will ever make on this platform. Witnesses are the leaders in this community and thus it is of paramount importance that we due our due diligence before casting our votes.

Until recently I had barely used my witness votes and I felt it was time to change that. I didn't know many of the Steem Witnesses and hadn't put in enough effort getting to know the people who keep this platform running. The first thing I decided to do (which I should have done months ago) was read through all the Steemit FAQ pages to get a better understanding of how our ecosystem functions. After that I headed over to Steemd to check out the top 100 witnesses and what they've been doing on the platform. I highly recommend doing those two things right now, if you haven't already done so.

It just so happened that at the time I had started to research about the witnesses on the platform that I ran into a post by @pharesim which asked for a little help in his witness campaign. Talk about timing!! So after reading his piece on a Call for Witness Support and a personal desire to better know the witnesses, I decided to write a series on the topic of witness voting, which you are now reading (hopefully).

When @pharesim is connecting with people in the physical world he goes by the name of Michael. Having been involved in crypto for over 5 years, I think it is safe to say he's more knowledgeable than most regarding crypto currency. Michael has been on the platform since it's inception and has been very active over the course of Steems existence.

Besides just running a seed node for the platform, Michael is also involved in several side projects. For all of the gamblers out there, @pharesim created the site Steem Dice where you can bet on the outcome of a roll of the dice. With a 50% chance of winning, you are receiving better odds than any game in the casino and you are supporting one of the leaders in the Steem community. So... Do you feel lucky?

If a roll of the dice is not your thing and you are just interested in growing the platform, well, @pharesim has got you covered. He is also the creator of Steem Invite, which is basically a service that you can use to help invite friends to steemit and get them signed up and ready to rock and roll on the platform. EVERYONE should be sending out a few invites to friends, colleagues, even random people you meet on the street. With an ever growing steem community, we are destined for success. Once again, head over to Steem Connect and start bringing people to the only social media platform that gives tangible rewards to its users.

Alright, maybe your not into gambling, and you think Steem has enough quality users already, there is no need to saturate the platform. Maybe your thing is fighting climate change or advancing humans through the CRISPR Project, if that's the case @pharesim is your man for that too. Michael created PEVO which stands for Publish and Evaluate Onchain, seeks to bring scientific publications to the blockchain. If you have ever looked for scientific journals or related articles, you know that there can be fees involved for accessing them. Besides these fees, many companies lobby scientists and scholars to paint a different story from the facts. Papers can be reviewed by special individuals and often times the truth can become diluted in the manipulation by outside influences.

For example, did you know that in the 1960's the sugar industry funded research that downplayed the risks of sugar consumption and over exaggerated the risks of consuming fat. Read More Here.

Alright, before I go off on a tangent, I'll try and stick to the subject. PEVO - Publish and Evaluate Onchain, is a great idea.

If all the preceding evidence presented has not convinced you to give @pharesim, then I will employ one last ditch effort to change your mind. As an animal lover myself, and having grown up with a dog(collie/shepherd mix), seeing Michael's beautiful 3.5 year old dog just warms my heart. Juka is a mix of Hovawart and White Sheperd, and just a beautiful animal. As a fellow pet owner, I can truly say @pharesim looks like he owns a great dog.

Last but not least, If you want to know more about what type of person Michael / @pharesim is, then Read This Post.

I have recently had the pleasure to talk with Michael and ask him a few questions both about steem and himself. Below is a complete transcript of our conversation.

• For steemians who don't know much about witnesses, can you give a layman explanation of what it is that witnesses do?

Witnesses are mainly responsible for adding your transactions to the blockchain. They get paid in Steem Power each time they add a block, which requires running a server with low latency and enough resources to quickly react when it has to. Besides that, they take care of huge parts of the infrastructure. This includes but is not limited to seed nodes (necessary to synchronize a new node with the network), rpc nodes (public api nodes used by apps like steemit, busy, steemdice etc.), apps and software, marketing and so on.

• Where do you see steem and steemit in 5 years?

Steemit will hopefully be just one app in a huge steem powered ecosystem. There will be all kinds of use cases nobody even thought about yet. With the expected prevalence and the advantages over others it may also become the first crypto which is used widely as a currency.

• If there was a worldwide internet and cellular blackout for a week, what would you do for those 7 days?

Hike into the Andalusian mountains and hope I survive until Google Maps comes back

• With so many other tools and sites having been created for the steemit user, if you had to pick one, which would be the most useful for a new steemian to use?

I still recommend steemd.com to new users, as I use it very regularly myself

• Being a witness takes a lot of time and energy, how do you keep a balance between this and other commitments?

I put everything on one card and quit my job when steemit launched. Currently my only other commitment is my dog, and she's the perfect counterweight to the work on the desk.

• In 5 sentences or less, tell steemians why you deserve their vote.

I'm fully dedicated to steem. Creating services and developing ideas and basically always available on steemit.chat when there's a question or something to talk about. I have the technical skills to create, set up and run stable services, and I am happy to share my knowledge and create tools for those who can't apply it. My actions are all motivated by spreading steem to more people, and making it easier to use for them.

• Do you have any phobias or fears?

Two dogs I had were hit by a car while out with someone else, since then I have some issues to let my dog alone with someone else. But it's got better over the years.

• If you could have one super power, what would it be?

Teleportation

It is clear that @pharesim truly is a dog lover and likely a great pet owner. I want to thank Michael again for taking the time to chat with me and encourage readers to use that all important witness upvote, especially on deserving candidates like @pharesim. If you don't know how, simply click on This Link, scroll down to number 17, and hit the upvote button.

This is part 8 of the series "Meet Our Witnesses", You can read the interviews with @rival, @good-karma, @someguy123, @liondani, @patrice, @jerrybanfield and @kyle by clicking the links:

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-rival

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-good-karma

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-someguy123

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-liondani

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-patrice

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-jerrybanfield

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https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-kyle

Make sure you follow along to this series as we get to know many of the leaders in the Steemit community and show some appreciation for everything they do. Thanks for reading and check back soon.