Learning to Steemit #2: My 30 Witness Votes
"From One Newbie to Another"
Learning to Steemit #2: My 30 Witness Votes
06-Feb-2018
by STRENUE DIGITAL (39) - red fish
Introduction
Hi Steemit Community! This is the second post in the "Learning to Steemit: From One Newbie to Another" series. I joined Steemit in January 2018 and I am currently on a crash course to learn all I can about the Steemit platform while also making blog posts about my interests and passions in life.
As I journey through Steemit as a 'red fish' swimming in an ocean of content authored and curated by 'minnows', 'dolphins', 'orcas' and 'whales', I continue to meet incredible people, read interesting posts and travel into deeper waters of understanding as to how this platform is held together. The topic that I am going to touch on today is an extremely important one and crucial to the long-term success and maintenance of the platform. Today I am going to scratch the surface on the topic of witness voting.
image source
My 30 Witness Votes
The table below lists my 30 witness votes. The table is not ranked in any particular order, it just lists all of the witnesses that I have voted for. The table also provides a link to the 'witness thread' which gives you a bit more information about each witness and the projects they are working on for the Steemit platform.
So what is a witness I hear you ask...
...well as a newbie to the platform I am not going to profess that I 100% grasp what it is to be a witness on the Steemit platform. I will instead refer directly to the Steemit FAQs that provides a concise description of a witness and the role they perform on the platform.
What are Steem witnesses?
The Steem blockchain requires a set of people to create blocks and uses a consensus mechanism called delegated proof of stake, or DPOS. The community elects 'witnesses' to act as the network's block producers and governance body. There are 20 full-time witnesses, producing a block every 63-second round. A 21st position is shared by backup witnesses, who are scheduled proportionally to the amount of stake-weighted community approval they have. Witnesses are compensated with STEEM Power for each block they create.
As you can see from the description above, the witnesses are crucial to the smooth running of the platform and the long-term future of the platform. It was the Steemit FAQs that sparked my curiosity about witnesses, but it has been my hours of reading since that has ignited my interest in the subject. Without getting into the nitty gritty detail, I have realised how vitally important it is for all users of Steemit, including us newbies to vote for our witnesses.
How can I vote for witnesses?
You will notice that the process of voting for a witness is very straightforward and very similar to giving an upvote on a post that you like. The image below depicts a witness that has been voted for and one that has not been voted for.
How many witnesses can I vote for?
Each account can vote for up to 30 witnesses.
Every user of the Steemit platform whether you are a 'red fish' like me or a seasoned 'whale' is able to cast up to 30 witness votes. Sadly it appears from the various posts I have read that many Steemit users are not aware of this and are not casting their votes or at least not casting all 30 of their votes.
The great thing about your 30 witness votes is that they are not set in stone and can be amended and changed at anytime. I have voted for my 30 witnesses for a variety of different reasons, some because I have had direct contact with the witness and they have been extremely helpful to me learning the platform. Other witnesses I have read a lot about and love the projects they are committed to and the vision they have for the Steemit platform. Then there are some witnesses that I have voted for based on a very quick assessment of their accounts and their contribution to the platform. I will continue to read up about the witnesses, engage with them directly and form my opinion of who my 30 witnesses should be going forward. This will be a continual commitment on my part as there will be new witnesses that rise up the ranks who will receive my vote in the future and similarly there will be other witnesses who become less active on the platform and in the community and may lose my vote as a result.
In future posts I intend to go into much more detail behind the reasoning for my votes for some of the witnesses, as the work they are doing and the ongoing commitment they have for the platform is truly inspiring needs to be shared with the community.
Conclusion
To conclude my second post in the 'Learning to Steemit: From One Newbie to Another' series, I truly want to emphasise the importance of witness voting to the long-term success and future development of the Steemit platform. Please take some time to research this topic a bit further, there are some really great posts out there covering this topic. Finally, cast all 30 of your votes for witnesses you believe in and who have the best interests of the Steemit platform as their highest priority. Determining this can be tricky, but by observing the actions of witnesses on the platform and the projects they are working on for the future betterment of the platform, you should be able to find 30 witnesses that you can trust. Good luck and enjoy the research adventure, I know I am.
Thank you for voting me as one of your Witness.
I watching you grow your success.
Cheers,
@yehey
Hi @yehey, thanks for taking the time to have a read of my post. You should say thanks to @libertyranger as he had a big influence in my decision to cast one of my 30 witness votes for you. In the following post Can I really afford to be a witness for steemit.
I look forward to learning more about your work on the Steemit platform, thanks for taking on the role of witness.
Thank you for voting my owner @Yehey Witness.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by strenue from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
We newbies never have 50SP on our account. :)
Some people running bots want to be whitness. You have an opinion on that ?
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