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Yes it's my first birthday as a Steemian!

On this date one year ago my account was approved!

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Is my server reliably up and running? Yes.

Have I missed any blocks to date? No.

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Enough said about that!

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Let's move on to what I believe is more important and that is to share some thoughts that may hopefully get some people thinking about where we are, what we are doing and where we want to be.

We've all heard many Steemians state the truth about Steem:

"Steem can change this world".

YES IT CAN!

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In the past four months as a Witness I have invested a lot of time communicating with people, predominantly in one on one conversations via Discord, where many of us Steemians tend to hang out!

In these conversations, I listen, I also tend to promote the idea of working together, finding common denominators that we can build upon and form a path towards synergy. Maybe a little too utopian from me, but this is how I approach things. Sometimes my approach is a little unorthodox, too many times outright overly direct, yet no matter what the case may be, I am trying to build bridges with people. So much so that my posting has suffered, from a Steemian who used to post regularly, sometimes possibly too often, something that I loved, as I have fallen in love with this entire concept, to literally not having the mojo to write anything after spending well over 12 hours a day communicating with people via Discord and trying to achieve something that to me as a witness is my higher priority.

So, I need to organize my time a little better, a little hard to do when my priorities are now different to those of lets say January this year!

I think that this is all clear enough and people can appreciate that taking on the role and responsibilities of a true to heart witness here is a lot more than just "mining"!

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What is it that I want us Steemians to think about?

Here it is and please read carefully, as this is something that I believe can affect the future and help get us to where all of us want to be and that is having "Steem go to the moon!"

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One of the things that I personally agree upon is that ALL top20 witnesses should be running a full public RPC node.

We are expanding, our user numbers are growing exponentially, we are Steem is being heard about all over the world, the potentials of Steem are becoming a common knowledge among those who have been in the Crypto scene for the past decade (almost two).

The current front end platforms are not proportionally known of yet, but that is all OK, marketing is a process, it doesn't just happen over night.

But all of this growth is getting us to the stage where we seriously have to start looking into the reality of it all. Do we have the necessary logistics to expand to millions of users?

YES WE CAN!

A good proportion of this depends upon all us Steemians in our decision making processes.

A good proportion of it depends upon who we vote for, in our witness voting specter of this ecosystem.

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How can we as Steemians affect the course of our future via our witness votes?

Well, for starters, lets all put some of the criteria that I have heard to date and apply it. Not just talk about it, but actually apply it and stick to it!

When we say "I will vote for those who have a full RPC node running, then lets not just say this, lets apply to. Actions speak louder than words.

However, this does bring about some other questions and thoughts!

Just recently I had this conversation yet again with a fellow Steemian. It was a private chat in which was the result of a situation where I had been given good references by other Witnesses out there, with whom I share many similar views on some topics that we believe are important for constructive and positive changes both to the front end apps and to the entire ecosystem.

So rather than me here do a full on speech about the above topic, here is a part of that conversations, my answer to the statement "I'll vote for you when you have a full RPC node up and running":

Mate,

I slept over our conversation, thought about your words, it's not the first time I've come across similar comments and replies.

However, the one thing that I am constantly thinking about when someone says "I'll vote only for those that have full RPC nodes etc etc etc" is the following:

We all know that to run a full RPC node could cost anywhere from a minimum of $600 to a realistic figure of closer to $1000 for a fully reliable and 100% service.

So, when we realistically look at the current situation, we see that the only witnesses who could afford to invest this are literally the top20 and we could add to that list the ten more from 20 to 30.

So the top30.
Then I ask myself, "Well why is a person who tells me this answer voting for witnesses who do make the money to be able to afford this much needed service, but who are not doing so because obviously they have the votes without supplying the needed nodes?"

The second thing that gets me in this is the following:

How can witnesses who are not in the top 50 ever get to the top50 if we are not given the chance to do so?

How do we prove ourselves in a realistic period of performance in the top50, lets say 6 months of being in the top50 if we are never able to get there?

I'm not picking on you as an individual here, I am just sharing thoughts with you, as you can definitely get recommendations from the witnesses you voted on, who have now deactivated their servers, you have not only their recommendations but my actions too, by which I have to date gotten over 6 top20 witnesses to agree to vote for things that those witnesses you had voted for prior to them de-activitng their servers. Not bragging, but my lobbying has to date gotten a lot of potential changes on the table and it isn't easy.

I'm not sure what else to say to see and understand my points.

A top50 witness needs to lobby for changes, as they can't vote on changes, but are high enough to be able to put real pressure on the top 20.

A top 50 witness if close to the top20 SHOULD get a full RPC node, YES, so as to prove that they are ready to accept on the responsibilities and duties of a top20 witness. To give back from the earnings made thanks to the votes received from fellow Steemians.

Yet do they?

and seriously, here I am, and I shall continue doing so, no matter who does or doesn't vote for me, and here I am trying to cooperate with other witnesses, constantly pathing the path to forming synergy among us rather than a dog eat dog world/approach.

I believe that your attitude towards setting criteria such as running a full RPC node is definitely the right approach.
Fully agree.
But for whom should that criteria apply?
and WHEN?
and most importantly, if we want a dictatorship here, then sure, why let anyone who can make changes here be given the opportunity to do so, lets just have a totalitarian regime based on BIAS and intolerance.
because that is exactly what the current state of affairs here is leading to.
I hope these thoughts, may get you thinking too, and no matter if you do or don't have any hard feelings because of the fact that I have been so direct, I won't have any hard feelings towards you, I will be overly happy to see that my thoughts have in a way positively acted upon your understanding another persons views on the same topics and issues.

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Maybe this response was a little too direct, but if it helps to get you thinking too and applying a fair and equal approach towards using your votes in an effective and reasonable manner, then this post, this humble little witness-update was a success.

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There is one thing that I have to make note of here and present, even if my practices to date have always been along the logic of:

"Shut up, get the job done and move on to the next job"

Meaning, I don't talk about what I do, don't brag about it, I just do it and then tomorrow when I wake up is literally say to myself:

"Yesterday is in the past, what can I do today to make a difference"

Might sound a little crazy, a person talking out aloud to oneself, yet it is a proven fact that hearing the words, i.e. reading out aloud can be a very effective way of ensuring that ones mind actually registers it much more than when reading something without hearing the words, same applies to thoughts. Maybe not for everyone, but this works for me when it comes to things like this. So every morning I say this out aloud and I try to live by it.

However, there are some things that do not fall in line with this, the following is something that needs to be shared with everyone, because I put it together for everyone.

It is @witnesspage.

Here is a link to the intro post, and in a nutshell, it is simply a page on Steemit.com where all the posts made by all our active witnesses with any of the following three tags are resteemed: #witness , #witness-update , #witness-category .

So from this week forwards there is a place where all Steemians can go to and see exactly what our Witnesses are doing and saying.
Let's not forget, each Witness does have a moral obligation to inform Steemians of what we are doing via Witness Update posts. So hopefully this page shall promote a little more activity in that obligation of ours and add a little more to the transparency of things on our blockchain! (fingers crossed)

Introducing @witnesspage - All Steem Witness posts and updates on the one page!

WELCOME TO @WITNESSPAGE

by @jackmiller [Witness]

So please help get the word out by resteeming this post, or the intro post in the link. It shall definitely make things a lot more practical for everyone out there looking for information on Witnesses and what Witnesses are doing!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank outright the following two people who helped me with this:

@someguy123 (Witness) & @nnnarvaez (Witness: @castellano)

Without their assistance and input, this idea would probably be on the drawing board. Excellent Steemians and Witnesses who are living proof of what I mentioned earlier about working together and using synergy, combining efforts to make things happen!

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Now for those reading this post and who still don't know me as me, for the person I am, just recently I was a guest on a radio show which was totally casual and really a friendly type of environment.

It is run by @littlescribe, a very very very enthusiastic and energetic Steemian who is literally glowing with positivity and everything that we want to see in everyone!

Here is a direct link to the show, if you have an hour to spare and want to get to know me a little better, what better way than to hear it from "the horses mouth" XD.

My voice isn't one for the radio, but it is what it is, can't change it, just means I'll never be a radio show host! Ohh well!

Here is the link to the post about the show:

DEAR LITTLESCRIBE: Interview with a Witness - @jackmiller and @patrice

I would like to thank @littlescribe for inviting me to her show, can definitely say that is was totally fab and fun, not the typical "interrogation" type of "interview" some would expect!

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Would I like to say anything else? YES

But shall I? Probably not much.

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What can I say, to end this post off, lets see:

THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED FOR WHO I AM, THE WAY I AM.

I shall do my best to live by the words "Do unto others as you would have them to unto you"
Yes this is a commandment by the good man JC.
I have never hidden my faith, nor do I judge others who are have different opinions on faith, but I truly believe that we can all accept this as being a great way to try and live our lives, respecting others for who and what they are as we would like them to accept and respect us too.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED ME ALONG THE WAY!

I know, it wasn't easy! IOU!

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So there we have it, not the typical, yeah, lets celebrate my first birthday type of post, but then again, what did you expect from me!

I SINCERELY HOPE THAT WE CAN ALL WORK TOGETHER AND MAKE STEEM GO TO THE MOON!

I AS A FULLY PLEDGED LOYAL STEEMIAN LIVE FOR THAT DAY!

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Yours truly

Jack