I’ve spent the last four days snooping on every witness I vote for so I could tell you why in this post. I fell down several rabbit holes and learned quite a bit along the way.

Do you vote for witnesses?

If you answered “yes,” great! Go you! If you answered “no,” we need to talk.

The people running witness servers are making it possible for you to use Steemit. They're the ones steering this ship. And it’s a lot of work.

It’s okay if you didn’t know that yet. There’s a TON to learn on Steemit, so don’t sweat it. But now that you know how important witnesses are, BE SURE TO CAST YOUR VOTES!

As witness @drakos said in his guide to voting for witnesses, “Without witness nodes, there is no Steem blockchain.” Go read his post to understand more about what a witness does.

Even Scarlett Johansson says we have an obligation to vote. She might not have been talking about Steem witnesses, but the same concept applies.

(All gifs via giphy.com)

Who should I vote for, and where do I vote?

Good question. I’ve put votes together based on a combination of my own experience and trusting others for recommendations. The best way to figure out which witnesses to vote for is to interact with them, read their posts, and get to know the work they’re doing.

You can snoop on witnesses (and anyone else) by going to steemd.com/ and putting in their username after the /, giving you an idea of their activity. Another way is to check their blog to see what they post and resteem.

TO VOTE FOR WITNESSES, go here: https://steemit.com/~witnesses.

If you want to vote for witnesses who aren’t in the top 50, just write them in.

You’ll need your active key to vote for witnesses. When you’re finished voting, log out and log back in with your posting key. All of this might sound complicated the first time (it did to me), but it gets easy after a while. ;)

Check your votes from time to time and be sure you’re not voting for inactive witnesses.

You can see what witnesses are active and a whole slew of other info I don’t understand on steemian.info. Or, just go to https://steemd.com/witnesses and look at the ones who are crossed out, which means they’re not running their servers. Please don’t waste your vote on them!

What if I’m too lazy/busy/disinterested to do all that?

You can vote by proxy, meaning you can write one person in whose votes you trust, and you’ll automatically be voting for the same witnesses they do. It’s better to vote yourself, but if you’re overwhelmed or can’t be bothered, you can write someone in as a proxy (someone whose witness choices you trust).

Witnesses that get my votes, and why.

These are the witnesses I’m currently voting for (in alphabetical order) and my reasoning for each. I’ve bolded witnesses with whom I’ve had personal interaction.

@adsactly-witness — I joined ADSactly when I first came to Steemit, a “decentralized society based on the highest regards for human values and the well-being of all involved individuals.” I still don’t know what to do in the discord server there, but they’ve got @PrincessMewMew, who I adore, and I like what I read in the ADSactly on ADSactly posts, so they got my vote.
@arcange — This developer seems to be focused on helping newbies and protecting the platform against things like phishing, a worthy cause in my eyes.
@ausbitbank — I’m hoping to learn more about this witness. This is one I’ve voted for because others I trust do so. I see him in #thewritersblock, but don't know if he's active there.
@curie — Hooray for Curie! This manual curation guild is one of the reasons I’ve stuck with Steemit. I’ve received generous support from Curie, and recently delegated some SP so they can support other content creators and build the quality of Steemit.
@drakos — This witness runs steemian.info. I’ve seen him in discord and he upvoted one of my recent posts. Always appreciated!
@enginewitty — Love this guy. A leader of @thealliance, I talk to him often in discord, and appreciate his thoughtfulness and sense of humor. He listens to feedback, I know he has the best interests of the platform in mind, and I see how hard he works to make Steemit a better place.
@followbtcnews — I mostly voted for this witness because @crimsonclad is part of the team and I like her. She’s also one of the few females in the witness circle. Check out their last witness update.
@good-karma — I know very little about this witness, other than reading his last post about the London presentation on eSteem, but the name alone got my vote. Good branding.
@gtg — I mostly followed this witness because it seemed everyone else did, but I went to his steemit page researching this post and gtg stands for Gandalf the fucking Grey! How did I not know this? His last post had a wicked-cool rendered animation that I think could be a great tool to help people understand what Steem is about. If you want to read about what witnesses actually do, check his last witness log.
@guiltyparties — I’ve chatted with this witness in the Alliance discord and liked his last witness update. Recent posts include highlights for Veterans on Steem and SteemSilverGold, as well as some collaboration with Steem Cleaners.
@jatinhota — This core member of #thealliance is someone who’s put in a ton of time to help his friends. He also does Daily Crypto News posts, and is a founding member of the @IndiaUnited community.
@jesta — I don’t know enough about this witness, but reading his last witness roadmap he comes off as honest and focused on Steem-based innovation.
@liberosist — This witness is part of Curie. We all know I adore Curie. He also brings up a concerning point in his last post about unlawful data on the blockchain.
@ocd-witness — Another curation initiative on Steemit. I don’t think I’ve gotten curated by @ocd, but I know people who have been involved in this project and am glad it’s helping reward underappreciated content.
@patrice — This witness runs the steemcleaners and spaminator accounts, reducing the amount of plagiarism and spam on Steemit. I enjoy listening to her Trash Talk show on the #SteemStarNetwork, and appreciate her laid back attitude and the service she’s doing for the platform.
@pharesim — I don’t know enough about this witness, but I get semi-regular votes from this one, usually in combination with a vote from @sykochica. Always grateful for the support!
@roelandp — This witness runs SteemFest, and recently released SolicitingPower.com, an excellent tool that shows Steem projects that are looking for delegations.
@sircork — This witness is a group comprised of @sircork, @rhondak and @beanz. I have a good deal of respect for each of these individuals. @sircork runs the SteemstarNetwork and @youarehope, a charity helping empower people in impoverished situations. @rhondak is a leading member of @thewritersblock, and runs TARC, a non-profit helping homeless animals. @beanz runs @votu, Voices of the Underground.
@someguy123 — I know very little about this witness. I mostly vote for him because I see others I respect doing so. He did resteem @jackmiller’s recent witness update, which has me thinking I might cast a vote for Jack as well.
@steemcommunity — @abh12345 and @paulag are behind this witness. I’ve seen nothing but good from them on Steemit. Read their latest witness update to learn more about them.
@teamsteem — I basically vote for this witness because others do. He is active on the platform, so that’s good, but I don’t see him voting for @curie (he’s not alone, a lot of the witnesses on this list aren’t), or a few of my other favourite witnesses. Still, he likes acro yoga, and I like acro yoga, and we’re both Canadian, so he can stay.
@thecryptodrive — Another witness I vote for because I see others doing so. This guy is active on Steemit and seems to be marketing Steem-based projects to the masses. Past posts speak of positive change on a global scale, which is what I hope is a vision all witnesses share.
@themarkymark — He’s a witness for @steemusa, of which I’m a member, and he’s got the guy from Firefly as his image (yes, that's a plus in my world). He’s also active on Steemit, something I like to see.
@timcliff — His profile says “I <3 Steemit” and his blog shows that he’s active and working for the platform. You can check out his last post bringing together reports from other witnesses.
@yabapmatt — This witness has been an ally to #thealliance. That’s good enough for me.

I am currently using 25 out of 30 possible witness votes. Call it 26. I’m gonna go vote @jackmiller. Who are you voting for?

Remember, if you can’t be bothered to do the hours of work it took me to look up every witness, you can always write me or someone else in as proxy. That’s better than not voting at all.

Come to the next Witness Chat, this Saturday!

Get involved:

JOIN THE NEXT WITNESS CHAT on the Steemit Ramble. It’s happening this Saturday, April 21, at 11am EDT (3pm UTC).

Check out @shadowspub’s post for the official invite and listen to the recording from the previous witness discussion. I expect I might have some votes change as a result of the upcoming chat.

You’re also invited to the 4/20 Castle Party the night before the witness forum.

Whew! That post took forever, but I’m glad I did it. I still have so much to learn.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you have to say on the subject.

Peace. @katrina-ariel

Katrina Ariel

Author bio: Katrina Ariel is an old-soul rebel, musician, tree-hugging yogini, and mama bear to twins. Author of Yoga for Dragon Riders (non-fiction) and Wild Horse Heart (romance), she's another free-spirit swimming in the ocean of Steemit.

dragon art: Liiga Smilshkalne