Steem Witnesses, and why they matter!

UPDATE to this post:

Date for next podcast has been changed to 21-Apr-2018 at 1500 UTC
Added link to audio for podcast

The Steem blockchain is a huge database managed by servers. These servers verify the accuracy of the information contained by the "blocks" that are built as we create posts, comment/upvote on posts, and process financial transactions on the network through wallets and exchanges. These servers are called "witness servers" and are run by people called Witnesses.

Without these witnesses and their servers, the blockchain could not exist!

ANYONE who uses the blockchain in ANY capacity should consider voting for witnesses, and support those witnesses who are doing good for the health of the blockchain. This would include anyone who merely buys Steem/SBD for investment purposes as well as those who use one of the many sites to post to the blockchain (such as Steemit.com, busy.org, dtube, dsound, dlive, dmania, zappl, steemnews.online, etc.).

New users to the Steem blockchain likely will have no clue which witnesses deserve their votes. So, how does one decide?

First, I would recommend keeping your eyes open to what witnesses are doing to assist the blockchain and its users. There are many witnesses who devote time to auxiliary projects related to the blockchain. For instance, @anyx recently launched an initiative called @guard to help protect us from phishing attacks. We can thank @patrice and @guiltyparties (and others!) for the @steemcleaners project which helps keep spam at bay. @sircork runs the charitable @youarehope project that provides much-needed assistance to disadvantaged persons all over the world. @enginewitty and @jatinhota work with @guiltyparties and @sircork to build community through @thealliance project. @aggroed, @followbtcnews, @swelker101, and several other witnesses run @minnowsupport to help minnows learn and grow. And the list could go on! All of those volunteering their time and effort in this way deserve our votes!

Second, I would recommend networking with others. Ask other people (whom you trust) who they voted for witness, and why. You can also find MANY of the witnesses active on various Discord servers and learn about them, learn of their projects, and learn what the are doing for the blockchain. You can frequently find witnesses such as @aggroed, @followbtcnews, @teamsteem, @patrice, @sircork, @jesta, @timcliff, @ausbitbank, @drakos, @yabapmatt, @jrswab, @guiltyparties, @ats-witness, and others participating in chats on Discord — and they are all happy to chat with you and answer questions!

Third, do your research and due-diligence on the witnesses. Many of them post periodic "Witness Reports" to their pages on the blockchain. In these reports, they give the status of their witness servers, information on upcoming changes to the blockchain ("forks") and their position regarding such changes, etc. You can also research the witnesses by visiting a website built and maintained by the witness @drakos that shows the current top-400 witnesses and who is active. It is a fantastic and comprehensive tool to help with witness-voting! His site is: https://steemian.info/witnesses and we should consider voting for him as thanks for maintaining this helpful site.

With all of that said, how does one vote for a witness? It is easy! First, look for the "hamburger" icon (three stacked lines ≡) in the upper-right of your screen and click on it to open the drop-down menu.

Click on the "Vote for Witnesses" menu item. On the page that loads, the Top-50 witnesses will appear in a list. To vote for one of them, just click the "upvote" icon that appears beside their name:

If you wish to vote for a witness that is outside the Top-50 list (for example: @enginewitty), scroll down the page until you see the text-box. Type their name into the box (without the "at" sign) and click the "VOTE" button.

If you are still totally clueless about which witnesses deserve your vote, There are a couple of other options. First, do your voting slowly, over time. I cast my first witness vote after I'd been on the platform for a couple of weeks. Within the next couple of weeks, I voted for another couple of people. The next month, I voted for five more. Your votes do not all have to be cast at once. AND, if you are dissatisfied with one of your votes, you can always go back and un-vote that person and use the vote for someone else instead. Each of us has 30 votes available to cast, and they can be changed at any time. This is incentive for the witnesses to keep doing a good job.

The other option is to designate someone else — whom you trust! — to vote for witnesses in your stead. This is what the "proxy" option is, at the bottom of the witness voting page. If you wish to allow someone else to cast votes on your behalf, simply enter their name in the text box (again, without the "at" sign) and click the "Set Proxy" button. Then, whomever that person votes for will also receive a vote from you.

@shadowspub was kind enough to host a podcast on the SteemitRamble Discord server (Fri-23-Mar-2018 at 1500 UTC) where witnesses were invited to participate in a discussion with server members. The idea for this podcast grew from a question asked, and a discussion which ensued, in a PimpYourPostThursday podcast. MUCH useful information was shared and I think everyone was educated in some way!

Witnesses present for this podcast:

(includes those listening and/or contributing to the chat)

Unable to attend the podcast, but participating in the afterchat:

The audio for the podcast is available for anyone who wishes to listen:

The podcast was such a success that another similar podcast is scheduled to take place on ~~Sat-28-Apr-2018~~ [NOTE THE NEW DATE:] Sat-21-Apr-2018 at 1500 UTC, also on the SteemitRamble discord — mark your calendars! Anyone is welcome to come, learn, and participate in the discussion. The SteemitRamble discord server can be found here: https://discord.gg/hzhzWxw