Jerry Banfield... a name that since joining steamit I saw a lot, either on his posts or on the posts of the many who did not like him for many reasons. I personally never had a conversation with the man, so my only opinion are from his videos. He reminds me a bit of someone who would be on a television infomercial from the 90's, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
6 days ago @jerrybanfield retired his server and stated a noble and reasonable explanation of his reasons.
He also posted a video on his reasons:
I have noticed a few other witnesses posting about this and asking for your votes.
There is also what I see as a big issue, in that many steemians do not vote for witnesses at all.
Obviously I would love to have your votes. I have good quality equipment and plan on running my witness server for the foreseeable future. However, right now I just want you to seriously thing about why you need to vote for witnesses.
Witnesses are the lifeblood of the blockchain, without them it could not function. The servers they run are not free, they do it because they believe in the future of the steem community.
I myself have only used 7 of my votes, because I am trying to make sure those votes are used wisely. As I find someone that is providing content I see as useful to me, or see the effort they are putting forth to help the community as a whole, I am voting for their witness. Obviously, 1 of those votes is for my own server.
This is not a plea to vote for me, though I will provide you with the links to do so if you so choose. Look through those you have voted for, make sure you do not have votes cast for inactive witnesses.
Many will tout their qualifications... I personally have a masters in computer science, I am a very advanced linux user, and have numerous certificates that say I am technically qualified for anything tech related. All that means is that I am good at passing tests, and it my opinion none of that makes me more or less qualified to run a witness server. Although possible more qualified to deal with problems with the server should they pop up.
What I instead suggest you look at is how active the person is within the steem communities. Have they shown a history of producing quality content. Do they seem to be someone who is going to be around for the long haul, or someone who will be here for a month or so and done... Well, my qualifications that I have spelled out do not point towards me, since I have only been here for a little over a month. I will prove my worth as I go along, for now I urge you to look for those whom you think are worthy of your votes and to vote for them.
Above all I Kindly urge you to please remove your votes for inactive witnesses. It is sad to see so many inactive accounts in the top 100 witnesses list.
Although my qualifications eliminate myself as one you should vote for. I do however promise I will grow to meet all of those qualifications and more.
This simply allows your witness votes you follow mine. I am very picky about my votes and only vote for those whom I believe have reliable servers and who I find contributing to the steem community.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://mrunderstood.com/index.php/2018/07/11/who-to-vote-for/