You may have seen some guides about what a witness is and what a witness does. Guides like the one @someguy123 wrote give a pretty good idea if you're interested in learning more. However, this article is about what a witness shouldn't do.
I run my own witness node, and, as such, I hang around in #witness on Steemit.chat, absorbing as much information as I can and contributing to the conversations as much as I can. Admittedly, it's not much, but part of being a witness is trying to keep yourself informed. Last night, I had a really disturbing conversation with a guy that just set up a witness node. Aside from insisting I pay for his vote for my witness node, the conversation started at bad and just snowballed to worse. I'm not gonna name names (mainly because I don't feel like getting flagged into oblivion by this assclown, who seems the type to do just that), but suffice it to say it raised some issues.
Despite the fact there's still a relatively low voter turnout for witness voting (around 20%), the informational campaigns that myself and others have pushed have raised awareness about it. In that spirit, I want to offer some insight into things that should make users avoid voting for a witness.
- Spam people for votes - This should go without saying, and I've yet to see this, but like I said: last night's conversation was cause for concern. If you ever have someone claiming to be a witness and spamming comments or DMing for a vote without any justification whatsoever, don't vote for them. This is no different than vote4vote or follow4follow.
- Treat the rankings like a competition between witnesses - Yes, we're all ranked and I get that. I want to move up as much as the next guy. However, the only way to accomplish that is to actually provide something of value. It doesn't have to be exclusively developer stuff; I don't know how to code or make apps. Still, as a witness, your ranking is decided by the effort you put into raising your stake. The only one controlling a witness' progression is the attitude and behavior of the person behind the witness.
- Buy votes - This was essentially the crux of the conversation I had last night. This is absolute bullshit. If you, as a user, are approached by someone claiming to run a witness who offers you money for your witness vote, don't buy in. Witnesses are ranked according to vote, which is supposed to reflect the community's trust in them to be adding value to the platform. This is no different than politicians buying votes from voters.
- Act as though their stake makes them superior - If we're being honest, quite a few witnesses are just introverts or coders, and they may not be all that interested in general social interaction. While interacting with users is encouraged, it's not required. However, what a witness should not do - especially one that has a significant holding in Steemit - is act as though their position gives them a justification to lord it over others. You're not superior because you run a witness node and bought a lot of Steem. You just run a witness and bought a lot of Steem. If you don't have some solid accomplishments under your belt, you're no different than any other Joe-Schmo-Nobody.
Witnesses serve an important function, and being a witness is more than just renting a server and keeping it running. It's a responsibility to the community. If you're not prepared to do more than run a server, you might want to reconsider becoming a witness. If you're going to have a shitty attitude, insist that other witnesses pay you for your vote, pay others to vote for you, and think you're hot shit because you have a lot of SP, do the rest of us putting in the work a favor:
Don't bother.
If you want to vote for me as a witness, cast your vote here! Scroll down until you see this text box and type in my name.
Like what you read? Follow me, @anarcho-andrei! You can also find me on PALnet and the Fiction Workshop on Writer's Block:
Threw you a vote.
Here's the 22 witnesses I currently vote for:
@jesta, @roelandp, @someguy123, @anyx, @pfunk, @pharesim, @klye, @riverhead, @xeldal, @clayop, @roadscape, @smooth-witness, @lukestokes.mhth, @fyrst-witness, @witness.svk, @bacchist, @krnel, @arhag, @jerrybanfield, @blueorgy, @netuoso, @anarcho-andrei
Any suggestions for my last 7 votes? Saving one in case I decide to throw up a witness server, which I'm tempted to do after my failed mining rig adventure :)
Definitely add @swelker101, @drakos, and @sircork. All solid witnesses to vote for. I'd also recommend removing your vote for @arhag; that witness node is currently not running anymore, and I'd hate for you to waste your vote.
Thank you Andrei! I agree with your additions, by all means!
Cool, thanks for letting me know. Upvoted all 3!
i would also recommend @followbtcnews in addition to @anarcho-andrei excellent list.
Curious as to how you decided to vote for the people already on your list?
I've been posting on steem for about 15 months now, and most of those people are ones I've interacted with or known for that time period. The only ones who aren't -- @jerrybanfield and @netuoso -- are people who seem to be doing a great deal of work on the site.
I actually find Jerry's posts a little obnoxious, but nobody works harder, gives back more to the community, or advertises as much as him (pledged to give 80% of his witness profits to advertising), so I think not upvoting him is criminal. We have enough developers/coders that don't talk or interact with the users, we need more people like Jerry as witnesses. It's important to separate if you like a person personally from if you respect him and know voting for him is the right decision.
I came to steemit directly because of jerry and follow him elsewhere. He gets a lot of haterade here and on other platforms. But he just keeps going along - stumbling, picking himself back up, making money, helping the little guy, being relatively transparent, and changing course when needed. He has my full support where I can give it. I only wish I was so productive and try to learn from his example.
I've been here four months and voted for maybe 15 witnesses - idk. I feel like I should do more, but I have no knowledge of this place to decide who to vote for since I can barely format a post. I have other things that take priority than to figure out which rich, big fish deserves my vote for something I do not really understand.
I'm thinking of giving over my votes in proxy to jerry for few months just to get this task off my back. I realize that the average minnow does not even think of witness voting but I want to do "the right thing" within my limits.
Steemit has so many new concepts that I want to take a long nap.
Hi @daut44, I see you have mentioned me.
This is automatic response so that I may respond to your mention later.
I'm still waiting for the steem you promised me for voting for you...
😉
Oh what was that? Sorry, you're breaking up....tunnel or some....static and I can't... -makes static noises-
This is a great article, but I expected no less from you. ;-)
huh... you know I noticed this in my steem account:
GUYS if you send 0.4 SBD to @ninjawhale and you will get 40 upvotes on your post/comment. Remember to add the url in the memo.Before you send SBD checkout out post! - https://steemit.com/steemit/@ninjawhale/our-purpose-information-post-and-tutorial
They had paid me .01 SBD with that as a note:
That's a scam right?
I don't know if it's a scam, insofar as they may very well have 40 accounts to upvote you with in exchange for .4 SBD. However, it's definitely spam, and those 40 accounts probably have enough voting power to bump up your post by 1c.