This is an awesome post!
In fact it contains things that only one of your closest friends or family will tell you. While some posts do mention hidden somewhere that it could be tough, you have put down all the details of the areas that would require consistent effort upfront.
There has to be realism attached to becoming a Witness - I see too many newbies are rushing in after signing up, in most cases not even knowing what Steemit is all about. Agreed, the two require two different skillsets but a new signup rushing in for the money is a sure setup for failure - especially when there are so many make money options out there.
I have a question - does one require to have a very thorough knowledge of Linux to operate as a Witness, or just being familiar with the basics is enough?
Thanks.
The guides written about the witness installation do not cover how to secure your server, customize the scripts (bashrc, fail-over, for example). The linux basics may get you around, but you need to have some additional knowledge to do those extra things. To give you an idea, most of the top 20 people are professional developers and IT people.