Here's a post to explain what I've been up to involving Steem lately.
Steemcleaners
Though I have dedicated a lot of time to fighting abuse on Steem since before the July payout, I didn't join Steemcleaners when it was formed. I recently decided to request to join and was accepted. Initially I preferred to be independent and work as I had previously with people in the #steemitabuse channel on steemit.chat (and Slack before it) but I see the value with closer collaboration within Steemcleaners. Thanks to the team for having me! I usually set aside time every day to look for or respond to abuse, and collaboration will make it more efficient for myself and others.
Wikipedia
I made some significant updates and changes to the Wikipedia page for Steemit. Here's a complete diff of my changes. If you're inclined, please make great edits and make the Wikipedia article even better*: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steemit
*Stick to the facts and don't make it an ad :)
Community outreach
I'm involved with an initiative for community outreach with the goals of improving communication with the Steemit userbase and increasing it. More to come on that front soon. As part of it, I've experimented in putting up some simple flyers. I have previous experience in canvassing community bulletin boards for local things, but this effort is slightly more challenging for promoting Steemit because advertising a website looks "commercial." Even if, in truth, the meaning is opposite in this case. This effort will continue with tweaks.
I also made a number of suggested improvements to the Steemit Welcome page which @timcliff and @bitcoiner will be able to look at and implement if they choose. Github issue.
I continue to talk to and help people on steemit.chat. @riverhead recently entrusted me with administrator privileges there.
Also on the topic of community, I was in Steemspeak when Ned dropped by. I was able to provide feedback from conversations with other witnesses that generally held the idea that putting too many changes into one hardfork was a risky decision. Ned indicated that he's listened so perhaps future hardforks might contain less major changes at the same time.
Github
Other github issues created or contributed to:
https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/issues/872
https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/issues/873
https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/issues/876
https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/issues/865
Witness parameters
I'm sticking to a 9% APR for at least 30 days from my last reduction, with the intent on reducing it long-term. This is because of the way interest is paid out to SBD holders: When an interest payment is made, upon the first SBD transaction at least 30 days after the last interest payment, it pays out at the present median APR% set by the witnesses. It doesn't take into account what the APR was previously. My policy here doesn't solve that issue and I have done what I can to prompt conversation with other witnesses on a better solution.
My account creation fee is set to 20. That's about as high as I'm willing to go with it for now. This is to reduce the impact of anyone abusing a potential bug or loophole in the Steemit account creation mechanism. This has happened and may happen again. With 50 previously, and now 40 SP, there are instances of newer Steemit-created accounts counteracting @cheetah downvotes. 20 SP is more than enough to interact with the Steemit blockchain and presently carries a value over $3. For now, the network median sits at 30 STEEM.
In consideration of the market price of SBD which has held fairly firmly at about 99% USD I am discounting my price feed by 2%, increased from 1%. I see the need to incentivize SBD conversion however I was concerned about adding to the potential market shock from the power down schedule changes. But so far, so good.
Personal thoughts
The hardfork came and went and I haven't missed one block. Hooray! My nodes are still chugging along. There was fear of a market "dumpening" due to the recent changes to the power down timeframe and though the price has fallen, it is presently still around the price it fell to before the first larger batches of STEEM made it to market. This is a sign of strength for Steem. The non-Steemit front ends for Steem are maturing at a fast pace. Tracking development for both the website and the blockchain software, it is brisk. I'm excited about Steem now and for its future. Steem on.
Here's my witness post explaining a bit more of the stuff I'm up to day-to-day.
As always you can vote to approve witnesses on this page and I appreciate your vote if you take the time to.
Awesome update @pfunk.
Thank you for your diligence and hard work.
Thanks @merej99!
Just realized I hadn't been voting for you - all fixed.
Thank you very much!
ban ban ban ban
I guess I was successful at finding this plagiarist's accounts if all they can do is troll and downvote me out of frustration.
was successful at finding this plagiarist
hahahhahaha
scammer !cheetah ban
Good update man, TY very much.
Good on ya for not missing a block, that is good times.
No problem. I don't think missing blocks is a huge issue but it's nice to know my node's been running well. It has a pair of dedicated SSDs with one in reserve totally unused. A lot of witnesses had disk problems causing missed blocks periodically and it seems I've avoided that.
Unrelated, I laughed y-day. I made what I believe to be the world's HOTTEST roast beef of all time in my crock pot. Honestly, -- it was ridiculously hot like the other stuff we have discussed! It's a long story LOL but I was a little over zealous firing in my spicy magic pepper dust I told you about.
I will send you some if you want LOL. Not the beef -- the dust lol.
Sounds good and dangerous! I'll let you keep it all and make everything you touch turn to spice. I dub thee King Midas of Capsaicin.
OMG I read a lot of good stuff today but you win the interweb w that one, I love it!
Oh and this week, I started doing a nightly recap of some of my fav. blog posts of the day if you want to have a look and have not read enough for the day LOL, Curation Counts I always say!
https://steemit.com/curation/@barrydutton/4sja4s-my-favourite-blog-posts-of-the-day-a-handpicked-list-from-across-the-spectrum-aka-what-i-m-reading-enjoy
U da man @pfunk . This should be a monthly thing for witnesses.. maybe quarterly when platform matures. That said, I think there needs to be two kinds of posts. One is what we've been doing day in and out posting on Steemit, the usual. The other would be a stickied, long-term one where everyone can see in your blogroll. It should serve as an important, long-term notice and call for support (if needed).
Thanks. I think posting on Steemit for very minor or simple changes to witness parameters is excessive so I don't do witness posts almost at all. That's obviously changing now but I intend on keeping it to whatever more significant stuff I can recall.
Thanks for the post.
You're welcome.
Thanks for the updated. I appreciate it. You have my vote and support!
Thanks @pgarcgo!
Great job, keep up the good work. You totally deserve all the good fortune that comes your way ^_^
Thank you much man!
Your Welcome ^_^
Nice post, good job friend
scammer !cheetah ban
scammer !cheetah ban