Been a moment since I've officially released any information about what it is I've been doing for the blockchain as a witness so here goes everything (well, almost).
The Websites
Well , there are quite a few now but we'll focus on two for this article. Firstly, Steemit.Chainchopper.com is our information website where I'll most likely be posting updates about our witness program and information about steem seed consensus nodes and full RPC nodes. There's also an active list there which shows our community nodes (which are currently showing offline and in red) and nodes owned by top 50 witnesses are in the list for good measure. And Lastly, Steem Backed Which is our staging platform for our web based technologies and frontend for our @steembacked app api. We've also created a GitHub Where we'll upload code and collaborate with the community on some of our open-source projects.
The STEEM Seed Nodes
I have run 2 of our community nodes for 2 months straight, hoping that someone from the top 50 witness league would show support for a project like this as other have who are not. The project was started to allow steemians to vote for a witness that has the sole purpose of producing blocks to pay for setting seed nodes. Though this is something that everyone will benefit from as I've explained in previous articles The reception of the concept has been lukewarm at best. After running two nodes plus a witness server out of pocket, I had to make the choice to disable the seed nodes until we can afford them (which we honestly could do with the witness just writing a few blocks/day) As the witness produces more blocks, the more nodes it will produce. Don't fret though, I can do a "replay" on these nodes at any time as I still have the ability to reactivate the instances as we produce enough blocks to fund them. The only thing needed from any and everyone (presumably) to support this project is give an easy simple and free witness vote which can be given by anyone with a steemit account by clicking this text. Honestly, consider it. Everyone on steemit gets 30 votes which means 30 different witness choices. This vote does not affect your reputation, voting power, or account value in any way. you'll be glad you did!
The Plugin
Goal: @TheCodex And Myself @JustinAdams Will Create A Free WordPress Plugin That Allows You To Place A Customize-able "Donate" Button Anywhere In Your Blog That Accepts Short-codes Including Widget Areas. The Plugin Will Be Compatible With Any Wordpress Theme. It Will Perform The Donation Transaction Via Steemconnect Without Redirecting The Visitor To Another URL For Confirmation, Thus Keeping The Process Seamless Thanks To @Yabapmatt And His Work With SC2pay. We've also started an @fundition project to help get funding for our nodes (firstly) and our plugin. The links tho those you can find Here
What Will We Do:
* Create A Secure Web Server To Demonstrate And Host The Plugin Files For Distribution And Public Download
A button shown on the front-end of your blog allowing users the ability to instantly donate STEEM/SBD to a user that is predefined in a shortcode or defaulted to a user entered in the back end. There will be no requirement for the donation recipient to add any keys to the wp-admin area. A Modal Pop-Up Window That Will Allow The Sender Of A Donation To Enter The Amount To Send As Well As Choose The Currency Type. The Colors And Text Displayed Will Also Be Customizeable. Steem Connect Will Be Used To Handle The Transaction Seemlessly Within Your WordPress Blog Pages Without Re-directing The User To Another Screen. The idea is that once the transaction is completed, the blog owner will be able to set a redirect URL, or enter a message that will appear above the donation button on the front end after payment sent has been confirmed
Repository. We Have Set A Deadline And Intend To Deliver The Finished Plugin By 5/12/2018.
Below Are Some Screen Shots And Concepts For Work In Progress: 
A preview of what our admin dashboard looks like showing the work-in-progress of the STEEM/SBD WordPress plugin. The official name of this plugin has not been decided yet so any feedback on that would be great from backers/supporters. At some point before official launch, perhaps we'll allow the top backer to vote out of our top name choices? The Bots
@chainchoppers (our steem soldier) Was introduced as a bot that upvotes all new posts created by people that vote for @justinadams witness. To get on the list, simply vote for the witness. We had some problems with it at one point but those have since been fixed. The bot also has other functions i.e. allowing people to delegate to it in exchange for returns on the accounts it upvotes via curation, as well as allowing anyone to subscribe to it by posting a small fee and a steemit.com post url. These features are disabled and inactive right now as we do not have enough SP on the @chainchoppers account to honestly do much yet. I have donated 33% of my own hard earned SP to it however (still not much), and hopefully we can get support for it soon so we can start it up officially. Stay tuned/follow this blog for more news on that.
The App
@steembacked Was created to perform transactions for us and our partners during testing and development of our steem applications and eventually our live production versions of these apps. Though the app is there it is hidden in the list at this time until we have perfected some of its functionality.
The Game
I can't talk much about this yet but hopefully I'll be allowed to show screen shots of it at some point here soon. My team felt that even divulging the name of the game would be giving away too much, but definitely look forward to this one as it is at the top of our list as one of the first apps to take advantage of the new technology we're bringing to steem. Not to tease, but it's worth mentioning because I feel it is important to know the types of industry that I as a witness and otherwise aspire towards.
The Witness (Last but not least)
We have been driven from the beginning with an opportunistic vision to provide decentralized technology and resources to the blockchain as well as a huge advocate of decensorship and freedom of speech and expression. Our goal is to create a fail-over for steem/steemit data in such case that the few that currently own and operate it should decide that politics and profiteering has priority over network stability and availability. We have this far moved from position 379 where we started on the list and though we have only written 3 blocks in the 3 months we've continued to be a community driven witness, & still remain vested in steem/steemit and have not withdrawn a single penny out of our wallet outside of the network. We have currently moved up to #116 which is great but at 1 block per month as it stands currently, it is still not enough to produce the amount of blocks needed to sustain itself as a witness and the nodes that its supposed to represent. Hopefully by now I have instilled more faith in myself and this project from a community standpoint, and maybe we will even get more high powered witness votes from whale users to support the movement. I'm ready to get these nodes running ASAP and I know you guys are tired of hearing me talk about it!
Okay, I think I have covered mostly everything that I can talk about right now or that probably should be included in one post. Thanks a ton to everyone who has supported our initiative for their support . We hope that those that are reluctant to give their witness votes, only do so because they truly have vested interest in the platform and require "Proof Of Brain" before they see fit to distribute one of those votes. That being said, I can only hope that I have demonstrated at least that as much to suffice that inquiry :D
I really like this update. Will be reading more about what the witness is about. Glad we ran across each other on Discord.
Thanks man, I appreciate the love
awesome update @justinadams and I hope that you get the support. Looks like your website is not private so I haven't gone any further on that one.
I am running an experiment here on steemit with the aim of improving retention and the steemit experience and I think it is something you might enjoy. come on over and join in on the discussion
https://steemit.com/steemit/@paulag/let-s-grow-steemit-together-direct-engagement-experiment-week-1
Hey, Thanks for the response @paulag I'ved moved the website to https://steembacked.com/ to make it easier to keep things in one place for now. I'll def come check out the direct engagement experiment.
Good stuff Justin, keep at it man. The bots weren't necessary and filled the comments with crap. This is a real comment though and it's pretty evident you're committed to the steem blockchain and to getting your vision actualized. Half the time I don't know wtf you're going on about but you're always on about something and always on a positive note which resonates with me. Keep up the good work.
Thanks @guiltyparties man.. Dang, I wish more people on here were like you. Eversince i started ya been there to help guide me out of the sharks ways lol. I'm sorry about the bots though lol. I had no idea they were so greedy for ads. My bot will never leave ads once i get it loaded again. That is just too much.. Maybe i'll use just one in the future :) Thanks again for the comment man . I really didnt expect that one lol. Well appreciated
This post has received a 6.90% upvote from @sureshot thanks to: @justinadams!
@sureshot is part of the @fivestargroup movement in collaboration with @block-buster Witness.
Do i get a kickback for the ad you just left on my post?
Nope. Then don't use our service and you are welcome to flag the comment.
Well there's an option!, How bout just lemme opt-in whether or not I'd like to receive a comment on my blog after I pay you?
If only every bot had an opt-in comment option. If only.
Use a bot to promote your services just like we have to .. On your own blog pages preferrably :)
You got a 1.44% upvote from @upmewhale courtesy of @justinadams!
Earn 100% earning payout by delegating SP to @upmewhale. Visit http://www.upmewhale.com for details!
I was summoned by @justinadams. I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...
A portion of the proceeds from your bid was used in support of youarehope and tarc.
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This post has received a 3.96 % upvote from @boomerang.
This post has received a 1.96 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @justinadams, @justinadams.
You got a 1.49% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @justinadams!
Want to promote your posts too? Check out the Steem Bot Tracker website for more info. If you would like to support the development of @postpromoter and the bot tracker please vote for @yabapmatt for witness!
The use of "we" consistently through the post leads me to wonder if this is a team/group witness account?
Thanks for your reply @novacadian . When I refer to "we", when speaking about the witness, most times i'm referring to the community (which could mean everyone on steemit.com) or voters of the witness depending on perspective. Either way works for me because that is who supports this witness project besides myself. Other times when I say "we", I'm referring to things that are being developed for STEEM/Steemit i.e. applications, websites, software, etc. Often times I am speaking of my team which currently consists of @thecodex our lead php guy , @chainchoppers (who's a bot but has feelings too), and more recently @afrosteem who is dedicated to resolving racial barriers on the blockchain. At any rate, there should be a team involved when it comes to any of these things including the witness. I believe many before me have become successful witnesses, and are self-branded, but as I learn more about how the technology works, I am starting to see that that decision to use a name instead of an org or a business is probably more so technical than politics. @justinadams has one goal atm. Try to fix the leaky pipes in steem. As it stands, even though I pay for it, the witness is everyone's. It's only written 3 blocks though it missed one due to political warfare on the network and I can assure you not due to any technical incompetency on my part by any means. 3 blocks per day in SP is Hardly enough to cover the witness costs, + seed nodes trust me. Also, any blocks it writes goes into vesting and as you can probably tell, I am very unlikely to power down. If by "team" you mean someone wants to help me cover some of these expenses via donations, then by all means feel free, this shit is real :P
I'll also mention that I have only made deposits IN to steemit and not out unless they are to power up SP or convert to STEEM or vice versa. I don't feel i'm really asking for anything in return unless you count witness votes, but i'm willing to bet that most people (if they even vote at all or even know how to) have voted or maintain votes for witnesses that are either inactive or have not even posted or voted on anything recently. Maybe that's asking a lot? :D All I'm saying is, and this is to everyone, let me have a fair chance so that we can make this a better place (steemit.com) and make the blockchain itself (STEEM) more stable and reliable so that it can prosper within itself. Then we ALL can actually make some money off of it at some point...maybe?
The Underdog
If there is a Rocky Balboa story to be made on steemit, then @justinadams (yes i speak of myself in the 3rd as well ^_^) is probably a likely candidate. I do intend to prove that I am just as capable (more capable in some respects by my own accord) as the conglomerate currently monopolizing the platform, data resource prioritization, and access to it. As it stands, @justinadams is referred to as "the wimpy witness" simply because I am the weakest one on the totem pole when it comes to SP. I do not have any whale sponsors or any big investors whom I have promised percentages of witness earnings to either which probably explains why I'm not so popular with that particular bunch. On it's face, this IS a true community witness. It just needs more votes (and SP) to be properly represented by the people for which it stands. I've promised to at least give back to the people that voted for the witness, and obviously building nodes is something that is going to help everyone not just voters. I believe community support and involvement is the is the only effective way to build an honest witness. If we build all foundations on equality, then there is no inequality to be compared to as it simply will not exist. That's what we all want right? I like to say, "One of us, one of them". Balance is the key :D
"Do I pay my credit card or pay my witness server?"
Trust me, making 1SP/month doesn't seem worth it right? Why not invest in some mining equipment or hell, I probably could have even invested $1500 In ethereum last month for a decent ROI right? :P But then I look at the people that have showed support and share my concern for the network/currency/blockchain and their belief in it's ability to succeed here. Some of which have represented that respectively by giving one of their witness votes. It shows me that people do care and they are willing to do what it takes to fix some of the issues that we face here technically and socially. These votes were given independently of knowing what I could do or if the things I propose could be reality, but they took a dive anyway, just like I have been since I joined. I don't want to let them down, or myself, so i'm taking that dive too. A lot of people throw terms like "community" and "community based" around without any context whatsoever. If anything, we should prove that making a big difference is not only reserved for the elite , sharks, and whales be it witnessing, running bots, building apps, or running consensus nodes. If that is not the case, then the entire concept has failed already and there is nothing to fix.
So what happens if this doesn't work out? You probably realize by now that I am a quite capable individual. If Steem Forever! doesn't work out, I'll probably have learned a valuable lesson in life at the least and I'll still continue to develop projects though they'll probably be less community centric and more industry based. I would have liked to had entered steemit with dollar signs in my eyes and in my pocket like most people, but the things that I would like to do here will be impossible without a more stable network that is uncontrolled by an oversized few, so we need to take care of that first before we do ANYTHING! That's referring to my team AND myself in that respect, and anyone else who seeks to make a business out of steem. With it's current structure, we must bow to their whims, but not I :P And I'd like to set an example for everyone else as well. I do empathize with your concern for my lack of clarity when I reference "we" in my content's subject matter. I'll try to make a more conscious decision when making those references in the future though. My apologies for this long winded ass response but that was a good question! Don't worry though, I don't even have enough SP to reply at the top of my own post :D
Thanks very much for such a robust reply! My extra witness vote, looking for a home, thought you could use my minnow support. The reason for asking about the 'team' is having recently removed my support from such multi person witness accounts. The reasoning is explained in more detail in a recent blog post:
https://steemit.com/witnesses/@novacadian/my-current-witness-choices
Also was able to spare a 5 SP delegation and still keep my minnowhood. Hope each little bit will help.
Steem on my Brother! 😎
Wow, thanks so much @novacadian . Definitely well appreciated. Reading your post, I see you are very particular about who you give witness votes to and why. Very well done. People need more.. or should I say, better education when it comes to witnesses, what they do, how and why they should vote at all. Thanks again for that SP dude, that was totally unnecessary but very well appreciated.
Just a heads up that @timcliff seems to build his The Reports from the Witnesses posts from the "witness-category" and "witness-update" tags which you do not have in this post.
Thanks for the shout out :). I haven't been posting to my steem account yet (been too busy coding), but will participate in posting stuff soon!