Wow! Sure has been a lot happening on this platform since the last chat. Let’s not bury the lead — STEEM has started to move up and without bitcoin moving upward much. That is a surprise but let’s see where it goes and for how long.

The fallout from the turmoil over at Steemit Inc and their need to layoff 70% of their workforce continues to reverberate on the platform. I rather expect it hasn’t been a picnic at Steemit Inc either.

There has been talk of a hardfork including the talk of one which would fork out Steemit Inc’s state in part over their ninjamining at the start of the blockchain. I’ve been finding it interesting how silent the convo goes when someone asks if others who ninjamined will also be forked out. There is push back and debate about Steemit Inc powering down and moving funds to an exchange. So lots of chat and debate on and off the chain going on.

@ned Active and Communicating

After a period of, for the most part, unexplained silence @ned has reappeared on the platform. He’s been in some discord shows talking about the platform, Steemit Inc and taking questions. He was on the State of Steem last week for an hour. He handled himself well, sometimes in the face of some tough comments coming his way but it also helped to have the skilled moderation of @pennsif keeping things on track.

Steem Foundation

In a bit of a surprise move this past weekend the beginning of a plan to create a non-profit foundation for the platform came forward. It’s not total news in that @ned has talked about this happening before. What is different is that rather than the organization to stand up the foundation taking place by Steemit Inc, it is to happen by the community. Steemit Inc will provide some initial funding.

Steem Alliance Forms

To that end a discord has been created called Steem Alliance, posts have been made, nominations put forward for future foundation involvement. Yesterday an ad-hoc group was nominated during an impromptu voice chat. Their purpose was to organize a way for community members to submit proposals on how the foundation would be structured and operated.

What followed was an interesting view into what happens when multiple personality types, agendas and viewpoints crash together without a clear understanding of what they are even discussing. I’m thinking herding cats just got easier. More on that has been posted on the @steemalliance account.

Steemit Inc Invited

I and others reached to Steemit Inc to ask them to come on to the Witness Chat to continue the dialogue they have been engaging in. It’s unknown at this time if @ned will be able to stop in but Elizabeth, the Director of Communications and Advocacy will be joining us for sure. Looking forward to talking to her and getting her input on Steemit Incs activities and the platform.

And of course ALL witnesses are welcome to take part tomorrow. Hope to see you there, seems there is much to be discussed.

These chats are a designed to bring together the community and the witnesses who keep the blockchain functioning. As members of the community, we are supposed to place our votes wisely to determine which of the witnesses rise through the ranks and which don’t. Every vote counts.

Here is the list of the witnesses who have participated, their witness accounts (if applicable) and the number of chats they have attended. Would be great to see you all at the chat on Wednesday.

@abh12345 (@steemcommunity) - 2
@aggroed
@anarcho-andrei (noblewitness) - 8
@angelveselinov (poetsunited)- 2
@arcange - 2
@alexvan (ro-witness) - 6
@ats-witness - 2
@castellano - 3
@cervantes
@c0ff33a (c0ff33a/derangedvisions) - 4
@derangedvisions (c0ff33a/derangedvisions) - 4
@crimsonclad (followbtcnews) - 6
@drakos - 5
@elear (@utopian-io) - 2
@enginewitty - 9
@followbtcnews - 2
@fyrstikken (fyrst-witness)
@gtg
@guiltyparties - 3
@Idikuci (Comedyopenmic)
@jackmiller - 9
@jrswab - 3
@kevinwong
@lukestokes - 3
@mahdiyari - 4
@mcfarhat (@actifit) - 2
@Meno (helpie)
@MiguelV (Castellano) - 2
@morkrock (adsactly-witness) - 3
@patrice - 4
@Paulag (SteemCommunity) - 2
@pharesim
@qurator (@scrooger)
@reggaemuffin
@sircork (noblewitness) - 6
@therealwolf - 3
@timcliff - 4
@ura-soul - 3
@yapamatt
@yensesa

As for everyone else. Come on along. There is much to learn and an opportunity to hear and interact with the witnesses is a great way to get to know who you want to place your faith in.

Until Next Time — Just Steem on

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