A Quick Read With Questions About My 30 Unused Witness Votes
Hey everyone. Long ago in a land where I had no idea how to use Steemit I hastily and randomly voted for #witnesses without any thought, I truly had no idea what I was doing.
I grew regretful when I learned of the true power of these votes.
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Now, several months later I noticed I had accidentally unchecked a single vote and it looked like I could select a new witness to replace the unchecked vote.
Then I was flooded with Joy at the realization that I could cleanly wipe all past witness votes from the board and now I have a completely open meadow of #witness potential.
What I do not know... is who to select.
Reading materials on the subject lead me to a long list of sales pitch type of posts.
Side ponder: Who benefits from the illusive way the #witness list is provided? Who gains most when Steemit seems to "push" users only at the top of the list? Why isn't it made clear that there are others to consider for witness?!
When I was new I assumed (because nothing on the page seemed to argue) that the people on the voting list were the ones who were "running" for the votes. I thought they were the ones who wanted the votes and I was bored so I just started to click.
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Then I noticed a tiny window that eluded to the fact that there are more witness-fish- in-the-sea.
Now, all these months later, I JUST NOW realized I could actually change my votes! 
This is a big deal to me.
I can now choose according to whatever criteria I want. So I wiped the slate clean and now I can vote for 30 new witnesses again!
Who do you think needs the votes?
What is most important to consider with these votes?
Are you voting for the top listed people, as #Steemit seems to insist?
While I am certainly not trying to vote for witnesses on the top, some of them certainly are there because other people must share my opinion. I try and vote very organically by considering people that I just organically come across as I peruse Steemit. If I like what they are doing and how they are benefiting the community and they ask for a witness vote then I certainly give them my vote. That being said at any given time I'm only voting for 8-10 witnesses... I am not sure that is the best way, but I'm not going to vote for people I have not reviewed just to hit my quota of 30.
My best advice is just to interact with the blockchain and discover who is worth your witness votes.
interesting timing here @lorilikes ... choosing where to place your votes for witnesses is important. That is a subject that is often discussed in discords like the Steemit Ramble.
If you are not yet on Discord you are missing out on the many communities which have evolved there and the networking that takes place.
On Saturday (today) I will once again be hosting a monthly witness chat in the Steemit Ramble where all witnesses are invited to attend and the community has opportunity to hear and ask questions of those in attendance.
You can learn more about the chat and how to find your way in by visiting:
https://steemit.com/witness/@shadowspub/almost-time-for-witness-chat-8-sat-oct-20th-at-11am-edt-3pm-utc
Hope to see you there.
Did I already miss it? Darn, I really want to check this type of group out, my curious side is churning through ideas.
you did miss it. The next one will be November 17th in the Ramble. If you check my blog in about 2 hours the recording will be appearing there that you can list to.
There are still a lot of things that I'm figuring out with witnesses. I tried voting for someone who wasn't running a witness server. I couldn't figure out why the vote kept getting rejected. Ha ha.
There are a number of good ones out there. You can check out the ones I've voted for by going to https://steemworld.org/@themanwithnoname and the going to "account details" then "witness votes." I've only voted for 19 of them, but I try to mainly vote for ones with whom I've interacted. If they're open to talking and helping, then they normally get my vote!