My Witness Thread

Why A Witness?

Maybe Steemit is the first social networking site that is running on top of a blockchain. All textual contents generated by users are stored in the blockchain that is continuously growing. Inside the blockchain, the contents are packed in blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. Here is how the witness is needed in Steemit.

First, witness provides storage and bandwidth to host the huge blockchain containing all the content. Second, witness produces blocks that are securing the content. Other than that, witness also have to provide price feed to the network, so it knows what price is STEEM to USD. Then, witness also expected to provide a seed node that stores the full blockchain and distributes it across the network.

I believe that blockchain invented by Satoshi Nakamoto has revolutionized the world by making possible the impossible, i.e. to prevent double-spending in digital cash. Then, Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) developed by Daniel Larimer, is a breakthrough to solve inefficiency and scalability problems suffered by original algorithms. And now Steemit is an amazing implementation of a free and open society platform on top of it.

It is very important for everyone in community to understand this mechanism of delegation. That witnesses who have been delegated by community are necessary for running and securing the network. Therefore, everyone in community shares the same responsibility to become a witness. At least, they aware that their votes to choose the right witness are affecting the network to function properly.

Hence, now I decided to become a witness.

Contribution

After joining Steemit about three months ago, I specialized my activities in Indonesian language. For example:

• Regularly post, comment and upvote in Indonesian language.
  https://steemit.com/indonesia/@puncakbukit/3-ciri-khas-arsitektur-di-bali
  

• Generate daily reports on "Top 10 Posts Of The Day" within Indonesian steemians.
  https://steemit.com/peringkat/@puncakbukit/10-besar-tulisan-hari-ini-rabu-8-november-2017
  

• Educate Indonesian steemians by giving daily tips about writing good post on Steemit.
  https://steemit.com/peringkat/@puncakbukit/10-besar-tulisan-hari-ini-rabu-8-november-2017
  

• Generate weekly reports on "Last Week's Trend Of Posts" within Indonesian steemians.
  https://steemit.com/tren/@puncakbukit/tren-tulisan-pekan-lalu-pekan-ke-44-tahun-2017
  

• Send welcome messages to all new Indonesian steemians to encourage them.
  https://steemit.com/@puncakbukit/transfers
  

• Advertise Steemit on all my blogs in Indonesian language (here two of them).
  http://www.puncakbukit.net/
  
  http://www.burungocehan.link/
  

• NEW: Just started new report service "Top 10 Categories Of The Day".
  https://steemit.com/peringkat/@puncakbukit/10-besar-kategori-hari-ini-jumat-10-november-2017
  

Server Specification

Based on Your guide to setting up a Witness Server (STEEM-in-a-box HF19), I built the witness server with specification below:

• RAM: 32 GB
• CPU: 8 cores
• Storage: 2x2TB HDD
• Network: 1gbit/s
• Location: Germany VPS

Necesary means has been taken to sufficiently secure the server, such as:

• Closing all incoming ports, except one used by SSH.
• Moving SSH port to some high random number to prevent scanner bot.
• Installing fail2ban program to block SSH brute force attacks.
• Installing NTP to prevent block misses due to time synchronisation problems.

Moreover, it is provided by the best cloud service provider, @privex, whose CEO, @someguy123, is a respected top 20 witnesses in Steemit. @privex accept STEEM, are affordable, and sell servers with a Zero Block Miss SLA. (Tell them that you are referred by me to get 10% discount!)

Price Feed has been setup to broadcast the price to the network once every 60 minutes. I used Steemfeed-JS to setup it.

Seed node has been setup too with the same specification as above. The URL is

85.10.196.211:2001

Why Vote Me?

So, I may be able to dedicate more time to continue above contribution to Steemit community, especially within Indonesian steemians. In the future I plan to add more, such as:

• Generate monthly and yearly reports on "Trend of Posts" within Indonesian steemians.
• Add more educational materials to daily tips on writing good post in Steemit.
• Expand the contribution to Japanese steemians community too.

Lastly, puncakbukit means hilltop that maybe is the most lovely place to write a post.. under the tree.. and the wind blew.. :-)

Vote for me to be a witness - every vote counts.

• Go to page Witness Voting.
• Scroll down to the bottom.
• Input "puncakbukit" in the textbox below.
• Click VOTE button.