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This is the sort of guide we need. Even I struggle with some of these concepts after years on Steem. Steempeak should have a help page that links to this.

Haha you and me both but writing them out helped a lot for my own understanding!

@SteemPeak are free to use these descriptions or page if they want to in their help page. I'm building up the Steem related section bit by bit so if there's any other suggestions to include then I'll try to write another guide.

Witnesses will be my next topic I think

Your bluffing just gets better and better! And I mean that in the best way possible, haha! Not much to say yet again, but thanks for sharing another really thorough post with some tips that we can all appreciate. Glad to see it getting some good support so that many people are able to see it! Speaking of, need to resteem this myself...

Hahaha thanks P2P, bluffing my way through these guides is something I take great joy in doing and glad others find them useful and entertaining too! Thanks for resteeming as well 😊

Clear and well-writen guide for me to refer back to in my time of need. Thank you!

Thanks for checking it out and glad you found it helpful! If you have something else you want explaining, let me know. I think the next topic will be "witnesses" as I think it's mostly been overlooked outside of recent times!

Good guide. Thanks for mentioning my post.

I'm now recommending that one changes their PW after changing recovery account or whener owner key is used (normally to change pw so no need there).

I also wonder if master key is neccessary for anything but generating new keys. I guess in the odd even you misplace the paper your owner key is on but not the master(keep these on the same paper).
The only case I can realistically see it being handy is if you write out your owner key and screw it up, you can try the master instead of the owner (saved my butt once, so I print now),

Yea always worth changing everything when you use the owner key or master. They are sacred basically!

If you have forgotten your keys or if you wrote down everything incorrectly,except your master pw, then you will need it to log in to see your keys on steemitwallet (happened to me recently as I also wrote down my owner key wrong so had to change). Then you will need to change your keys straight away.

Thanks for checking it out.

I think from a technical view, when Steem ends up being compatible with a hardware wallet, the master key may also be necessary to continually generate the other keys. However, I'm unsure if I would want to use that for more than storing my owner key because using it is a bit of a pain.

I think if that would happen with integration with hardware wallet then you probably would want to have the master password as your private seed wouldn't you? It would be the ultimate last line of defence. The owner key may then have to just be changing posting, active, memo and owner keys whilst leaving the master as just that.

That way the owner becomes the one that continually changes? Not sure the technical side of it but that makes more sense to me and keeps in line with other hardware wallet usability?

I believe you are correct and there is indeed a way to change the owner key without changing the master KEY. For example the hardware wallets usually use BIP-39 (i think), it's combination of 24 words from a list of 2048. However, the master PW on steem can actually be anything (use the random generator). So yeah, it could generate an infinite series of keys. But this is why it is difficult to program. It better indeed meet cryptographic standards when generating new owner keys.

Thanks for putting together all this info to simplify things for beginners on Steem - Buffer's Guide to Steem!

You're welcome @porters and thanks for the comment - really glad you find it useful and hopefully when we start getting more people on the network, they won't be nearly half as lost as I was when I first started 2 years ago!

Sheesh! I wish that I'd have had access to a post like this when I signed up for Steem nearly 3 years ago. Having had to go through a process to get new keys...and not knowing understanding what I was doing, was nerve-wracking to say the least.

Great addition to the Bluffer, @nickyhavey.

You and me both Fiona! Hopefully newcomers will find this beneficial and won't have to figure things out for themselves in a long drawn out way like we did haha!

Any ideas for next topic? Witnesses? #justsuggesting

This came right in time little bro! Probably you were influenced by my stupid messages about how to change my recovery account or passwords lol.

But a few minutes ago I just managed to change both the passwords and recovery account and I'm so happy now! Thank you so much for all your help, you are a genius!! :D

Haha well you gave me the final kick up the ass to get this blog done and think it's important now more than ever given the current situation to assess account security.

No such thing as a stupid question here, it's a steep learning curve and even people who have been around for a couple of years like me, find it a challenge sometimes but once you get passed that initial curve, then you can focus on creating the content or playing the games etc.

Awesome work on the account recovery and keeping your keys safe! I'd recommend using keychain as well if you aren't already little sister!

Steem on (or whatever we'll be called next haha)

Bookmarked this bro.
Thanks and happy travels!
Blessings!

Goodness, it's the legend Mr Papillon Charity! Hope all is well your end and glad you found this helpful! Take it easy and hope you're coping in the heat!

Now Doctor Nicky, here we go again hahaha
All is as well as it could be at this end, if you consider three, 2 and a half powercuts a day, a corrupted government, and services to the public all falling apart. The heat is now slowly abating, as thankfully Autumn is approaching. The leaves are starting to fall, just like my hair fell out some years ago. And our short Winter is on Autumn's heels. These are the times that I love...and Spring.
I am too old to get excited anymore in hot Summers, and hiding in my house like a tortoise.
All of the best to you my friend.
Blessings

Considering all of that, you're a remarkably upbeat person and like the poetic description of the balding process! I think Autumn is slowly arriving on hairline Havey as well!

Keep up the postive vibes man, we need more of that around the world hey!

Guess what, it's better with less hair, as Marian puts the hair cutting machine on No. 2 and cuts my locks twice a month.
No need for a comb or brush in the mornings and sheer bliss.
Positivity is a good virus doctor Nicky!!!
Blessings!

You might be right there, grade 2 on the clippers is a simple enough one although I think I'd have to do a grade 8 for mine. Haven't got the face for a skin head... maybe I'll just wear a hat all the time!

I like your positive virus, let's hope that becomes contagious too 😃

Ha! I wear a hat (cap) every day since childhood my friend.
A habit that was formed on the farm where I grew up to protect us from the African sun. That's why my brain is still fairly new and unused Lol.
Take care!

Haha yes, you guys have some pretty strong Sun down there! I'd say your brain is pretty well used if you can navigate through Steem though. Thankfully we don't have Sun in the UK to cause too much damage, it's why I look about 12 years old haha. That and working in a lab with no windows for many years, keeping things daisy fresh here 😀

If only somebody wrote such a guide when I first found this platform. now everything is so easy with keychain and steempeak. Keeping this bookmarked. If any beginner asks me anything over at discord Ill have this to give them to.

I know how you feel mate! It's been a learning curve all the time here at Steem but with all that's going on, it seems even more relevant to create these guides!

Thanks a lot for stopping by and commenting, appreciate it 😁
Yes keychain and SteemPeak, you really have a winning combination there and with more front ends and games popping up, some of these keys are pretty much hidden from sight and aren't needed. Think the easier each front end's userface can be made, the better all round.

TBH I've read countless other guides. Halfway through I either lost interest or forgot whatever the author wrote in just the previous paragraph as they try to jam in everything at once. Yours is so simple to read yet so informative. It was a pleasure. Kudos to you..🙂

Thank you so much for the epic feedback! That's exactly what I go for with these guides, educational and a bit of entertainment so it doesn't feel like a chore reading it! Makes the effort worthwhile 😊

Wow, nice one! Thanks @arcange!