STEEM WITNESS FORUM STARTS IN JUST UNDER 3 HOURS! Top 20- @jesta, @good-karma, @roelandp, @aggroed, @anyx, @ausbitbank, @lukestokes, @someguy123, Backup-@followbtcnews

At 11am EST I'm truly excited to bring another great Witness panel together. That's a little under three hours from now. So, hopefully you're waking up and remember that many of the elected Witnesses are getting together to discuss the state of the network. I'll start the show around 10:30 and DJ a little as we mic check the guests and get this party rolling.

Here's a smattering of generic questions for the panel to discuss

What is the largest problem on Steem? How do we address it?
Should Steem grow and if so what does Steem need to grow?
What should our priorities be?
Can we handle the growth?
What's causing the rise in price even as bitcoin hovers in the 12k range?
Are the rewards being distributed well?
What constitutes abuse? How should we handle abuse?
How are voting bots positively or negatively effecting Steem?
What do you want Steemit to work on?
What should witnesses collaborate on to improve the platform?
What should we be doing to help new users on the platform?
Closing thoughts to share?

Which witnesses will be on?

@jesta Witness 1 (chainbb, steemdb, vessel)
@roelandp Witness 3 (Steemfest)
@good-karma Witness 5 (eSteem)
@aggroed Witness 7 (Minnow Support Project, MSP-Waves)
@someguy123 (Privex) Witness 9
@anyx (Steem Cleaners) Witness 10
@ausbitbank Witness 14 (Minnow Support Project, curation)
@lukestokes Witness 15 (Exchange Transfer Report)

and similar to the Steem block chain I'm introducing a rotating backup witness into the lineup. This panel discussion will also feature backup witness @followbtcnews (@followbtcnews co-runs his witness with @crimsonclad). @followbtcnews created steemistry.com a keyword search, mentions tool, an block explorer Steem. He/they are a Minnow Support Project Medal of Honor winner (two time actually but the second hasn't been fully announced). @followbtcnew is an active witness (both follow and crimson) with the Minnow Support Project having created the website minnowsupportproject.org, a condenser clone gosteem.com along with @drakos, and both are active leaders within the Minnow Support Community.

Format

Panel members will be asked questions and given an opportunity to volunteer some answers. An introduction question and a closing statement are the only two questions I'll ask them all to participate in. Witnesses that feel moved to speak are welcome to answer the questions or skip them.

These panel discussions are meant to hear some of the concerns of the witnesses. It's meant to give us an opportunity to hear one another speak and interact with Steemians.

It is meant to facilitate alignment for those witnesses that care about certain topics, but it isn't meant to drive homogeneity in how Witnesses choose to interact, choose work, or work with the Steem block chain and community.

Logistics

Show starts at today at 11am!!! I'll be live DJing for 30 min prior to the show.

To join it please hop into the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network Discord server home to the Minnow Support Project. I host these in this Discord group because it's the single largest off chain community for Steem and it houses a broadcast network called msp-waves which allows me to stream the show to the internet as well as record the show.

To listen to the show or go to mspwaves.com/listen.
To text to the panel during the show.
To go on air

If you're planning on speaking on air please show up a 10-15 min early and mic check in "MSP Waves Waiting Room." You'll need a headset and a mic.

Community Standards

The Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network which houses the Minnow Support Project and msp-waves is a voluntary community with a set of community standards. You can read the community standards in full here: https://discord.gg/RHfpCh.

While interacting with the panel we're going to be pretty strict about not being intentionally harmful towards panel members or community members. If you can't participate and interact nicely, especially while disagreeing, we'll help you find the digital exit door. You are welcome to share differences of opinions and even state how you might drastically disagree, but if you can't find a way to do that respectfully while heated you're gonna get the boot.

What not to do

• Don't attack the person
• Don't use insults
• Don't be passive aggressive
• Don't intentionally be an asshole

What to do

• Do ask questions in chat
• Do provide alternative thoughts on what witnesses share
• Do feel free to bring up things that you think are important even if witnesses disagree

Bad Example: Are you fucking kidding me @aggroed? Price rise is because of the market pricing in growth of the network? Are you retarded? That's the stupidest thing I've ever fucking heard you moron. This is clearly a pump and dump and I can't believe a stupid fuck like you ever got elected as a witness.

Good Example: Hey @aggroed. I heard you say you think the price rise is because the market is pricing in platform growth, but I've been looking at some data and think this is just a pump and dump by manipulative investors. Here's a chart that can provide evidence for where this opinion comes from. Can you see how you're off base here?

You can share the same concern either way. It's not about the thought, but the presentation. Just don't be an intentional shit even while a little mad and we should be cool.

It's a liberty group. You're welcome to share any comments and concerns you have on any topic you want to share. It's also a peace group so we have community standards of healthy and positive discourse with one another, which hopefully leads to better outcomes all around.

I'm looking forward to the discussion

Serving as a witness is one of the highest honors of my life, and I'm excited to be working with such an incredible assortment of people. The last several forums have been great and had a wonderful and healthy discussion around Steem and what each person feels is important for the platform and community. I expect another excellent conversation and I'm excited to host it. I'm looking forward to seeing you there too!

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For a super basic 101: What is a witness?

A Witness is two things.

1. A server that builds the blockchain
2. A person that manages the server building the blockchain

Witnesses are elected through steemit.com/~witnesses. You vote for them. It's a stake weighted process. So, if you have a lot of Steem Power your witness vote will be worth more. You have have 30 witness votes you can use.

When voting I suggest you want to consider 5 things.

1. Are they trustworthy people? If 14 of the top 20 people collude they could introduce fraudulent transactions into the blockchain.
2. Are they technically competent enough to maintain the witness server they run?
3. Are they adding value to the network? What projects are they working on and what do they do for the community? Top 20 witnesses receive roughly 100,000 steem per year from the blockchain. Are they providing enough value for what the block distributes to them?
4. Are they good people? Define as you will.
5. If it becomes necessary to change how the blockchain operates these are the people that will implement changes. Do you think they make good enough decisions to have a voice in how block chain rules and parameters are altered?

If they are in the top 50 people you just click the upvote icon next to their name.
If they are not in the top 50 you have to type in their name.

If you don't want to fuss over it you can proxy to someone else like one of the other witnesses, a friend you trust, or @minnowsupport where the moderators and witnesses collectively decide on witness votes from applications.

There is more information available at the @jesta created website steemdb.com. You can find a list of witnesses working with the Minnow Support Project at our website minnowsupportproject.org.