of my somewhat ambiguous looking username, people find it difficult to vote for me, so, I made a little clip to help people know how to do it:

https://steemit.com/~witnesses is the page you need to go to to do this.

In the clip, I show you how you vote for me. The only tricky part, is that you have to spell my username correctly. It is the letter L, the number zero (0), k, and then one (1). l0k1. It's easiest to just select my username and copy it, if you are unsure, and paste it into the spot where I show you how to type it in the screen video capture.

Thanks in advance to anyone who votes for me.

I got pretty upset with Steemit, Inc, a couple of months ago, and felt like, most importantly, that the people developing this platform were unsympathetic to the plight of the newbies and poor people here - and of course this is a terrible thing for adoption, which meant, in my mind, that this thing was going nowhere.

But they pulled their socks up, and delivered what was demanded, and I am feeling much more positively towards this platform, so I set up my witness again, and though it's not making much money for me, it's making more than it costs me.

I would like it very much if I was at least above position 50, but as I say, I'm not losing money on this, and I think that anyone who knows my work would realise that I am on a mission to inflict a distributed web onto the world, and I see Steem as the bridge to that, possibly, not even just the bridge, but potentially, the whole road. And the rest of it... Unlike most witnesses, I am not going to promise that I will build systems that integrate with steem and enhance it, no, I intend to play a role in making it the foundation of what I would otherwise have been building with the Dawn Network.

In my opinion, monetisation of user generated content is THE killer app on the internet. But I go further than that, I say that delivering it, and certifying the deliveries, should also be monetised. These are things that I can build alongside the Steem blockchain, and potentially, could eliminate a cost for Steemit, Inc, in their CDN system that caches images linked to in posts, and possibly implement a way for those who cache and upload it to users to get paid for this service.

It's very a very serious problem. Hive account@papapepper has just posted today, I think it was, about the idea of organising a crowdfund to implement a better search engine for steem, and I think this is a great idea. But how are the hosts of the servers running this service going to pay for their costs?

Nobody else in the crypto community, except LBRY people even have any concept that a media monetisation and distribution system is THE way forward, not this smart contracts running on virtual machines, not (just) private ledger entries, but something that actually has a real chance at unseating Faceberk, Shitter and reddit... then Steem is the platform that has the most potential and capability to actually realise the implementation of not just a peer to peer media distribution and monetisation system, but a total and superior replacement for all existing social networks (and I include that vile chinese thing as well, in that). And the whole web!

So, I would like to suggest to you, that a vote for my witness, is a vote for the supremacy of Steem on the internet. I am a huge supporter of this platform, and I have already earned quite a payback for my loyalty, and I think that this model is one that within 2 years everyone is going to agree is the way forward. So, we gotta build out the rest of the system. Steem, right now, is like a community center, helping connect people, but there isn't a little cafe at the side for people to chat and drink coffees or beers, there isn't the marketplace outside where people can sell their wares, and there isn't any robots serving drinks for us!

This is what I want, and this is what I am working towards, and I apologise for abandoning you guys for a few months, but it was not the general concept, nor most of the people, that I wanted to abandon, it was the possibility that Steemit was just another faceless, uncaring american corporation that is only looking out to make a buck out of me, by hook or by crook. But they have amply demonstrated their sympathy and humanity and finally made changes that the cries of the community called for, and look at things now. 2 dollar steem, and growing userbase, a massive increase in content uploaded to the chain, and a buoyant, upbeat vibe has returned.

We told them this would happen, and it did, down to the last little bit.

I'm not a materialistic person at all, I value most intimacy and honesty and loyalty from other people, I don't really care so much about the money, but as I am trying to build things there is no way I can do alone, I need money, the necessary tool for turning 'interested' into 'ok, what do you want me to do' with the people who would actually do the work.

Of course I will do some of the work myself, and I have done plenty already with my various, evolving concepts for improving things, but as I accumulate sufficient surplus, I am looking for ways to both make more surplus, and increase the beneficial effect of my presence in the world, and rightfully earn the respect of my peers.

Thanks for reading, and voting, and I hope you have a wonderful, mind blowing, exciting and productive day :)

l0k1