Community Service Announcement: You Control Steem. Vote for Witnesses.

I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone to check your Witness votes. Do you support HF17 (Steem Simplicity 0.17.0)? Do you oppose it? Use your Steem Power and vote for witnesses who support your views.

It's not hard. I even made a gif for you. You can vote for existing top witnesses or add in names directly.

Just go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses and get 'er done.

I won't tell you who to vote for because half the time I'm not even sure.

Hive account@abit answered my question recently that 17 of the witnesses need to agree in order for a hardfork to happen. Make sure your views are supported. As it gets closer to decision time, I'll also be adjusting my votes based on the arguments I see of those who support or oppose the upcoming changes and why.

This brings up another important point. Many people are complaining about Hive account@abit and Hive account@smooth's reward distribution experiment enforcement via downvotes (or, as regular users of Steemit.com call them, flags). And yet, Hive account@abit is currently the number 1 witness with Hive account@smooth.witness in position 19. If so many people are opposed to what they are doing, why are they still in the top 19? This leads me to think a number of things:

• Are those who are complaining even voting for witnesses? Are they calling for others to vote or unvote anyone as a witness or are they just being loud?
• Do those with influence here via Steem Power support the experiment which is why Hive account@abit and Hive account@smooth are still in the top 19?
• Do most members of this site even think about the witnesses and their influence on the future of this community, especially when a hardfork is about to be decided on?

And finally, the thought which prompted me to make this post...

• Will Dan (as Hive account@dan and Hive account@dantheman) remove his witness votes now that he's resigned and "will no longer vote" or are these votes locked in?

The future of Steemit is still up to those who hold Steem Power. Let's stay focused on that right now.

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Luke Stokes is a father, husband, business owner, programmer, voluntaryist, and blockchain enthusiast. He wants to help create a world we all want to live in.