Meet a whale with @jamesmovic... Episode 7

Wow!!!, guess what friends? Its the seventh episode of meet a whale...incase you dont know what its all about, "Meet a Whale" is the first of its kind, founded by me and comes up every Sunday. It's an interview with a whale, or a geriatric steemian in which I ask Steem-related questions from which newbies might benefit. Be sure to look for the post each week and learn about the platform!.. Guess what friends ? I invited Hive account@nnnarvaez to be Our guest for today, which means today is gonna be fun filled,and you are gonna learn a lot.

Let's get started!!!

@Jamesmovic - Who introduced you to steemit?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - I was looking into ideas with the keywords: Social Network and Block-chain... Hive account@jerrybangfield videos came as first Google result, I found he was funny and believed I could join and start making 400$ per post. I'm still trying, however I got lucky once and had a post payout about 115 $ I was very glad, but that is not a common occurrence.

Hive account@jamesmovic - Your motive for joining?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - Curiosity and greed lol... But I got bitten by the STEEM bug and now I can say: Hello my name is Nathan and I am a STEEMholic. And our project's motto is: The Dreamers, we don't aim to seize power, we just hope to be able to buy us back some dignity for humanity, let us be, and lend us a hand

Hive account@jamesmovic - What special side projects are you doing on the block chain I. E curation trail, witness?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - Hive account@castellano witness: which is a witness node that aims to represent the users by providing a tribune to solve disputes and mediate as well as build bridges between the authors and the shareholders and projects. A voice for the people, by the people, from the people...Hive account@reveur STEEMizens Incubator which means dreamer in French, from our discord we have a daily activities schedule aimed to educate South American user in the responsible use of the block-chain technologies as part of the paradigm shift we all are being part.
We aim to show users that the STEEM block-chain more than a blogging platform is a Technological tool to build human networks and drive change
Our activities range from English lessons for Spanish speakers, weekly discussions with witnesses and actors of the block-chain, social development projects sponsoring and conduction, properly addressing people in a mass media environment, blogging and block chain training and competences development, photography, programming in python and curation trough a forum to present yourself as author and your post as well as training and encouragement for minnows.
We even do Karaoke nights on Saturday, because not all is work and school.
All this is possible thanks to the sustained efforts of a team of Steemians that share my views of the block-chain potential to shape the future of humanity, and we drive it with my personal stake and my wife's which is around 9000 SP, we have some external support (600 SP delegated by Hive account@patrice and Hive account@guiltyparties) and we have a small follow vote from Hive account@anomadsoul (which makes the difference for the authors)
From Reveur we support and sponsor small promising projects namely an Artists community called Hive account@celfmagazine and a literary editorial Hive account@steemitfiction, run by a multinational south American team.
Apart from that I am deeply involved in the cleaners initiative for the Spanish language which is more educative than punitive thanks to a consensual committee ( Hive account@lince ) I also give a hand from time to time to Hive account@patrice coding the odd bot for Hive account@spaminator and did some forensics for her and SteemCleaners, we work in close collaboration to try and keep the Spanish side of the blockchain spam free (Which proves to be an impossible task)
I act also as a bridge between Hive account@sircorck's Hive account@youarehope foundation by giving some guidance and follow trough to the Venezuelan charities.

Also, I have been commissioned as Spanish Operations Manager of @Steemstarnetwork which right now we are developing into a fully fledged audiovisual station for the Spanish side.

Hive account@jamesmovic - Who are witnesses to you ? Why do you think newbies should vote for a witness [you] and is there any benefit in doing that?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - The witnesses are those that make the block-chain possible, we provide the machines that store all your posts, all your comments, all the votes, the money transfers, without witnesses there would be no block-chain.

Running a witness node requires a powerful and specialized machine, running 24/7 from a robust internet connection, it also requires sys-admin competencies and know-how.

Some witnesses provide just the machine, other also develop products , interfaces and services to make the STEEM experience better for users.
I choose to develop the human side of the block-chain which many seem to forget, the STEEM block-chain is unique as it is a social network build on top of block-chain technology and human greed ;)
Every user can and should cast the 30 witness votes they have the right to, and choose wisely not based on hype and popularity but in the added value they bring to the block-chain, the reason is simple, witnesses are those who represent your views and interest and are the ones working for the continued existence of STEEM.

Most of all witness voting it is a pure form of liquid democracy applied to capitalism, even if the position and remuneration of witnesses for their machines and time is determined by the SP held by his voters, and people might think their vote doesn't counts much, nothing father from reality... I rather have ten thousand minnows support which means users must think I am doing something right than one vote from a 10k stakeholder.
If I wanted to make money out of witnessing I would campaign for the whales.

Hive account@jamesmovic - Can you please give a brief illustration on how to vote for witnesses, how many times are we allowed to vote

Hive account@nnnarvaez - The witness voting user experience provided by the steemit web site is an unfinished product, I encourage the use of steemconnect for witness voting until steemit incorporated provides a better experience as 9 times out of ten minnows end up voting and unvoting several times before either giving up or request help.

Hive account@jamesmovic - How do newbies vote for a witness not included in the first 30?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - They can go the long complicated steemit.com way of searching for the witness name on the bottom or use steemconnect which I strongly recommend, in both cases they need to have handy their active key as it is required for approving a witness.
here is an example link the would approve my witness: https://steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=castellano&approve=1
Shall you want to use it for a different witness just replace the name "castellano" by the witness of your choice.

Hive account@jamesmovic - Do you think it is a nice idea for newbies to adapt the attitude of resteemimg a lot of post,? as I feel resteeming a lot of post might decrease their personal post viewed

Hive account@nnarvaez - Everything in moderation has a positive impact. Newbies tend not to have many followers, and resteeming is aimed to give visibility to others... There we fall in that conundrum: If a tree fall in the forest and there is no one to listen to it falling... Does it make noise? Now if you really like something and want to share it with your close circle the odd ReSteem is perfect for that.

Hive account@jamesmovic - What do you understand by steemit blacklist , How do newbies know they have been blacklisted, and does it has any negative effects?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - That is related to the spam fighting activities we all have to be part of, thou I prefer the use of a whitelist for good authors and committed STEEMizens, the bad ones do not deserve our time, we make efforts to educate those that are lost looking for ways to be noticed and have their voice heard.
I think we give too much importance to the trolls and too little to the gems.

Hive account@jamesmovic - With the little knowledge I have flagging a post should only be done when a post is caught plagiarized, but now it has turned into a tool for fighting with anyone who doesn't comply with you....do you think there is any way out from this?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - Education... People tends to be selfish but I think most times it is unconscious/involuntary ... what I mean is that many time we tunnel our point of view and we lack the needed empathy to understand we others are coming from and then we fail to reach agreements that are evident otherwise...
Flags should be used in a responsible way as what they are; a tool to redistribute the post rewards, not to settle our quarries... As an example on of the initiatives less adopted but the one I am most proud of is that the team behind Hive account@castellano witness aims to provide a mediation service for disagreements between users.

Hive account@jamesmovic - The actual amount of SBD that shows up before payout doesn't tally with the amount I get after payout. Where does the remaining amount goes to?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - There are many things to consider: 25% of the payout is deducted as curation rewards.
Variations on the price of STEEM -> USD affect the final payout. Since the peg to the SBD -> USD s been broken for a while now, the calculation is misleading.

The actual formulae would be:
For a post 50/50 %:
SBD = ((Promised_Payout * 0.75 ) / 2 )
SP = SBD / Steem-USD price
For a 100 power up:
SP = (Promised_payout * 0.75) / STEEM-USD Price
And this is just an indicator.

Hive account@jamesmovic - Have you ever encountered any form of set back since you began your steemit journey? What strategy did you use in solving it

Hive account@nnnarvaez - The most difficult part has been being noticed, there is much disinformation and everyone has a different view of what STEEM is, I have a holistic approach to the platform and never been much for curating and blogging, but to drive the potential for change we have in our hands, this has been misunderstood many times and lead me to clashes... But I just keep doing my stuff and trying to lead by example.

Hive account@jamesmovic - Following the normal steemit procedure How many times are we allowed to post per day?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - The only technical limitation for how many times to post is the bandwidth and the more SP you have, the more you are allowed...
However etiquette and quality wise, I think that if you are able to produce quality content once a day it should be the maximum you should post, a better number would be once every 2 or 3 days, real good material where you put good effort and have something important to say.

But there is no rule... Due to time constraints for example I can spend weeks without posting and all of a sudden I make a burst... But that is not good neither for visibility and curators are overflow by the content..

Hive account@jamesmovic - What advice are you willing to give to newbies who feel like quitting due to low upvote?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - To join communities, we are here to build human network, the platform is just a stag to jump in and have our voices heard, the closer we get to each other, the more we realize we are the same and share goals and dreams and then collaboration and mutual help and support are what makes us thrive in this brave new world.

Hive account@jamesmovic - What's your take on this interview and any advice you are willing to give to make it better?

Hive account@nnnarvaez - Man I liked the question, I liked your approach and especially your patience as I am late sending you my replies, I think you are doing a very good thing here as you are sharing your own stage with others, thus allowing us to share our view and spread them to reach more users and to make this place achieve the greatest potential is has.

The team behind all this:
Management Executives (Hive account@reveur):
https://steemit.com/castellano/@reveur/conociendo-a-reveur-quienes-son-los-ejecutivos

Hive account@nnnarvaez (Nathan)
Hive account@mfestra (Maria Fernanda)
Hive account@idandy (Gabriel)
Hive account@pararova (pablo)
Hive account@gabinart3 (Neu)
Hive account@mvelazco (MAria Gracia)
Hive account@eleyda78 (eleyda)
Hive account@yosuandoni (Yosu/Jerry)
Hive account@ikasumanera (Isaac)
Hive account@migueldavidor (Miguel)
@Jimhutch (JIM)
Hive account@laguia (BOB)
Hive account@all-right (alrri)

Committed citizens (Hive account@reveur):
@Yaibak (Photography)
Hive account@nairesc (Photography)
Hive account@marugy99 (English Basic )
Hive account@juliomendoza01 (English Advanced)
Hive account@miiguelgr(Addressing people and speech)

Editorial Executive's 4Cuentos: (Hive account@steemitfiction)
Hive account@matuca
Hive account@valki
Hive account@fanisk
Hive account@elguille

Castellano (Mediation and constitutive team):
Hive account@miguelvargas
Hive account@vanessapinedos
Hive account@josevasquez

Artists sponsored external community (Hive account@celfmagazine):
Hive account@joedukeg

Hive account@jamesmovic - Thank you for honouring my invitation

Hive account@nnnarvaez - You are welcome

Hive account@nnnarvaez has gave a tangible reason why we all should vote for witnesses to keep the good work moving. It would be kind of you to show some love by heading to the witness page to get your vote casted, by voting Hive account@castellano.. If you are doing this for the first time, worry not, as he already gave a link above that would make it easier for you!!!