Do you have all of your Witness Votes utilized? Many (including myself up until recently) have had nearly 0 of their Witness Votes cast. This is very similar to allowing only a few active people to vote while the rest of us live with their decision. We are given a voice through voting for Witnesses and the fact is most do not use it.

What is a Witness?

Steem operates using something called Delegated Proof Of Stake or dPOS for short. DPOS is much like the American form of government, most people simply vote for the representative(s) that are most inline with their beliefs and desires. A Witness is your elected representative for Steem. Each Witness has the ability to mint new blocks into the blockchain, include and verify transactions, as well as set a price feed for the internal STEEM/SBD market.

Since there are only 21 Witnesses at any given time able to mint blocks, AND, 20 of those 21 are decided by who has the most Witness Votes, assigning a Proxy to cast those votes ensures your votes are not being wasted!

What is Witness Voting?

The rank a Witness has is determined by the amount of votes they have received. Each Steemian's vote for witness is directly related to how much Steem Power they have vested. When you vote for a Witness, you are helping to decide who should have the authority to create new blocks on Steem.

What is Witness Proxy Voting?

This all may seem very confusing by now, and to be honest, this short post could not possibly go into all the details about Witnesses. However, one of the greatest features is Witness Proxy Voting. Steem allows you to assign your votes for witnesses to another user! This means a user (such as Hive account@shadowbot) that is very active and knowledgeable in deciding who to vote for as witnesses can now vote on your behalf as well! You no longer need to check up on all 20 Witnesses you are voting for! Allowing another user such as Hive account@shadowbot to decide on your behalf frees up your time while still ensuring you are utilizing your witness votes effectively.

How do I assign a Proxy (Hive account@shadowbot) for my Witness Voting?

Simple! Follow the 5 steps below:

1. Head to the Vote for Witness page.

2. At the very bottom of the page you will see "You can also choose a proxy that will vote for witnesses for you. This will reset your current witness selection."
   

3. Type in shadowbot and click "SET PROXY".
   

4. You will be asked to login using your active key. Sign in with your active or master key.
   

5. You have now set Hive account@shadowbot as your Witness Voting Proxy!
   

Why should I assign ShadowBot as my Witness Proxy?

ShadowBot has been part of the Steem community for over 9 months now and goes through serious vetting processes before endorsing and voting for any witness. We also monitor all our chosen witnesses on a regular basis and will remove anyone that is not up to our standards.