Learning new things every day
"Vote for witnesses", the tab said, just a bit further down from the Welcome and FAQ tabs. I was brave enough to click on it a few days ago when I first started exploring steemit. The page informed me that I could vote for 30 witnesses, and there was a list of 50 names. Apart from that, it contained little additional information that I could easily take in at that moment. I didn't have much of a clue what a witness was, let alone who or what these 50 were. So I didn't dare vote for anybody and it went to the too-hard basket for the moment, one of the things I could come back to at a later stage, when the time was right. And then I forgot about it because all the rest of steemit completely took over and used up all my time and attention.
So how come I've now already cast my votes?
Well, I could pretend that I was smart enough to figure it all out myself, haha, but of course, I had some help from some amazing steemians, and particularly 
Hive account@dreemsteem and 
Hive account@welcomewagon through whom I keep finding content that is most helpful indeed. So, just by chance (or was it?) I came across a mention of 
Hive account@katrina-ariel who has posted this witness-voting contest, and on that post I found a link to this post by @rhondak which explains witness-voting in a way that even the newest newbie can understand. I instantly understood that voting for witnesses is super-important. I then read a few more posts on the topic such as this one by @drakos as well as from steemit itself.
How did I choose?
At first I got so excited that I wanted to enter Hive account@katrina-ariel's contest immediately. Then I realised that I can't do the requirements justice. First of all, it will be 1am where I live at the time of the Steemit Ramble witness chat, and second, being so new and reliant on other's guidance, the choices I made were really borrowed choices, and I don't feel that makes a sophisticated enough entry for a contest. So I will not enter the contest but I voted anyway and I upvoted the contest post. The choices I made are a mix from the suggestions made in these and a few other posts, all by people who say and do things I like and who seem to know what they're talking about. Before I voted I went to the profile of most witnesses to see if they generally appeal to me, and I also checked here that they weren't dead or otherwise inactive. I thought their "missed blocks" number should probably be low and in the green, so I was confused why other people had voted for 
Hive account@pharesim but this post by him somehow tells me that he's a good one. If someone could please confirm that for me, I'd appreciate it.
Somehow, my list doesn't appear yet when I try to look it up here. I found that feature in 
Hive account@rhondak's post and thought I'd try it with my name, but maybe it takes a while for it to show. When I click on "Witnesses can be voted for here", all my votes are there.
I would really like to know if I accidentally voted for anyone that people think was not a good choice for one reason or another. So below is my list of witnesses, and if you have a legit reason why I should take a vote away from one of them, please let me know and why, and preferably also name a good alternative I could give the vote to instead.
Hive account@gtg
Hive account@roelandp
Hive account@timcliff
Hive account@ausbitbank
Hive account@someguy123
Hive account@aggroed
Hive account@pharesim
Hive account@lukestokes.mhth
Hive account@followbctnews
Hive account@curie
Hive account@drakos
Hive account@busy.witness
Hive account@utopian-io
Hive account@teamsteem
Hive account@yabapmatt
Hive account@blockbrothers
Hive account@raggaemuffin
Hive account@patrice
Hive account@ocd-witness
Hive account@adsactly-witness
Hive account@sircork
Hive account@enginewitty
Hive account@swelker101
Hive account@jackmiller
Hive account@jrswab
Hive account@guiltyparties
Hive account@gmuxx
Hive account@noisy.witness
Hive account@steemcommunity
Hive account@danielsaori
I can't believe how much I've learned in the few days since I've posted my introduceyourself post. Thank you to all and everyone who makes my experience here so enjoyable!
