It's been another week of crazy user growth, volatility and the usual chaos on the blockchain.
I now have 310 witness votes and I'm at rank # 27 :D
Witness node operations
I've climbed the ranks, but thanks to last weeks upgrade my witness node is handling the increased workload just fine.
- No missed blocks this week (9 ever)
- I'm now witnessing an average of 50 blocks each day
My seed node address has now been merged into the default seed lists for steemd making it one of only 31 currently listed in the official source code.
If you have a reliable seed node and you're not listed please consider add yourself to the default seed lists for steemd. I think everyone in the top 50 should be doing it, considering the current price of steem ..
You can see live stats at http://seed.steemviz.com:19999
Price feed and current network parameters
We ran into an issue this week due to the massive increase of activity on the blockchain, and it resulted in some new users being temporarily unable to transact. You can find more information and discussion about this issue here .
After further discussion with other witnesses I'm now voting to increase the maximum block size to 131,072 , and encourage others to do the same.
So far I only see 21 out of the top 100 witnesses voting the same way.
- I publish an unbiased price feed - last update was $2.269 SBD / STEEM .
- SBD interest rate remains steady at 0% - to discourage hoarding whilst SBD is overvalued
- Account creation fee remains at 0.2 STEEM - attempting to reduce signup cost (info)
- Maximum block size changed to 131,072 - to lower the SP requirements to transact.
Steem Dollars still trading above $1
Steem Dollars continue to be in high demand, currently priced at $1.90 USD per SBD .
I'd still really like us to attempt timcliff's proposed solution to restore the $1 SBD peg (TLDR: Reverse Conversion) .
Steemians should be taking advantage of these higher prices and sell SBD above face value while you can.
Do not use the internal convert option in your wallet for SBD's at this time - you will get a better deal on exchanges.
You should also avoid doing 100% Steem Power posts at this time, you will make more money if you use the 50/50 option and then trade the SBD you get for Steem.
Steemfest Travel Fund
I've been fundraising for the Steemfest travel reimbursement fund using post beneficiary splitting
Donated so far :
- Steemfest Travel Fund post rewards donation #1 - 552.036 SBD / ~$1050 USD
Still waiting on :
- 1 full powerdown of 1346 Steem within 2 days (currently valued at $3000 USD)
- 70% of the post rewards from my seed node announcement within 24 hrs (Post currently at max accepted payout of $1337)
- 50% of the post rewards from my from 0-100k AUD in 11 months post within 3 days (Also currently at max accepted payout of $1337) .
I hope this will allow more people to be able to travel to steemfest and get to meet their favourite authors and supporters in person.
Minnow Support Project and the Peace, Abundance, Liberty discord
These initiatives are focussed on helping new users (minnows) learn how to use steemit most effectively, act as a general social venue & support forum as well as a growing curation guild with more powerful bots on the way.
- Join the P.A.L discord chat
- Minnow Support Group on Steemit.chat
- Follow
- Minnow Support Project Weekly resteem thread
Team Australia
This is a new initiative started by 
I'll be watching the #teamaustralia tag closely and have followed everyone that introduced themselves in the announcement post and the initial call for Aussies from
- STEEMIT OFFICIAL PRESS SUBMISSION: 'TEAM AUSTRALIA' ESTABLISHED - 11 JUNE 2017
- A call out to all Australian Steemians - please raise your hand!
- New TeamAustralia channel on steemit.chat
Witness Update Post Reward Giveaway
From now on, each weeks witness report will split the post rewards between 8 accounts.
The first 7 splits go to a user who posted something that were processed and packed into a block by my witness node - 1 for each of the previous 7 days.
My node processes currently creates 1 block every ~25-30 minutes giving me around 50 blocks a day to choose from.
I compile a list of all posts made in each days blocks, remove posts that have been flagged by cheetah / steemcleaners and then select a random high quality post with low earnings from the posts that are left - one for each day.
I already do a lot of manual curation, but I'm always surprised by some of the hidden gems I randomly find in my blocks.
You do NOT have to be a follower or witness voter of mine to win
HOWEVER if I ever have to choose between 2 posts of equal quality where one of them is written by a follower/voter then I will be biased towards my supporter.
As well as a large vote from me and exposure to my followers each winner will also receive a 10% share in this posts rewards.
This weeks winners:
- Split 1 goes to
for "Product Design - Mobile phone stand with STEEM Logo" (block 12749805 on 2017-06-12T07:31:54 )
- Split 2 goes to
"Gold and Silver - long term view" (block 12739493 on 2017-06-11T22:56:12 )
- Split 3 goes to
for "My latest creation is a bit odd..for me." (block 12708815 on 2017-06-10T21:22:09 )
- Split 4 goes to
for "Lies, plain & simple. The saga of James B Comey & the deep state." (block 12676044 on 2017-06-09T18:03:33)
- Split 5 goes to
for "Great Barrier Reef, Rottnest Island - Fish, Sea Lion & Turtles - Underwater photo series" (block 12635343 on 2017-06-08T08:04:18)
- Split 6 goes to
for "Food Is Definitely Art! But Is The Beauty An Indicator Of Its Taste?" (block 12613061 on 2017-06-07T13:29:42)
- Split 7 goes to
for "DIVERTIMENTO" (block 12583372 on 2017-06-06T12:44:33 )
- Split 8 The remaining 30% goes to
I'd love to hear any feedback on this giveaway idea, or any adjustments you would suggest for the selection process before next weeks update
I originally tried for a 10 way split - TIL you can have 8 beneficiaries max
Like what I'm up to ? Vote for my witness!
If you think I'm acting as a positive force for the platform, please consider voting for my witness on this page :
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Every vote counts! For more information on how and why to vote for my witness see this post .
steemit / twitter / gab.ai / keybase / steemit.chat / patreon
I also made :
steemviz / steemvids / steemcap / steemleak / more tools / post index