The clearest guide to understand what are "Witnesses". They are essential to Steem. Without them, Steem can't exist. Support them and they'll support you. This is a core principle that most Steemians haven’t thought much about and one this post hopes to solve.

_{Disclaimer: I've been a Steem Witness since September 2016. I'm currently #55.}

Why Voting For Witnesses Is So Important!

If I'm looking at 2 equally good posts by 2 different authors and only one of the author has approved my witness, I'll tend to vote for the post by the author who has approved my witness. It's called mutual support.

Obviously, I would never support anyone that hold ideals that goes directly against mine, even if they were my biggest supporters. Logically people that hold the same ideals support each other. We usually don't support those whose ideals go against ours.

What are Steem Witness?

The excerpt below from "Steem: An In-Depth Overview!" explains the basis of what is a Witness. I highly recommend reading the whole post if you haven't. That post reached the top trending post so it's not like it's some half-baked post. (It's currently the best post to understand how Steem works.)

Steem witnesses are computers or nodes run by some Steemians. These are running 24/7. They provide the computational power required to process all Steem actions recorded on the Steem blockchain. This is communally called: "signing blocks". Those computers run the Steem open source software. There are 20 witnesses and 1 backup witness. Each 20 witnesses sign around 1400 blocks a day and the remaining backup witness blocks are signed by all remaining witnesses in a rotation. Signing block is done automagically as long as the computers and software are running properly. Top 20 witnesses are assigned block to sign at random.

Anyone can vote for witnesses here. Everyone has 30 votes and these can be change at any moment. Those with the most "Steem weighted" vote become part of the 20 witnesses, all of the remaining witnesses are in rotation for the remaining witness slot in proportion to the vote they receive. Each witnesses receive an "x" amount of Steem for each block they sign. The full list of witnesses can be found here or here.

How To Set Up A Witness

Witness can be run on a local computer or on a virtual private server (VPS). VPS are servers or computers running 24/7 which people can rent when they need them.

I've set up my witness using Steem-in-box created by @someguy123. It's a script that install or update most of what has to be set up. It's been very useful and without @someguy123 I might have never become a witness. I'm very grateful to him.

"The Complete Noob Guide to STEEM Witness Setup" by @klye and @klye himself have also been greatly helpfull. The guide has a couple of nice joke and also it totally was perfect for the noob that I was.

Top 20 witnesses usually run 2 Steem witness nodes. One is used as a backup. A script usually switch from the main witness node to the backup node when the scripts detect a certain numbers of missed blocks in a row and will initiate a switch. They also use 2 witness nodes so they can have one online while they are updating the other one during hardforks.

Steem Full Nodes

Edit: See@wackou's comment below for correction. I'll correct further later today.

Steem full nodes are also computers running 24/7 run by some steemians. These nodes fulfill the request made by the different Steem apps or tools. Any apps, like Steemit.com, busy.org, eSteem, steemwhales.com, etc., need information coming from the Steem blockchain and these information are provided by the full nodes.

Steem full nodes require some computers that are a bit more powerful than those running witnesses. Top 20 witnesses are encourage to run full nodes. At some point @abit removed his support to some top witnesses who didn't have one full node running, often sending those witnesses out of the top 20.

If there is too few full nodes then these nodes will receive more requests than what they can handle properly and the Steem apps that use public full nodes will become sluggish or inoperable.

Here is a list of public full nodes and who runs them. Kudos to them! The list is run by @wackou. Kudos to him!

Steem Witness Rewards!

Steem witness receive ~10% of all the newly created Steem. (See "Steem: An In-Depth Overview!" for more details.)

Let's break it down to each block themselves.

• Top 20 Witnesses: ~0.1874 Steem/Block
• Backup Witness: ~0.9370 Steem/Block

The more block a witness sign, the bigger their total witness reward. Witnesses are paid in Steem Power.

_{The actual numbers are a bit lower per block than what is mentioned above. (See here for more details. N.B. The miners have been changed into an additional witness.)}

Thoughts On The Witness Rewards

The witness rewards might seem high and unsustainable at first but in reality if a witness sell too much of their rewards they'll end up losing their place as a witness so no matter what, the majority of the witness rewards will end up being own by those who value them the most and these people will also end up being the most valued witnesses.

The List Of Witnesses (Click on the image for the full list.)

_{Red witnesses, in the full list, are witnesses that aren't online anymore.}

Some Differences Between Witnesses And Backup Witnesses

@abit have stayed in the top 20 pretty much during all the time of what the graph shows while @timcliff has been in and out. Tim is now currently witness #23 and signs around 59 blocks a day while I am currently signing around 7 blocks a day at #55. There is quite a large difference between being top 20 and being top 21 or below.

Steem Back Dollars, Price Feed And Registration Fee

Steem Back Dollars

Steem Back Dollars are $1US worth of Steem at the moment they were created. If the Steem blockchain needs to reward some author with 2 liquid Steem and the price of Steem is 50 cents each, then that person would receive 1 SBD. If the blockchain owes one author 4 liquid Steem and the price of Steem is $2US then they would receive 8 SBD and so on.

SBD generate interest. The interest is the median interest rate of the last 3.5 days set by the top 20 witnesses. It is the APR seen in the list above.

SBD can be converted back to Steem at any time using the function "convert" found in the wallet. It take 3.5 days to convert SBD to Steem and the median price feed of those 3.5 days is the rate which will be used.

Price Feed

The price feed is use by the Steem blockchain when it calculates how many SBD it owes for its author rewards. It is also the price feed that is used to calculate the worth in $US displayed in the wallet.

The price feed is the median price feed of the last 3.5 days of all the top 20 witnesses price feed. The price feed can be set manually or automatically with a piece of software called a script. Set manually it can be update 2-3 times a day and automatically every hours or so. When set manually witnesses look at the price of Steem here or elsewhere and enter this USD price in their witness terminal.

Below is an example of the command line witness must enter to change their price feed:

publish_feed "teamsteem" {"base":"1.167 SBD", "quote":"1.111 STEEM"} true`

This is reporting that STEEM is $1.167, with a 10% discount (1/.90 = 1.111) if it did "quote = 0.500 STEEM" that would be a 100% premium.

Price feed scripts do this automatically taking the average price from different exchanges.

_{Thank you @someguy123 who helped me re-set up my price feed today.}

Registration Fee

The registration fee determines how many Steem a new account receives upon its creation. Those Steem comes from the @steemit account. The registration fee is the median fee set by the top 20 witnesses.

What Witnesses Do!

• Maintain their witness node up (Make sure it's running 24/7.)
• Maintain their price feed, APR, and registration fee up-to-date (Less important for backup witness.)
• Maintain Steem full nodes
• Update their witness node (Only if they agree with the proposed hardfork.)
• Review the Steem code and new proposed hardfork changes if able (Github)
• Support the creation of new Steem Apps (Code and financial support.)
• Debate the proposed hardforks and every Steem rules new or old
• Informed and help the community (Posting, commenting, Steem Chat and Steemspeak.com)
• Outreach (Marketing, networking, etc.)
• Do what every Steemians do (Upvote, post, comment)
• Etc.

Why Steemians Should Support Their Witnesses

The less Steemians there is casting their vote for witnesses the bigger their influence on the witness list than if 100% of Steemians had voted. A lot of people are currently missing out on the opportunity of supporting some witnesses and maybe in return have some support from those witnesses.

Vote for the witnesses you think have the most positive influence on Steem. This will help them gain more influence/Steem Power and in return they'll have all the reasons to support you back. The bigger your support the bigger your odds are. For these reasons, I recommend everyone to vote whether or not they end up voting for my witness or for the witnesses I support.

• Vote for the witnesses who you share the most value with!
• Vote for the witnesses who put Steem to good use!
• Vote for the witnesses who support the Steem project you support!
• Vote for the witnesses who support the authors you love!
• Vote for the witnesses who support you!

Mutual Support Between Witnesses!

As witness We all support one another, at least we try to. Even as we compete against one another, we try not to lose sight that we work to create a better world.

To view the full list of the witnesses I support click here on the tab "Votes Received" and "Votes Cast" to see the full list of witnesses I support.

Mutual Support List!

Here's the list of the witness I support and which support my witness. Thank you guys!

• @fyrst-witness @fyrstikken
• @boatymcboatface @rossco99
• @neoxian
• @good-karma (eSteem app)
• @busy.witness @ekitcho
• @furion
• @pfunk
• @curie @liberosist
• @aizensou
• @chitty
• @timcliff
• @ausbitbank
• @thecryptodrive @steemsports
• @cheetah @anyx
• @klye
• @someguy123
• @krnel
• @glitterpig @rossco99

If I don't vote for a witness, it doesn't necessarily mean I don't support them and if I vote for a witness it doesn't mean I agree with them on everything they do, say or think.

Follow The Witnesses

Follow the witnesses and engage them. Witnesses determine the new Steem implementations/hardfork and ultimately all Steemians determine who the witnesses are. (See: "What is a hardfork?")

@roelandp @bhuz @anyx @witness.svk @xeldal @good-karma @jesta @pfunk @gtg @pharesim @arhag @roadscape @smooth.witness @blocktrades @klye @abit @riverhead @wackou @liondani @clayop @charlieshrem @timcliff @busy.witness @ihashfury @datasecuritynode @furion @complexring @steempty @bitcoiner @someguy123 @aizensou @steemychicken1 @joseph @cyrano.witness @chainsquad.com @cervantes @delegate.lafona @thecryptodrive @boatymcboatface @au1nethyb1 @steemed @curie @fyrst-witness @krnel @chitty @bacchist @bue @ausbitbank @dragosroua @masteryoda @steem-id @nextgencrypto @archange @neoxian @teamsteem @team.alpha @protologic @idnit @viva.witness @fubar-dbhr @enki @stephanie @blockchained @glitterpig @pcste

What I Stand For!

I'm here helping in the creation of decentralized systems which empower individuals in all walks of life, amongst them, information dissemination, governance and money creation.

Wealth is just a tool and not an end in itself. Joy is what I'm all about.

For more on what I stand for see:

• "What I Stand For",
• "Steem: The Most Enjoyable Governance Tool Ever Devised!
• "Thank you Dan Larimer! You are a great mentor!".

Approving My Witness

Consider approving my witness if you share those ideals and consider approving other witnesses too, seriously!

Type teamsteem at the bottom of the page and then click vote.

(https://steemit.com/~witnesses)

Thank you for reading and for your comments! I read them all!

_{Thank you @timcliff who refreshed some of these witness notions and also helped me with various other points mentioned in this article.}

Find Out More!

• _{#1 "Stand for What Feels Best!" (Money in the world today is created out of thin air by a small elite group at the expense of everyone else.)}
• _{#2 "Steem: An In-Depth Overview!" (The most in-depth and clearest guide to understand what Steem is and what it can do for you!) (Reached top #1)}
• _{#3 "The Ultimate Steem Guide!" (How to Use Steem: The revamped edition.) (Reached top #1)}
• _{#4 "Steem: The Most Enjoyable Governance Tool Ever Devised!"(Everything we ever did was an act of governance.)}
• _{#5 "Make More Steem: Verify Your Introduction Posts!"}
• _{#6 "Some Steem Stats" (The most empowering cryptocurrencies stats you'll read all day.)}
• _{"Thank you Dan Larimer! You are a great mentor!" (Dan is the Ex-CTO of Steemit)}
• _{"Steemit.com Set To Become The World's Most Popular Website" (Part of The Ultimate Steembook)}