Witness Update August 2016

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@joseph witness update - 08/20/2016
#witness-category #witness-update

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This is my first witness update provided as a post, I will make it short and to the point. Every witness maintains witness nodes, back up fail-over nodes and seed-nodes. Every witness must update his/her node on regular basis. Every witness must be available on short notice to deal with issues that might require quick updates. Witnesses participate in discussions on future updates and enhancements, a consensus must be reached among the majority for an update to take place. These tasks are daily routine for all witnesses.

• Accomplished so far:

I have had my witness nodes and seed-nodes setup for months now and well before I made it to the top 19 witness list a few weeks ago. So I had to set a project with modest goals to work on within my capabilities. I decided on marketing. So I made the following proposal:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@joseph/proposal-to-hire-and-send-steemit-representatives-into-content-marketing-world-conference-and-expo

The proposal did not get enough support, but thanks to votes from community members it received some funding. ( 1,058.073 SD to be exact, which translated to about $930).
That was well below the funding needs for such a task, I thought about re-submitting the proposal, but that would have been redundant. At the time of that post I was only a top 19 witness for a week , and to fund that proposal would have cost at least $15000. I had to find another way without resorting to community support.

• Upcoming project/goals

I did not give up on targeting the CM2016 convention, but I had to re-work my plan to make use of the raised funds and some funds I gained as a witness to do as much as I can within a limited period of time. Here is the list of things I will do in the next two weeks before the conference starts.

1- Print marketing board material for Steemit at a local Cleveland OH printing service.
2- Contract with a local business to place these ads in strategic locations around the city.
(before and during the conference)
3- If funds will allow it, I will make use of sandwich board advertising to target the conference area.

Previous week's update

Last week I asked @clains that the witness update post be moved to the weekend, for which he kindly obliged. Yes, I do work part of the weekdays. I do have computer access at work, and access to other witnesses or the devs if needed. I received a hint of an attack from someone for asking that, working and being a witness at the same time can be done. I also noticed attacks on some witnesses for saying they can be contacted on personal basis, or witnesses who say their project can not be updated on weekly basis, or who said check last week. A witness might choose to work on a project that takes five or six weeks to accomplish, so providing weekly updates is not possible sometimes. Some witnesses travel or take a vacation, yet they still make the effort to be present for updates and when needed. Witnesses are normal people too.

You can reach me here by leaving a comment, I will reply asap.

• 
  Please give some support for James Reidy (aka @riverhead) giving an in depth talk about Steem and Steemit. https://steemit.com/steemit/@kennyrowe/steem-and-steemit-in-depth-by-james-reidy-aka-riverhead

Finally, don't forget to vote for witnesses here.

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@joseph witness update - 08/20/2016
#witness-category #witness-update

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