300th Witness Vote Update- Watching minnows grow up quick from their time in "the pond" aka the Minnow Support Project Discord Channel PALnet.

in #witness-update7 years ago (edited)

I recently hit 300 witness votes. I ran for public office before and I've held public office before. I earned 6,000 votes in the last election I participated in. I can tell you these witness ones feel way more important to me. This is the future that I see in the world. I want a world of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty. I'm shocked by how easily Steem seems to create abundance. The ability of the stake holders to print money and give to worthy causes is freaking amazing. It's so encouraging, and we've been able to build a great community around it.

The Minnow Support Project Discord room has grow to over 1300 unique people in 10 days. We have 7 witnesses constantly in there checking on people and curating minnow posts. We often have 200 or more "fish" hanging out in the "pond." The general chat is pretty much around the clock. We have a ton of channels opened up to general interests, groups of people, languages, art, and writing. It's still growing like gangbusters, which is of course supported by the delegation we get from @neoxian for 20k SP, @benjojo for 90k SP, and now the minnows themselves have started delegating. We have roughly a dozen people who are delegating over 5000 SP to the project. @minnowsupport is now rocking out 117,000 SP, which we're dolling out to over 1400 posts a day curated by roughly 800 people.

Within the big community we are sparking little communities and I wanted to highlight some of the cool projects and people we're supporting, growing a space for, and watching rise up:

Link to the Discord room- https://discord.gg/HYj4yvw

Venezuela

I'm very concerned about the plight of Venezuelans. They have a raw deal for sure right now. I've been going through and upvoting new folks from their country, which you can find here: https://steemit.com/created/retovenezuela. I was tipped off to that channel by @cryptohustlin. I'm not the only one that came through and did that. @thejohalfiles, and @canadian-coconut voted on a lot of them shortly afterward. Their hourly wage is about $0.09. You can imagine what it's going to feel like logging back in and seeing $100 posts in their blog.

I've been doing what I can to work with @efrageek and @road2wisdom to get a Spanish channel going in the PALnet Discord channel. I believe in the power of building these microcommunities and think this is a great way to support the people separated by language or economic hard times.

Check out the white paper for their project here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@provenezuela/project-venezuela-official-launch-white-paper-english-version-1497914210-8695834

Vets

I have taught high school and college science courses before. It was mostly at military schools. I love the men and women that love this country enough to defend it. I'm a major peacenic and hate how we send them to 3rd world nations to kill dark skinned people for oil and resources, but it's not the kid's fault. They were brought up in a school system that fostered the sense of "the other," and a willingness to kill because they are so different and to protect their home. The logic is flawed, but it took me 30 years to figure that out. Can't blame the kid. Now the kids come back with emotional scars from having committed such pain and you can see it in the numbers. Vet homeless rate is through the roof, and they come back afflicted with so many ailments. There are so many good kids in there and I'm stoked to help those that help them.

If you take a look at the Trending page @jdawg has a great post creating a new tag for veterans.

https://steemit.com/veterans/@jdawg/please-help-me-create-steemit-s-new-community-to-support-military-veterans-veterans

It brings me great joy to see him thriving because he was one of the first winners of the Minnow Support Project Weekly Resteem. Now he's trending and he's trending on a post helping build a community! I couldn't be prouder!!!! Similar to the other channels we've created he now has control of a Vets channel in the PALnet Discord room. I'm expecting great things and am so happy to help build a virtual home for the kids coming back from duty and to try to help them reintegrate the best we can.

Music and Podcasts

Lastly, I'm stoked to support @isaria. She's been posting some wonderful music that's caught some whale attention. Her and her husband @swelker101 are wonderful influences on the PALnet community. He's in there every day coordinating with new people and helping her create and spread her music. She's recording songs that have caught some great attention. 9 days ago they came in as pure minnows without much of a network. Now they have tons of fans and $300+ posts.

I asked her about what she thought the impact of the Minnow Support Project was and here's what she said:

When I first joined Steemit I had no idea what I was doing. The Minnow Support Project was formed about a week after I joined, and I can truly say that I wouldn’t have been as successful here had it not been for this support group. I’ve made roughly $1000 in about a month due to the support, suggestions, and friendships in the MSP community. MSP really solidifies the community aspect of what Steemit is all about and continues to help me find my voice and focus.

You can see her perform here: https://steemit.com/openmic/@isaria/open-mic-week-39-swan-swan-hummingbird-r-e-m
and here: https://steemit.com/openmic/@isaria/open-mic-week-38-the-low-spark-of-high-heeled-boys-by-traffic-piano-vocal

Now they're talking about a podcast from "the pond" with another PALnet standard @gmuxx. We're gonna get music, art, and news out to the steemit community from inside the pond and hear from minnows that have come to share their art and stories.

Witness settings

You can see how my witness is setup here. I'm about 2PV away from being in the top 50, which is a big deal, because it make it about 100 times easier to vote for the person. I'm publishing an unbiased price feed. I have a low account creation fee. I'm rocking HF 19.

I still stand by my concerns that going down to 10 votes is too few. While it's ok for many people because you have a slide bar for voting power minnows don't. That means every time they're voting beyond 10 votes a day they're dropping power. This seems to have slowed the average page views a minnow gets, the number of comments that get voted on, and seems to have curtailed minnow interactions. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intention. I'd like to see us go up to 20 votes and add a 2x button. That way Steemians can still get their votes done quickly, but can happen without smushing minnow interaction.

Some minnows have said the number of votes doesn't matter. Some minnows have shared that it changes their own behavior towards less interaction, and many have said that it impacts their page views and interactions on their wall negatively.

I'm still concerned about trending. It looks like it made the top posters wealthier. That's not a good thing from the perspective of a guy who spends hours a day tending to minnows. Sunday's trending looked a little healthier. We'll have to see how it progresses.

Personal

You can see me growing on Steemwhales.com. I like tracking by follower count more than any other metric. You can see I'm ranked the 57th most followed steemian on the site. It's getting hard to go up too. Not only do I have to gain more followers, but I have to out pace some amazing authors. It's tricky. That said there's some legends in the list that I just passed. I'm really honored to have this much support.

About a month ago I had 450 followers. I'm glad I embraced change and have really put myself out there for this place. It's been really rewarding personally, and now with more power around here there's more I can do to help the folks I work with every day!

Please help me continue this work

If you think building a Discord channel with 1300 people in it, supporting Venezuelans specifically and Spanish speakers broadly, helping vets, supporting the arts, and making a vibrant community on and off chain is a good thing to do for Steemit and the world please vote for my witness. I've been at this less than a month and can't wait to see what the future brings. Much love to the whales that support me and the 200+ minnows and dolphins that have my Witness back!


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@aggroed, let me begin by saying thank you for creating and supporting the minnow support project. I have been a part of many communities such as gaming clans, social organizations and even pipe and drum bands; the amount of help and support that is offered and available in the P.A.L. community truly is mind blowing and exciting from a minnow's point of view. It is said that great leaders surround themselves with great people and you sir have done just that. It is for this reason that I am proud to be a minnow in this giant pond you have created.

So glad to hear it's working well! And I'm stoked you're there. Thanks for swimming in the pond :)

just trying to do my part...."just keep swimming"

great work, @aggroed. the MSP certainly has made a big impact on my steemit adventure since i joined just 1 week ago. i happily voted for all MSP benefactors yesterday as soon as i learned more about what witnesses are all about.

about venzuela, you're right and their country is going through a bunch of shit right now. i've hired a good number of venezuelans for my personal businesses and they make a good wage just working from home. you'd be amazed at how far $100 can go for them.

in any case, i'm a proud and happy member of PAL! thank you and all the other benefactors of MSP/PAL for making it such a great place.

It's wonderful to have you in there and thanks for the encouragement.

Wooow what a great news, and now @aggroed and the others with you in this project is now looking at the result of all of your hard work and it is in its peak, we may many fish swimming and swapping around the pond but sooner we can contribute good in the community. We will level up our post to be much more worth it for your UV and to the others. Some of us may not that active in the channel but we will do our best here on the steem and won't not just after the rewards but for what we can contribute to make the steemians community be different from other flatforms. Thank you so much and so are to the others who make this minnowsuppport to be a good start to the newbies and to those who making our way to shine and gain reputation. To the support given to us, we fell great and very much appreciated for giving us the courage to be more enthusiast in living in the neighborhood! Goooo steem, and steem on!

Thanks for your encouragement Dian!

I know sir what you do and so with the others is not easy and got you a little headache? :) and by just replying to our comments is very much appreciated, tnx for d time. Go steem, and minnows will be shark soon, hahaha.

minnow support is doing awesome job and it really helps me so I intend to delegate some of my power to the project when I grow up my power

Thank you for your amazing initiative @aggroed


standing ovations!

badge courtesy of @elyaque
thanks for all you are doing!
I'm down with a bad back ,and on meds...
but trying to do what I can...
keep up the great work!
namaste!

I am honored by your mention and grateful for your continued support of the Minnow community!
The way you help those who are struggling like our Vets, Venezuelans, and others going through economic hard times is very moving. It really is a testament as to what Peace, Abundance, and Liberty is all about. I’m inspired and excited to do my part to help out as well.
Thank you @aggroed!

I admire your dedication to the community especially to your pond. It's not easy to guide hundreds of minnows to the right path and give them the chance to be acknowledge by superior steemians! Your putting to much stress to yourself in exchange for peace, liberty and abundance that you're upholding. I salute you for that!

Kudos agrroed!

Thanks Boss! Glad you're here.

Ooh my.... I was so amazed @themanualbot reading your msg to @aggroed makes me proud on being on the same boat and a member not just in the minnows but to the entire steem community. I will do my best to be noticed as well, by my effort. Thank you for the support you give to the steemians too!!! More.power and kudos at you sir.

Doing great @aggroed ! You have my vote 👏🏽

reSteemed to keep this front an center!!!

Big appreciation for what you're doing here! As always you've got my vote and gratitude. Love being able to do more to help and support those in Venezuela. Huge struggles for those people and they deserve a hand up. Thanks for all of your work and help here, you are making a huge difference.

Thank you for the mention! Yes, I can honestly say that this group has been the turning point in Steemit for both me and @isaria. I can guarantee you that without the group and ideas that have sprung from conversations there, that both of us would be floundering around trying some other idea or platform to see what sticks. She's been working on her music for MANY years, and she has (potentially) made more in the last two weeks than the last 5 years from iTunes/Youtube, etc....

Thank you.

Its greats initiatives.... It will help a lot our community...

thank you fro your supporting us :=)

Amazing work and effort you have done @aggroed ! Hats off to you,question,how do i get in on the minnows program? I feel like my effort here is not being appreciated. I'll appreciate if you can guide me to the right path.

This is the link to the Discord room- https://discord.gg/HYj4yvw

Your dedication to supporting the growing minnow community is abundant and much appreciated . I am so very pleased you introduced me to the project and with your support I have seen lots of personal growth these past few weeks. Seeing your example I have embraced the giving attitude and have seen it pay dividends for me. As well as we would all like to do here, the feeling of being able to help others thrive rewards with much more than money. Feels good man.

I can't say enough good things about you @aggroed! It is truly amazing what you have done for the little fish of Steemit and how you have grown the minnowsupportproject into what it is today! Thank you for the acknowledgment of the Veteran's Community and Tag. I'm proud to have been an early member of the minnowsupportproject. Thanks for all you have done and continue to do!

Way to go @aggroed :)

You're doing an incredible job on this awesome platform @aggroed. You got my witness vote and everybody else using the minnow support project to upvote their posts should vote for you as well.

Thanks Dog. Hopefully we're making a difference that has some staying power.

We are with you Aggroed!

Amazing post - incredible insights - especially for us Minnows.
You had my vote a week ago. I am sure it was the best witness vote I have casted.

Thank you for your hard work!

Thanks globo. Glad to have you in there!

An honor to vote for you! 😎

You're an amazona guy! Thanks for all the support that you gave to the venezuelans

Gladly given. I hope we can keep building the spanish speaking community together. Should be fun!

@aggroed, you already got one of my minnow witness votes. I think the minnowsupport project is amazing. Also the support you give for people in need. What would you implement as a witness? Or try to change to the platform?
Keep up the good work!

You're killin' it @aggroed! 👊🏻
Great to see such awesomeness around the community! Keep rocking it brother 🙌 👍
The Minnow Support Project Discord channel 🐟 is moving along in such wonderful directions too!

Your project rocks and is definitely making a difference to peoples lives across the world. I am pleased to be part of the project, and love seeing how other people are progressing, and then creating to help even more people. With this we can change the world!!!!

nice job and upvoted. would you please check my profile and upvote me so that we can help each other
https://steemit.com/travel/@pedramhd/you-want-to-travel-consider-saint-lucia-the-paradise-on-the-earth

@aggroed how does one become a delegator - I have enough sp now where it doesn't add much clout to me but could obviously helpful to minnowsupport and I'd like to delegate some of it until I have a larger critical mass.

In the discord group there's a channel that has a video tutorial Or I can just post it https://steemit.com/delegate/@zeartul/how-to-delegate-steem-power-the-easy-way-if-you-have-over-30-sp-you-can-delegate

Catch me on discord sometime and I can help walk you through it.

Thanks - Aggroed created a delegation channel which has a concise explanation - i want to try and find a way to do it without having to give a third party the active wif though - if that doesnt pan out then ill just do the delegation through busy.

Great stuff indeed @aggroed ) You are certainly putting the " horse before the chariot " here in this community ! Its very encouraging the development of Steemit and we who have stake here can begin to see the fruits of our labours ) Steem On !!

I so need to upvote you as a witness, great job man just forward:)

Nice work good content!! check out my posts @circiuboby

Thank you for your doings.

While this is all good and helpful.... there are thousands of minnows who fall through the cracks of the project... One does not have to look very far to find a random minnow still only recieving fractionals per vote on their posts. I get it, there is simply too much crap out there being posted that drags potentially good threads off the page within seconds of being posted... There needs to be a way for a minnow to shine on their own merits through their posts. i don't know if this means we should completely skip the first page or two to find worthy content, or perhaps teach minnows what is considered great content on here(because i know a few whales posting a ton of crypto threads isn't what i consider quality)... Personally i look to balance my clicks to both minnows and whales... but as i myself am but a minnow my vote doesn't garner much stregnth...

Well, there wasn't really much help before that was sustainable. Now there'a lot. We're just 10 days old. So, we're getting out there as much as we can. Hopefully things will change for the better. Come join us in the Discord room.

my appologies Aggroed, i wasn't besmirching your efforts and project...i am just trying to bring attention to how easily new minnows posts are swallowed up by the chain... it's like even if they are posting decent quality stuff, they're not getting any exposure.

Yeah. One of the worst aspects of this place. The interface through markdown isn't very easy to grasp either. Lots tricks one has to learn to be an acceptable author. Again, more reason why we need to be here. We're trying to flatten the very steep learning curve.

I think I just voted twice for you. LOL

Thank you for your initiative and your work for the community. I just voted for you aggroed. One really feels that you are passionate about the project you brought to life. Thank you for Being! :)

Feel free to check my journey maybe you'll enjoy it. \(^-^)/

Good times Robert. Nice to meet you.

@aggroed -- I am amazed at how much you have accomplished here in such a short time. You are AWESOME!
And this post is a great summary of it all.
I'm glad to support you!

Thanks CaCo. You're wonderful for this community and it means a ton to me to have your support and your leadership in the Pond.

Just voted in witness!!! Keep up the good work, and thank you so much @aggroed~

Thanks a ton for your support!!!

Thanks for helping us out.

aww man, I typed a long comment and it went poof. (Okay, will try to remember as much as what I wrote lol) Clearly I still have a lot to learn from here. I'm glad I stumbled upon this post and I'm really thankful and touched for your initiative in starting a support community not only for minnows like me but for those that need it like the veterans, Venezuelan community, and artists. I'm also thankful for those who are in this with you. So thank you. I've registered on discord and will be trying to figure it out. With that said, I'll go vote for you now :) More power!

rock on. if you need help message me. Glad to have you in there. We'll get you going just don't post in general and we're cool.

Thanks. Ah no worries, I saw the no posting on the general unless it's community related. Just have trouble completing the registration because of streemian. It gives me an internal service error up until now (tried a few times almost 6 hours ago and just now)

can just delate a few SP to minnowsupport instead. that's easier andpart of why we are swicthing to it.

Still wouldnt allow the curationtrail x.x ... Uh sorry, how do I delegate SP? It only says power down and buy

Need a separate tool. There are several guides written in the delegation channel in the Discord room. Thanks for workin' on it.

Thanks for guiding me. I saw them. Looked through the last 2. I only have about 36 sp. The last one said 10-25% of my SP but the lowest computed vest equivalent I saw was at 50. There's a formula on the 2nd guide though. So is it okay if I compute the 10-25% from the 36? I cant meet the 50 SP yet.

I still say @aggroed is reallllllllly mean! :D :P <3 :*

I just gave you a vote @aggroed! Thanks for all you do with the Minnow Support Project!!

Thanks Doc!