![IMG_6942.JPG](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXddKfMqtFC9pjfRqZsYk4LvRG6f1VNVbe4ngBRtMfcaZ/IMG_6942.JPG)

**No matter how much Steem Power you have, utilising your 30 votes to help elect witnesses is absolutely critical to the health of the Steemchain and the growing Steem Economy.**

The witnesses are the guardians of the Steemchain.  They are responsible for building it.....by verifying and issuing blocks (packages of updates to our database) in a timely fashion.  They also represent the foundation of the consensus mechanism that secures the network, decides what set of rules we all agree to and manages the changes process that enables Steem to innovate and adapt.

I cannot overstate the importance of their role.  They do for us what vast electricity costs and aircraft hangers full of number crunching computers does for Bitcoin.  They do it with far great decentralisation, far greater scope for innovation and with astonishingly greater performance.

You may have heard of DPOS, Delegated Proof of Stake.  That is the name of the consensus mechanism which is underpined by the role of witness.  It was invented by Daniel Larimer in order to achieve the performance and decentralisation required to build a global first and globally competitive decentralised exchang, Bitshares.

We are very lucky.  The foundation of Steem gives every single Steemian a voice.  But that doesn't matter unless you ROAR!  So you haven't got much Steem Power, so what?  Steem is becoming more distributed every day and if enough minnows and dolphins ROAR in unision, your voice CAN BE HEARD.  

The witnesses are paid for the service they do for the Steemchain, and rightly so!  We want these positions of responsibility to be very well paid indeed.  A competitive environment for paid witness positions (primarily the top 19) so that there is a constant pressure towards technical excellence, performance, flawless reputations, efficiency and giving as much back to the community as realistically possible.

In the future, should the Steem Economy grow, it is possible that each witness position will be a company with many employees and massive server farms.  They are learning the skill set and establishing the reputation today that may ensure their survival in the future.  It is a lot to gain and a lot to lose.

Every Steemian is also learning.  The majority of us are learning about blockchains, DPOS, witnesses, the attention economy, the gift economy, steem, user issued assets, pegged assets, long frikin passwords and all the rest for the first time.  It's a steep learning curve and a lot to take in.

**If you do one thing next week, please prioritise voting for your witnesses.  Even if you have very little Steem Power, it's good practice for when you have loads.  Everyone here is an EARLY ADOPTER.  You will be teaching the Steemians of the future.  With great Steem Power comes great responsibility......i've said it before and i'll say it again.  Steemians MUST understand their responsibilities.  We owe it to ourselves, those who are striving to becomes witnesses and those who have those privileged positions today.**

Competition for those roles must be as fierce as a lioness protecting her cubs.  If you get the chance, please take a look at the simple guide below and at the end, don't forget to **ROAR!**

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**Voting for Witnesses Guide**

1. In the top right-hand corner of your screen, you should see a menu icon made of three horizontal lines, select it.  (See image below)

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQvV2fHqMTVdgbuwJjrsRgRB4kma2Hdsek2pom1EsHdEa/image.png)


2. The menu will appear in your display and about half way down you will see 'Vote for Witnesses,' select it.  (See image below)

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbUN8DuSfMzTMaT4qxuriPitPRExts3BgingKBBmkC7cH/image.png)


3. A new page will open with a list of the top 50 witnesses.  You can select up to 30 of them.  Note that the majority of them have links to some further information about them.  These posts and documents are a great place to start to get a feel for their technical expertise and other offerings.  Read them at your leisure.  You will also need your OWNER key/password in order to make or change your witness votes.  (See image below)

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaYKJEBX82w23BBsSdyrxMfMxJVQyX7XDv8ZkeENmaD8D/image.png)


4. It is possible to vote for a witness who is outside of the top 50 positions.  You will need their witness Steem account name.  (See image below)

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXtUEoAstLxqhqxZb4rDhyiU5KAraunbe1zG9n6mCqCEW/image.png)


5. It is possible to delegate your witness votes to a proxy (another Steem account that you trust.)  They will have your voting weight added to the witness votes that they have made.  Be aware that they could change who they are voting for after you've made that choice.  In other words you must still make sure you agree with your proxy's choice over time, regardless of whether or not you still trust them.  (See image below)

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfKNpW1jysR3Y1Qes1C9xRNVjq4qEDmvpJGEYxAhJGVgM/image.png)


Good Luck

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Happy Steeming