![WITNESS VOTING.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWiSXMSifHeDFvxinzvZ8KZYxDB5Ze52vVRXhFKAbfj3X/WITNESS%20VOTING.jpg)

## WITNESS VOTING MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

YOU HAVE 30 WITNESS VOTES SEE BELOW ON HOW TO VOTE

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The witnesses are periodically building the blocks of the blockchain @1,200 per hour, and whilst they have been doing this routinely for circa 4 years, they might not have had a more difficult week than the last!

Yesterday the witnesses announced a difficult decision to temporarily suspend certain account operations from five accounts purportedly “ninja-mined” in the genesis days of the blockchain, and now owned by major stakeholder Justin Sun. [Here]( https://steemit.com/steem/@softfork222/soft-fork-222) is that highly momentous news story and [here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@justinsunsteemit/open-letter-to-steem-community) is Justin’s response to that news and his decision to hold a town hall discussion with the Top 20 Witnesses on 6 March 2020.

PS. If you missed @aggroed’s background article on the subject of the Ninja Mine– it is [here]( https://steemit.com/steemit/@aggroed/a-brief-history-of-the-ninja-mine).

Not all of the top 20 witnesses have implemented the software version 0.22.2 to enact the soft fork:
- @TimCliff a highly valued witness has posted on his decision not to implement the change [here]( https://steemit.com/witness-update/@timcliff/my-position-on-the-soft-fork-i-am-not-running-the-changes-on-my-witness-node)
- @Anyx appears to be running software version 0.22.1
- @Clayops appears to have disabled the witness server (and is no longer Top 20)

Some highly regarded witnesses such as @blockbrothers (Rank 34) are also not implementing softfork222 as noted [here](https://steemit.com/blockbrothers/@blockbrothers/4apk8w-statement-from-the-blockbrothers).


Currently 18 of the Top 20 witnesses appear to be running the soft fork code 0.22.2. See screen shot below, as indicated by the final column on the right hand side. (You can see the live table https://steemd.com/witnesses)


![steemd-witnesses .jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaHbXgvr5G9bTtcJNJ8RsnPHLS3AvUX1YrtXM1HuUgyTk/steemd-witnesses%20.jpg)

See below if you need to know how to vote for witnesses’

Please find below some sections:
-	The Role of the Witnesses
-	Witness Voting
-	& Other Links to Witness Resources


## WITNESS INFORMATION

### THE ROLE OF WITNESSES ON THE STEEM BLOCKCHAIN
Witnesses validate signatures and timestamp all transactions by including them in a block. A block is a group of transactions (posts, votes, transfers) that update the database. A witness is paid for every block they produce and if they fail to produce a block on their rotation they are not paid, and, if this is persistent, they could be voted out by the community. 
Each round of block production begins with the shuffling of 21 witnesses: the top 20 witnesses (voted for by Steem Blockchain Accounts), plus one randomly selected standby witness. Each is given a turn to produce a single block at a fixed rate of one block every 3 seconds. If a witness does not produce a block in their time slot, then that time slot is skipped, and the next witness produces the next block. [source SteemD]

KUDOS TO THE WITNESSES
The witnesses have built over 40 million blocks so it has to be worth a shout out for the dedicated work done by the witnesses, not limited to the following:
	- Outstanding Technical Knowledge
	- Expensive Server Kit
	- Dedication in man hours
	- Community Standing
	- Making difficult decisions to secure the chain and protect decentralisation

### WITNESS VOTING

Express your right to vote for witnesses or vote for a proxy to handle your votes:

The following link is where Account Holders can vote for witnesses: and each user can cast up to 30 votes:
https://steempeak.com/witnesses

![steemd-witnesses on steempeak.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmU96hSdS7usTQQG1oVAP2wNhoxj3m8Yb4VExn9D9KuKgY/steemd-witnesses%20on%20steempeak.jpg)

https://steemit.com/~witnesses


![steemd-witnesses on steemit.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmV531w5p3i5MuN82zE55jEhbbvYx8s5FnLLvHXiReFtRi/steemd-witnesses%20on%20steemit.jpg)

The above sources tend to show the Top100 Witnesses......I have just identified that @arcange has a source of the full list: https://steem.arcange.eu/witnesses/ - it looks like the all time history - with 670 giving the witness job a spin at some point in the blockchain's history!

Each witness has a link to their blog or website (on both steemit and steempeak) which is a useful resource where you might determine if they meet your approval for a vote. A lot of witnesses have published blog posts on softfork 222 or submitted comments onto the @softfork222 post referred to above, so you know where they stand.
Links to other sources charting the Top 100 witnesses:
https://steemd.com/witnesses
https://steemdb.com/witnesses

### FURTHER READING LINKS

A few older articles to expand your knowledge on the Witnesses:

https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/steem-witness-scheduling-algorithm

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@someguy123/seriously-what-is-a-witness-why-should-i-care-how-do-i-become-one-answer

https://steemit.com/steemit-guides/@pfunk/a-full-steemit-user-s-guide-to-steem-witnesses

[PS. If any of the major stakeholders (@theycallmedan) or steem knowledge experts (@pennsif @abh12345) know other resources that show how the stake weighted votes are made up : I'd be keen to see the links. SteemReports used to have a good graphic which showed how important @'freedom's vote was to the Top 20 - it doesn't seem to be up to date. It's valuable information but not at my fingertips!]