<center><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmS8wWGfkpiiYvkJTZnjtAr5XPd4X2D4Uc6xA8ppw54MSy/vote.png"></center>

I wanted to do a quick witness update to let you know I've been running on 0.19.11 since August 7th. Although I <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-now-producing-on-v0-19-10-plus-upgrades-to-my-monitoring-script">updated to 0.19.10</a> pretty early on, I <a href="https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/2632">noticed an issue</a> which caused me to miss a handful blocks. It was <a href="https://github.com/steemit/steem/releases/tag/v0.19.11">fixed in 0.19.11</a> and after reviewing the code and running it on my seed node, I went ahead and updated my producer to it, while updating my backup to 0.19.6 in case there are any unforeseen issues.

There's also been some talk among witnesses about increasing the account creation fee from 0.1 to 0.2 which means from 3 STEEM to 6 STEEM. I'm going to go ahead and make this change to my witness parameters because with the cryptocurrency markets down and STEEM below $1 at the moment, I wouldn't want someone to see the Steem blockchain as a target and easily spam it with new account creations. Nothing on a blockchain can be free, so we should consider what value we think each Steem account is worth. <a href="https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/steem-velocity-hardfork-hardfork-20">Hard Fork 20</a> will pave the way for many account creation changes, but it's still a ways off. If you run an account creation service and the 0.2 value is a problem for you, please reach out to me so we can discuss it.

I also want to mention I'm changing up my witness votes just a bit. I know many accounts use me as their proxy, and I'm grateful for that trust. It's a big responsibility to be a proxy for other accounts, so I think it's important to be transparent about my thinking regarding who I vote for as a witness. I've decided to change some of my votes because currently most of who I vote for are already in the top 20. It wasn't always that way, I'm proud to say, but I think many of the people I've been voting for have demonstrated their value to the blockchain and have risen up in the ranks as others have recognized that value also. Now that they are securely positioned, I want to change things up a bit. I'm deciding to remove some votes for the very top-ranked witnesses so I can put those votes on some lower ranked witnesses to show my support and hopefully encouraged them to continue adding value to the blockchain. Specifically, I'm going to remove votes for the top three which is @gtg, @jesta, and @roelandp. Since all top 20 witnesses get paid the same, I think this is safe to do and will not risk the pay of these excellent witnesses for the great value they bring to Steem. Removing my vote in no way suggests I don't support them. On the contrary, I think they are providing great value and if they ever rank lower than what I think is proper, I will adjust my votes accordingly to ensure they remain top witnesses.

I should also mention I had a bit of drama recently with my witness nodes while I was traveling to <a href="https://steemit.com/discon/@lukestokes/photos-from-my-discon-talk-on-dpos-governance-and-tokenomics">speak at Discon</a> about DPOS systems. I missed a block and <a href="https://github.com/Netherdrake/conductor">Conductor</a> faithfully moved me over to my backup. Unfortunately, while traveling, I missed another block in the middle of the night which caused my witness to get disabled. My notification script currently doesn't send additional notifications if one has already been sent, so I didn't get a notification about the issue due to a previous notification. I plan to update my notification script tomorrow to ensure I keep getting notified, even if an existing notification has already been sent.

Thanks for reading and for caring about the Steem blockchain (<a href="https://steemit.com/steem/@lukestokes/steem-is-not-steemit-steem-is-more-valuable-than-steemit">not to be confused with Steemit.com</a>). Will I see you in Poland for <a href="https://steemfest.com/">Steemfest 3</a>?

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As of this post, I'm currently <a href="https://steemd.com/witnesses">position 11</a>!

If you want to know more about what witnesses do check out:

 * <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/steemit-is-free-but-your-witness-vote-determines-its-future">Steemit is Free, But Your Witness Vote Determines its Future</a>

You can read my witness announcement post here:

 * <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/vote-luke-stokes-for-witness-as-lukestokes-mhth">Vote Luke Stokes for Witness as lukestokes.mhth!</a>

My previous witness updates:

* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-now-producing-on-v0-19-10-plus-upgrades-to-my-monitoring-script">Witness Update: Now Producing on v0.19.10 Plus Upgrades to My Monitoring Script</a> (July 12th, 2018)
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/explaining-the-steem-blockchain-freeze-of-july-2nd-2018">Explaining the STEEM Blockchain Freeze of July 2nd, 2018</a> (July 3rd, 2018)
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/eos-is-alive-object-computing-steem">EOS Is Alive! Object Computing + STEEM?</a> (June 14th, 2018)
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/updated-lukestokes-mhth-witness-account-delegations">Updated lukestokes.mhth Witness Account Delegations</a> (January 6th, 2018)
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-delegation-plans-for-lukestokes-mhth">Witness Delegation Plans for lukestokes.mhth</a> (December 6th, 2017)
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-lukestokes-mhth-december-1st-2017">Witness Update - lukestokes.mhth - December 1st, 2017</a>
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-lukestokesmhth-october-26th-2017">Witness Update - lukestokes.mhth - October 26th, 2017</a>
* <a href="https://steemitstage.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-lukestokesmhth-september-2nd-2017">Witness Update - lukestokes.mhth - September 2nd, 2017</a>
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-lukestokesmhth-july-19th-2017">Witness Update - lukestokes.mhth - July 19th, 2017</a>
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-lukestokesmhth-july-14th-2017">Witness Update - lukestokes.mhth - July 14th, 2017</a>
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-lukestokesmhth-june-19th-2017">Witness Update - lukestokes.mhth - June 19th, 2017</a>
* <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/witness-update-6-6-2017-more-human-than-human">Witness Update - 6/6/2017 - More Human Than Human</a>

I only post witness updates when I have something worth sharing, but I'm always available if you have a question or concern. I can be reached on Discord, Telegram, or Rocketchat.

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<img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmR3hhPtgcqhNDZyArucp2dZv2pG62WDKiWam8jrppCXNB/on_a_log_cropped.png">

<p>
    <div class="pull-right">
        <a href="https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@lukestokes/my-name-is-luke-let-s-create-the-world-we-want-to-live-in"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmRh7DLpp1hDKugxyWxdDof7rkj5fpBus6tECvv7vcmL6d/smile.png" /></a>
    </div>
    <em><a href="https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@lukestokes/my-name-is-luke-let-s-create-the-world-we-want-to-live-in">Luke Stokes</a> is a father, <a href="https://steemit.com/@corinnestokes">husband</a>, programmer, STEEM witness, <a href="https://steemit.com/eosdac/@lukestokes/a-big-step-towards-our-decentralized-future-i-ve-joined-the-eosdac-launch-team">DAC launcher</a>, and voluntaryist who wants to help create a world we all want to live in. Learn about cryptocurrency at <a href="http://understandingblockchainfreedom.com/">UnderstandingBlockchainFreedom.com</a></em>
</p>

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<center><sub><a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/vote-luke-stokes-for-witness-as-lukestokes-mhth">I'm a Witness</a>! Please <a href="https://steemit.com/~witnesses">vote for @lukestokes.mhth</a></sub></center><center><a href="https://steemit.com/~witnesses" alt="Please vote for @lukestokes.mhth"><img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRY1DbaWWogJjkZ5rTY8VHfk4CLGLJpBPTp2Dz8A38wW9/image.png"></a></center>