As I write this post, I noticed that avatars for my account and others as well are missing. Is this not another sign that something needs to be done about the technology that keeps our steem wheels spinning? Ever since I joined Steemit, I've been raving about strengthening the technology that runs the network. Not only talking that talk, but I took the initiative to start sorting out some of these problems right away by providing new technology for the network. This was without anyone's help or anyone volunteering or stepping forward to help me do so. At this point, & this does not speak for everyone, but I almost have zero empathy for the people that do know about these issues and have resources to solve them in one way or the other (many of which I've outlined in previous articles but i'll reiterate), yet have ignored it, or have been reluctant or failed to do something about them. In case you are wondering, yes we do have a problem with the network infrastructure and no, it is not invincible. It will get worse before it gets better if something isn't done fast (like last year fast). 

Ways You Can Help (to reiterate)

Technical Expertise - Providing more/better nodes. Some of you have the technical know how to create the nodes that are responsible for making sure you get to redeem and claim your steem rewards. This doesn't necessarily mean that they have the monetary means to take on such a risk and that's understandable as I myself cannot afford to sustain the nodes that I've created and have them running indefinitely either. Not alone and not without proper funding anyways. 

Steem Power - 

Don't just sit there and be a bank or a "baller" in some cases. That won't mean a damn thing when you cannot access any of it. DO SOMETHING positive with that! Invest in the network that pays your bills. This would be akin to helping to build highways in a local or national level. These help everyone, but ESPECIALLY those that use them more often. Investments like these by large corporations, guilds, associations, committees and organizations in the "real world" insure that their products and ideas can spread abroad thus equaling more profits for them in the long run simply because they invested in the means in which people will access these products and ideas, and how they are distributed. This is no different with steem. The technology that runs this network (seed nodes) provide the means for product sellers (authors and curators) to distribute their ideas and products abroad. They are our highways. Our pipelines and utilities. It is critically important that these are not only always working and available (so that our products can be consumed without issue), but it is also critical that control of these said "highways" be neutral and unaffected by the politics that are at hand within the current hierarchy of top 10 witnesses. This is not meant to piss anyone off or undermine anyone's effort. It's not meant to step on anyone's toes or invoke a spirit of competition with anyone else's interests in any way. This is a problem that affects everyone so getting witness votes and support from whales (not just other witnesses or top 20 witnesses) is essential to help the community flourish. 

Witness votes - 

You mean you didn't vote for this witness? I'm building nodes here what are you waiting for? No seriously, Check your current witness votes! Make sure that your witness votes are counting towards something real and not just used to fluff up someone else's Rep and wallet. Ultimately, we pay the price when the chosen representative does not deliver. If your witness votes are going toward persons that are not involved in projects that support and drive the network, especially if they are in the top 50 range, then simply remove your vote for them and give it to someone else that probably deserves it or no doubt a better fit. Many witnesses stage projects and say some of the most incomprehensible things in order to get at the ability to "mine" steem. Their minds are stuck in a mining phase as many of them have come from a world where bitcoin and ethereum pools still rule as law. It's hard for them to fathom a world where proof of stake er, "proof of brain" can prosper. In this world, he who has the biggest fastest rig, or the most GPUs is not guaranteed to receive the biggest reward. This is not always the case but again, DO YOUR RESEARCH! If we have no due diligence or proactive responses to broken systems, we cannot expect to have any positive result and ultimately, who loses EVERYONE. By creating a witness server to fund and establish essential primary infrastructure for steem, I'm simply providing a means for you to contribute and participate easily. This can be done whether you have the technical know how or not. All you have to do is cast your vote and I will handle the tech.

Check the feeds 

Again, do some research! Find out exactly what it is the witnesses you voted for are actually witnessing. Chances are, If they don't have any posts in their category within the past few months, then they probably don't deserve your vote.  But what do i know? You decide.

Granted - We have gathered some much needed support over the past week since the outages at steemit.com and other properties happened last week. We are honored and appreciate all the love, but it is not enough. I have not asked for any one's smart tokens or any compensation, not even upvotes on my posts (though they are appreciated and will be turned into SP to help push those that support steemit through the Steemit Forever project) 

Let's Keep It Real!

Some of you do have the means or know someone else who does have the ability technically and financially. Call them out! Put them into action! Ignorance really can be a vulnerability in this case. Many whales and sharks on the network have no clue that steemit.com isn't just another facebook (thank god it's not). They think that there is a magic genie behind their blog posts that will always be there to count their STEEM and upvotes for them no matter what come high hips or low tits. To those that are unaware, this is a fantasy. I cannot blame you for believing in such nonsense however. The huge centralized social networks have eliminated that particular problem and you have never had to deal with it. It doesn't go to say that it cannot be overcome here as well. If steemit is ever to become a true competitor to the networks that currently dominate this space, we will have to fix these problems as they have. As proven last week when i wrote a post calling for assistance in addressing issues with network availability, and again today as I write this we have missing avatars. We are a ways off from establishing total redundancy within steemit but it is not impossible and you can make a difference by voting. You don't necessarily have to vote this witness in order to take action but I would encourage you to do so before you even think of upvoting this post, upvote the witness @justinadams first! At the very least you owe it to yourself and the community to: 1.) at least vote for someone. You have 30 votes! 

2.) Make sure the witnesses you vote for are not only capable of carrying out the task of writing a block and promising things they can or will accomplish, but also technically capable of handling issues not limited to ones like we have experienced over the past few weeks, but also "on-call" and able to deal with problems with their equipment without having to call the person that really owns and manages their servers. 

SERVICES

I will elect to setup and or manage witness servers and steem seed nodes normal and full RPC for people that have the means and want to contribute them but perhaps lack the technical skill or time to do so. This is a service I will provide to the community in another effort to remain unbiased politically, whilst at the same time proving my intention to strengthen the integrity of the network as well as my expertise. This service will obviously come at a price however I will accept all steem currencies as compensation from anyone who is interested. All proceeds from this work (if any) will go towards maintaining the seed nodes that I have provided so far, as well as the witness server that I set up to fund this project as they are already draining my own wallet yet we only have 19 witness votes for @justinadams. Please have access to your server keys and credentials before contacting me about setting up a witness server and or seed node for you. If you need help choosing a hosting provider  (basically if you're a noob and that's ok) I can also commit to helping you establish these services as well as create agreements to handle maintenance, upgrades, and technical issues as they arise. This can all be discussed. I can also offer support if you are a current witness or have nodes that you cannot manage yourself or need help doing so. You can contact me on discord and send me a private message where we can discuss your situation and details.

 Thanks for reading guys! If you'd like to support this effort to provide more seed nodes to the steemit network which will enduce more overall reliability, Lend one of your witness votes! Click Here to use steemconnect and vote automatically, or as an alternative, you can vote manually on steemit. Shamefully we are not listed in the top 50 as shown in the above link so you will have to type in @justinadams manually in order to vote.