News, Rants and Thoughts on Steemit!
First
Some have expressed confusion with #takemyvotes. Several said they don't really understand how I give away my voting power, what it takes to win, and why I am doing it.
What
It is a contest. I choose one winner from all those who comment below my posts. The winner gets an evening of voting with power, using their own mouse on their own account, they vote what they like. On my end, I set up my account to shadow their votes. A single vote from the winner can add $3 to $5 dollars to a single post or comment. This is less than full-power. I usually assign 60% of my full power to the winner because 100% could adversely impact the reward pool (not good).
Why
Biggest answer. Because I like giving, it's fun and it costs me nothing!
It is better to give than receive
One lucky winner is perfectly qualified to choose a great post or a good comment. I could vote all night on what I like. I love voting. But, letting someone else do the clicking for a night is fun too! Your opinion is just as valid as mine.
This contest engages new-comers, inspires minds, and hopefully provokes people to invest in the platform as I have done.
How
There are bots and extension out there. I while ago, I ran across a website / bot made by @unipsycho called autosteem and I found that one of the options is Vote Copying
Just enter your posting key (careful: not for newbs), select a user on Steemit, a cut of percentage and vote strength. The bot will copy every vote that user makes. Simple.
Winning
I used to ask that people watch a video, answer questions, and give me a reason why you want to have my voting power. I would ask that they submit entries to my email address. Too much like a scam.
Now I just ask that you post a comment. If I like it, I will write down your username. If you meet the qualifications, your name goes into a hat and I might draw you as our next winner. Simple.
A common question I still get is, "How do I know how much voting power I have?"
There are several ways to view or interact with the Steemit blockchain. For posting and voting, you have Steemit, Busy.org, and eSteem. To view who is interacting with you, vests, voting power, etc. there is steemdb.com. Notice that it is steemDB instead of steemIT - clicking the link here will show you my voting power, rewards, power-ups, ets., but you can just put your username in after the "@" and see your stats.
To see live votes when my account is being hi-jacked, I use steemd.com, again your username in the URL instead of mine brings up your stats.
Second 
Bitcoin is broken.
Showing up to a meeting with no bitcoins in my wallet has become the norm. People are expecting to give me their paper dollars and that I will send them bitcoins. Not so. They are surprised when I tell them, "You really don't want bitcoins. The network is bogged down and overloaded." We all know that bitcoin is still secure. It just takes up to two weeks to make a transfer and costs more than a Swift transfer.
Nine out of ten unsuspecting traders find a way to accept dash or ethereum. The others end up making claims that they are buying bitcoin for a family member or is transferring it directly to an exchange.
A likely story
In those cases, I scan their bitcoin address directly from my (alt)coin wallet inside coinomi and with the help of the built-in shapeshift, my coins are sent! How long it takes them to get the bitcoin is out of my hands. I make no guarantees. If you have ever sat in a Starbucks while someone repeatedly says, "It didn't arrive yet." Well. Not fun.
I used to give away fractions of a bitcoin to promote the coin, the technology, the idea. Now, 0.069 tops out my maximum withdrawal on Poloniex, until tomorrow this time. Bittrex is a bit better as their limit is one whole bitcoin rather than a worn out, has been, paper currency limit.
As more and more traders contact me, recommended by a friend, asking to buy bitcoins, I am happy to offer up Steem as an instant and free alternative. One problem. There is a new approval period after people sign up to Steemit which makes it hard to get people on board with Steemit, then sell to them Steem on-the-spot. There might be a good reason for delaying new accounts. But it would be easier if I were able explain the four private keys to them while we are still sitting in one room.
Yeah, I am disappointed with BTC
The security is still iron clad, but utility? Not so much.
Third
I keep running into talk of this whaleshares idea. As soon as I have a chance, I think I will be part of that movement. I am already looking for my login and keys for the bitshares exchange.
Need more info!
But I did hear that @MrWang is giving some away!
Fourth
Getting back to #takemyvotes
- I am in the process of choosing a winner.
I was reading the comments on my last post as they came in. There were twenty that caught my attention. I am going through all 20 to see which ones are within the 50-20,000 SP limit and check each one off if they have 80% or more of their voting power to spare. Winners should have voting power reserve because they will be spending theirs and mine in a three to six hour period.
I will likely toss the qualifying names into a hat and pull one out. It is too hard to choose a favorite among you all. This contest is really fun to put on and I love seeing the interaction that it provokes. It's hard as hell to sit by and let someone else vote, but I stop myself from clicking that blue arrow. Your opinions and abilities in choosing good content are as good as mine.
Check out previous contest results
The Next Winner to be Announced Tomorrow
You will be contacted by reply to your entry. Watch for it.
What I am looking for is someone who holds Steem Power, is involved in blogging and curation, is social on the site, and needs the boost that this contest provides.
There is no trick to winning. Post a comment and that IS your entry.
Thanks for taking time to read and resteem! 👍
Long time 🐟 turned 🐋 to have a voice.
📞 You're invited to steemspeak 📞