For some time I have found that external demands have made it challenging for me to devote the time and attention necessary to be a conscientious and committed top 20 witness. With the recent sale of Steemit Inc. to Justin Sun (Tron), it seems apparent that there will be new short- and long-term challenges facing witnesses, likely increasing the necessary level of time and commitment, which I would find very difficult to sustain. For these reasons I will be stepping down as a witness effectively immediately.
If you are voting for my witness, please re-allocate your votes to another deserving witness to help secure the chain.
Thank you very much for everything you have done for Steem. We will certainly feel and miss your wise, invaluable, objective guidance!
Respect & hats off to you. You have been dedicated to Steem from as long as I can remember and deep inside I know that you are always keeping the best interests of Steem at heart in all that you say and do.
Sorry to read this, yet at the same time, fully support your rationale and decision as an individual.
Can't wait to say "Welcome back" when/if you decide to do so.
Seriously? Why?
Please tell us the real reason, as I don't buy the reason your wrote. Sorry for being abrupt...
It is the real reason. See some other comments here
yes, reading all your comments. I hope you stay active. I honestly enjoy our discussions. Most of the time it is like drinking from a fire-hose for me, but I learned so much blockchain from you that way!
Thanks for your time, effort, and feedback smooth. I've learned a ton from you and am very grateful for the opportunity.
Thank you for the several years of supporting the chain, you have been one of the best witnesses. Regardless of where Steem ends up, hope to see you around in the future.
Thank you for your invaluable contributions!
Sad to see this happen. But respect the decision and also appreciate your own respect for the commitment needed to be a top witness.
I hope you will still be around to provide your opinions and thoughts regardless. They are much appreciated and needed.
What do you know, what have you heard???
Joking aside, even though we disagreed on some things you were probably one of the witnesses i would last consider removing my witness vote from.
I hope you still stick around and continue providing your valuable insight into things...
Peace...
Sleep over it, Steem has taken an emotional toll on a lot of members. This period emotional is quite emotional, you can feel it from the comments and posts, especially for the folks that would have invested a lot of time and money to ensure that this becomes a success.
I feel like having your around, more or less ensures we have a stable head around but also understand your time would be better serve elsewhere.
Sleep over it
You were the first witness I voted for, and that was the third ever non-mining transaction I did on my account. You also have the most chat lines in the Steemdevs slack, if you didn't know. You've been a great voice for reason around here since the start. Frankly I'm surprised you stuck around this long given all the crap with Ned. Anyway, I'm sad to see your witness go. Thanks for all you've done as a witness. I hope to see you stick around nonetheless.
From the moment I discovered that you were involved with Monero development, I knew you were one of the good ones. We've not had much direct interaction, but I am personally saddened by this nonetheless.
Your decision to step back, rather than become unable or uninterested in performing your responsibilities, should be taken as a general example for anyone involved in any organisation. Unfortunately, every time someone with that kind of integrity steps down from anything, it makes room for someone slightly less worried about that sort of thing.
Alas, that is how society eventually, inevitably separates those who should lead, from those who do.
Thank you, so much, for all you have done. Be well.
Appreciate the words of support.
Sad to see you leave but hope to see you stay around for a bit longer. Witnesses come and go. And thank you always for your witness vote since my early beginning as a witness. All the best.
Have a smoooooth transition back into real life godspeed and thanks for all the hard work!
그간 수고 많았습니다.
이순간 자리를 박차고 나오는것을 보니 그래도 당신의 진심을 조금은 이해를 할거 같습니다. 잘했습니다.
Nice to hear from you @steemzzang. We haven't always agreed about rewards and downvotes but I still appreciate that you took the effort to leave a comment here. Best regards.
Do what is best for you and thank you for the heads up. Time to look for another witness vote to allocate.
Very sorry to see you go as a long standing original bastion of the block chain and valuable member of the top 20. I do hope you will remain as a community member and keep posting.
You can't be a part-time witness? Like if witnesses worked more like seeds found on Bit Torrent, then more people could run all or some of Steem whenever they want and get paid for it. There should be incentive for people to participate and it should be customizable as opposed to simply all or nothing kind of thing.
I don't think that really works for a top 20, and I have voted against top 20 witnesses who I saw trying to treat it as such. Given that, I wouldn't feel right doing so myself. You need to engage on the platform, be around for emergencies, and work regularly with other witnesses, developers and stakeholders on planning and decision making.
It is possible I may run a backup witness at some point, though most of the purpose for backup witnesses is to rise up in the ranks and then (in the 20-30 ranks) be prepared to serve as top 20 if needed. So it would still take a change in my availability to make sense. That may happen someday, but not now.
I understand it does not work that way. I was simply trying to say it should work like IPFS and Bit Torrent.
Now I understand your point. Yeah in a perfect world that would be great.
someday maybe
Even if we did not talk too much I always had a lot of respect for you/your intellectual capacities, I would like to thank you for what you have done until now. I hope you will stay around and keep giving your opinions.
Thanks for everything you did over the years, you're been a rock. Good luck!
Peace Smooth!
felt strange up voting your resignation post :)
thanks and hope to see you around, i read a lot of your comments - they make sense to me
You'll still comment when people invoke you, right?
I'm still here. My priority in resigning as a witness was being able to not be online for day or two, not have to be present for meetings, not be on call 24/7, etc. without being derelict. I know some witnesses have done all these things and stayed witnesses anyway, but I don't approve of that (and have removed my witness vote specifically for it).
I will also admit to not being terribly optimistic about "recent events". However, I am certainly willing to see how things play out as long as I don't have to be right in the front row every day while they do.
That's a fair point. Top witnesses especially cannot be complacent as we saw how fast things could go wrong with recent events.
Must feel like a boulder being lifted from your burden.
I am still in my quest to witnesses to vote for. This is the type of attitude which would convince me to vote for you as a witness. Fair and decent approach. Hope you stick around. People with this attitude are valuable for any project!
Thank you for the words of support.
Hi @smooth
Please let me know once you re-run the witness node.
One of my witness votes will be reserved for you.
just recently voted you up to keep in high place and this now :/
if you comeback and need the vote, pm me
Sad to see you quit as a witness, you've been undoubtedly the MVP of this blockchain with your valuable inputs. I hope you'll stay around for fruitful discussions about STEEM and its community.
Well I'm actually happy you're quitting. Just kidding.
I could say a few things and I'm sure they'd sound much like what so many others here are saying. Plenty of folks here respect you, and I'm one them. Witness or not, you still have our approval.
Don't be a stranger.
Sorry to hear that. Thanks for all you have done.
Thank you for your work and for always being there.
Thank you so much for everything you did, and all the best for your future endeavours!
Thank you for all your hard work over the years and for being so forthright about your decision. All the best!
sad and respect for you ^^
Thanks for being here, you have been one of the few witnesses I have voted consistently for 3 years. I am hoping that you are going to stick around as you are one of the most reasonable minds on this chain and offer a great deal of insight into a great many things.
I am sorry to read that!
Thanks for your good work and dedication to the STEEM blockchain and the many interesting discussions we had (and hopefully still will have in future).
I appreciate your forthright and timely announcement, and am sad you cannot continue as a witness.
Thanks!
Thank you for being an excellent witness and securing the STEEM blockchain. I wish you all the best for your next endeavour! Upvoted!
Thx for your hard work and open and responsible notice, all the best :)
We haven't interacted much, but I've seen you voice in invaluable feedback in here, with well established methodology, thought process, and knowledge. I have also seen you being appraised by prominent steemians and so many around. It is definitely sad to see you take this decision. On the hopes you would change your decision down the road, best wishes!
Thank you for your contributions.
And look forward to your rerun of the witness one day.
You have been an even keel in so many storms. Thank you for all the hard work. I will adjust my votes accordingly.
Thank you for your immense contribution to this platform and all your help and support over these years to everyone in the community. I hope you will stick around in our community irrespective of where Steem goes from here. Thank you for all your hard work.
Dear @smooth, you have been a friend and a brother to me and I have had the honour of serving at your side as a witness on the Steem blockchain. I trust you will remain in the community and keep active in the chats, I do not want to lose you completely.
Thank you for your commitment and invaluable contributions to this blockchain. I learned so much from reading your comments.
The choice you make to deactivate your witness is proof of wisdom and deserves respect.
Dear smooth.
I find it hard to believe you are stopping. As a long term supporter of your witness I will re-allocate my vote.
Thank you for all you did for Steem from the get go, whether it be @team-smooth, your very valuable insights, opinions and reasoning, and your support to @steemfest in pure liquidity.
It has been a pleasure to "work" with you and I hope you stick around sharing your views.
I wish you a prosperous time ahead with many real life experiences.
Stay strong, stay healthy, stay smooth.
see you at steemfest!
Really sorry to hear but hope it's the best decision for you. Thanks for all the work :)
Best wishes to you whatever path you choose to take from this point forward, and hopefully, this is the right choice for Steem/Steemit as well.
Many of us are sensing huge disruptions on the platform upon seeing all the breaking news (soft-fork etc)
Ned and company might be seeing a new battle in the courts soon from Sun and company if recent actions by the witness' screw up the availability of his stake.
Interesting times....
respect
@smooth.witness, Thank you and good wishes from my side. Hope that you will going to have pleasant and relaxing journey ahead. Stay blessed.
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Exit scam on steemits part selling out like that. Legit steem company has been one of the worst run companies I have ever seen.
Worst for the community and platform, or, if not, then right up there. The shareholders (mostly Ned) made out fine (an understatement), so it is hard to say worst-run from that perspective.
I'll keep my vote on anyway, there aren't enough others worth being a top 20 witness.
Oh gosh. I understand your decision and hope you will be able to turn that node back on one day. Thank you for all the contributions you made.