Dear Steemit Friends,
I was reading a recent post by 
As a witness, I think I do a fairly good job helping to support, build, and grow the community. I do a decent job supporting new Steemit users and building tools (with my limited programming knowledge) geared towards helping others succeed. If I could and if I had the necessary skills, I would like to do more and I am trying to learn these skills on a daily basis - albeit sometimes at a snail's pace.
My Witness server and Backup Seed Node remain up-to-date thanks to the help of 
On a daily basis, I use the 2 following websites to try and keep myself up-to-date on my position in the hierarchy, if my witness is running properly, and if I am making positive strides supporting the community.
Steemian tells me if I am aligned with the other witnesses on my stance for various items that affect Steemit and the community. It also shows me where I stand in the overall scheme of things.
Steemdb provides me a ton of information about my witness account as well as lists the individuals and communities that support me. If someone removes a vote - it tells me that I am not doing something or missing something which I should be - not always the case. The information keeps me grounded and reminds me that my job is to serve and support the community. If I am losing votes as a Witness, then usually I'm slacking in some of my responsibilities.
One aspect that most witnesses are bothered by is the number of inactive witnesses that hold high positions in the overall ranks. If you look below at the screen capture of a portion of the positions, you will notice a lot of Red. Generally, that means an issue, and as you can see there is a lot of Red and Inactive Witnesses that hold a HUGE number of votes.
Just look at the number of witnesses who are Red due to inactivity, missing blocks, who haven't updated their price feeds, running old versions, etc. I beg all Steemit community members to revisit your Witness votes and remove your votes from those Witnesses who are no longer active and doing anything good to support the Steemit community. That is not to say every inactive Witness on the list isn't doing their part to support the community, but several stand out that we have not heard from in a long long while.
It's a drain on resources, funds, valuable votes that can go to other witnesses who are doing a whole lot more for this community and those who deserve your vote. I'm not saying I deserve your vote, but there are a truckload of witnesses who are overshadowed by a majority of these inactive Witnesses who deserve a higher rank then where they stand.
We as Witnesses have the duty of helping to make sure that the blockchain and Steemit are always up-to-date, working properly, and secure by maintaining our servers. We vote on your behalf for updates, changes, and implementations that will lead to bigger and better things for Steemit and the community as a whole, while keeping each other in check.
You as community members and supporters have an equally important role in making sure that your valuable votes are cast for Witnesses who can help make this a happy, safe, and thriving environment. It's also important that you update your votes frequently as things change and Witnesses come-and-go. Let's not neglect that duty! Like in the real world, every vote counts and can lead to making a difference.