The witnesses I vote for and why

I saw a few people posting about their witness votes including @shmoogleosukami, @cadawg and @rishi556, so I thought I could do the same. It is a good idea to review your votes once in a while. I found one I voted for was inactive and others who did not seem to be doing much, so I just changed some votes. I have met some of these people, so that has an influence on my votes, as does them being in the UK. I do not do this in hope of any favours. I primarily vote for witnesses who are actively making Hive better. Those are the ones who deserve to earn from providing this service and they should be making decisions about future developments.

You can easily check your votes in Peakd.

I try to use all thirty of my votes and it is not too hard to find some to vote on. Please correct me if I have any details wrong. I do not follow all these people, so I may miss some developments. If you have thoughts on who is more worthy of my vote then I am open to suggestions. Some of these witnesses rarely post anything, but may still be contributing to making Hive work.

• Everyone knows @blocktrades. I have met Dan who is behind this in Krakow and he's a nice guy as well as being behind a lot of the core Hive development with his team. I use his exchange to buy HIVE.
• @roelandp has organised the Steemfest and Hivefest events and deserves to do well just for that, but he also develops Hive apps and he even worked on a life sized whale that would spout if you sent it crypto.
• @gtg (Gandalf the Grey) is a wise guy who is also working behind the scenes on the blockchain.
• @good-karma is behind Ecency which I am using to create this post. I have it on my PC as well as my phone.
• @themarkymark is someone who is prepared to act for the good of Hive and has helped out a lot in combatting abuse of the platform. He has also been involved with various projects such as @poshbot and @stemgeeks. He takes a lot of flack from those who been caught out.
• I have met @anyx, but he seems less active on the platform lately. He has worked a lot on detecting abuse.
• @steempress created an app to put Wordpress posts on the blockchain. The Hive version is called @exxp.
• @steempeak (run by @peakd) created the dapp that I use most on my PC to access Hive.
• @pharesim is another witness who rarely posts, but he has been behind @curangel.
• @arcange has been behind projects like @hivebuzz that help make Hive fun. He posts daily updates on various Hive stats.
• @someguy123 is not too active, but has worked on various projects, including those to help witnesses get set up.
• @emrebeyler develops Hive dapps and tools including dpoll.
• @aggroed is behind @Splinterlands and Hive Engine that I use all the time.
• @mahdiyari gave us Hive Vote that is used by many to automate their votes.
• @pfunk has been a big supporter of blockchain music including the open mic contests.
• @leofinance is looking to be one of the bigger dapps for those interested in various forms of finance and is creating some cool options for investment.
• @holger80 created the beem library to access Hive from Python programs.
• @threespeak built a video platform on Hive that promotes free speech. I use it more for music stuff.
• @steemitboard is now @hivebuzz which gamifies the Hive experience.
• @jackmiller is part of the @fullalt team who have use Hive Tips to send HIVE to people posting on other platforms.
• @klye is a developer creating some gambling games, but also a fun guy with dubious artistic skills.
• @bobinson is another witness I have met.
• @c0ff333a sells coffee from the north of England and I have bought some from him. He also runs the @whiterosecoffee witness that I vote for too.
• @stem.witness is from the STEMsocial Project promoting science and technology on Hive.
• @r0nd0n has supported people who got flagged with the Freezepeach project and helped to combat abuse.
• @ura-soul is a British witness. I may not agree with some of his opinions, but I value his contribution.
• @nathanmars has been one of the biggest promoters of Hive via Twitter. He dedicates so much time to it and recently became a witness.
• I have supported @dragosroua for years and he is still there. He created the Hive Supply tool to check your payouts.
• @cadawg is another Brit who gave us @nftmart that makes it easier to buy and sell cards in some Hive games.

There are a few inactive witnesses who still have lots of votes, so check yours. If you use a voting proxy then check if they are updating their votes. Feel free to use me as a proxy.