An interview with @pfunk via meet a whale episode... 18 by jamesmovic

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witness-category · @jamesmovic · Jun 4 '18

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An interview with @pfunk via meet a whale episode... 18

Hello Steemians, it's another episode of my interview in which I get to ask some technical Steem questions and also bring you closer to your witnesses. For this episode's interview, I have the pleasure of bringing to you @pfunk, A steemian who has a great passion for the Steem blockchain, a steemian who works tirelessly at the witness level, a witness who has made, and will continue to make positive impact on the direction of steem, as well as a reputable witness. This episode promises to be educating, and interesting . Be sure to sit tight and grab a cup of coffee while reading through this great interview.

Meet @pfunk!!!

![image](https://img.esteem.ws/egrdhj11ra.jpg)

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@jamesmovic - Who introduced you to steemit and what was your motive for joining?

@pfunk - I was introduced to Steem (before I knew of the Steemit website) by someone on a cryptocurrency related chatroom.

@jamesmovic - How many times do you think its appropriate for a newbie to post per day?

@pfunk - How many times to post per day is entirely up to each person.

@jamesnovic - What communities are you supporting or working on, and how?

@pfunk - I've helped to support the creative music community on Steem for about a year and a half by helping to fund prizes for and upvoting the weekly Open Mic contest hosted by the amazing @luzcypher. I also support a couple photography initiatives that I like, @photocircle and @derangedvisions' Deranged Photography contests. I support @detlev's Beer Saturday Challenges too. I follow a lot of creators and try to regularly upvote some artists here. I also tend to prioritize some vote power for Steem service or project update posts, as I think the value given to their creators is a bargain compared to the value they add to the network.

I also participate in discussions and share my feedback, opinions, and experience with other veteran and power users including other witnesses. As a witness, I feel I've made a positive impact on the direction of Steem in the past and intend to continue making an impact in the future. I also help administer and moderate steem.chat, the community run (and specifically run by @followbtcnews) chat service for Steem. I also participate in some of the famous anti-abuse efforts you may have seen on Steem, though lately I have been less active with those. I've made several educational posts about Steem, most old by now, but some still relevant.

@jamesnovic - Can you tell us why you decided to become a witness?

@pfunk - I came to Steem when it was still a mineable token, and I got my start running Steem nodes like many witnesses as a miner. After the network was switched to DPoS, some people spontaneously approved me as a witness while I was still mining. By then I decided I liked the features, abilities, and potential of the Steem network and was happy to play a part in making it happen.

@jamesnovic - Can you tell us how your feel about it (witnessing) now?

@pfunk - I still feel the same way about being a witness. I want to bring my experience, as someone who's seen most of the network's history, to the network and community. I still see how Steem is better than any other network *by far* at bringing every day people into using a cryptocurrency network. And that still excites me.

@jamesmovic - What exactly does "voting for a witness" means to you,and do you think it is necessary for all steemians to vote?

@pfunk - Voting for a witness (and receiving votes) means a lot. It means that I trust the receiver to act in the interests of the network and to run a stable node. It can mean more than that too, as witnesses can provide additional value. Experience tends to mean a lot to me as well. Especially those who have proven themselves as fast to react to situations affecting the network.

I don't believe it's necessary for all Steemians to vote because while all Steemians are stakeholders, it's impossible for all to be informed. I would strongly encourage all Steemians to familiarize themselves with how Steem works, especially if the stake is more than insignificant to them. And I encourage all informed stakeholders to look at witnesses and vote for those they trust to keep the network stable and increase its value.

@jamesnovic - What are your thoughts on the possibiltiy of there being a new "Steem 2"?

@pfunk - It's always possible for someone to fork Steem, but to simply clone it and expect the same results would be somewhat pointless. A network's foundational value is the network of its users, and the users use Steem.

@jamesnovic - Is there anything you would like to say on your own, without me asking the question?

@pfunk - On my own I'd like to say: Check out @luzcypher's Open Mic contest posts! It's brought so much good music to Steem and rewards to musicians. If you have any shred of musical talent, please enter it!

@jamesmovic - Any advice you would wish to give to my fellow steemians[ newbies] who are feeling dejected one way or the other due to low upvotes?

@pfunk - It's tough, because Steem's draw is rewards with real world value. But expecting to get those rewards as you start is a recipe for disappointment. Content discovery on the most popular Steem front end, Steemit.com, is poor.

So what I think new users should do is express themselves as best they can, but not overexpress (burn out creatively). Don't post 5 things on your first day, or maybe even first week. Because many eyeballs might not reach you, it would be frustrating to give it your all at first and get little or no feedback. If you already share creatively somewhere else, without rewards, treat it just like that. Steady posts from creative or entertaining people tend to build momentum and eventually many end up earning some pretty good rewards from Steem. But that's not guaranteed either. Perseverance is the key to success here, just like most things.

Now it's easy to say this as someone who's been a successful poster, but I've seen enough other posters who have found success too. And don't think word count matters too much. I don't want to or have time to read a novel per post, and I'm not sure everyone else does either. Blogging isn't even necessary. Some of my favorite posters just post photos for the most part. Also if you're making some money but still disappointed, try not to play the comparison game too much. Whatever you've earned is more than the $0 you'd earn on almost any other platform.

@jamesmovic - What impression do you have about this interview and what do you feel about it?

@pfunk - The interview questions are pretty good. If you're asking about a "Steem 2" I'd probably include more detail on what you're asking about. The open ended non-question might go better at the end.

@jamesmovic - thanks for your time and thanks for honoring my invitation

@pfunk - You are welcome James. Thanks for reaching out. And I'll ask that if any readers think I'm worthy of a witness approval vote, I would appreciate a lot!