The Problem
In my opinion, the main witness voting page provided by Steemit at https://steemit.com/~witnesses has some flaws.
- There's no way to tell if a witness is active. If they're inactive/disabled, there's no indication for how long they've been in that state.
- Newbie users often approve and unapprove simultaneously. This happens because when they vote, they have to enter their password or active key. After they enter it, the page doesn't refresh, so the voted witness still appears as 'unvoted', so they click the vote button again, which in reality unvotes!
- Since only the top 50 witnesses are shown, that doesn't give a chance to other witnesses to ever get support, unless their name is explicitly entered in the voting box... at the bottom of the page.
- Very often, newbie users vote for witnesses in the top 50 randomly, without knowing what each witness does or how their parameters are set. And more importantly, because they can't tell if the witness is disabled, some of their votes are wasted.
I have previously brought up those issues for discussion a few months ago, but unfortunately the general consensus was to leave it as it is. I don't agree with that and I think users should have a better option than to be restricted in their voting choices. I also believe that lower ranked witnesses deserve a chance to be noticed.
This concern has been voiced many times by low ranked witnesses. As a matter of fact, it was something that was brought up last night by @r0nd0n while I was a guest on his MSPWaves Radio show (@msp-waves). We discussed the issue of voting for disabled witnesses, which led him to suggest implementing something on Steemian.Info to address the situation. Which is exactly what I did. As a witness, it is my duty to listen to my voters and offer solutions when possible.
What Causes a Disabled Witness?
- If a witness misses blocks for 24h they get automatically disabled by the system.
- Running a fork lower than the current version, i.e. HF19.
- Manually disabled if they don't want to run the server anymore.
- Temporary manually disabled when doing server maintenance to avoid missing blocks.
The Solution
I have already setup a list of the top 400 witnesses at https://steemian.info/witnesses three months ago. The table provides extensive parameters about each witness settings. The columns are sortable for better grouping.
To remedy all the described issues, I have added a new Operations column to the witness list. This column contains 4 clickable buttons.
- Approve witness
- Unapprove witness
- Get voters lists
- Witness application link
The first two buttons are the new additions. They will redirect the user to SteemConnect where they can safely cast their vote. The password or active key is required for that operation. SteemConnect is a Steemit Inc + Busy project that provides a secure access to the Steem ecosystem.
For example, if you wish to approve me (@drakos) as witness, click the thumbs up symbol 👍 and you will be redirected to this URL:
https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=drakos&approve=1
CONTINUE and fill in your credentials to cast your vote.
You will get an error if
- You already voted or unvoted for the witness
- The witness is invalid or doesn't exist
- Your 30 votes are full
Witness votes are not final. You can shuffle your votes by unvoting witnesses if you find them lacking or if you wish to vote and support others. Voting for witnesses is different from upvoting posts: it does not cost you anything and does not reduce your voting power. You can vote for up to 30 witnesses at the same time. If you don't want to trouble yourself with researching each witness, you can assign a proxy who already votes for witnesses to handle the voting on your behalf.
You can check my detailed witness voting guide here.
Some Considerations
The table at https://steemian.info/witnesses provides ample details to decide who to vote for. The important thing is to have as much less red values as possible.
Also, it may happen that a witness is temporarily disabled; you can tell by looking at their last Block Age. If it's a few hours or days, the issue may be temporary. If the Block Age is very high and flashing red, then they may be disabled for a long time ahead. In that case, you may want to consider voting for someone else who is active. Nonetheless, if you're in unsure whether it's a temporary or permanent issue, contact your witness(es) to find out what's happening. Don't be afraid to do it, if you voted for them, it's your right to inquire about their status.
Security Note
Make sure you're connected to https://v2.steemconnect.com, can't be too careful with phishing sites and scammers.
Click the Secure button in the URL field and verify the certificate
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
If you never voted before, I wrote a detailed guide about Voting for Witnesses.
Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses. My name is listed in the Top 50. Click 
once.
Alternative voting methods
https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=drakos&approve=1
cli_wallet: vote_for_witness "YOURACCOUNT" "drakos" true true
steem-python: steempy approvewitness drakos --account YOURACCOUNT