Meet Our Witnesses - @timcliff

As Steemians who want to see this platform continue to grow and flourish along with the steem token, I feel it is our duty to elect witnesses who will not only serve as master nodes but also add to the development of the Seem/Steemit environment. Most people are able to run a node with a little but of research and the proper equipment, but Witnesses vying for the top spot on the steemit network are rewarded for there position and should be doing more for the community. We all have 30 votes to cast for the witnesses of our choice and these are the 30 most important up votes you will ever make on this platform. Witnesses are the leaders in this community and thus it is of paramount importance that we due our due diligence before casting our votes.

Until recently I had barely used my witness votes and I felt it was time to change that. I didn't know many of the Steem Witnesses and hadn't put in enough effort getting to know the people who keep this platform running. The first thing I decided to do (which I should have done months ago) was read through all the Steemit FAQ pages to get a better understanding of how our ecosystem functions. After that I headed over to Steemd to check out the top 100 witnesses and what they've been doing on the platform. I highly recommend doing those two things right now, if you haven't already done so.

Today, it's all about @timcliff. Tim is what I like to think of as a "Rock". He is one of those witnesses you know you can rely on. From an up to date steem price, to helping new members get started on the platform, to promoting and attempting to get steem on more exchanges, @timcliff does it all. It is probably one of the reasons why Tim is currently ranked as our # 2 witness, he is one of those people you can rely on and he does it all for the Steem community. Tim has been a member of the community for over a year and a half, and has been working as a software developer for about 9 years now. You can read more about how Tim got started with steemit here. One of the best posts for new users is Tim's The Ultimate Guide of Tips for New Steem Users. If you are new to the platform and have some difficulties, this is your one stop solution, give it a read.

Tim is one of those guys who puts in time to help new steemians, keeps people up to date on what he is doing for the platform, resteems good content and also pushes for steem to break into new markets, all important things. @timcliff has done a great job keeping people up to date on what he is doing for the platform. He has been providing Witness updates every month, which allow people to see what projects he is currently working on and also keeps himself accountable to the community. You can see some of the work he is doing by clicking the links below:

• December's Update
• October's Update
• September's Update
• August's Update
• July's Update
• June's Update

Now because @timcliff has been doing all sorts of awesome things for the community, he has been sought after for many discussions and interviews. I would like to think that I am unique in asking him a few questions about the community, but I am afraid there are others that have already done an amazing job of this. If you have a few minutes you definitely need to watch @terrybrock's interview with @timcliff. This interview blows mine out of the water, it is a must see. I highly recommend that you go check out Steemit Success Series - @timcliff.

If you enjoy the discussion that @terrybrock and @timcliff have you should also listen to the recent panel discussion hosted by @aggroed which gathered several of the top leaders in our community to discuss many important things going on. This is also a good listen because these guys talk about many issues here on the platform and everyone can learn a thing or two from them. You can read more from @aggroed's Steeem Panel Discussion, or listen to the full thing down below.

I know, I know, how can I present my interview after giving you these two gems that will surely blow mine out of the water? Well, thankfully I dont look at this as a competition, I see it more as a compilation. When there is good information out there that other steemians have provided, we should share it, not shy away from it. @timcliff has been and will continue to be a leader in our community for the foreseeable future, so I highly advise other steemians to go find him on steemit.chat and say hello or give him some props for everything he is doing for the longevity of the platform.

So, without further delay, I present my recent talk with @timcliff, I hope you enjoy.

• For steemians who don't know much about witnesses, can you give a layman explanation of what it is that witnesses do?

When users use the Steem platform, all of their actions such as posting, commenting, upvoting, etc. are processed and stored in the Steem blockchain.
The blockchain is where all of the rewards get calculated and distributed, and where all the content is stored.
For an action to be recorded in the blockchain, it must be validated - for example, it would be bad if a vote that a user didn't actually cast got recorded.
The core job of the witnesses is to run the servers and software that process all the transactions, ensure that they are valid, and then update the blockchain for the rest of the network to use.

Witnesses also control several parameters that influence how the blockchain operates.
We tell the blockchain what the current STEEM price is, so the blockchain knows how much to pay users when they convert SBD to STEEM, as well as how much rewards to pay out.
We also tell the blockchain how much interest to pay SBD holders, and how much it costs for new accounts to be created.

Witnesses also do a lot of things to add value to the platform and community. Some examples include:

• Develop third party tools and applications for the community to use.
• Submit pull requests for minor bugs + enhancements.
• Marketing / PR / Recruitment.
• Start new initiatives to make the platform better.
• Participate in discussions on hardforks / platform changes.
• Review new Steem versions and choose whether to run new forks.
• Educate and help new users.
• Help fight plagiarism, spam, and abuse.
• Fund projects that add value to the community.

• When you are not in front of your computer helping the steemit community, what other hobbies do you have?

I try to spend as much time as I can with my spouse ( @artist1989 ). We usually like to watch TV/movies and go shopping. I also really like spending time in nature.

• Some people have called crypto currency the internet 2.0 while other think it is just a hiccup in evolution, what are your thoughts on the future of crypto?

I think that we have just started to scratch the surface as far as what blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies can do. I think the future will be very exciting.

• What is one thing that most people don't know about you?

When I started out, I didn't really know anyone on the platform. Most of my posts in my first 3-4 months earned close to 0.00 in rewards. It took me several months of consistently posting before people even started to recognize who I was.

• If you could meet any celebrity, who would it be and why?

Dave Ramsey. I would like to tell him about STEEM 🙂

• If you could have one super power, what would it be?
  The ability to freeze time.

• Besides being heavily invested in steem, what other crypto currencies do you fancy?

I have invested in quite a few different currencies over the past year. There are a lot of cool projects out there. Besides STEEM, right now I am holding some BTS (BitShares) and PPY (PeerPlays).

• If you could only vote for one witness (not yourself) who would it be and why?

That is a very difficult question, because there are a lot of really good witnesses who I feel deserve my vote. If you check out who I am voting for on steemd.com/@timcliff, every one that I am currently voting for I feel is a quality witness that is adding value to the platform in their own way. If I had to pick only one, it would be @smooth.witness. I consider him one of the most knowledgeable witnesses we have, and I feel that he makes decisions with the platform's best interest in mind.

This is part 10 of the series "Meet Our Witnesses", You can read the interviews with @rival, @good-karma, @someguy123, @liondani, @patrice, @jerrybanfield, @kyle, @pharesim and @reggaemuffin by clicking the links:

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-rival

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-good-karma

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-someguy123

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-liondani

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-patrice

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-jerrybanfield

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-kyle

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meeting-our-witnesses-pharesim

---

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jasonshick/meet-our-witnesses-reggaemuffin

Make sure you follow along to this series as we get to know many of the leaders in the Steemit community and show some appreciation for everything they do. Thanks for reading and check back soon.