I figured instead of posting 3 separate posts, I would just make one big one covering multiple topics. So here we go:

Crossing 50 SP

I think it is an incredible achievement for me to announce I crossed 50 SP on Wednesday! I have earned this SP purely through my own posting and curation. I have not spent a single dollar to raise my SP, meaning what I have now is purely organically earned. I feel that this really is an incredible milestone that I have earned quite quickly, considering it was just a few months ago I couldn't even comment more than twice a day without running out of Resource Credits. I have my post about building a Linux Gaming PC to thank for launching me well over the 50 SP line, and this is because of the amazing feedback I got from the Steem community!

Here shortly, I will offer a review of the Linux distro I am using on my machine, called PopOS. Expect that review in the coming days!

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My First Delegation

Along with crossing, and well surpassing, the 50 SP level, I have now given my first delegation on the Steem network. By surpassing the 50 SP level, I felt comfortable giving away some of my power on the network, as I had reached the point where I definitely wasn't using all of it. I could have given my Steem power to a group, cause, or curator here on Steem, like many do, but I chose to start more personal and closer to home.

A friend of mine was more privacy focused than I am and so was choosing not to make a Steem account the normal and free way due to privacy concerns. As such, I decided to spend a bit of my Steem and gift him a brand new Steem account! Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome @AgentBJ09 to Steem! He is an author, gamer, and Trump supporter. He just recently published his first book, Werewolf Tale, and he is currently working on the sequel to it. He plans on shortly posting some chapters from his book so other Steemians can read and enjoy it!

I think it's important that, along with supporting larger efforts, we also support individuals personally on the Steem network as well. In this way, we personally and directly contribute to the networks growth and it's future flourishing by doing so. So if you have a friend, family member, or loved one who you think would like and enjoy a Steem account, maybe consider that as a nice gift for them! ;)

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Revoking All* Witness Votes Over HF21 Proposals

Here is where I have to, unfortunately, offer criticisms for a set of proposals that should never have been brought forward for discussion. First, let me state that I have followed the lead of @whatsup, and others, in pulling all* of my witness votes. This is a way of ensuring that I only cast my vote for those that hold the better interests of Steem in mind, rather than the interests of a few whales, "investors" (A cute word for Steem crypto hodlers), and the largest stakeholders on the platform.
(It should be noted I do still have votes for Steem Witnesses, who aren't in the top 20, because I support the work they do, namely @Steempeak, @Partiko, and one witness, @liberosist, who has vowed to reject #HF21 in it's current form)

The main issues with HF21 revolve around a couple main issues: reward ratios being changed to 50/50 from 75% to the author and 25% to the curators, the introduction of "reward pools" for the downvoting/flagging system, and just the idea that general math is what the biggest problem facing the network is. Spoiler alert, all of this are misguided at best, and rather blatant power grabs at worst. The idea that changing rewards to a 50/50 ratio will increase participation in the network is laughable. This is simply a way for whales to benefit more from the network while contributing less worthwhile content. This only seeks to benefit the largest stakeholders on the platform at the cost of (further) alienating authors and actual content contributors. The whole reason Steem exists is because of content CREATORS(!), not content curators. This is a point that must be driven home, that a change to 50/50 will damage the network in ways not calculated at this time by those proposing it. Secondly, the idea that adding a downvoting reward pool, a different downvoting mathematical curve, or whatever they would like to call it, is also an even more blatant power grab, exclusively for whales on the platform. The idea is that it would somehow "improve" how the downvoting system currently works while preventing abuse like we saw in the flagging wars earlier this year. Instead, this change would have the opposite effect, ensuring that whales on the platform would never be able to be economically punished via downvoting while also allowing them to easily silence anyone and everyone that should attempt to criticize them. In effect, it would create a system where there would be no way in which a reasonable number of downvotes from individuals could harm a whale's post, while allowing the whale to completely destroy many individual's posts economically and visually, as a large enough downvote hides posts from being seen. Lastly, the general failings of HF21 stem from the idea that just playing with the internal math of the chain will solve its problems. This comes from a standpoint of blatant ignorance for what the network needs to grow its userbase and attractiveness to outsiders. The network will not grow by fiddling with internal math, the network will grow by adding features that attract more users to the network, and math isn't a feature users look for when they consider joining.

If Steem wants to really grow as a network, the idea that fiddling with math out of ignorance or malice will be discarded immediately for features that are desperately needed on the network, such as SMT's (Smart Media Tokens). This is a feature that should have been added a long time ago, and it is embarrassing that the network still hasn't implemented them natively yet. Further, when hardfork decisions are being made, the considering needs to be made for all Steemians, not just whales, hodlers, and/or top-tier stakeholders. I feel it is important to point out that without the support of the community, the Steem coins, Steem Power, and SBD owned by these "benefactors" isn't worth the memory in RAM they take up.

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That's my rant over. Expect a review of the Linux distro PopOS here shortly! I will also post updates if considerations for #HF21 change over the coming weeks, and offer my opinions on them if I have any.

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