Well, what a day! Steemit has been down on and off and people are panicking all across Discord and steemit chat. Common questions I've seen include:

"Why is steemit down?"

"This is the witnesses fault, why are they letting it happen?"

"Has my money been stolen?" 

Blah, blah, blah...

And @ausbitbank, I don't think you really helped by trolling the peeps in General chat with comments like this. Although it is funny and I did get a laugh from it. 😁

In all seriousness though, today's DDoS attack has highlighted one thing, the steemit blockchain is resilient. One of my favourite steemians @dragosroua sums it up nicely: 

The website steemit.com is just one way of exploring the blockchain. It's like a filter put on top of that data. And it's that filter that is right now obfuscated by this attack, not the actual blockchain.

There are many ways in which you can explore the Steem blockchain, and I can assure, as a witness, that the blockchain works absolutely normal.

He goes on to say that:

steemit.com is just one of the entry points to the Steem blockchain. There are many others. For instance, there are a few other established websites, like busy.org, or chainbb.com. These are not under attack right now (probably the attacker doesn't know about them or he doesn't have enough resources).

The blockchain—not only the Steemit blockchain, but all of them—is a really beautiful piece of engineering. Data is everywhere—because you can get it anytime—and nowhere—because there isn't in any specific place that can be shut down.

This is worth keeping in mind. Thanks @dragosroua for your calm and rational words.

In other news...

Adelaide recruitment legend and Malls Baller* @mattclarke has organised a meetup for 5 November for any steemians in the Adelaide area. We know of 16 of you, but if there are any more let Matt know and consider yourself invited.

*For the non-Adelaidians, this term refers to the two giant balls located in Rundle Mall.

Source

Don'f forget that the Masters of the Universe creative writing challenge is on. If you like 80s cartoons and you were a fan of the steemlords creative writing challenge, then check it out. Most of the steemlords writers are back and we've picked up a few new ones along the way. New stories are appearing regularly.

You should follow @mrsquiggle, who is doing a great job recognising and rewarding creativity within Team Australia by curating quality content. 

You can support Team Australia members by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions on how to do that are here.

Don't forget that @centerlink is busy putting Aussie-battler tax dollars to work in the form of dole payments for posts, as well as showcasing Australia's most worthy dole recipients.

Steemit witness and our very own Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank has created the @discordia bot, which you can use to increase your upvote moolah. Some of the proceeds will support @centerlink so give it a try.

Of course, also check out the awesome Minnow Support Project (MSP). Details on how to join are are here and here. Come say hi in the Team Australia chat room in PAL-Discord. It's fun and you will make new friends. 

You should also consider voting for the other MSP witnesses, including @aggroed who has a done a great job in getting this project off the ground.

And lastly, if you're feeling generous, you can delegate SP to the Team Australia upvote bots @centerlink and/or @mrsquiggle (or any other bot you like) using Vessel. You can delegate to any of the MSP bots using this link. 

Candidate 1

Name and bio

@thegoodtrooper is from Sydney. He's been working with computers and the internet since before there was an internet, and when computers ran on punched cards and magnetic tape. For the last few years, he's mainly been working on designing, building and writing blogs. He's posted about 2,500 online articles and reaches around 1,000 people a day.

@thegoodtrooper most writes about renewable energy, local and family history, and antiques. However, he's been looking for somewhere to post articles that don't fit his regular sites, where he can engage in meaningful discussion with his readers. Enter steemit. @thegoodtrooper expects his blog to focus on science and technology with a dash of history and maybe some unique local flavour. 

Fun fact 

"I built my first website back in 1996 when there were only about 10,000 websites worldwide (an enormous increase from around 700 sites a year earlier!) It's still live at https://www.menziesera.com. I wonder if this is some sort of record for an Aussie web site?"

Yep. I'd say there's a good chance that is true.

Candidate 2

Name and bio

@fred101 is a Brissy guy whose interests revolve heavily around music. He has completed a Bachelor of Music on trumpet and continues to perform, teach and study. In a claim to fame, @fred101 has played—on several occassions—with internationally renowned jazz trumpeter James Morrison, and his drummer brother John Morrison.

@fred101's other hobbies involve computer games, watching TV shows and crytocurrencies.

Fun fact 

"I was 11 when I started playing lawn bowls and became pretty good at it too, ended up with 2nd place in the Qld junior State Championships Pairs competition when I was in year 12."

Mate, I want to organise a Brisbane steemit meetup for when I'm back in December/early Jan. I was also thinking lawn bowls would be a cool idea. Bags you're on my team!

Candidate 3

Name and bio

@masterwu is a Chinese born Aussie who lives in Brisbane and is currently studying Physiotherapy at UQ. He also has bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics, and has previously worked professionally as an engineer.

@masterwu also runs a YouTube channel devoted to maths tutorials and has over 3000 subscribers. He says his life ambitions are to establish an engineering academy where students can learn and create new projects, and (maybe) set up a charity for physical rehabilitation.

Fun fact

"At the age of 16, I was a Sousaphone (Tuba) player in the marching band of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. I was lucky to able to share this experience with my fellow musicians and greatest schoolmates."

That is pretty cool. And I'm introducing two talented brass musicians today! Seriously, I don't plan this stuff, but I love how common themes frequently pop up in these introduction posts.

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@atnicholson lives on the North Coast of NSW and is the author of several websites. Here on steemit, he'll be writing about all things weird, strange and unexplained. He'll also be sharing photos that capture life in Australia and the unique Australian landscape.

@atnicholson is also interested in the back room, behind-the-door, under-handed and under-the-table dirty deals of the puppet-master elites who run this world from behind-the-scenes. He wants to connect with free-thinking, peace-loving, open-minded, and freedom-loving people who just want to get along.

Fun fact

"I've been interviewed on the ABC twice: Once about historical accounts of yowies in the central west and on another occasion about weird weather accounts (including one of a bullock found hanging way up in a willow tree after a wind storm)."

Lol. When I first read this I thought how would a bollock get stuck up a tree? And where was the rest of the guy/animal and how did only one ball get dismembered? Then I saw you actually wrote bullock. Whoops. My bad.

Candidate 5

Name and bio

@dolladu lives in Adelaide with his mini Schnauzer named Rufus (Roofie). He recently completed his Bachelor's degree in Commerce and is currently looking for full-time work. In the meantime, he's working at an indoor adrenaline playground and doing promotional work for a few agencies.

@dolladu's hobbies include hiking, rock climbing, snow skiing, parkour, hanging with friends at lookouts/parks, partying, reading and watching documentaries. He is also into space and time, geometry, and maths. @dolladu would love to meet like-minded people to talk about places to explore as well as meet those who are intrigued by the early days of creation and consciousness.

Fun fact

"I used to do child modelling and acting including a Toyota commercial."

That is cool. Given your age, I'm guessing you were one of the 2.4 children strapped into the back seat of some boring family car like a Camry!

Congratulations everyone. You've been added to @teamaustralia.

The rules for joining Team Australia

If you’re not yet a member and want to be, this is what you need to do:

1. Vote here for our resident steemit witness @ausbitbank.
2. Regularly check the  Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote the content you like. 
3. Follow and upvote existing members of @teamaustralia who you share a common interest with. Alternatively, you can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions are listed here.
4. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or Discord that you want to join.
5. Link your introduction post so I can find out a bit about you. If you’re new to steemit you'll have to write one so use the introduceyourself tag to help boost your following. You can also follow this handy guide written by @teamsteem.
6. If it’s not mentioned in your introductory post, tell me which city and country you’re in, cos let's face it, a lot of us live in Australia's fourth largest city—London.  
7. If you’re not Aussie tell me why you should be a Team Australia ambassador. 
8. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you run a successful business, or you have eight kids and three dogs, or you rode your bike across America, or you won the blue ribbon for javelin throwing at sports day back in high school, or Toadie came into the pub you work at one day and you served him a beer, or, maybe you can fit 55 maltesers in your mouth like Ed Sheeran can. It doesn’t matter what it is, I want a fun fact about you!

Once I receive this information I will try my best to write a good introductory paragraph about you for the official Team Australia membership updates. So the better your information is, the better I can make you sound. Where relevant, please use the teamaustralia and australia tags to promote your work. I will try and post weekly updates unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner. 

Gif by @justcallmemyth 

MOTU artwork and Team Australia banner by @bearone

Page dividers by @kristyglas