The first Mesopotamian to be a witness

We had a bit of a milestone this week - the first member to launch a witness server. I think to say it has gone pretty well would be a bit of an understatement. @helpie just launched the witness four days ago and is already #86, thanks to some promotional support from @berniesanders today.

_{Image by @carrieallen}

I'm still trying to drum up any support for Helpie's witness that I can, although it seems like I'm pushing pretty lightly compared to some other people at this point. But every little bit helps. I was thinking about what to write about Helpie, but then I found @ankapolo's great summary in Bernie's comments:

@helpie is a community designed to connect talented people who produce quality content and who are also amazing, compassionate human beings that above all else want to have a meaningful experience on this platform. They can have a great effect on user retention and in essence the value of this project. It's easy to underestimate the power of emotions and the contribution that a a social connectivity does for crypto.... But I can assure you that it is as vital for the ecosystem as any major witness contribution (especially during this time low prices)... If you look closely, @Helpie is already making a difference... we're changing mindsets.

@paintingangels dragged recruited me into Helpie in early May, I'm guessing because of my Open Mic bonus prizes, as that's pretty much the only community-related thing I was doing then. While I was already thinking about dolphinmaking, I think it's entirely safe to say that The Mesopotamians would never have developed the way it has without Helpie, and particularly making friends with @meno and @eonwarped, discussions with whom have really shaped my approach to Steem as a whole and to this project in particular. In return we've included Helpie in our program since the launch of Level 2.

Many of our members have been recruited from Helpie, and others have been joining it from finding us first. I'm proud to support Helpie in this next stage in its development, and I hope you'll join me.

To vote for Helpie go here: https://steemit.com/~witnesses

If you'd like to not have to worry about witness voting, at the bottom of the page you can set @themesopotamians as a proxy and let me do it for you.