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Reality Check
There are some steemians who believe that all witnesses should be running a full rpc node as well. On paper, on theory, this sounds fine, but when you break down what witnesses actually make signing blocks and how much of it, if not all goes towards paying for the witness server, then you can't help but to accept it seems impossible to do.
The information is available for everyone to see, and this is to say that you don't have to believe my words. You see, even though I can mainly talk about our experience with @helpie, I'm also fully aware of the privileged position we have. This is to say that we have in our team not only an experienced witness @themarkymark, but someone who has provided us with the infrastructure to make this be a reality.
But, if you peak under the hood so to speak, you will find that for all those millions of STEEM power voting for @helpie, because they are millions at this point, @helpie brings "home" about 16 SP per day. At the current price, 32 cents, these 5 dollars which mind you we are very grateful for, can't really make a dent on the bill of a server fit to run a full node.
Now, it's also verifiable that @helpie is ranked in the 50's these days, and thus it's doing great in many ways. But, we can now see how much more impossible it would be for witnesses that are lower in the list, or completely out of the top 100.
The reality is that, witnesses are not all mighty whales of incalculable power, and that rhetoric is comical to say the very least. Most witnesses end up subsidizing the bill, and they so with a smile because they care about this blockchain and believe in the long term potential.
Lowering the barrier of entry
Even though the conversation is currently focused on RPC nodes, the indispensable servers that are used by all apps that run on this very blockchain to query it. There are more things to consider regarding the long term health of this blockchain.
You see, we all talk about mass adoption, about being able to rival the social media giants one day. Yes, through a dapp, not necessarily through steemit, but my point remains. In order for this to happen, running a node, running a witness, in other words, the cost of participating does have to come down as much as possible.
I'm sure most people don't know this, but it's valuable to the conversation to be aware of this very fact. Bitcoin, the father crypto or grandfather at this point, has also nodes. Yes, there are servers out there that help with the security and store the information of the BTC blockchain. This is separate from miners mind you, this is not the same thing, I'm talking about Bitcoin Nodes. Well, guess how much money node operators make? - How about nothing? How does that sound?
I know what you are thinking at this very moment. Why would someone in their right mind run a BTC node, if they stand to make absolutely nothing from it. Well, I think we all know the answer. They are protecting their investment, their motivation to run said node is the same one you and I have to protect our money. However, if it costs a thousand dollars to protect my hundred dollars, the word stupidity falls short as a descriptor.
Restoring Confidence
No matter how I slice this, I can't help but to think that both politically and practically this move is the right one. You see, number one priority for the health of this blockchain is to get the requirements under control, the infrastructure costs as I've described. However, for the outside world, for those who are standing in the sidelines, that's not it at all.
In other words, inside our bubble, inside the STEEM community, this might be common knowledge. But to the outside cryptosphere, we are just a blockchain that is failing to deliver its promises. Yes, this is not necessarily correct, and I don't personally put all the weight on one particular shoulder, but as they say: perception is truth.
In theory, by removing the rocksdb development priority from Steemit Inc's dev team, they could concentrate on their original roadmap and offer SMTs in a timely manner. They could be a watered down version, an alpha release of some sorts just to hit the timeline. But, the truth is that many projects currently depend on them and thus have been shocked in more ways than one with the recent news.
Some are looking at the number and focusing on the zeros because they are judging things with their own pockets. But truth be told, 250k is not unreasonable, and we can't discard the opportunity costs of delaying this any further. This without taking into account the expense of keeping things as they are, and the potential halt we seem to be approaching with the increasing requirements.
So my friends, if you were looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, the way we put this back on track, don't be fooled, this is it.... I'm confident about it, and maybe you should be too.
