As we all know, witnesses are the backbone of the Hive platform—the unsung heroes who ensure everything runs smoothly. They operate critical nodes that keep the platform alive and thriving. Without witnesses, Hive wouldn’t exist, and without us, there would be no content to share and engage with, which is why we need to get familiar with who our witnesses are.
That's why I've created this special edition of "Meet Our Hive Witnesses."
This interview series aims to connect with our witnesses, giving you a closer look at the people who keep Hive running. We’ll dive into their work, motivations, and insights through a series of thoughtful questions.
It is the eigth edition of Meet Our Hive Witnesses Interview and before I continue with the introduction of the next witness that has honoured us to be interviewed, I'd like to say that, as a Hive user who want to see this platform continue to grow and flourish, we all have 30 votes to cast for any Hive witness of our choice and I will say this is the most important 30 votes you will ever cast on this platform for any witnesses that you deem it fit.
In this week’s episode, I’m thrilled to introduce a truly remarkable figure in the Hive ecosystem — a seasoned Hive witness and a passionate explorer of both the digital and natural worlds.
Meet @stayoutoftherz ...a multi-dimensional content creator whose interests span across nature, science, crypto, chess, self-defense, and photography. With over two years of dedicated service as a Hive witness, he has remained 100% committed to the Hive blockchain, not just as a witness but as a curator, innovator, and active community member.
He’s the founder of Hivetorch, a project rooted in strengthening Hive’s culture of engagement and contribution. He’s also a relentless promoter of chess on Hive, encouraging mental growth and strategic thinking among Hive users.
Whether he’s creating content, supporting others, or building tools to uplift the community, @stayoutoftherz continues to be a powerful force in Hive’s ongoing story.
Stay tuned — this is a conversation you don’t want to miss!
Welcome to my interview, it is a great honor to have you here on the show this week @stayoutoftherz
Thanks, below are the answers:stayoutoftherz
What do you believe is the single most important responsibility of a Hive witness?
@stayoutoftherz : To reliably sign blocks, to ensure that the blockchain is running smoothly and without interruptions.
Do you feel the witness election process is accessible and transparent? If not, how can it be improved?
@stayoutoftherz : I guess it is better and more transparently organized than in many other projects.
How do you handle the competition among witnesses, and what differentiates you from other witnesses?
@stayoutoftherz : I am different than probably many other witnesses because I am not an IT professional. That might be a downside, but on the other hand it shows people that it is possible to setup a witness even if you are not a nerd. The more witnesses we would have, the less we would be dependent on the top 20 ones, so people should be encouraged to set up witness nodes as well!
What me differentiates as well from other witnesses
I am a content creater, too, I manually curate a lot and I NEVER POWERED DOWN A SINGLE HIVE!
Do you think Hive’s DPoS model needs modifications? If yes, what specific changes would you recommend?
@stayoutoftherz : The DPoS currently creates an oligarchy, because most of the stake is in the hands of very few accounts (app. <25). This is aggraveted by (pseudo-anonymous) multiple accounts. There could be arithmetic adaptations, so that each decile of users (if ranked via HP) would have an equal weight (that would be extreme) or an increasing vote weight according to stake. Just as an example: The lowest 10% of users (in terms of HP) who now have near zero vote weigh, could have not 10% but at least 2%. And the highest 10% (who have now app. 99%) would have, according to the (yet to be defined) algo rather 30% only. That would create much more equality in witness and DHF governance.
What steps can be taken to ensure more transparency in decision-making, reward distribution, and governance?
@stayoutoftherz : I see no problem with transparency, just with some random decisions like the 7-daycuration window. Also that newbies might find it hard to get all the pieces together, but that is rather a problem of communication than transparency.
Should witnesses have a formal mechanism for accountability? If yes, how would you envision such a system working?
@stayoutoftherz : I think this is not needed. Unreliable witness will get less votes.
Since you became a witness, what impact have you made on the community that other witnesses have not done?
@stayoutoftherz : I don´t compare what others do or not do. Since I became a witness, I created several tutorials on how to set up a witness (in layperson´s language), how to write good posts, and about the Hive basics and it´s tokenomics.
How do witnesses collaborate to solve community-wide issues, and what can be done to improve this process?
@stayoutoftherz : I have no idea, indeed I think they do not communicate enough and that´s part of the problems Hive have. Everybody is doing his own thing, and not even on the Hive fests problems are addresssed or a common way forward is discussed - the downside of the decentralization. Another hurdle is that interests may differ greatly. The top 20 witnesses rather want to keep the state of the art and don´t want big changes, and the 20+ ones don´t have the power to implement any changes. See question 4
Do you believe there should be a structured process for witness succession or rotation to encourage fresh ideas?
@stayoutoftherz : An interesting idea but it would be quite complicated to implement and poses some risks. At this point I see no priority for such an endeavor.
How do you handle criticism from the community, and how has it shaped your approach as a witness?
@stayoutoftherz : Good question. So far I was not critiziced.
How do you see the role of witnesses evolving as the Hive platform grows and changes?
@stayoutoftherz : I see no big changes in the role. However, the top-witnesses should communicate much better within themselves but also to the community, like organize regular "town-hall meetings" or panel discussions. So if Hive wants to grow, the communication needs to get way more professional.
Some users feel witnesses hold too much power. What are your thoughts on decentralizing witness influence further?
@stayoutoftherz : See my answer to Q4. Also there should be a smoother way of witness reward distribution. Currently there is a big difference between what the top20 get and the rest. The curve should be more linear, with decline starting already at position 2.
Since you became a witness, what are some of the challenges you have faced and how did you get past those challenges.
@stayoutoftherz : A few times I stopped producing blocks and I could not figure out the reason. Since then I once upgraded the specs of the server and it helped.
As a witness or developer, how would you like to be remembered in the Hive community?
@stayoutoftherz : (in future 🙂 ) As the witness that not only signed blocks but also wrote interesing content, curated a lot (not only to always the same users) and became a whale by investing into Hive from his own money and not by early mining.
It is so awesome finally having a chat with you @stayoutoftherz
Thanks so much for creating time for meet our Hive witness. Have a wonderful day 🤝🏻
You're welcome.
NB: those were @stayoutoftherz exact words to the interview questions. Nothing was changed.
PROMOTING AND INTERVIEWING HIVE WITNESSES IS ALL I DO
Special thanks to @resonator @canadian-coconut @felixxx @ausbitbank @familyprotection @xeldal @deepresearch and everyone who has been supporting my interview. Thanks to you all.
You can read more about @stayoutoftherz here
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