Hive Witnesses
I was looking at the hive witness list on PeakD tonight. The list is long, but if you click on active and look for a witness with at least 1M HP vote, the list is rather short. It is 109, the last being skatehive with just over 1M HP voted for that witness. For those user who do not know (and I know there are some who will read this post):
On the Hive blockchain, a witness (also known as a block producer) plays a vital role in maintaining the network's security and operation. Here's a breakdown of their key functions:
Block Production
Transaction Validation
Network Security
Governance
The common hiver/blogger/content creator, are the people who uses the hive blockchain and its front ends also take part in the fourth part, the governance. Hive uses a DPoS (delegated proof of stake) consensus mechanism, where token holders vote for witnesses to represent them, and also they they vote as per their HP or Hive Power (staked Hive).
The witnesses, take care of the first three duties, and for their services, they get paid per block. The top 20 witnesses get paid more than the rest, for reasons:
well I don't know :)
They are better than the others?
They are voted at the top?
They are voted by themselves at the top?
They have better and more reliable servers and distributed them all over the world?
They are smarter/better human than the rest of us and the rest of the witnesses?
Whatever, the reason may be, they get paid more. How much? Thanks to @dalz we know exactly
The top 20 are earning the same amount of HIVE (HP), around 145k HP per year.
For months/years hive stay below 20 cents, so if you take into account server costs (AWS can be expensive) and depending on how souped up server you run these full nodes on, you can be barely breakeven at times. However, you are making money, as you should, if hive is north of 20 cents if you are a top 20 witness. We are thankful for your services, but you still have to earn my vote :)
That is my only request to common hivers:
Please make the witnesses earn your vote
No, I do not believe they are doing us any favor. They are providing a service and getting paid for it. And no, I do not believe, there will always be top 20, yes, there would be, but I will feel bad if they are not my chosen ones, and so should you. Why? Because it is your vote and your right. Can I control all of top 20, No I can't, I don't have enough HP, but hey I want to, and so should you. Together we can perhaps, someday!
Well obviously you are going to say, I have 5000 HP and my witness vote does not matter.
Wrong. Your witness vote matters!
You may have 5000 HP, but if there are 100 people with 5000 HP, the number is not so small. Also, ask yourself, why do you only have 5000 HP? What can you do to make it 10,000 HP?
Long term commitment to the chain: That is how you gain HP and that will how you take part in governance.
Hive Proposals
I am well known as a very direct person on hive blockchain. I say it straight whether you like it or not. So when therealwolf recently posted about AI agent at hive blockchain and cried when his AI maximizer was thwarted by the community, I posted a direct comment expressing my displeasure about posting automated content for reward. I wrote the comment because I felt cheated by a top 20 witness maximizing the reward pool. Why? Because the prices are running high these days and he needed money and employment. How do I know, as posted himself here:
@therealwolf/need-a-developer-wolf-is-ready-to-help
Also there were many indirect messages and proposals earlier, which I don't want/need to list. There is no problem looking for employment. There is a problem if you try to earn money at the expense of other people, which we call the "abuse of the reward pool", which was the goal of wolf with hive maximiser, yes I know the name of his tool, but I am going to call it what I want to call it.
In the past Wolf also tried to write a SPS proposal for a game, which the SPS stakeholder denied funding. So he moved his game away from hive, as he should. Go ahead I say, so to a better and more suitable place where you are valued :)
But you know many of us have seen this story unfold many times.
I am going...........I am leaving...........The chain doesn't value my services.......Damn it! Go. Why do you have to tell the rest of the world that you are going? My God! The drama!
Common Hiver
I am a common hiver. I use the blockchain as a blog. This is my blog. There are many like this, but this one is mine :) I play games here, and I try to do some good for the community if I can. I have purchased most of my hive with cash and I hold my HP. I have held them when it was 10 cents, and I have held them when it was $1. I do not farm the reward pool. I do not ask for money, I don't write a proposal. I am not supported by DHF. I am not a witness. I am just a common hiver. I don't want your support and I don't want your money. But when you ask for my support or expect my support; you got to ask me nicely!
In other words, you can't call me a bully and then turn around and ask for my support on your proposal. If you call me a bully, I will be a bully and you need to be ready to get a black eye.
Yes, then you can say sorry, but you will still have the black eye (digitally speaking)! That is how the real world works. So think about it and take actions accordingly BEFORE you call me a bully. Show us some effing courtesy.
Show us, the common hiver, some respect because we held the HP and you didn't.
To all the common hivers, please make them earn your witness vote, and please make them earn your vote on their proposal.