Well, here we are. The day is winding down (for me anyway). The new Hive chain is stabilizing. More nodes and applications are slowly coming online. It’s been a hell of month and many people are feeling that a sigh of relief is finally in order.
While some people may be calming down a bit, I think I’m starting to get a little fired up. “Why?” you may ask. Well...let me tell you why…
Many people seem to be confused about what delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) is and what blockchains in general were designed to accomplish. Blockchains are a form of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and, at their core, are the exact opposite of a centralized database. I think that goes without saying but there are apparently a lot of people who have yet to grasp this concept.
How they’ve managed to evade this comprehension of the very platform they’ve been using - in many cases for a few years - is beyond me. Nonetheless, they have successfully avoided such comprehension and continue to make fools of themselves.
It’s not only the ‘D’ in DLT that they don’t understand - it’s the DPoS system as well.
Over the past five weeks, we’ve been subjected to plenty of ignorant discussions and diatribes about what witnesses can and can’t do, what constitutes “decentralization,” and how “private property” has been under attack. From many of the most vocal people shouting about these topics, their understanding of the principles and concepts involved is less than rudimentary.
So let’s just dive right into the facts about this little blockchain we’re using.
Here’s how DPoS works:
- Any person can run any software they want on their computer.
- Any person running such software can choose to validate or ignore transactions from any account(s).
- Any user of the software can approve or unapprove any validator at any time by using their own stake.
- When a majority (soft forks) or a super-majority (hard forks) of validators is running the same software, then that software is what is “accepted” as the current chain by validators and stakeholders.
- At any time, any other group of validators can run a different version of the software and those validators can then “fork” the chain and run their own version of it, separate from the original chain.
- Each user participating in 1-5 is using their own property in the way they see fit. None of the steps in 1-5 contradict or counteract DPoS.
The fact that a group of people who share the same ideas and/or goals decide to run the same code on their computers - and that other people support them by approving of those decisions - is actually precisely what DPoS is, fundamentally.
It’s all about property rights (those hosting and broadcasting the blockchain on and from their computers) and free association (willingly deciding to run the same code as others are running). It’s the coordination from different people running the same software that makes the database (the blockchain) decentralized. The more people running the same software and hosting the same database, the more decentralized it becomes.
If a database and software is being hosted and run by one person who controls all of the data and transactions, then you don’t have a distributed ledger. There’s no need for a blockchain or any pretense of decentralization. This single person effectively “owns” the database.
The Steem soft fork that was deployed back on February 23rd that ignored the transactions of Steemit Inc. accounts was DPoS in action. A relatively large number of witnesses decided to run software on their computers and deployed that software in order to ensure that the database they were hosting would not be corrupted by a potential threat that could have centralized it.
When Justin Sun used exchanges and their custodial funds to then centralize the Steem blockchain, he effectively negated the entire purpose of that blockchain. Fortunately, his incompetence ensured that his developers (or complete lack thereof) could not deploy any code that could take advantage of the centralization before enough of the original community’s witnesses were able to prevent it.
It wasn’t Justin’s actions that had me concerned, however. His response, as unimaginably stupid as it was, seems to me to be a rather normal response, given his apparently vast ignorance of how blockchains work.
I was actually more surprised at some of the criticisms and actions of long-standing Steem users and stakeholders. For some of these people to make colossally dimwitted arguments about the very system they’ve been involved with for years was truly astonishing.
And then to see some users actually vote for centralization left me completely dumbfounded.
It would be easy for me to say that these people are just ignorant or stupid, or to believe that they really thought they were “just keeping the stalemate.” But I’m pretending that these people are not as dumb as they seem. Hell...I know some of them aren’t. That really pissed me off about the entire situation.
But even that isn’t the worst of it.
After the ignorance and whining over the soft fork...after the extremely reckless participation by exchanges to help Justin...after the votes of stakeholders to trash their own blockchain...we’re now left with another round of whining and crying and threatening from those who couldn’t see the inevitable, even when it was explicitly explained to them what was going to happen.
Of course, I’m talking about the Hive blockchain airdrop and the fact that a number of Steem stakeholders were not included in it. And boy, are they really upset about it now!
Earlier today, there was a discussion about these people and whether or not that decision was fair to them. After a few attempts from several people (myself included) at reasoning with the person who brought it up, I finally just laid the truth out there.
The language gets a little colorful…
“You know what irritates me more than anything? By doing what he did, Justin and his supporters put all Steem investors in a situation where our time to exit was fast-tracked and the wealth generated on Steem over the past four years will have pretty much evaporated before even a single person can fully exit. There were a lot of people on Steem who built up their craft, their followings, and their wallets over a period of four years...and in four weeks, all of that has been completely destroyed.”
“If it weren't for this hard fork, it would have been a complete loss for everyone involved and invested. And who were the people who contributed to that disgusting achievement?”
“The very people that you're now oozing sympathy for. Why in the fucking world should ANY of us care that they aren't getting some free tokens? Please, do tell me why I or anyone else needs to give a single shit about their feelings or their proclaimed ‘loss’ of a thing that THEY did not create and that THEY never would have had in the first place if it weren't for the people that THEY drove away.”
“Quite frankly, they can all go to hell. Most of them knew what they were doing. I tried to warn them myself, repeatedly, that they were overplaying their hand and would end up getting burned by their own stupidity. Nobody listened. I do not feel bad for them. They got what they deserved...a piece of shit platform run by a piece of shit. So they can stay there. They can cry. They can call us genocidal. I don't give a flying fuck. That platform is dead and anyone who wants to stay on it is beyond stupid.”
“Good luck. Have fun. Steem and its remaining community is not my problem anymore.”
OK...so...was I too harsh on the other commenter or the people who voted for centralization? I don’t believe I was.
Some people are out there right now claiming that what was done was petty and vindictive. I could not disagree more.
The decision that was made is all about philosophical principles. It was made with the idea of decentralization, free association, and private property in mind. This decision was also made with the full understanding that Hive tokens were not anyone’s property and that none of the existing Steem tokens have been touched by anyone who helped develop and deploy the Hive blockchain.
Those people who decided to act against the interests of a large majority of Steem’s stakeholders need to accept the consequences of their actions and truly comprehend that they are owed nothing at all simply for having a Steem account and tokens in their Steem wallet.
Hive is not Steem.
The entire purpose of creating Hive was to avoid the need to “take” anything from anyone. The accounts not receiving the airdrop will even be able to use the Hive blockchain. No accounts are deleted. Nothing has been stolen.
And even despite everything that has happened, these accounts may still have a chance to receive the airdrop by submitting a proposal to the “Decentralized Hive Fund” (Hive’s version of the Steem Proposal System, or SPS). The community will ultimately decide whether or not they want to give free Hive tokens to those who may potentially use them to undermine the very decentralization that has been sought.
Is there a more fair way of dealing with hostile actors? Is this not the kind of free association that many of us in the crypto community hold dear?
Is this not a testament to decentralization and the value of community...to the very principles and the foundation of DPoS?
A new chain was created. New tokens have been airdropped. The community that supports Hive can move on. Those who preferred to support centralization can remain on the centralized chain. I’d say it’s a win-win, but even though the Hive blockchain has a more promising future than Steem ever had, this doesn’t feel like a win-win to me.
I’m not sure if I feel bad for the people who made horrible decisions (I’m pretty sure that I don’t) or if I feel disappointed that everything over the past four years had to come to a head like this. I do know that I don’t feel bad for the decisions that I’ve made over the past five weeks.
Let me tie a little bow on all of this and then we can be done with it all…
We may not share common values and common goals - and that’s okay. The beauty of such a digital community is that we’re not forced to join a blockchain, to interact with it or its users, or to pay for each other’s misdeeds.
We all have choices to make. Some people made choices that they felt were right. Others disagreed with those choices. So long as nobody has been forced to do anything against their will and so long as nobody has had any of their property stolen from them, then it’s a matter of subjective opinion regarding what other people ought to do.
Delegated proof-of-stake has been directly attacked over the past month. Some weaknesses have been exposed but it may not be anything that can’t be fixed. It’s our job now to make this system more robust.
We will take this new challenge to the Hive blockchain and work to resolve it...as stakeholders in the system, as witnesses using our property to support it, as freely-associated and involved individuals, and as a decentralized community.
This is what we fought for. Now it’s time to lay the foundation for a new and improved DPoS blockchain.
I’m ready. I’m actually a little excited. Let’s make Hive what Steem could have been a long time ago - and let’s not let each other down again.
I'm a Hive witness. You can vote for me, @ats-witness.
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