What should a Hive Witness do?
Welcome to a new Liotes Mission. Today, we would like to ask you a question related to Hive Witnesses.
Hive Witnesses are here to make sure that our blockchain works well but it seems that people expect much more from them. What is your opinion about it?
What should a Hive Witness do? What is his roles? How should he interact with the community? What would in your opinion characterize the perfect Hive Witness?
Please leave your answer as a comment below this post.
P.S: It wasn't possible to upload a video to 3speak so today's mission is text only.
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To be honest, I don't know much about HIVE witnesses nor do I care much for what they do. I'll just vote the few whom my other friends vote for and trust they're the correct choice. :)
That's very interesting. You bring up the notion of trust. If your friends trust the witness, you will do the same. So we could say that a witness should be trustworthy :-)
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Hmmm Hive or is it PeakD lately have quite laggy/shaky somewhat when it comes to loading of posts.
There's always some message that reads: Looks like something went wrong, please try again in a few moments. Or it would ask me to switch node or something.
I just hope if the witness could fix this issue, that would be great!
I'm not sure about it but I think it's often related to nodes. If a node goes down, things tend not to work properly and the easiest solution is to switch peakd to another node.
I see, thanks for sharing!
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Thanks!
Hive witness should run the node on a good spec server, not only running the node on minimum spec. I do not think a witness should interact with others, or mingle between us, but its up to them whether to do those activities with the witness account/wallet or using his/her public persona.
the perfect witness? I don't think there will be any characteristic for that. but from my point of view, a good witness should be:
This is a very important point I believe. Of course the witness has some costs from running the surver that often have to be paid in fiat money. But there should be a will to continue to power up and show by example.
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In my opinion, a Hive Witness should not only ensure the proper functioning of the blockchain but also actively engage with the community.
They should be accessible, responsive, and open to feedback and suggestions.
The perfect Hive Witness would demonstrate technical expertise, strong communication skills, and a genuine commitment to the growth and success of the Hive ecosystem.
!WINE
I quite like your description. When voting for a witness we kind of delegate our hopes and plans regarding hive to their expertise. So they should also make sure that they do their work with our intentions at heart.
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1 Keep the blockchain running.
2 Interact with their voters when they are not doing the above.
I’m not smart enough to know how much work it takes to do number 1.
!PIZZA
I think that the whole concept of voting for a witness means that the witnesses actually represent us and get a confidence vote from us. I believe there should be a way how witnesses also represent the interests of their voter base.
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For me it only has to make sure the chain works well.
I believe it's the core function but on the other hand, I don't know how we should orientate our votes if we don't take more parameters into account.
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This is a great topic as a lot of people don't even know what witnesses are. The main purpose of witnesses is to sign/confirm blocks. If I'm not mistaken, a block to be irreversible needs 3/4 of the witnesses scheduled for that round (20 top witnesses + 1) to sign that block.
There is not a lot to expect from most witnesses as only the top 20 will be part of the most important decisions in the chain (a fork needs to be signed by most top 20 to happen), but we can and should be part of conversations to help these witnesses make decisions.
I decided to run a witness node to represent my community and help decentralize and strengthen the chain, even though I'm running it at loss at this moment, as my cost to run the server is higher then what I make signing blocks, I think it's worth it.
I'm taking this opportunity to ask if anyone has a spare vote, to consider voting for my witness. Also if you haven't looked into your witness votes in a while, please check if you are voting for a witness that is no longer online to remove that vote and choose a new one.
It's great that you support the chain with your witness. I think that the system gets more stable the more witnesses there are. Even if only 20 produce blocks, I think that there should be a certain competition among the witnesses that forces them to represent the people who vote for them. I'll see if I have a spare vote ;-)
Thank you very much for your vote! It really helps!!
do you have a link to your witness where we can vote you? also, what % do you set for HBD?
Here is the link to vote for my witness:
https://vote.hive.uno/@mengao
I'm following most at 20% APR for HBD, but only top 20 witnesses count. The APR is defined by the majority of top 20, not total of witnesses.
You can also check witnesses info and vote here:
https://hivetasks.com/witnesses
Thanks, what rank are you? I couldnt find you in the list.
currently at rank 125
Found you, gave you a vote! I hope you manage to get some more support :)
very much appreciated!! thank you! :)
this post already helped a lot get some support! thanks @liotes !!
You got one more vote!
Thank you!!
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Well, I'm not sure if what I'm going to say is correct, but I believe that witnesses should guide the entire hive ecosystem in a certain way towards the best possible path, thinking collectively and trying to create new ways of attracting more people without forget about those who entrusted their vote to them. They have a prominent place within Hive, after all, there are countless votes from people who place them in this position.
I believe that witnesses are representatives of the people, just as politicians (theoretically should be) for the population, always seeking the best for everyone. Thank God, Hive's witnesses are more evolved than politicians, so here I'm sure everything is going well.
That's a very interesting point. I kind of agree with you that since we vote for these witnesses, they should also represent our interests and work towards it.
Exactly, they become representatives of the "people" and somehow I think they become notorious, so we have to see their actions and ideas to see if they match what we think too!
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Tbh, I don't know what they're working on 😂. I thought they're just like BTC Miner on HIVE? No comment because of less knowledge about them.
hehe, it's a bit different than miners but I get your point :-)
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I am more concerned that there are no abuses of power. They should be more decentralized, sometimes I think they decide too many things on behalf of the community.
A lot of top witnesses are Hive OG's and it's not surprising that they kind of protect each other. It can look a bit like abuse of power in some cases...
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Keep the blockchain going!
Be ready to listen and engage the community to make the blockchain stable and grow.
That's a good point. I'm not sure that all witnesses care what the community wants.
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I think a good witness will lead by example and show good governance of the Hive blockchain. This means to me powering up Hive more than selling, supporting initiatives that support the longetivity of the chain.
It seems that this is point that many people point out!
Yes, of course they have costs to cover, but there should be a bottom left, to top right movement in their HP imo! lol
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I am in the same boat with @ladymisa. I vote for people that I feel have the shown they work toward the best interests of the HIVE Community. Otherwise, I don't have much knowledge of what they actually do (kind of like the U.S. Congress).
It's not that easy to know who the witnesses are and what they are actually doing. This makes a good voting not that easy in my opinion...
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Other than running a node, I'm not sure what HIVE witnesses do.
Their main task is to produce blocks and make sure that the chain works but since we need to chose among them, the question is what we expect of them?
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Some try harder, others less.
But it is certainly good that we have to vote again after a while, because that way we can evaluate, for ourselves of course, whether someone has met our expectations or not.
I think that this was an important point that was implemented. Also it helps to keep dead accounts from influencing governence.
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I think it's to keep the blockchain running. That is the most important thing to do and everything else can come after. I also wouldn't mind listening to what they think about some of the parameters that they can control such as the HBD interest rate.
This would definitely help to direct the votes of the community and create real competition among the witnesses.
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Apart from their role of securing the chain by running nodes and staking HIVE, they should at least keep the community updated especially when there's a proposed change and they are for or against it.
That's a very important point. When communicating their position in such cases they can help voters to define who they want to support. I believe that's how it should work and since we have all the tools to communicate here on hive, it should be kind of normal...
Yes, even a short post explaining their decision and why would be very appreciated. It helps us weigh in our options as well.
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As block maker, they should run the node on great spec pc to keep the block making smoothly.
How they should interact? I think as people that get HBD from the hive, they need to contribute as well to the community, show support for content creator that keep this community alive.
And most importantly, don't take too much from this community. We knew that running server has it's cost, but other than that, just don't be greedy, maybe half should kept to power up at least.
All those points above is my perspective for a perfect witness
That's something that many people have pointed out here. I think that at the moment there is a perception that many witnesses tend to take too much...
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In my opinion, Hive Witness owners should not often sell the HIVE they get. Should be used for developing Hive Witness.
I believe that there are some costs related to running a witness but I agree that in general they should try to make their accounts grow and lead by example!
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At a minimum, a Hive witness should run a high uptime Hive node. Ideally they should also contribute to the Hive network or community as well.
It seems a lot of witnesses are run on relatively cheap and unstable machines. That isn't that good for the chain I believe.
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To be honest, I'm not really sure what their "responsibilities" are. Basically, the ones I vote for are people/entities I feel are continuing to build and support the Hive blockchain. People that, by their work, are making ME money at the same time they're helping themselves. Not sure what other criteria should even be considered.
I like this concept. A witness should help you while he helps himself as well!
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Drive more initiatives to onboard newcomers to Hive! 😊
That's a tough cookie but in the end we will need to get there if we wan't the chain to grow!
Yeah it's never easy unless he / she could come up with creative ways to entice people to join / retain them! 😁
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Thank you! 😊
I believe that, in addition to defining the direction of HIVE, we must also provide security and always seek greater balance, aiming for community growth.
That's a good point. Kind of creating a win-win for the community and the witness.
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Witnesses should be the voice of the people.
I understand they might have (mostly) bought and own their own stake of HIVE, but they should at least attempt to "rule" as an enlightened monarch and take heed as to what the greater userbase wants.
If HIVE grows because of that, it will of course be to their own financial benefit too.
That's an interesting point. In a way if there is a vote, it means there is a delegation of trust and in a way you are right that a witness should kind of respresent the voice of the people who voted for him.
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A witness should not just be a block signer. It must be someone present on the blockchain, issuing opinions and defending points of view, in order to help form opinions with their supporters and also eventually have more visibility and gain new signatories.
I think that's a very valid point. Often people who are not involved in the working of the chain don't really know if something is good or bad. If witnesses could help with their own experience and opinion, it would definitely help for users to understand and form their own opinion.
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Thank you... could you tell me where I can get more information about this?
We are running the Liotes Ranking for several years already. You get ranked there if you take part in our weekly missions or when you own and stake LENM tokens or when you delegate HP to our liotes.voter account. Starting from December the top 15 of the ranking will actually get rewards in the form of LEN tokens.
Another awesome question, I love going through the comments to see what others are saying too. As a Hive witness (slothbuzz), it's excellent feedback. Most of the witnesses out of the top 50 are running at a loss, especially if running better spec than the minimum, it's great to see many supporting the chain under those circumstances.
We think our role, not only supporting the blockchain run, is to help further advance Hive. By building a community and apps/tools we're aiming to help Hivians enjoy and maximise their time on the chain. Offering an alternative to web2 and allowing people to control their futures. We're always looking at more ways to engage and build with Hivians. Whether they be full projects or individual artists/creators there's something for everyone at sloth.buzz
It's refreshing to see people running witnesses that are interacting with the community and try to be part of it.
btw I just voted for your witness
Thanks, we appreciate every vote. We'll continue to buzz around at a sloth's pace and try to get things done. Hive has huge potential if it can capture the market, we're in a very interesting time and it's a pleasure to be a part of it!
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A witness should not only validate & sign blocks in a reliable fashion, he should ideally also interact with users, write posts, comment frequently, curate, etc. and last not least also keep as much Hive powered up as possible! If you agree to all this, you can vote for me 😀, as I try to live this day by day!
When I look through the comments in this post, I see that you point out a lot of things that people are asking for. I believe you are on the good track ;-)
Thanks!
Hmm... Not sure why I didn't vote for you before...
That is fixed now! 😃
MANY THANKS!!
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That's a complex question.
Non-consensus witnesses (but rather out of the top 30) can be block producers only, if that's what they want.
Top 30 witnesses also need to:
because of their position of influence regarding decisions with financial impact on the ecosystem.
Top 30 witnesses also need to have reliable infrastructure and backups and quickly react if their nodes have issues.
Additionally, they need to have one or more of the following contributions:
Ideally, a witness should also build up a stake in the blockchain.
Probably there are other aspects I missed, but it's late and I can't focus.
That's a pretty awesome description. I wonder whether there shouldn't also be some witnesses that are maybe less strong in the coding/testing department but who bring value through their interaction with the community. At the moment, I have the feeling that the top30 are rather strong in the technical department and that we lack some alternatives...
I'm including them in the business builders, although maybe some are just building communities. And yes, we need their representation in Top 30. In top 20 there's acidyo and threespeak (neither co-owners are technical, but they are business builders); between 21-30 we also have curie, which I suppose has a good feel of the community, and leofinance (Khal isn't a developer himself). Maybe too few business builders up there, but some are both techy and business/community builders, so the balance gets more even.
Darn... If we have to be all that, Liotes can't be an HIVE witness! 🙂
Why not? The differentiation is for the Top 30, not below. At the top, I believe we need to have high standards. Something else I forgot to mention. They need to still be active on Hive, and not just set a witness node among many others and lose contact with what's going on in the ecosystem, especially at the base layer.
P.S. Liotes, CTBSB, OurPick, etc. qualify as business building on Hive. 😀
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A witness should regularly tweak and upgrade the servers for smooth node operations, it should communicate issues and occurrences to the Hive community through different mediums such as posting an update or using Discord.
They should teach other users how to become a witness and what benefits it would bring to the community.
No one can be perfect, but if a witness follow community guidelines, engage with Hive based activities, support in marketing of Hive, or run a program to bring more users.
I think it is a best a Hive witness can do.
That's an interesting idea. I think that it would be great if there were as many witnesses as possible and I believe that there should also be place for witnesses that are maybe not professionals in the technical department but that bring something else to the table.
It means we have some trained people in line for becoming a witness if need be.
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Thank you for the points.