RE: The Reports from the Witnesses 2018-01-07
Technically in a previous hardfork, the miner position was removed and a new ‘top 20’ position was added in its place with the same pay. Also, it is one block every 63 seconds - close to one per minute, but not exactly.
If the price of STEEM stays the same (or goes up), then yes - that is how much witnesses are making per day.
It is up to individual witnesses how much time they devote to it. For me it is pretty close to a full time job, but I do have a ‘day job’ in addition to my witness. One thing about witness pay is it can be great when the price is up, but we were still expected to do all the same stuff when the price of STEEM was $0.08 as well. We can also be voted out at anytime.
Anyone who has the technical skills necessary to get a witness node up and running can be a witness. Getting the votes from stakeholders however requires that they prove they are trustworthy individuals and are able to add value to the platform.
It is up to each individual stakeholder to decide what is important to them when voting for witnesses.
There is data on witness voting on steemdb.com.
So, nobody controls them or tells them to do more/a better job or what?
How much does the technical end of running a node cost?
Would you change some of the pay for some more security on being witness?
It is a decentralized system. Witnesses are accountable to their voters. If their voters remove their votes, they lose their ‘job’.
I spend about $300 per month on my infrastructure, plus my time. From a technical perspective, it requires some level of Linux sys admin skills, and a small amount of programming knowledge.
Not sure what you are asking.
Let me give you an example: When markymark isn't doing what he was supposed to do again, do you (or others) shout at him for his laziness? Do you tell around that he's a bad witness? I think for the hygiene of Steemit that is very important.
Is it tax deductible and do you publish the bill?
Well, you get ~0.2 Steem per block right now but can be fired any time. What if you had the choice to only get 0.15 Steem per block but after being voted out you'd still be in for another 4 weeks. Sort of American style VS European style.
I don't know the details here. What was he supposed to do?
The witnesses (and stakeholders) often get in very heated discussions, but there really isn't a central person to make this type of call. Even if I were to yell at someone for "not doing their job" - the worst I can do to them is publicly call them out, or take away my witness vote (if I am voting for them).
The real way that witnesses get hurt by doing something wrong, or 'not doing a good job' is by not getting votes, or by people who have voted for them taking their votes away.
Yes it is tax deductible. No, I don't publish the bill. The hosting companies that I use for my witness servers are kept private for security reasons.
No. I am paid per block that I produce. If I am voted out, I produce less blocks (or no blocks depending on the severity). If I am not producing blocks, then it doesn't make sense for me to get paid.
Also, at what point does someone earn their 4 weeks? A lot of times a top 20 witness is only there for a few hours, or a few days. Do they have to stay elected for at least a week to earn that? Or two weeks? Also, what happens if someone turns out to be a malicious witness? Would we need to invent a way to turn off the 4 weeks pay in cases like that? Who would control it? ...
My opinion is that I don't see what value it adds, and it would make the system more complicated.
I think it is very important for everyone to know, who hates whom among the witnesses, because it is you who have a (semi)professional look at each other. 99% of all users have no contact to the engine room or the bridge at all. That can be bridged by expressing personal opinions.
My question here is: How should normal users otherwise find out? A "press" could help. Interested users following the debates and then writing articles about it. But that would end as usual: Debates behind closed doors. So, the answer is that it becomes part of the job of a witness to be openly critical about his fellow witnesses.
I brought this up because it can help creating transparency. I would also advocate that witnesses start an official business when they get into running a node. Because if I was the government and try to get someone, I look at his tax records. That's why publishing the numbers and creating an own entity (without the adress of course..) would mean to reduce a potential weak spot.
That's how an American thinks;-)
A possible advantage could be a better development for the system. In 4 weeks you can pull off projects and with having the necessary funds through the mining money, this might induce a more rapid development.
But, you're right. It could complicate things too much.
Another thing: I haven't found the specific voting modalities yet. Am I assuming correctly that your vote counts as much as you have MVESTS?
Yes, that is correct.
(see my reply below)