What Makes a Difference Between Miner/Witness Candidates?

When things are running smooth there is not much to do in operating a validator node. However, critical situations can occur in which you might see different reactions from individual operators. Such situations can be times where patches and workarounds need to be applied. It is important that operators have/take the time, and are sufficiently competent in applying the solutions. Running a validator node should not be a first experience with being a system administrator on Unix.

Besides the technical skills, running a validator node is like being a notary public. The qualification is trustworthiness where applicants need some proven record of reliability. In case of an operator of a validator node you might ask how they behave or behaved in situations with a conflict of personal interest. Among the active miners of the Decent blockchain there are countless sybils that are also voted by other active miners and miner aspirants. There are few who actively spoke out against this practice, and they did so taking into account getting unvoted. In this context, I would like to refer to the call in Slack by @pfunk and others for taking action against the sybils.