RE: Proposal: Funding for anyx.io API Infrastructure Recurrent Costs
Philosophically, I believe API access should be public and freely available -- enabling developers to quickly build and test applications and provide value to the ecosystem, without having to deal with infrastructure woes
I agree with this with respect to developers for experimentation and initial development (what you call "building and testing"), but once something goes into deployment and significant usage, I believe projects and businesses should run their own nodes or at least pay their own way.
I don't support the public good model of running big expensive nodes which IMO actually hurt the ecosystem. The blockchain itself is a public good, but when it comes to accessing it, many businesses and projects could easily run their own nodes with the result being a more robust decentralized network. They don't and won't do this if get free service.
I feel the same way about Steemit's nodes. They should be closed down or have access limited to development purposes.
I would 100% support a smaller proposal that is narrowly focused on providing limited-capacity API support to individuals and developers for their own use.
Agree that at some point, the big projects should run their own nodes. Once they're successful and making profits, they should be able to afford nodes. Steemit's RPC has been good to the community, but at high cost to Steemit Inc. Those servers are more expensive than people realize.
Technology has evolved exponentially in the last two years! Plus, with MIRA, it's more affordable to run a node, albeit with a slower replay time. However, downtimes are part of the internet experience, it's something we already live with. Hopefully in the future Steemit will figure out a way to reduce long replay times, some ideas are in the air, so it's a matter of time before they get implemented.