The Bugbear That is Steem Witness Voting

briggsy (64)in #steem • 5 years ago (edited)

Each account on Steem has the ability to vote for up to 30 Witnesses, i.e. Steem Miners. The problem that I've voiced in the past (correct me if I'm wrong) is that a Steem Witness vote doesn't expire.

Case closed, end of story. This should be fixed already, right?

Well, not exactly.

First, If I decide to update my witness votes, the current top 100 witnesses are more likely to get a vote because they are on a convenient list to choose from. That's a snowball effect, and not a good one. First come, first serve. Late to the party? Sorry to the wannabe witnesses, your help is appreciated but not required.

Second, how many dormant/inactive Steem accounts are out there?

100,000?

1,000,000?

Probably closer to the latter. And even if only 10% of those inactive Steem accounts voted for witnesses, that's a crap load of votes that should be reset, but are not.

So who does the current system benefit?

If you've ever contemplated becoming a witness, you would soon realize it's not as simple as putting together a mining rig and running a script or two. There are costs involved, both time and money, and you will likely never get any thanks for your efforts as a Steem miner. You can't blame people for not being thankful, as a miner at the top of the list is definitely earning Steem for mining, and Steem's engine (so to speak) is well hidden underneath the hood, which is a good thing. Many people post and upvote/downvote, comment and transact on Steem without ever thinking about the witnesses powering the whole thing. We all know it's blockchain-based, but that's about it.

to be fair, Steem's method of voting for miners eliminates the problem that Bitcoin has, in that mining difficulty won't increase as more miners join in, thus making Steem efficient and eco-friendly. Becoming a witness doesn't mean you're going to be mining blocks. More than likely, you will have to canvas the platform for votes using methods that may annoy people as much as motivate them to vote for you. So for anyone considering becoming a steem witness, you have a cliff to climb that will only keep getting steeper as time progresses.

Knowing this, what would the consequences be if inactive witness votes were removed after, say, three months time? I would speculate that witnesses with the most votes would still have the most votes, given the advantage they have in being on the top 100 list for people to choose from. If you're not on that list, do people know you even exist as a witness?

So that is the first option to make things more fair, but I don't believe it would change much, and I don't see a Steem witness who is in the top 20 ever having a reason to support a change on this, which means that we're likely screwed. That being said, how many of those top witnesses interact with the community and contribute to the value of the platform? There are many, and they have my vote, but there are also some witnesses who don't contribute as much value to the platform (in my opinion, shoot me for being honest), and it would seem more fair if witnesses had to periodically present their case to the community, like an election campaign, and justify to us why we should vote for them.

Maybe it's because today is election day here in Canada, and election reform is a real concern here, much like in the US. Looking at Steem, I now realize just how undemocratic things really are here. Imagine a country where your government was established on the votes of dead people, and this was considered normal? Most inactive steem accounts are, for all intents and purposes, dead people who are still on the voter roll for Steem.

Can anyone say shitshow?

Okay, so are there any other risks? What happens if you have an election process on Steem where once every 3 months, or 6 months, or maybe every year where the platform has some kind of voting reset? Maybe I don't want to participate, can I just set my vote to be automated, and keep upvoting the same witnesses every cycle? Not a bad idea, but it defeats the purpose of having inactive accounts removed from the process, much like we don't let dead people vote in the real world.

Maybe I'm being way too idealistic, but I see this as beneficial for witnesses to have the opportunity to present their case to the platform periodically, as it gives witnesses a chance to show off what they've accomplished thus far, and what their vision for the platform is, but it also leaves the door open for new witnesses that may have a lot to contribute to the platform. Hell, maybe some kind of system could exist where witnesses can register as a candidate, and their posts automatically rise to the top of the promoted tab on steemit so that the community can be more informed on their witness votes.

Am I crazy, or is this not realistic?

The trending tab is starting to look healthier, although there are still large whales taking shits on all the minnows by handing out large upvotes to their friends, but there is progress being made on many fronts to make steem work the way it needs to for long term sustainability and success, and not just for a few blubbery whales that have no foresight.

In order to really get Steem rolling, new and old Steemians need something to keep their interest, and to feel like they are part of a community where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I see witness voting as an area that could act as this glue to pull people in and give people a feeling that their vote helped shape the ecosystem, because right now it really feels like the inactive accounts are making the decision for the rest of us that are still here. I've written posts in the past, as have many others, to remind active users to keep their witness votes up to date, but on the inside I feel like I'm reminding people to remember how shitty the witness voting system is.

I've also noticed that I have attracted some heavy downvoters on a recent post. Good, that means I've set a fire under someone's ass to take action, even if I get t-boned in the process. Bring it on, because I still think Steem's social media side has a fighting chance to be something other than a dumpster fire, but the more egregious flaws need to be fixed first, and steem witness voting is a bugbear that I won't stop making noise about - it's like a turd floating in the punch, and there's nothing else to drink at the party. Too graphic? How about a stick in the spokes? fly in the ointment? pee in your cheerios? Rocks in your shoes?

thanks for reading. As a wise professor once said, "Don't pee where you sleep."

#steemit #voting #elections #steemleo