Suggestion: Improved Witness Voting Page for Steemit.com
Components
This suggestion affects the witness voting page in Condenser (steemit.com).
Proposal
The current witness voting page is sub optimal. Users do not have access to sufficient data on the page to know whether they are voting for witnesses that are acting in the ways they might prefer and we have been reliant on an external page run by @drakos to provide this data. Not only this, but since the page only displays the top 50 witnesses (some of whom are inactive/dead), the rest of the witnesses are significantly hindered in that voters, on visiting the page, do not see them and do not know they even exist. Since 30 votes are provided, it is highly likely that many users just pick 30 out of the 50 they see and never even consider voting for the other witnesses. This results in the top 50 witnesses gaining many votes for no reason other than that users cannot see the full list.
The list must be extended to include all witness accounts for fairness.
I also suggest that the latest update that the witness has written is included in the list, along with the link to their original witness application post in order to allow users to see how active they are in communicating to the community and to also read their latest update easily.
Users who are inactive (even temporarily) will be marked as such by a red line or font (see mockup).
Column headings, when clicked, can reveal additional information about the data their column contains.
If the list is slow in loading, then it can be loaded via AJAX, as the posts currently load in all lists in Condenser.
Mockups / Examples
Benefits
Many users have complained that they do not know enough about witnesses in order to know who to vote for and so by adding more relevant information on the witness voting page, they will be better guided towards voting for those who best represent their ideals and intentions.
Additionally, by displaying all of the witness accounts, there is a much fairer playing field for witnesses who are currently struggling to gain exposure, regardless of how hard they work.
Not only does this improve the competitiveness of the witness 'league' but it engenders a sense of good will and fairness that is valuable in a platform such as Steemit that is intended to reward 'brains' and is essentially a form of meritocracy. From both a functional and a Public Relations aspect, this change is essential.
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors
Since a witness is putting time, effort and computing power into this, they should be on the list, no ands or butts. Even if it scrolls on for pages. Its the least we can do, for the effort they are putting in.
Well said!
Completely agree with that.
You're the only witness that I've voted for, and the only person who seems to care about Steem, so who are all those other randoms? :-O
There definitely needs to be a better page for witnesses, the current voting page is extremely poor.
There should also, on said page, be a means with which you can determine the activity by witnesses on Steem, or perhaps on the blockchain.
Thank you for lifting this important issue, @ura-soul , I had no idea witnesses earned anything to begin with, even less the actual amount, yikes.
Your proposal looks great - for the page as it is now and as a first step.
What I was saying in the reply under your previous post is that the whole witnesses submodule need a total remake. As you are pointing out in the replies - voting, visibility, search, username validation, status, ... everything actually.
In the first place - it should not be on steemit.com. This is just a condenser in beta for ages now.
In the second place - it lacks transparency and visibility for everybody involved. The same as steemit.com when it comes to posts. new members / witness applications should be seen and encouraged and amplified in a transparent way.
We need (OK, we is not everybody, obviously :) ) a transparent 'admin' module where witness affairs are a submodule with many options. Filtering, searching, sorting, activity, discussion ...
Developing and maintaining this should be a fulltime job and responsibility with a consensus from the whole community. Not just Steemit Inc. or some (few) most powerful members.
Ps:
Excellent! Thanks a lot! :)
I understand, yes, there are clearly a lot of areas that need improving urgently. I think the witness area is of specific priority though since all witnesses are paying significant money just to be in the list and without the witness system being fairly administered, there is a risk to the actual integrity of the network.
Thanks for your input.
You are welcome.
On the other hand, witnesses are being paid, aren't they? I wonder what the financial balance of top 20 witnesses is ...
You can find the current rate of pay for witnesses in the witness watch reports. The top 19 witnesses currently receive just under $200,000 USD annually (which was closer to 500,000 when Steem was higher a few weeks ago): https://steemit.com/witness-category/@witnesswatch/witnesswatch-weekly-report-9-how-much-do-witnesses-make
Thanks for the link. I find it odd that there are no comments under these reports. Another symptom ...
Yeah when I went to vote for you the other night after noticing you were a witness who I was philosophically aligned with, I got confused when I went to the page and didn't see your name at first.
Even though there is a space at the bottom to input someones name, it kind of makes it look like you are just nominating someone random, instead of actually voting for someone who is already acting as a witness.
Ive invested hours each day learning the platform over the past few months and I was still confused on that voting page, so I could imagine newcomers having even more confusion than I did
It is actually possible to nominate someone even if they aren't a witness - the whole system needs an upgrade for clarity!
There's also the issue that if you type in someone's name in the bottom box, then the user interface kind of reverses how you would expect it to work and a lot of people make the vote and then cancel it, thinking that they need to make that second click to make the vote count.
Yeah I spent a good bit of time just on the page trying to figure it out, which is honestly my regular experience with every aspect of steemit lol, but I am not a tech guy and I understand this is still all in beta. However, lowering the barrier to entry would make things better for everyone.
Of the witness votes ive casted so far, half of them have been outside of the top 50 but I would not have known that they were options if I did not cross paths with them through their content or through discord.
It’s even possible to nominate non existing accounts... someone voted for me and I never got the vote until we found out there was a space in front of my name when they used the form
As your know @ura-soul I voted for you specifically because you have put yourself in the thick of fixing this problem. I know that the resistance is actually a reflection of the miss-perception of those who do not recognize their vested interest as do you. A fair, just, and moral solution must be found to this and many other problems if steemit.com is to survive. This being the case I, will be watching and contributing idea's for solution on a ongoing bases.
P.S @drakos I am unable to vote for because witness voting page in Steemit.com is not registering. Let me know if this problem is fixed so that I may vote for @drakos .
I agree with you friend @ura-soul
Many users are unable to see the full list of witnesses due to obstructed and must be done pembarharuan
So users can see how active is active throughout the witnes activities which will be selected by displaying the relevant imformasi.
So it shows an honest Competition
Thanks for this @ura-soul
Very nice and practiceable suggestions. Fair play is the right of every witness and it should be provided to them by displaying the all witness name. There should be differentiation b/w active and inactive user and marking with red line is also a great idea. To spread your message to more people resteem from my side
Thank you for the contribution. It has been approved.
You can contact us on Discord.
[utopian-moderator]
Thanks!
Totally agree, it’s currently unfair competition
Hey, are you a witness
yis!
Voted :)
Excellent, Thanks. :)