The Softfork Has Arrived...

We have just gone through "softfork" 0.22.2. What's a softfork? Unlike a hardfork where the changes are irrevirsable ( to a degree, you can always roll back code ), softforks allow us to easily revert to pre-forking status. Why is this important? Let's have a quick micro blog...

🤔 CHAPTER #1: Why Aren't We Hard?

We shouldn't be. A hardfork is a lot more intense that a temporary softfork. Taking a look at the witnesses that are supporting this move, they all seem to have the same stance in regards to this being a quick temporary band-aid until we know what's going on.

We're not trying to come off as aggressive. The hard truth is that the acquisition was a shit-show. Justin Sun, Ned Scott, and the whole SteemIt Inc. team are hopefully aware of that. To announce a buyout on one day, then say nothing for a full 24 hours, and then to continually have misleading tweets and blogs that don't match up with words that Justin said in the livestream... None of this is going smoothly.

We're not here to fuck over Justin, we're here to make sure he doesn't fuck us.

🥶 CHAPTER #2: Why's Justin So Cold?

For those of you not aware, this softfork essentially freezes the stake Justin just acquired. The SteemIt stake is now no longer able to vote for witnesses, nor transfer STEEM to other accounts ( to prevent loopholes ). To put it simply: We froze his power until we know what he's using it for.

This hasn't ever be done before, so in a way it's honestly quite a historic moment. The community got scared and stepped in to protect itself from the unknown.

We're not erasing Justin, we're creating a bit of calm so we can start communicating.

👮 CHAPTER #3: Is This Legal?

Get the fuck outta here, this is crypto baby! Balls to the wall! Wild west! The only rule is there are no rules! Fuck the police, anarchy, chaos for president, eat your neighbor!

...Sorry. Actual answer: Yes, obviously. There is nothing law-wise, code-wise, nor in my opinion ethics-wise, that prevents this from happening. I completely understand the confusion from some that think this is a bit odd that someone's stake can be frozen and everything seems fine, but let me explain it like this:

This action was rash, quick, intense, and a surprise. However, so was the action from SteemIt Inc. and Justin Sun. The fact that we must hold onto is Justin + SteemIt are not "normal" stakeholders. I'm not in favor of freezing accounts of random people who show up with big bags, but SteemIt Inc's stake was not "normal". Not only was it part of the ever-dreaded "ninja mined" staked, but they have also been considered the primary company behind the blockchain.

If Justin wants to transition this thinking into a more "normal" account type of situation, then that's fine, but as a community we need time to adjust. That's what happens.

Justin is not a normal "hobbyist crypto investor looking to join Steem". He bought a business that should have never been able to make the claims he's been making, and that business should never have been the centralized source of our decentralized community.

@roelandp put's it nicely:

The Steemit INC stake is a special fund, just like @steem.dao is and should have had been coded with a special ruleset long time ago.

And here's my response:

I fully agree with this assessment. This move could be taken as horribly aggressive since we are, after all, a dPoS system. However, SteemIt Inc's stake was never any old normal stake. This softfork is a result of the anomaly that is the SteemIt account & ownership. Anyone is free to come here with huge amounts of cash and act as a normal steem-citizen.

Yeah, we're doing something weird, but we're doing it in response to an equally weird event.

🤓 CHAPTER #4: Where Do We Go From Here?

This is the best part. We talk! Justin seems open to it:

We now have the calm atmosphere that will enable honest & open conversation. It's ok if Justin comes out and says he intends to destroy Steem, we're not trying to influence his decision, we're just trying to get some time to be able to react appropriately.

Justin is allowed to do what he wants, we're just asking to be allowed time to react.

🦶 Footnote:

Your thoughts? Seriously, this entire situation is a perfect example of the community coming together and doing something that many distributed & decentralized platforms struggle to do: Prove that we can govern & protect ourselves. With that in mind, I'd love to here your thoughts, questions, concerns, excitement, anything :^)

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