Witness Update 2016-10-27

Price Feed

I'm no longer discounting my price feed. Although initially skeptical, I gave it the benefit of the doubt... But I think that the discount has not been successful in accomplishing the goal of full parity with the dollar. I also think that it is highly unlikely that it will ever achieve that end, because devaluing STEEM in the price feed results in a lower price for STEEM. Discounting STEEM in the price feed pulls the rug out from under both SBD and STEEM itself. I think it is hastening our advance towards potentially catastrophic failures in the underlying economics of Steem.

Witness Petition

I also think that recent changes to the algorithm awarding post rewards have been detrimental to the price of STEEM. By awarding authors primarily in STEEM, authors wishing to be paid for their work are forced to dump STEEM on the market, thereby depressing its price. With SBD author rewards, a reallocation of SBD could take place without negatively impacting the STEEM price.

I posted previously about my opposition to the abandonment of the peg at a 10% debt-to-ownership ratio of SBD. We will soon see no new SBD production, yet it will not have any positive impact on the declining price of STEEM. As all author rewards are issued in STEEM, the price will continue to plummet. Soon, we will see SBD detach from the USD peg, and instead continue declining in tandem with the price of STEEM.

I feel that my "Witness Petition" is an example of the new approach to witnessing that I bring. Despite a disappointing response to that particular issue, I feel that it is important to continue efforts to inform users of critical changes. Any potential change to Steem impacts all Steem stakeholders, and their voices should be considered as a routine part of the process.

As a witness, I feel that it is my job to understand the impacts of changes implemented in new Steem versions and communicate them to the public. The previous change to v0.14.2 occurred prior to my involvement as a witness. I see a very limited understanding of the fundamental changes that it implemented. In the future, as a witness, I want to promote more discussion about new releases, and encourage witnesses to use their position to represent the interests of the broader user base.

SteemSpeak Open Forums discussing proposed Steem updates

To that end, I would like to promote SteemSpeak as a place for witnesses to join a discussion about the platform, particularly when new versions are announced. We should embrace any and all users who want to be involved in the process. There is a fairly limited group of users who keep up with the github and follow proposed changes on an ongoing basis, and they should be supported and given the opportunity to explain their positions in a more conversational setting, to a larger audience. I think that the platform can benefit from an empowered user base which is encouraged to contribute ideas and solutions.

The RocketChat is a great place for these discussions, but I think that if we were to come together on SteemSpeak and communicate on a more human level via voice chat, we can be much more productive.

Welcome back?

I have been on vacation, and recovering from vacation, for the past week or so... As I return, I want to strengthen the community of human users, and ensure that they are being represented. I want to promote education and dialogue among users, so that we can begin to influence the future of the platform. I hope that together we can help turn around some of the trends in market price, user retention, and overall growth of platform.

I can't really do anything by myself, but I hope that if enough of you share my vision, we can start to impact the future of this platform for the good of all of us.