0.19.2 has been out for two and a half weeks now and though it's not a mission critical update, it is recommend for everyone "due to p2p network stability fixes". I think witnesses (especially the top ones) should take updating their nodes to the latest version seriously and do so promptly. To support that, I've removed my votes for versions lower than the latest stable release.
I hope to restore many of those votes once their nodes are updated as I have great respect for those witnesses and the benefits they provide to the community. As they say, "it's not personal," I just decided to make a statement about the importance of witnesses updating their nodes quickly and efficiently unless they communicate good reasons for not doing so.
If you'd like to update your votes as well, compare what you see here: https://steemd.com/witnesses
With your own witness votes here: https://steemd.com/@lukestokes (but use your own username)
For more on witness voting, see my weekly Witness Voting Engagement Report which comes out every Wednesday night.
Update: I'm happy to report three off the accounts I had previously voted for are back in as they upgraded to 0.19.2. :) Also, please see @anyx's great comment below for an important point about witness nodes and version 0.19.2 (he's upgraded now, btw).
I'll continue to post about the process of witness voting, and I thank you all for your questions and desire to keep Steem running smoothly.
While I could upgrade, and it's getting to the point where I'm losing witness votes by not, it has now become a bit of a vendetta to try and help people understand that being a witness is more than about simply "upgrading to the latest Steemit Inc version". So I'm sticking to my decision and going to keep explaining why, and hopefully use this as an opportunity to introduce more people to the idea of proper security for witness nodes.
I explained it here first, and then again here. Here's the important bits:
If one's witness isn't running any p2p communication, the software update is irrelevant. And if one's witness is in the top 20, one absolutely should not be running with open ports.
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Excellent comment, thank you! You've re-earned my witness vote with it by explaining your rationale.
That said you haven't done a root post in over 3 months on your account. Without it, it's difficult for others to know your position on these things or be educated about the code changes you're choosing to implement (or not) without following your comments. I think it's safe to assume when the official github repo suggests everyone upgrade (not just seed nodes) and witnesses don't and don't communicate a witness-category post explaining why not, that they may have moved on to other things and are no longer as invested in STEEM as they once were (which we've seen with some accounts). Maybe we could dive through every witness' comments, but I think a root post every month or so (at least) per witness is more efficient, especially with @timcliff doing the work to compile them together weekly for those who want to stay informed and make good decisions voting on witnesses.
I'd like to see more engagement from witnesses because this is a social media platform and those who are earning their positions as witnesses are part of that social enterprise. A root post doesn't have to be any larger than the great comments you already left. It also creates an opportunity to mention the other super important things you're doing for the community which many new users know nothing about.
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Oof! Didn't realize it had been that long since my last update. Time certainly flies when you're busy. I suppose I should make a new update. :)
I've still been plenty engaged in comments and chats, especially with steemcleaners, but I suppose Steemit being so focusing on short-consumption top level posts doesn't really show that.
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It's a challenging thing because a lot of new users are asking how to make good decisions about who to vote for, and they don't have the deep history of the many witnesses and the work they've done up to this point to make this place what it is. Many of them only know steemit.com. They don't know about steemcleaners or even the chat. Many barely understand what a witness is. To me, at the least, when a code release comes out and steemit, inc asks witnesses to upgrade, the witnesses should post about their views on that code change. I agree with your point about this release not being a consensus level thing, but that nuance is tricky for most to follow.
It may be a bit annoying, but I think repetition is key here. People need to be reminded constantly of who is doing what and why. Especially when a bunch of those people are new here.
Many people see a top 20 witness, notice they don't blog here on Steemit, and then think, "Why would I vote for this person? I don't even know them."
That's probably a far too simplistic criteria for witness voting, but for many that's where they start. A little help from all the witnesses to move them along will go a long way. Many do want to learn and be involved, they just don't know where to start.
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That's the kind of thing you should let your voters know by posting regularly about your decisions. The witness system is political by design, you get votes to represent the voters. If the voters aren't aware about your rationales and activities, you have to justify what you're doing, or they lose confidence and will vote for someone else. Also, there are still a few witnesses running 0.19.0! It seems to me that they don't care about the importance of 0.19.1 and what it fixed; this is unjustified, I wouldn't vote for them.
Sometimes I feel that those who don't update give the impression that they don't care or they're better than the rest. Perhaps they are better, technically, but that doesn't mean they should be out of touch with the rest. We deserve to know what's happening so we can move forward together. And for that to happen, communication is key.
Besides, even if an update doesn't apply to you (with good reason), what's the harm in updating anyways? If you're running a solid witness setup, you shouldn't have any downtime in your block production, and everyone will be happy seeing you 0.19.2 😉
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That is a problem, for sure. My points were only for the changes of 19.1 to 19.2.
I can see your point about some getting that impression, but as timcliff points out, witnesses often give updates when they have something new to report. I somewhat stick to the same stuff with cheetah and steemcleaners, and there's not always something super new to say. I definitely do discuss when new changes happen though -- if you check back in my history of updates you'll see this. There just hasn't been a consensus update in a while. :)
I ended up doing this, as I mentioned in my new update. One of those things where perception is more important than the nuances or facts.
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@lukestokes you are doing a great job and one of my top witness , upped-always
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Thanks Charles :)
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welcome bud, more success to you.
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@lukestokes - I have used only 4-5 of my witness vote slots. I do not know most of the other witnesses or their work because I have not seen their updates or have had no personal interaction with them. Any guidance on how to select witnesses to vote for and what should we look for in good witnesses in terms of activities that help Steemit ?
Thanks for your statement and guidance. Upvoted full.
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Yeah, I may do a full post on this or just expand my normal witness engagement report this week if I have time to put it together. Many of the top witnesses run sites which support the Steemit ecosystem, many of which are listed here: http://steemtools.com/ Part of their witness pay goes to funding and running those projects. For those who are new, it can be difficult to remember who does what, especially if they weren't around back before those projects existed.
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True. Since some of us new comers do not have the history, we do not notice some good efforts going on in the background unless the concerned witnesses post about them. I will take a look at Steemtools.com. Thanks
A full post or a section in the witness report would be most welcome. Thanks
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Thanks for this post now I can search who really is the one to be the top witness. ^_^
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Just voted for u as witness
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Thanks so much! I think you bumped me to 26. :)
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Hmmmmm. I may need to adjust some of my 17 standing witness votes accordingly.
I would have had a hard time figuring out whose updated their node recently so I appreciate you sharing this as it's pretty important for people who have actually voted for witnesses.
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So glad it was helpful to you! :)
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Voted for you
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node updates sounds like an important issue, i'm too noob to actually understand but i take your word for it ! (-:
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Hi Luke. So I'm still here, and I'm trying to understand what makes a "good" witness. I'm assuming all witness have enough steem power where their vote can mean a lot to newbie content creator like myself.
Saying that, is the witnesses role to lift up minnows like myself? I see your list of 23 people you always vote for. How did you choose them? Or am I way out in left field all together on this one. Thanks for the education as always! -Dan
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Thanks for running the network, Luke. I just upvoted you as a witness at https://steemit.com/~witnesses
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I mentioned you on a heart felt blog tonight.. Not looking for a vote more than I am a comment. You might like it:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@intelliguy/understanding-your-existence-your-soul-the-meaning-of-life-how-much-is-your-soul-worth-be-careful
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Glad to see all the witnesses I have cast a vote for are on the list and a few that I have been on the fence about will be getting a vote later today.
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Cool. :) I think I'm going to try and keep my votes a little more dynamic than they have been in the past and change things up here and there. Hopefully I'll people updated with my thinking as I go along.
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