The question is in principle, how are the witnesses paid and by whom? If there is no hierarchy, i.e. no official company that offers employees or, for that matter, freelancers a contract that both parties can rely on, the payment model is uncertain.
They are paid by the Hive protocol. Their payment structure is consistent they get a certain % of the yearly inflation. There are a few problems with the current model. Putting politics aside (who determines who the 21 witnesses are), the 21 top witnesses accrue a lot of the inflation, which is economically not ethical. While in other systems it's much more fair like in proof of work, and soon ethereum proof of stake is most fair.
That it won't grow here is uncertain, but I share the scepticism about it, insofar as nothing changes in the person structure of the top witnesses and the efforts to keep their own communities at the top end.
Yep, the witnesses haven't changed much in 4 years, which are signs to be worried about.
Thank you for your answer.
If the Hive currency falls in value, so you get less for Hive than you did before, does that mean that witnesses then get less or more revenue with a higher inflation rate? I don't understand the issue in this context. To me, inflation casually means that I can buy less from the same money. Why is the payment model linked to the inflation rate at all, has anyone explained that? I am aware of payment models that can be agreed between client and contractor or employee, for example, on a commission or profit basis, but I am not familiar with income linked to inflation.
each day there is more Hive made. A part of this goes to the witnesses and a part goes to authors and a part goes to hive holders.
The lower the value of hive, the less witnesses and authors will get = risk that the blockchain will not be secured and authors leaving the platform.
Hmm ... that doesn't necessarily apply to me personally, as an author and holder of hive shares. If I don't determine a time period within which I want to earn, say, so-and-so much revenue, and therefore the fluctuating value for me is merely a reflection of things trading high at times and low at times, I guess I'm part of it more in the way that I could care less about those fluctuations, since I'm not considering an exchange into fiat money or other cryptocurrencies. Away from the substantive arguments about engagement, voting behaviour and social interactions, I see my activity here also as self-documentation. To the extent that I am able to separate my articles from the number value they achieve and there are still plenty of others who handle it similarly to me, I am happy with that.
Now, I haven't specifically taken money into my hands to invest either, so I'm not so much straightforward about a return of investment. There is no cost recovery calculation on my side, such as recouping the energy and maintenance costs for a server and generating something on top.
On the one hand, I am grateful to the witnesses, without them the whole thing would not work, but on the other hand, I see the potential for conflict when I have the impression that the individual key players are not handing over their positions to those who have come after them and are in this way benevolently passing on the baton of responsibility.
Behind this is the presumably philosophical question of whether I as a human being am prepared not only to accept but even to encourage a change in my living and income circumstances. Wanting to achieve the much-invoked passive earnings, so to speak for life, is, with all understanding for such a seductive possibility, often a horse's foot.
As always, no one can be forced or carried to a realisation. This happens of its own accord. Or not.
I think your correct in your assessment @erh.germany (and I will add... eloquently spoken as usual!).
@futurethinker you put your thumb on the issue stemming from how the witness's are determined and how the inflation is allocated.
How this could be rectified?
I think that John Maxwell sums things up best. I actually heard John talk about this live and it has stuck with me ever since.
The Leadership Lid: