Lowering the APR now would be a huge mistake. The system is far from breaking (Dalz has a good site showing the health of the system) and if it gets lowered it is going to scare off everyone who bought into HBD or who has watched from afar as a potential investor in the hive ecosystem
If this gets changed with very little discussion, debate and community voting it could be very negative for Hive as an ecosystem IMO. Changing it on a whim because a few witnesses want to is not the way.
As someone else said in a comment - if you disagree with the change, look for other witnesses who signal 20% and consider changing your votes. That’s the way the community can get involved in governance. I would love to see more Hivers involved in governance
I've been involved in governance damn near the entire time I've been here.
I will not be adjusting my witness votes. Some are signaling 20%, some are not. They have the freedom to decide and always did. From day one, that percentage was subject to change. It's far too soon to start acting like alarmists and panic voting.
I just blogged that I'm removing votes from people signaling under 20% but it's certainly not a panic vote - it's very amicable and simply because I have very little else to go on when it comes to deciding my votes. Most the top witnesses haven't made a post of any kind in at least a year. I don't know who they are. Superficially I know projects they do, but...that's not enough.
So, my very mild disagreement is enough to go on for now, and I think we should all do that until there's enough voting activity that votes makes an actual difference
I've been snooping around a lot. There are also some individuals going the other way, encouraging people to vote for those signaling below 20.
I'm not participating. HBD has no business in governance and does not have a say as far as I'm concerned. I don't really want to see the security of the chain compromised for profit. Don't want to see witnesses signaling 20 in order to get votes, due to the integrity issues. That's bordering on vote buying is a worst case scenario. I don't really want to see a rift either. Us vs Them or whatever. Not interested. And I want to keep a cool head.
I'm not shocked to see the rate lowered. I was expecting to see that happen. It was my understanding 20% was a promotional offer. I want to say it was a flop when compared to its potential. I'm fine with a lower rate and I'm also well aware of the fact it can go up again in the future. The rate isn't set it stone, by design. Supposed to be decentralized, and that means those witnesses are free to decide as individuals. I think it's unreasonable for them to feel cornered or pressured. Suddenly losing support for decisions they made months ago. A bit of kneejerk reaction. No actual changes have even occurred. A flexible rate is something I can handle and I've prepared for any possible changes. None of this really fazes me.
I also won't tell you what to do or hold your decisions against you. Everyone can take care of their own business. Hopefully it remains peaceful. There's never been a time when they all signaled 20.
That's a fair point, but voting doesn't necessarily have to be about destabilizing and dethroning. I would never remove my vote I were a whale. I want them there, my action is purely to make a soft statement, which I feel like everyone is meant to be doing here, no?
What's even the point in voting when we know the top 20 will pretty much consistently always do their job? Why not just have two big buttons that says 'satisfied/unsatisfied' applying to all witnesses combined?
The fact is, I know nothing about any of the witnesses really, and that's a pretty bad look. For all I know, half of them are waiting for Hive to hit $1 and then they're pulling out and running with the profits. I got nothing to go on. How can I trust any of them?
The APR discussion is therefore the only recent factor I have, really, to go with that gives some inkling about their individual goals for the future of Hive - unless I want to delve deep into programming language I can't understand.
I keep hearing this but I've not once seen a promotion of any kind. Not in the sense that any other enterprise would do. Has anyone actually put out a facebook ad, even? I'd rather there be an actual effort to promote the 20% first, so we can at least collectively say at least we tried.
But yeah just to reiterate, this is not something I'm upset about - ultimately, anything over UK inflation rate is fine by me.
Just looking at the list. Out of all the witnesses there, I've spoken to most of them, on chain here. Very few snub me. Some used to hate me but now we get along fine. I watch closely. I just see them as people, nothing special, no different than you and I. Nothing about them makes me feel paranoid. I don't think about trust until I'm given a reason to not trust someone. And we don't have to agree on every last frickin detail. I could look at what they're up to and think, "Well, that's kind of stupid." But of course I do stupid things too, so we're even. Don't need to be perfect to get my vote.
The 20% is the promotion. Apparently just seeing that was supposed to make people drool or something. Get people in the door enjoying that HBD, word spreads. Get the ball rolling then bring the rate back down to earth. Makes sense to me but I don't think it performed as well as it could have. And yeah there was metric shit-ton of hype coming out some members and their posts here on chain, but that stuff rarely reaches the outside.
There were a couple occasions in the past I had to remind people the rate can drop and it's not permanent. If anyone was out promoting it but leaving that part out, they were doing this place a disservice.
I'm happy all this happened now, sooner rather than later. The rate has changed 5 times I think, always going up. It's also designed to go down and the people here need to experience that as well. Certainly not the end of the world. Some are acting as if a number like 12% is the new zero. "All is lost!" And that's not the case.
There was an uproar when it jumped to 20. Not everyone agreed with that but it still happened. At some point I realized I didn't need to agree or disagree with anything. I simply accept the fact the rate can change. My mind is at peace. Whatever happens, happens.
Thanks for reaching out, Mobbs. Good to see you.
I guess we disagree a bit on the governance aspect, largely because you know them well, while I don't know them at all, and I think I represent whatever everyday users are left on here - we know nothing about them.
Like I said in my own post I wouldn't normally change votes based on a single issue, but until I actually know something about anyone, I can either make choices from the one aspect of APR, or do nothing at all. Most people are opting to do nothing at all, which is the death of democracy.
Maybe I just need to give up a bit on that being a focal point of the project and just accept the top 20 no matter what... It's not like it isn't running well or turning totalitarian lol.
As for the 20% being the promotion... I think somebody somewhere needs to start looking for an actual economist and professional marketer XD
I appreciate the discussions - I come and go but always around!
What do you think of the idea of including HBD marketing in the Leofinance proposal?
Leo can promote whatever they want and place the messages they want if they are funded.
good point on choosing witnesses based on the APR they support. When I went about looking over the witness list, I did note that a lot of them support 20% APR, but not all of them. I also put a preference in voting for witnesses that are related to projects I want to support. (So far a total of 8 witnesses I have voted for...need to add a few more sometime.) Like LeoFinance, and a few other Dev types who contribute to the community.