I Need To Vent
I wasn't happy to find out that a softfork effectively blocking Steemit Inc's accounts occurred on Sunday.
I'm not happy to find out that I am apparently in a growing minority of people who aren't happy it was done. There seem to be a lot more who are either all for it or willing to accept it and just get on with life.
I'm not happy that I can't seem to do that.
I'm not happy that anything I say here is basically so after the fact that it doesn't matter. Yet, here I am, wasting my time and that of anyone who actually stops to read it.
Why do it then? Because if I don't, I won't be able to live with myself.
That's really all I'm expecting to come out of this. Some semblance of peace that I at least shouted into the void.
The Cat Is Out Of The Bag
I just hope all involved in this soft fork really know what you're doing.
I also hope some thought was not only put into whether or not to do the soft fork, but how to handle the repercussions, fallout, consequences, etc.
It would be nice to know what the next steps are, before we find out after the fact from a myriad of witnesses who participate in the March 6 townhall with Justin Sun. It would be nice that the same communication witnesses and community leaders are expecting with Sun would be extended to ALL the STEEM Community from them, rather than just to what appears to be a very small slice of it.
It would be nice that this communication would happen on the blockchain and not on Discord. It would be nice for it to be on the record.
Is Someone Watching The Store?
I've already asked this question in a couple of comments I've made but since I haven't received an answer, I'm going to ask it here.
Is anyone making sure, now that his Steemit Inc STEEM Power is blocked, that Sun isn't powering up other accounts? What about proxies? Sun is well connected. There could be any of a number of accounts opened and powered up that don't have an immediate clear link to him. Is someone going to sound the warning bell, and then the witnesses move to block every account that powers up more than, say, a couple million STEEM?
Is that where we are now? Needing to be suspicious about any sizable power up by unknown entities?
What if those accounts are already on chain? How are they going to be identified (if they exist)?
Sun May Be The Least Of Our Worries
I've been concerned about this since Sun bought Steemit Inc. Is it possible Sun answers to someone else? Is he beholden to someone or some organization or entity? It doesn't necessarily need to be something sinister or conspiratorial, but does Sun act as his own man, or are there others who dictate what he does?
What About The Dev Team?
The Steemit Inc folks are supposed to speak with Sun this week. It might have been nice to wait to see what came out of that meeting. Andrarchy gave some pretty strong signals in interviews with exyle and another which included pennsif that there wasn't any way STEEM would just end up on the TRON network. Were they advised the soft fork was going to happen? Or were they blindsided? What kind of position does that put them in, either way?
It Would Be Great If Someone In The Know Would Answer
As I said, I'm not expecting it, but I'll put it out there, anyway.
If you are a top witness and can say with any certainty what the next steps are with the townhall and what comes out of it, I'd like to know. I'm sure I'm not alone.
If you're not a top witness but you have spoken with one or two and have a clear idea of what the plan is, feel free to communicate it.
What I'd like to avoid is supposition or speculation. That's what got us here in the first place.
Image source—Pixabay
I've had several conversations, and it seems each witness has a different idea or in the best cases openly admit that they do not know and haven't agreed on how to get the softfork off.
They are really pleased with their own cooperation right now, so much so that it is hard to get them to look to the next step.
While I guess witnesses have the right to drop code if there are enough of them to adopt it, but I never pictured it being a small group getting together making a decision and springing it on us.
I'm watching for a bit, I do think their intentions were good, but am not pleased with the action.
I don't want to just knee jerk, so I'm waiting for some dust to settle.
Hey, @whatsup.
I'm glad you've done some asking around and getting some answers. I was afraid that they hadn't thought that far ahead. Now I know.
What I managed to get was they were pleased with their cooperation. Under different circumstances, I'd be pleased that they managed to come together, too.
Believe me, it took me two days to get to this point. I'm hoping I can move on, but of all the things that have happened on the STEEM blockchain (and that's been a lot in the last two plus years), this action seems to be affecting me much more than the rest.
Stake on STEEM used to be sacrosanct. Now, it's not. Sure, you'd probably suffer the consequences if you crossed the wrong person, but there wasn't someone (or someones) moving to block usage of it. Now there is, as temporary and as reversible as it might be. That's a very slippery slope, and I don't like the precedent it sets.
It's not just the stake it is trust and also... well frankly, if we manage to break the tron deal.. I just don't think I can go backwards to same ole, minus the steemit Inc team.
Maybe the feeling will pass.
I'm no lawyer, so I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me a bit if witnesses in the US could be found to be in violation of cybercrimes laws against digital theft, extortion and/or ransomware. Not only do I hope they have a plan, but for their own sakes, I hope that the ones in the US (and probably EU, too) consulted with attorneys before acting. I unvoted anyone running 0.22.2, but there are a number of witnesses in that list who I (otherwise) think highly of, and I truly hope that this doesn't lead to unintended consequences for them.
I doubt very much if they scuttled the Tron deal. JS has a big war-chest, and 60 or 70 million reasons to use it. Plus, he's been talking about creating a decentralized Internet for years. This fits perfectly into his strategic vision.
If they can't reach a deal, My guess is that he'll buy enough on the open market to install his own witnesses. (assuming that he doesn't already have enough on the exchanges and in poloniex...) Yeah, it'll drive up the price of Steem, but that's an advantage for him because it also drives up the value of his own holdings (once he recovers them), and then he can resume selling at a controlled pace. I half-wonder if some of the witnesses joined this scheme just so they can sell when the price pumps.
I also unvoted everyone who ran the softfork, and also like many of them.
I don't know that I would ever trust them with my vote again, but never say never.
Agreed. I kept a list of the early ones, after the first half-day or so. I also agree about never say never, but it would take some seriously unforeseen circumstances for me to ever vote any of those accounts again.
What I would really hate is if I wind up having to switch back from steempeak to steemit for my usual user interface.
This ignorant user is spreading dangerous lies in order to attempt to gain popularity and attention from the new commie overlord. Ignore the ignorant twat bag, you'll immediately feel better about your life.
Maybe. And I agree. It is all of it, except I don't think I've ever been that trusting of any of the parties involved. Every time I try to trust, something like this happens.
I'd love to see what STEEM could do with TRON resources and a very long leash, but instead of moving forward, it looks like we're stuck with finding the way first.
Oh, and !ENGAGE 25. I really need to get back in the habit of doing that with just one comment. :)
@whatsup you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @glenalbrethsen!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
This ignorant user is spreading dangerous lies in order to attempt to gain popularity and attention from the new commie overlord. Ignore the ignorant twat bag, you'll immediately feel better about your life.
!ENGAGE 20
@glenalbrethsen you have received
20 ENGAGEfrom @galenkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
This ignorant user is spreading dangerous lies in order to attempt to gain popularity and attention from the new commie overlord. Ignore the ignorant twat bag, you'll immediately feel better about your life.
Like many I have tried to voice my opinion/dislike of how it was handled. one of the responses I got was unvote witnesses or move to another block chain. It is like that individual did not understand that not liking a forced choice does not mean an individual dislikes the block chain now. Two hard forks, and a soft fork now, and most responses to people voicing concern or disagreement has been met with if you don't like it go somewhere else. They do not understand we voice our displeasure because we like the steem block chain, and like them want to protect it. Even if all the minnows voted for the 58th person on the witness list, it still would not get them in the top 20.
Even with the change to Eli being the voice box of steemit, and all the promises made after introduction post of all the new positions there was still no change in the communications coming from steemit.inc to the block chain users. I doubt there will be much change in that behavior over the course of the next two months, and the witnesses are unlikely to have a cohesive message either, so we are left with just chasing the rumors.
Hey, @bashadow.
Might makes right here. Or in other words, SP/Vests/Stake makes right. We're all equal, just some of us are more equal than others.
The idea that they can pretty much move unilaterally, and then turn around and say people need to put up or shut up. Doesn't sound any different than the way things are handled in the real world.
If there were somewhere else to go, that was better, even now, I'd be there. So far, haven't found that place. I guess that should say how much of a good thing STEEM still is and the state of everything else.
It'd be interesting to know how much more he'd need to buy off the market and power up in order to vote out the super-majority.
I think by the time he bought the last STEEM required, it'd cost him at least $5.
Might be worth it to get his 75 million out of hock, though.
We would have no way of knowing it was him. Those witnesses will want to power up their witness rewards and back each other indefinitely, to make sure they stay on top.
Hey, @mattclarke.
Looks like we've found out how he could do it and not really affect the price of STEEM at all. Helps to have friends in high/low places, depending on your perspective.
Yes. Cost him a couple of staff by the looks; and those exchanges are forever tainted. I think Beijing might be pulling the strings here.
That's probably been my biggest concern since day one—that Sun isn't necessarily all there is behind TRON.
So now we have an escalated situation. Anyone going to be the better man and find a way to make this right? Or is everyone just going to let STEEM die.
Hey, @mattclarke.
re: out of hock
Yeah. I'm sure he'd rather get his 75 million back, and if for whatever reasons it doesn't appear imminent voluntarily, that would be when some other means of doing so would happen.
re: how much
It would be good to know, if only to allay fears of using that back door.
I was thinking up until this last sell off that maybe he already bought a significant amount of STEEM, but if he did and is now selling it, that doesn't help him lock it up to vote in witnesses. :)