The Problem
In my opinion, the main witness voting page provided by Steemit at https://steemit.com/~witnesses has some flaws.
- There's no way to tell if a witness is active. If they're inactive/disabled, there's no indication for how long they've been in that state.
- Newbie users often approve and unapprove simultaneously. This happens because when they vote, they have to enter their password or active key. After they enter it, the page doesn't refresh, so the voted witness still appears as 'unvoted', so they click the vote button again, which in reality unvotes!
- Since only the top 50 witnesses are shown, that doesn't give a chance to other witnesses to ever get support, unless their name is explicitly entered in the voting box... at the bottom of the page.
- Very often, newbie users vote for witnesses in the top 50 randomly, without knowing what each witness does or how their parameters are set. And more importantly, because they can't tell if the witness is disabled, some of their votes are wasted.
I have previously brought up those issues for discussion a few months ago, but unfortunately the general consensus was to leave it as it is. I don't agree with that and I think users should have a better option than to be restricted in their voting choices. I also believe that lower ranked witnesses deserve a chance to be noticed.
This concern has been voiced many times by low ranked witnesses. As a matter of fact, it was something that was brought up last night by @r0nd0n while I was a guest on his MSPWaves Radio show (@msp-waves). We discussed the issue of voting for disabled witnesses, which led him to suggest implementing something on Steemian.Info to address the situation. Which is exactly what I did. As a witness, it is my duty to listen to my voters and offer solutions when possible.
What Causes a Disabled Witness?
- If a witness misses blocks for 24h they get automatically disabled by the system.
- Running a fork lower than the current version, i.e. HF19.
- Manually disabled if they don't want to run the server anymore.
- Temporary manually disabled when doing server maintenance to avoid missing blocks.
The Solution
I have already setup a list of the top 400 witnesses at https://steemian.info/witnesses three months ago. The table provides extensive parameters about each witness settings. The columns are sortable for better grouping.
To remedy all the described issues, I have added a new Operations column to the witness list. This column contains 4 clickable buttons.
- Approve witness
- Unapprove witness
- Get voters lists
- Witness application link
The first two buttons are the new additions. They will redirect the user to SteemConnect where they can safely cast their vote. The password or active key is required for that operation. SteemConnect is a Steemit Inc + Busy project that provides a secure access to the Steem ecosystem.
For example, if you wish to approve me (@drakos) as witness, click the thumbs up symbol 👍 and you will be redirected to this URL:
https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=drakos&approve=1
CONTINUE and fill in your credentials to cast your vote.
You will get an error if
- You already voted or unvoted for the witness
- The witness is invalid or doesn't exist
- Your 30 votes are full
Witness votes are not final. You can shuffle your votes by unvoting witnesses if you find them lacking or if you wish to vote and support others. Voting for witnesses is different from upvoting posts: it does not cost you anything and does not reduce your voting power. You can vote for up to 30 witnesses at the same time. If you don't want to trouble yourself with researching each witness, you can assign a proxy who already votes for witnesses to handle the voting on your behalf.
You can check my detailed witness voting guide here.
Some Considerations
The table at https://steemian.info/witnesses provides ample details to decide who to vote for. The important thing is to have as much less red values as possible.
Also, it may happen that a witness is temporarily disabled; you can tell by looking at their last Block Age. If it's a few hours or days, the issue may be temporary. If the Block Age is very high and flashing red, then they may be disabled for a long time ahead. In that case, you may want to consider voting for someone else who is active. Nonetheless, if you're in unsure whether it's a temporary or permanent issue, contact your witness(es) to find out what's happening. Don't be afraid to do it, if you voted for them, it's your right to inquire about their status.
Security Note
Make sure you're connected to https://v2.steemconnect.com, can't be too careful with phishing sites and scammers.
Click the Secure button in the URL field and verify the certificate
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
If you never voted before, I wrote a detailed guide about Voting for Witnesses.
Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses. My name is listed in the Top 50. Click 
once.
Alternative voting methods
cli_wallet: vote_for_witness "YOURACCOUNT" "drakos" true true
steem-python: steempy approvewitness drakos --account YOURACCOUNThttps://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=drakos&approve=1
Hey @drakos thanks for voicing out the concerns of minor witnesses... it is very difficult to get noticed with the current system...
Wow, you are top of things. We were just discussing this last night, and you've already implemented it for the top 400 witnesses! This is a great tool that will help both witnesses and steem users to navigate their choices with much more certainty.
What makes a witness disabled ?
If they miss blocks for 24h they get disabled by the system.
They disable it manually it if they don't want to run the server anymore.
They are running a fork lower than HF19.
And finally they can temporarily disable their server when doing maintenance.
In fact, let me add those things to the post.
Apparently sanjeevm disabled his reading module... ;)
I was thinking of these issues last night, I notice a lot of new users vote unvote, vote or equally as often vote and unvote. The UI is confusing to most new users and really does need some work.
This is a good initiative and the added features will help big time. Kudos to you
As a new member I'm still wrapping my mind around the witness function but immediately saw the problem with the current witness page for which you are proposing solutions. This appears to be a core component of the steem blockchain that needs to evolve. thanks
Thank you. I'm new at steemit and agree the witness page needs to show more than just 50 to give a chance to new guys. Just for that you're getting my vote!
This is really a big improvement to the steemian.info website. Easy to vote other witnesses not listed in the Top 50, excellent improvement.
All steemian not just the witness tool, you will find it a good steem resource, consider it as your knowledgebase for steem. Recommended to bookmark the website.
Best regards,
@Yehey
You have my witness vote @Drakos! Thanks for all you do on Steemit and in @MinnowSupport!
I agree the system is flawed and needs some work.
You've had my vote a long time now :)
thanks for sharing this awesome content i have learnt a lot here
I was thinking to setup a witness node as well and try to contribute to the steem blockchain, however I agree with multiple points you made in your post, there are a certain degree of bias or flaw (especially inactive witness). I would suggest or even propose something like a league, where given a time frame, witnesses are "revoted" for the next period rather than staying on top forever. Of course this will also goes into a strong debate on how DPoS should work.
Great points, yes the current system does leave a lot to be desired... But on the other hand it is transparent and fairly well noticed. I guess it is the classic question of democracy; education, information, and access.
The truth has few factors that allow voters to visualize what these witnesses do, besides that they belong to the platform and what they are contributing to deserve our vote. @drakos You have my full support, grateful with your contribution to the platform.
I really think the list should atleast be extended to the top 100 but automatically remove the non active users from the list until they become active and only shows the current top 100 active servers.
How would you unvote non active witnesses if they disappeared from the list?
You would simply have an "inactive witness" area and populate that with the inactive witnesses, below the active list. Obviously they cannot be removed from the witness list on the blockchain, but what I mean can be simply handled via frontend.
They can't disappear from the list. They're permanently registered on the blockchain, active or not.
Didn't actually consider that as much for people that go completely offline, but for people that could just have a hiccup that puts them down for a couple of days shouldn't matter, but i think most people don't unvote nearly as much as upvoting. I more so think that specific list should focus more so to see who is currently active and than using other sources such ashttps://steemian.info/witnesses to see the more detailed statistics to see who should maybe not have your votes anymore.
i myself barely go to Steemit's own witness list and just go to https://steemian.info/witnesses as its what i much prefer to use and think Steemit's list should be similar
There's a red button at the top left to Hide Disabled witnesses.
What does the bias % column mean?
And it's nice to see what witnesses are setting the APR at. I'm a bit surprised to see some of the results, with SBD price so high.
The bias controls how much SBD or STEEM is 'printed'. A positive bias shifts the reward pool towards SBD issuance, while a negative bias favors STEEM. Because of the high SBD price, increasing the SBD supply would, in theory, reduce its price.
This is very helpful. Thank you!
I've only voted for two witnesses ever... and I rescinded my vote for one of them recently.
I don't vote for things I don't understand and I don't vote randomly just because I can. I voted for witnesses that were recommended to me after weighing the reasons for those suggestions first.
i noticed some people just vote for top 50 alone. they think we have just 50
Indeed, that's why the Steemit page can be misleading because it doesn't tell the users who are the other witnesses.
Wow! Am impressed... You bring a whole different game to this witness voting business... Now its so interesting to get into it....
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great @drakos i totally agree with you.. the current page is to simple.. even long diabled witnesses are in the top 50 list.. this should be out asap..
did vote and maybe unvote you several times before cause i could not tell if the vote went through or not. but with this new developement hopefully that confusion is settled for good.
A list of the 400 Top witnesses is definitely worth a lot as the top 50 on steemit just isn't good enough...
Regardless of that amazing tool, you probably got us all to vote for you with that little piggy already 😍
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