Update Successful
There was a recent bug in Steem Versions 19.06 and Version 19.10 (which we were previously running) where the nodes where trying to produce blocks that were too large. More details can be found in the witness update release notes on github.
BUG FIXES
There was a bug in how witness nodes were heuristically calculating the block size when generating a block that could lead a node to produce a block that was too large. (#2632)
Authority membership size was not being enforced and is now checked.
Fixed a bug in the logging config that could inadvertently lead to the data dir being wiped. Also added a more generic log-appender option that can specify a either a file or a stream in the same option (#2614)
The write processing thread was started to early in the steemd startup process which lead to nodes being pegged at 200% CPU during reindex. Reindex was not parallelized and one core was busy waiting. This thread will now start at the correct time and reindex will only consume the needed 100% CPU. (#2613)
@c0ff33a implemented the update and after the replay was completed, we waiting patiently for the witness to produce a block and update to show verions 19.11. Last night we produced our first block after the update and https://steemian.info/witnesses now reflects that we are running version 19.11.
While @c0ff33a was in steem.chat getting info on the update (shoutout to @jamzed for the troubleshooting tips, if you have a free witness vote, he is one of the good guys) he came across a comment by @pfunk in regards to one suggestion in dealing with spam accounts and the ease that they have in which they are creating their throw away accounts. This is @pfunk's comment:
I've updated my minimum account creation fee vote to 0.2 STEEM. This effectively (if enough witnesses set it to 0.2 as well) prices accounts at a minimum of 6 STEEM deposit or 0.2 STEEM + 29.8 SP delegated for at least a month.
Because the price of STEEM is now at about $1.07, I believe that the current minimum of $3.21 or so of STEEM for an account does not do an adequate job of limiting the potential impact on abusing the network's namespace. This is one of the tasks of witnesses.
Right now spammers can create accounts for 0.1 Steem and delegate 14.9 SP and be up and running with as many accounts as they can afford to mass produce. This proposed increase in account creation would help to make it a little harder for the spammers to create accounts or at least reduce the number of accounts that they can pump out at a time, while not making it hard for legitimate users to create accounts.
@c0ff33a and I talked it over and we are in full support of @pfunk and we have updated our account creation fee. There have also been a large number of witness across the board that have supported his decision to do this. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction to help combat the spam problem that is on the platform.
We are running strong
Thank you for all the votes that have been coming in so far. We have broken into the active top 100 rankings and are sitting at rank 95.
We still have a little bit to go until we are in the full rank top 100 where you can vote for our witness in the top 100 page on https://steemit.com/~witnesses. We are running strong, producing blocks and have still only missed one.
If you are still voting for my witness under the @derangedvisions account, you will need to remove that vote and if you want to support our team witness, you will have to vote for the team witness under @c0ff33a's name. You can click that link there or go to and enter c0ff33a in the blank. Only a little bit longer until we show up on the top 100 list, then voting will be simple. Thank you all for the support!
It has been a busy week all round, and although updating to the latest release v0.19.11 proved tricky and required a long 6 hour replay of the blockchain - I'm happy now to see we are running the latest version of Steemd that deals with a number of small bugs from the earlier release. There are still many Witnesses yet to update, I think this might be due to the fact the old version will still resolve blocks so the sense of urgency is not there - although the release does state Witness nodes are strongly advised to update to the latest release.
Regarding the registration fee, we both agreed after reading @pfunk comment in the Witness chat that making it harder for spam accounts to be created would be a benefit - particularly I have seen the damage done in the community by the flag bot ring that has been created by abusing sign ups to register 100's of accounts that are run through a bot to simply randomly flag people - the flag itself might not take value from a post rewards, but what many fail to appreciate is how it impacts the poster receiving it. So many on here are working extremely hard to produce incredibly good blog posts, and they are proud of whatever they receive in return for that - they see a flag as disapproval of their work, it's demoralising and carries the potential to drive away the people many of us are working hard to retain here.
@enginewitty pointed out last night that @therealwolf had made an update post on this same subject, and that there was a very good argument not to change made by @yabapmatt which I have read through and can see very valid points. I'm interested now to see the perspective of other Witnesses, and I think it could make for a lively debate during next weeks WitnessChat on the SteemitRamble discord.
#thealliance #witness
The thing is that, with the bear market, even the bots and spammers stopped... But yes, i actually think account creations should be priced much higher then they are atm... Most people that actually put a little effort in it can get their account creation cost back in a couple of days!
thanks for the update , seems a nice and wise move to team up especially in these times, which are interesting ;)
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Congratulations, I was checking my witness votes today and it looks like you have snuck into spot 100!
At the moment it's not possible to Vote for Witnesses outside of the Top 100 List. Do you know anything about this issue?