Answering a Concerned Steemian

Some questions contain a little more nuance than 150 characters or less tweets are prone to answer.

Note: I began writing this a few days ago so much has changed which I address below.

Twitter thread

Decided it would be better to try and answer @clixmoney's concern in a post which would also benefit others with similar concerns.

I see you know some code and I'm not a developer, but I have questions you may answer. Tell me please, who is in control of the blockchain right now, why developers can't stop the takeover ?

The answer to this question depends on what precisely we mean by control.

If by control we mean the ability to implement code changes specifically those affecting consensus, then any given supermajority of top 20 witnesses is in control of that but that has been in flux between original and newly appointed Steemit Inc / TRON witnesses.

As you can see, neither side seems to possess a clear supermajority at the moment. This is where we currently stand so it's difficult to say exactly what will happen.

Here is a document that outlines certain parameters that are governed by the witnesses.

https://github.com/steemit/steem/blob/29401899aab662a094ec5593705c86a946f34a09/doc/witness_parameters.md

Witness Parameters

The role of a witness in the Steem Blockchain is to verify incoming transactions, produce blocks when scheduled, and partake in the Steem governance model by voting on several parameters.

These parameters control various aspects of the operation of the blockchain that are not easily defined in code at compile time. One example is the STEEM price feed that defines the conversion rate between STEEM and SBD.

Witnesses are able to use the witness_set_properties_operation to change witness specific properties and vote on parameters.

Unless otherwise noted, the median of the top 20 elected witnesses is used for all calculations needing the parameter.

This operation was added in Steem v0.20.0 to replace the witness_update_operation which was not easily extendable. While it is recommended to use witness_set_properties_operation, witness_update_operation will continue to work.

This is an example of a few consensus parameters witnesses can change but according to the document these require only a median value of top 20 whereas changing code versions require a supermajority. This is the current obstacle facing developers to fork the Steem chain.(bold for emphasis)

Can they do something in the code level? Is it all open source ?

Indeed, it is. Here is the repository. It is currently under Steemit Inc control but the beautiful thing about open source is anybody can fork a project and make their own version.

Looks like some 743 people including myself have.

---

Started writing this a few days ago and much has changed. It seems that in leiu of hard forking the Steem chain that a large number of Steemians have opted to migrate to a contentious hard fork known as hive.

This will be a distinct chain with measures in place to render such a hostile takover more difficult. I would not say impossible however. They are implementing a 30 day waiting period before being able to influence witness voting for instance.

In theory, this should give the elected witnesses time to anticipate and react to potential takeovers in the future.

The question I would pose is how precisely would they act and what would be the explicit triggers for initiating such action. Buildup of stake in new accounts, perhaps?

The fact of the matter is any given tycoon could essentially buy control if there is enough liquidity and a months time.

The interesting thing is such a takeover attempt would likely be preceded by a nice pump. Suppose that could even be a powerdown / sell signal even. Perhap, Justin will follow the community to hive. Think of it like a game of musical chains.

Would be hella funny if he does try it, then we fork again... And again... And again... Then, Justin finally ragequits after losing a small fortune.

And realizing this isn't a battle he can win with money

I'm interested in seeing how this develops but, personally, I have been considering the development of a re-envisioning of the Steem experience using an alternative consensus algorithm.

One that is potentially more accessible to the masses, a leaderless consensus while also being tolerant to what is called Byzantine nodes. Such nodes may attempt to conduct a denial of service (DoS) attack or data intregity by attempting to promulgate fraudulent transcactions. I have chanced upon a few documents that attempt to answer this problem using what I call "Fancy mathematics" but I have been considering other approaches. Will refine these ideas further as time permits. With the kiddos and wife getting sick, I had been set back somewhat but have plenty of ideas.

Even so, glad to migrate our blockchain moderation efforts to hive. As long as there is support, will continue to work for the good of those I call friends on the Steem blockchain and beyond.

As for you @clixmoney, I see you tweeting in enthusiasm about hive. Glad people have a reason to hope. With the change of leadership and removal of the encumbering Steemit Inc ninjamine, it is feasible for Steem to reach new heights. Time will tell.

Good luck to everybody and may we work to make our dreams come true. _{No matter where you end up.}

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