Hardfork 21 Tomorrow
Are you ready for Hardfork 21 tomorrow Tuesday, 27 August 2019 11:00:00 (EDT)? That includes the whole Steem ecosystem: users, developers, witnesses, investors, bidbots. The major changes in HF21 are the Steem Proposal System (SPS) which will fund projects (development, marketing, etc.) through the inflation. The other is the Economic Improvement Proposal (EIP) affecting the voting/curation behavior. The details are well covered in this post (https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/hf21-sps-and-eip-explained). The voting window will also be reduced to 5 minutes.
On the social side
When HF21 kicks in, the authors first reaction will be:
To me, the main issue with HF21 is the EIP where the author rewards will be significantly reduced. Considering that 10% of the inflation will be allocated to the SPS, then the rewards will be split 50/50 between the author and the curators, therefore:
| HF20 | HF21 | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | 75% | 45% |
| Curator | 25% | 45% |
| Beneficiary | x% | x% |
That's a significant 30% drop to the author. And let's not forget beneficiaries, like busy.org or D-tube for example, if you use such platforms/apps, another chunk of the reward goes to them. The advocates of EIP say that this is not a problem, because the incentive to buy/hold Steem Power and curate will increase, so the authors will get more curators voting on their posts. I'm not sure this would be necessarily true, we'll see how it goes. At this point, nobody can really predict the outcome in human behavior so it's only speculation, whether it's my opinion or another's. Who knows, maybe authors won't get more curators, maybe they'll quit, maybe this, maybe that. I have a hefty amount of SP, I curate a lot, so as a curator I don't mind the extra reward. But I still believe the authors deserve more than 45%!
On the other hand, it's fair to say that the current HF20 conditions have allowed many loopholes and abuses via bidbots, perhaps HF21 will truly bring a change in habits. Bidbot owners will have to readjust, especially that 25% free downvotes (part of EIP) will be in effect. When downvoting becomes more mainstream, it will surely hurt the bidbot business (https://steemit.com/bidbot/@aggroed/dear-bidbots-thoughts-after-the-hardfork).
On the technical side
This is a more important consideration for HF21. If we look back at the painful transition from HF19 to HF20, it became clear that nobody wanted this to happen again. The conditions of HF20 were chaotic, including @ned pushing the release date without delay, not enough testing, witnesses scrambling to test/update 2 weeks before the release, having a major bug 1 week before the release, unresolved scaling issues, etc. It was a recipe for disaster after which @ned blamed the witnesses for the failure! A shit storm if you ask me.
For HF21, things are different. We had a lot of time to test (months ahead). I tested myself by running a witness production node on the testnet; in fact, out of all the witnesses, only me and @gtg have done so!
https://testnet.steemd.com/witnesses
Furthermore, a did many basic transactions on the testnet, and discovering a few bugs, mainly related to MIRA, after extensive replays with the different steemd versions:
https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/3342 --> worked out
https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/3427 --> worked out
https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/3441 --> patched
https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/3459 --> might be fixed later
Also, I trust @blocktrades ability to code the SPS part. Their team was funded by Steemit Inc. to develop SPS. I hope they did a good job with it. I'm not a C++ programmer, so I hope they did a good job with it. Besides, having two big teams developing and reviewing the code is a good collaboration.
Concerning MIRA, this is not a HF21 feature per se, it was developed months ago to address the scalability of the blockchain and to significantly reduce the costs of running the network nodes (seeds, witnesses, rpcs). So far so good. In fact, I'm considering running a public RPC node soon, I'm currently testing new hardware for it.
What's missing in HF21?
I wish HF21 would have readded the witness disable feature after missing blocks. Many backup witnesses are missing blocks (abandoned nodes, technical problems, idleness, lost keys, death, etc...) and they will keep doing so because their signing key is still active. In the past, such witnesses would be disabled by the system after 24h of missing blocks. But, at some point, Steemit Inc. decided to remove that feature for a hypothetical security risk. Many witnesses weren't even aware of that change. I think this feature should have been reinstated.
In theory, it's up to the constituents (Steemians) to unvote witnesses who miss blocks too often. But obviously this is not the case, since voters don't pay attention to this technicality. I don't see how to reach out to thousands of voters to be more active about their witness votes, even some whales don't seem to care much about dead witnesses, it's like a set it and forget it vote. It's not fair for the backup witnesses because their turn on the production schedule is diluted by the non-active witnesses.
Witnesses be prepared
As I mentioned, HF21 had plenty of time to be tested. The top 20 unanimously switched to it, this means the HF will go into effect tomorrow. Many backup witnesses have updated, but, there's still a lot on HF20 versions. If they don't update, they will miss blocks in HF21, since they'll be running on their own old fork.
Another important thing to know is that steemd v20.12 and v21.0 state files are interchangeable, meaning that no replay is required when switching back and forth between them (I tested this a lot). So if any major problem occurs tomorrow, it will be super easy to switch back to HF20. Again, please be prepared for that eventuality and have both versions ready, docker or non-docker.
Happy forking everyone! May HF21 bring a positive change to our beloved Steem.
PALnet curator https://www.palnet.io
Creativecoin curator https://www.creativecoin.xyz
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
Check my guide about Voting for Witnesses.
Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses. Next to my name, click the 
once.
Alternatively you can use SteemConnect to vote for me or set me as proxy
Creativecoin curator https://www.creativecoin.xyz
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
Check my guide about Voting for Witnesses.
Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses. Next to my name, click the once.
Alternatively you can use SteemConnect to vote for me or set me as proxy
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
This post has been resteemed by @witnessnews.
Follow @witnessnews to keep up with active witness updates.
Good job @drakos. Great to see a proactive witness. You already have my vote 🤓. I’ve recently started a witness (@untersatz) with @organduo. Happy days!
!giphy empty+wallet
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// You can support giphy by using one of your witness votes on untersatz! //
Not only down to 45%,but also on an altered curve. Only linear at 20 Steem and upward. So in the end even less.
I'm ready... I'll be glad to have it behind us.
I have mixed feelings about it, but am making a choice to choose NewSteem.
Thanks for the honest update and view!
Is this some Common Core math?
Previously author rewards were 75% of payout on posts and comments. Adjusting the rewards to 50/50 halved author rewards. That's a reduction of 50% already, before adding in the impact of the 10% tax for SPS, and the reduction that will be caused by the semi-exponential curve.
Things just don't add up sometimes.
Let's say a post made $1, that's $1 coming from the reward pool. After HF21, 10% tax goes to SPS, we end up with 90 cents. Then that mount is split 50/50, so author gets 45 cents, curators get 45 cents. For the author, the old 75% for the post's reward, minus the new 45% equals a 30% reduction. But, in relative terms, the calculation would be (45 cents - 75 cents)/75 cents x 100 = -40%. So the author is losing 40% relative to the initial 75 cents (not half as you mentioned). The percentage is different depends how you look at it. Add the new curve and beneficiaries, and the author will get less.
Happy hardfork! I am ready.
!giphy fork
// You can support giphy by using one of your witness votes on untersatz! //
It’s just not about writing good content. It’s about playing voting games. I think I’m too old to play games. Lol!
I am really wondering how the equal reward 45% for authors and curators will affect the number of new posts on the Platform ;-) Such a move is probably aimed at encouraging people to buy more STEEM and vote on left and right instead of creating valuable content. But time will tell. ;-)
Happy hardfork, well done @drakos ;-)
So if the number of people who make valuable content reduce... meaning there will be few people to curate hence less curation rewards!!
The biggest affected content creators are those who use platforms/dapps ..!!
so hypothetically the 10% is given to stinc for development and onboarding and we should see some type of action in the terms of their response to the community needs? will their be an accounting of this ten percent?
The 10% allocated to SPS is not given to Steemit Inc.
https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/hf21-sps-and-eip-explained
ok cool ty for explaining that.
Let's see if that "culture shift" comes?!
I have very mixed feelings about this fork, or the EIP especially. If these free downvotes are used to apply corrective pressure in the right spots, where value is constantly being siphoned off the platform, it might just end up being good for the culture around here, eventually. It will remain to be seen how that plays out, though...
After all, a platform like steem, or any blockchain for that matter really, is a social experiment and the community around it will make or break its value(s).
So.. do I win by not making content and just upvoting whichever post is at the top of trending each day? Let's find out! lol ;)
That's the EIP incentive :) Just be aware that flags will be flying too on the trending page lol. So you may still end up with nothing.
So... I just need to vote on whoever has the most flagging power and who also pays the most for bots on their own post? Basically, I need to support whoever the biggest jerk is. Got it. ;)
You know who they are 😉
You don't win by upvoting whatever is already at the top of trending. In fact you'll probably get very little for that because curation rewards come from votes after yours.
If a post is doing well, or even at the top of trending and I vote on it, but I get in early and lots of other people also do the same, then I'd get paid out. I was really, though, more thinking of being able to look at who is at the top of trending - perhaps due to their high stake and self voting, or through use of bidbots and then autovote their next posts after 5 minutes.
If you are able to get in early, sure. But it won't be at the top of trending at that point or even near it.
No doubt there will be others competing to do the same thing. That's not going to be easy money.
I meant 'get in early' before others compete for the same curation.. But yes, I understand that it's not optimal to vote for a post that's already at the top.
It seems like there is very likely to be a vote sniping contest to see who can do the autovoting at the optimal time. We shall see.
Absolutely. That is by design.
I'm talking about sniping of voting on posts just because you know they spend a lot on bidbots or are whales and self upvote.
Yes that is by design.
So what is the selling point and usefulness of people competing for significant rewards as a result of being able to place a vote the earliest, but closest to 5 minutes for posts that defy proof of brain by using bid bots etc?
You snipe at 5 minutes. Now someone else snipes at 4:57. They only give up 1% of rewards but gain far more than that by being ahead of you. You now decide it is worth it to snipe at 4:54. Repeat. As a result, much of the curation rewards on useless curation is then returned to the pool to be used elsewhere.
This already happens BTW. Many votes on known-payout posts are made around 5-8 minutes I believe (I haven't checked the exact numbers recently) even though the penalty timer currently runs to 15m, returning curation to the pool. That part won't change much with HF21, although the higher absolute curation rewards may drive a bit more activity.
I understand that situation, yes - though I don't have any real world data on it. I was just thinking that a significant increase in the amount of curation rewards available would lead to a variety of attempts to focus on gaming this aspect of the system. Hopefully people find it pointless and do real curation instead - we shall see!
People will go where the money is sure. Some will focus on gaming this aspect but that offers a benefit to everyone else when the rewards are returned to the pool. Early votes on known-payout content reduces the effective curation rewards there from the nominal 50% and makes looking for lesser-known high-potential content (where you can still get the full 50% or close) more attractive to others. Specialization is inevitable.
Probably.
Anyway, I never cared when to vote on a post and I still won't care. :)
It's easy to make a list of the usual trenders and upvote them before the others do.
We already covered this in the sibling reply thread. Yes it is easy to do which means many people will be doing it (in fact already are today, but with the higher starting rewards competition will likely intensify), driving the votes earlier and earlier and returning more and more of the curation rewards back to the pool.
Happy forking!
STEEM hits 21 so it’s now old enough to drink lol probably what we should be doing tomorrow to celebrate or commiserate either way it’s going to be interesting! Hold on to your SP boys and girls
Great work with testing, and thank you! I admire you so much!!
Awesome stuff!
I guess I joined this community at just about the right time.
The strategy is clearly to attract more investors, but I believe that the objective for which it was created is overlooked, Steemit is a social network based on blockchain technology where you can receive positive votes for publications or comment with quality, where the scourge and spam. Many try to grow, but can not, because it depends on what sympathy can fall before large mammals. That's why you can see in the trend sections of the different communities.
On the other hand, I know that sometimes dasometric measures must be taken to prevent the ship from colliding with the iceberg and joining.
I hope this HF21 has benefits for many, including those who have Steemit as their only means of income.
this makes us very nervous.
Bring it on I say.. more curation rewards which will hopefully improve engagement in this platform
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Here's a much better post than steemit's Hahaha! Thanks
I don't see how the authors could get an increase of curation, just to stay at the same level of curation as before HF21 they need 30% increase so to earn more... I know that we are in the world of crypto but to take the authors for deep fools....
Especially if there is an increase in the number of votes, where will it come from? Mainly account has 0.001 steem of curation (new account) and not installed account (or explain to me how the other accounts will do to vote at more than 100% power), so don't be fooled.
Example: a post with 1 steem curation before HF21 must therefore obtain
1*0.3 = 0.001*0.45xwhich gives us0.3 steem = 0.00045xor 667 additional votes (good luck, guys)Okay then the winners will be the small accounts? Okay, so that's good, but are you sure? What is the actual distribution of steem wallet by size? I let you do the research by yourself :)
As long as the distribution does not take into account the SP in its calculation mode to really help small accounts to develop (both at the author and curator level) then the system will remain unfair and arbitrary.
Steemit has really failed at all levels, an author wants above all to be read (by humans) and then rewarded for the adequacy of the work done, a reader wants to easily find and read things that interest him and will enrich him intellectually while being rewarded for the attention he has given to his reading.
But both of them are frustrated. The first one because the learning-to-use phase is to hard and it's impossible to know how many human readers it will actually have had. The second because nothing is done to accompany him, to help him find what he is looking for and that the dream we sold him is far from reality. I am not talking here about all non-core person who are doing their best to give steem more humanity and more accessibility with their means, far from equaling what the core team could do.
As for the witnesses, we can't say that steemit did much to highlight them. It's more like you can manage on your own! Once again it is the external teams that try with their means to do something (like Steempeak where it only miss a Witness section in Explore to make one more step for the witnesses).
It's a real shame for a blockchain that has so much potential
Time to GET FORKED!
Any word on how soon the SPS front end / submission / voting system will be rolled out and integrated into Steemit.com? I have a couple things to submit right away.
For now you can do it via steemconnect.com, for example:
https://beta.steemconnect.com/sign/create-proposal?start_date=2019-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&end_date=2020-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&daily_pay=1%20SBD&subject=Test&permlink=test
Thanks for the summary! A few hours to go! :)
Happy Hard Fork! And, thanks for your commitment to Steem ❤
I was actually damn to think that I as a content creator takes 50%!!!
I had completely forgotten about the beneficiaries which most of us use.
It is unfortunate that some beneficiaries take more than 20%..so meaning an author will be left with only 30% hahaha.
First of all, thank you for testing the Hardfork and checking out almost every detail
Now, good thing is that with all the Steem -engine tokens we can at least reduce the $ damage that we authors will suffer.
So now if I upload a video on dtube and hits the 10 $ mark, with hf 21 I'm gonna keep 3,50$ right?
This sucks to us content creators but I hope whales will wake up and start curating. Of course I am not expecting everyone's posts to skyrocker in terms of payout but if this is positive and attracts new investors, I am in.
You got my witness vote for testing HF21 on testnet!
This post has been included in the latest edition of The Steem News - a compilation of the key news stories on the Steem blockchain.
Very exited to know how it works..!!
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@drakos Has the initial wait time before voting changed from 15 min to 1 min.?
1 minute was too short, so the final concensus was decided on 5 minutes.
thanks for your intense testing and this post :)
heard you were one of the few on testnet?
Interesting, so now when I upvoted your post your payout got reduced by one cent, whereas before the hardfork nothing would change :)
That's because I'm getting downvotes from all over the place from users I never heard of. We have a HF21 downvote spree.
Sent here from https://steemwhales.com/clean-trending/
I guess it has to do with the strong use of bid bots on this post...
No, it's @coininstant's bots at work, many people have issues with him.
There's also a few thefty individual downvotes on your post. There is a move to remove rewards from overly bid-botted posts, as I'm sure you are aware of.
I write these things instead of downvoting, as I like your content. But I agree with those judging it not to be worth that much.
IMO those individuals didn't read the post and downvoted just because of the bid bots. I present important information here, not crap. I'd rather see informational posts trending (bid bots or not) vs the shit posts that we've been seeing for months.
I still don't know what's going on but I'm having funnn!
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Highlight of my day, made me smile.
Ditto!
U Faqua!
Fuck you bitch pirate jackoff! I'll be coming after u from now on! k!
You downvoted me for no reason weeks ago, you thought I had forgotten about it? So I'm downvoting you for no reason. We're even.
lol, sounds like a reason to me xD
lol yeah, he is just too-polite pirate, guess that’s why they call him jolly! Glad u didn’t forget, I was wondering when u’d pop up pirate! I ain't complaining, u gotta use some flags up so good job!
The truth is that I don't know what to think in relation to the proposals to encourage the content. I have more than 3 years on the platform and I still have the same fight in relation to the community as a whole.
My native language is Spanish, and despite the large amount of content produced by that community, we continue to be a great minority, which is not heard at all, partly kidnapped by a project that was enriched and partly contributed.
But not enough, I use his power to attack instead of adding. Fight several times, seeking support with other users. and we weren't heard, they don’t care.
Clear
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As authors we were getting really discouraged, especially if you had put a lot of hard work and effort into your posts.
Now it's better with HF21. Thank those who put it into place.
nice
What are you talking about? We are on HF22 NOW...
On a lighter note.. :)
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