Proxy incentives

[fav]

OP is right, and I hope DPOSHUB will take part in the overseeing of Proxies too.

Also, I think it's important for well known and respected community members to step up and encourage voters to use them as proxies.

I will start a "diary" in 2.0, explaining my votes.

[luckybit]

would you give your votes to someone that will deliberately harm the network and make your shares be worth less?
Also, you can, at any point in time, see which proxy has how much voting power.

Maybe not but I could see how easily it would be for corporations to buy votes. Not every corporation is going to be evil or bad for the network. IBM, Google and other companies pay for a lot of Linux development. Most Linux developers have jobs and don't work for free, but they work for companies like IBM, Oracle, etc.

Something similar could happen with Bitshares. Corporations could form partnerships, or just buy votes in exchange for employment. That way they would get favorable treatment and be more likely to get their way.

The same way corporations buy politician's votes. The same way politicians buy votes through social programs and tax breaks. It's just how the political game tends to work.

[xeroc]

would you give your votes to someone that will deliberately harm the network and make your shares be worth less?
Also, you can, at any point in time, see which proxy has how much voting power.

[luckybit]

We could see people selling coveted jobs in real world companies for votes. Delegates could hire the people who vote for them.

That could allow a big tech company to easily get voted in. It could allow Goldman Sachs to get voted in.

[bobmaloney]

It seems to me that when 2.0 goes live, the incentive will quickly be realized for proxies to pay for voting power.
This is where the inevitable politics of BTS 2.0 will become increasingly transparent, IMO.

What might be the possibilities of political deals regarding vote-swaps and quid pro quo among witness approvals, platform proposals, etc.
I suppose high value platform proposals will be the most obvious and likely sources to be first to attempt this type of method to manipulate approvals.

Obviously, community oversight will be necessary to deal with bad actors, but how quickly will the community be able to rally/communicate for prompt action?

Is this worry valid?

If so, I think this is an area we should put effort into considering, whether it is worth concern, the possible likelihood, and if so – what should be done to counter it.