For some people, running a Witness node is a business, and might even be their sole source of income. I am also trying to introduce people to Bitshares just like you. Referral program, run a Witness node, trading on the DEx, building a profitable company on the platform, etc.
Yes, I and many others are grateful for your efforts. However, I am extremely confident that you Kencode could not sustain your lifestyle on witness profits, nor could most of those that made BitShares possible. Those you speak of that can are in hugely different economic situations. I'm sure there are many of them that are highly entrepreneurial and competent. If you want to put the reliability of BitShares in the hands of such people that is fine, but you will sacrifice reliability if you don't have standards to which witnesses are measured or those such witnesses can look to for how it's done.
We in the west and others have learned the hard way through experience what it takes to run the network and how to insure decentralization, but it's the "wild wild west" in many respects and there are no solid, well documented standards.
And speaking of standards what of the standards related to freedom? We in the west understand that word and how the status quo financial institutions are inherently contrary to the principles and philosophy that underpin why BitShares and many other digital currency projects were started in the first place. I am not confident that vision would be sustained if western witnesses fade away, which might very well happen if BitShares continues to rely on altruism and on subsidies from outside interests to cover the increasing expenses of running the network.
If a business' profits are not large enough, then that business must find a way to make that venture more profitable. As for Witness nodes, there are awesome server providers in Slovakia, Poland, Brasil, Mexico and everywhere in between, so just shop around a bit. Make the node more profitable.
You can't turn wood into gold, there is no such alchemy. I agree with you in principle, but with the current rate of pay you are limiting who can compete.
Unless your labor costs are very low (i.e. non western wages) and you can find reliable cost effective ultra-cheap (no DO or AWS) hosting that fits your needs (language, support, method of payment, reliability, decentralization of locations, etc etc) it's an impossible task. I know, I look for good hosting frequently.
I have limitations that others may not, I require things others may not, such as English speaking support, payment in crypto and flexible locations. Some locations are simply more costly. Try to get a VPS in Australia that excepts crypto payments and you'll see that your choices are quite limited. Same with servers in Iceland. I suspect few of the current 23 witnesses pay much attention to the physical distribution of their nodes. I suspect I'm the only one who even runs 4 nodes. If I must squeeze more out of my existing witness pay to support server upgrades I will have to shut down some nodes.
Not everyone has the same set of skills. I believe you are projecting your abilities onto others with these expectations. You are an example of top tier management with excellent business acumen that most do not possess. I just don't see how the current level of witness pay is a viable
business for anyone except those of third world or low ranking economies.
If BitShares could be sustained by competent, freedom loving people from third world or low economic level places around the world whose cost of living and hosting expenses are far less I would be the first to relinquish my witness. I'm not convinced the non-western users of the BitShares community are ready enough to make that happen without sacrificing important core values BitShares was built to establish. It's like asking Thomas Jefferson to have confidence his understanding of freedom would be preserved by a high school graduate raised in the 21st century. Odds are high it won't happen.
Paying our Witness node operators more, will not make them any more productive or efficient.
Please don't make their profitability issues the Bitshares Stakeholder's problem, that is not fair.
Reliability and what BitShares is and the principles it will maintain are very much stakeholder's responsibility. I agree, raising pay does not
guarantee higher performance, but odds are very high unless it is raised it will guarantee performance will not improve. You have a year of history that shows that.