Thom, while I agree with you that some may value morals over money, few have been tested with that dilemma. I know you are a steadfast bitshares supporter and have been here a long time. From your comments here and on beyond bitcoin, I know that you value your principles more than money and you believe BTS is a platform that aligns with your principles. It would be great if all the witness's were like you.
Thank you, that is very generous and kind of you to say.
That said, very little is known about these witness's. Most haven't posted any personal information and remain mostly anonymous other than there internet rep. Trusting anonymous internet people has burned BTS before, remember Gentso and Cryptosmith?
How could I possibly forget? Gentso shocked us all with what he did, if anyone knows that situation it's me. There is a huge difference in the situation with gentso and the trust placed with witnesses. The biggest difference is witnesses aren't paid in advance for the work they do, nor is what they receive nearly as large. In my opinion gentso should not have been put in the position where temptation was so big and risk so low. We all make mistakes. I doubt that one will be repeated. Also, it should be noted for the record that it wasn't shareholder funds that were lost. I'm not 100% certain but I believe it was a single investor that was impacted.
I believe you should judge the witnesses by their performance, not their label or status that some "authority" figure has bestowed upon them. I don't think tying a real world ID is an absolute requirement, but I do believe it's necessary to establish a solid reputation. The fact that a witness can be voted out quickly is adequate incentive IMO for proper behavior. I also believe that as the use of the DEX increases there will come a point where individuals such as myself will not be able to maintain a reliable witness. However, that is not likely to happen suddenly, and there should be ample time for individuals to either up their game and if not they will be voted out. Again, it's back to performance. Reputation may come into play in the form of proxies and voter support (i.e. grace, lag, tolerance) for a witness, but I wouldn't expect that to go very far otherwise it would reflect poorly on the proxy.
The unique thing about witness's is that they get to produce blocks with relatively inexpensive equipment. I know this costs money, but it is vastly cheaper than keeping up to date mining operations for bitcoin. I think having the witness's put up 4000 in collateral isn't that bad... They only lose that if they damage the system, otherwise they can cease being a witness and do what they wish with their million BTS.
"Inexpensive" is relative. at 1.5 BTS / block there isn't much "profit" after server costs. It amazes me how many expect reliable, attentive services for 3rd world wages. It's unrealistic. Most witnesses have been operating for a year with declining pay, yet if anything server costs have increased. Reducing the number of witnesses from 27 to 23 did improve that somewhat, but as we see the level of traffic increasing nodes should be upgraded to stay ahead of the demand. And you now expect them to provide some collateral? Why? There is no plan for what would be done with it. I don't believe it provides any benefits to security at all. It might be useful for new and unknown witnesses as a way to measure their commitment, but that is risky too. That also reduces the likelihood new witnesses would want to participate.
I think you are fooling yourself if you think money doesn't play a role...
I never said that. Please don't put words in my mouth. I recognize money is an incentive, but I'm not sure you believe most of us still here are motivated by principles or purpose over money. I think you're wrong about that. I consider the purpose of BitShares to be much more than a monetary investment for ROI gains. It's about replacing a corrupt financial monopoly with an free market alternative where everybody can benefit, including many who may not even be born yet. It's an investment in the future long term, not short term.
Corruption has been a part of world history forever and money is usually the reason behind it. The bitshares platform and witness's will not be immune to it. Granted BTS could be destroyed or completely centralized in one swoop right now, all that would have to happen is have the exchanges take their voting weight and elect their own witness's and committee members. And this will probably happen if bitshares ever does start threatening the exchanges.
This is true. And yet you want to rely on money to direct people's behavior. You are not helping to remove money as a cause for corruption by doing so. If you want to do that you should find other means to vet / incentivize participants (witnesses, committee) such as demonstrable, measurable, objective metrics that directly relate to integrity, honor, reliability and quality of past performance. Money does not help with that, it only clouds the issue of true motivation.