I am not sure if this will fix the problem but it may help... I think we have to slash witness pay, cut the inflation rate, AND do some of these other investment incentivizing actions you are talking about.
One thing is for certain, this literally is a crisis moment for Steemit the site and Steem the currency... I just hope the founders and developers see that and can act before it is too late...
You've been misled about the need to slash witness pay. Witness rewards account for approximately 3% of the daily inflation (literally 1 STEEM out of 30 or so STEEM produced per block). That is not at all where the massive STEEM inflation comes from and isn't "draining value" to any significant extent if at all. It is also naturally decreasing over time.
There are a few haters and trolls (or well-meaning but misguided people) who describe witnesses as greedy parasites. Instead of blindly following their rhetoric I suggest you come on the #witness channel on steemit chat and actually talk to some of the witnesses about what they are doing (and spending) to help support and build Steem. If you think that the platform and ecosystem are completely perfect and finished, then this isn't work that is needed. I do happen to think it is needed, and it is the witness rewards that make a lot of it possible.
@klye sorry to post here
@smooth am sorry to try to reach out on you here but I can't reach you on steemit chat .
For some reasons, I can't log in there either - keeps saying server won't load but please get back at me. Thank you
EDIT : @smooth thank you for getting back at me !
steemit.chat has been down for maintenance. When it is back up I will reach you there.
No worries man! This whole network exists for communications. :P
Thanks for the clarification. I haven't looked at the numbers to see for myself, just trusted what I had read... (my first mistake). I do know that there are many well meaning witnesses and that the pay they receive doesn't even cover the projects they are currently funding (like yourself) but others it seems like it could be an overpay. My opinion would be for money from other sources be used to pay for those projects, sources such as some kind of crowdfunding. Your witness pay should not have to be used to pay for projects... The fact that the harder you work the less you make is exactly the wrong kind of system we want setup here.
IMO it isn't a question of overpay, but underperform. Two sides of the same coin, but the fix is a little different, Vote 'em out. We can find 19 who all perform at a high level. There are many good candidates in the top 50, even some in the top 30 who would be relatively easy to move in and replace someone who might not be delivering.
As for 'pay' vs. 'budget', I view it as a more of a business than a job. Witnesses who, as a service business, deliver the most value should be voted in, and if they can do all that and still make a profit, great, but it doesn't need to be guaranteed. Anyone who doesn't find it an attractive proposition can step aside easily.
None of this precludes other funding options such as crowdfunding though. Currently witness pay doesn't even add up to a lot when it comes to the sort of funding you need for big projects -- about $150/day in locked funds (at times it has, perhaps in the future it might again). A witness who organizes a successful crowdfund or leverages other revenue sources besides witness rewards and gets amazing solutions built is doing a good job too IMO.
Good points.
I'm not sure slashing witness pay is the best idea, perhaps electing witnesses that prefer to only take as much as they need for their projects and service rather than just being greedy and trying to drain the whole value.
People Re-investing what they don't need is something we need to try and make common place with witnesses. Transparency on all ends is needed for everything to run properly in my opinion.
We should elect witnesses who deliver the most value to the network. There is plenty of work to be done supporting, improving, building, and building upon this platform. No reason we can't find just 19 (plus some runner-up) witnesses who are all absolutely great.