Today I was privileged to witness the Block Producers attempting to reach consensus regarding the decision to "Go" or "No Go" with the launch of the EOS Mainnet. What I witnessed was a microcosm of what occurs in true democratic organisations in general; it is a very messy process. Usually it happens behind closed doors.
The decision to allow people who are not Block Producers to observe the pre-voting and voting processes was gutsy and it exemplifies the transparency of the nature of consensus and decentralisation is supposed to be all about.
This was a grand experiment trying to reconcile billions of dollars at risk in capitalisation, opinions regarding code and governance, and many languages spread over global time zones. To those who have participated in senior level management meetings within the same company sharing a common culture and language - it reflected the cut and thrust of existential company policy meetings - no surprise in that dynamic. To the less experienced punters - it would have appeared as, what many ungraciously termed, a clusterf*ck, which is an inaccurate and unfair characterisation. It reflected more about the commentators than about the processes.
The saddest element in this cauldron of motivations and ideas was the content of too many immature, racist, and self-serving comments on the Youtube channel and in the Telegram feed. Because some did not get the result of a "GO" vote, perhaps fuelled by disappointment they could not begin trading their tokens, the search for scapegoats began. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, it was the Chinese community that took many grossly crude and unfair comments. I thank those who had the conviction to vote "NO GO" until there was consensus - that took gumption.
Another sad aspect was the ease that those who had voted to "GO", who had previously agreed to the 2/3s+1 majority criteria to launch the Maninet, were impulsively so ready to disregard that earlier collective decision so their preference to launch could be met. There is good reason for the old adage, "Never question in Darkness a decision made in the Light of Day." The voting rules and consensus criteria were Light of Day decisions designed to mitigate a decision in the heat of argument that could harm the system.
Think of the NASA shuttle, Challenger. There were engineers who wanted to postpone the launch due to low ambient temperatures that were outside the design envelope of the craft's material specifications. Due to political pressure from within NASA to the White House, unspoken but implied, good people ignored the cautionary arguments of the engineers and Challenger launched for a brief, fatal flight. The disastrous result served to cripple NASA for many years.
There are similar pressures, explicit and implicit, upon the EOS Block Producers to launch; lots of money, reputation, and ego does that. I'm not proud, but I've not been totally immune to those same pressures in similar circumstances and gone with, "She'll be right, Mate." Sometimes, it wasn't.
To those Block Produces who determined to delay their "GO" vote until their reservations resolved, I say a hearty, "Thank You." To those other Block Produces with cooler heads that, although disappointed, agreed to support the pre-agreed consensus decision. I also say, "Many Thanks." To those who, through frustration and whatever motivations behaved in an exasperated and peevish manner, I also say, "Thank You" as you revealed yourselves as those not worthy of receiving my vote.
Consensus is essentially a bitch. Imagine consensus on a global scale and I am impressed to have witnessed the result achieved - no one got shot or injured - no homes or villages were razed - no missiles were fired. It gives me hope that perhaps humanity ain't such a f*cked up species as too many might estimate. Good onya EOS Gang. Ya done good!