Firstly, I have upgraded to 0.20.1 (Edit: on 0.20.2 now) and support Hardfork 20. I won't be satisfied till there are radical changes (like replacing stake-weighted voting), but this is a step forward in every way. With HF20, witnesses have to make new decisions regarding subsidized accounts - budget for subsidized accounts per block, and decay of subsidy pool per block. However, I'm unable to make any decision without more information. I (and others) have requested this information twice on Steemitblog posts, only to be duly ignored. I'll ask again, and will greatly appreciate any responses from people privy to such information. By the way, why should a middling ranked witness care? In cases of divided opinion between the top 20 witnesses, parameters change every block as per the runner-up witnesses.
Historical charts for
a) New account sign-up requests from Steemit.com and elsewhere.
b) Percentage of rejected sign-ups.
c) Percentage of accepted sign-ups which turn out to be spam accounts.
d) Percentage of total registrations processed by(I do note that in all these cases, the subsidized account system has the potential to radically change how registrations are done, deeming the historical data irrelevant. Nevertheless, it's a good place to start.)
Steemit Inc's intentions -
a) Will Steemit Inc participate in the discounted account market? If yes, to what extent? They have an utter monopoly on RCs to bid with, given their exorbitant stakeholding. This is an important question that needs answering.
b) "To what extent" has many possibilities - They could use the subsidy pool, but for each account created, burn Steem for most or a part of it. Or, commit to use only a part of the subsidy pool, while fully burning Steem for the rest. Or combinations thereof. I need to know precise details on how Steemit.com will handle account sign ups going forward. Of course, all of this will be evident after HF20, but some heads-up feels necessary.
c) Are we aware of other entities that intend to participate in this market?Commitment to spam combating measures by Steemit Inc's faucet, and other third parties. (Remember when social networks could just ban spam accounts?) Obviously, I'm not asking for their method, but I want to be assured there will be significant spam mitigation protocols if witnesses do choose to open up registrations en masse.
Simulation of historical blockchain usage and how it will translate to the new RC system. I'm expecting teething issues now that each transaction has a different cost, but I have no idea how it'll play out.
Historical spikes and trends in account sign-ups, which will be vital information for decay rate. Of course, this will be broadly correlated with Steem price (pretty much every activity metric on Steem is), so I anticipate adjustments with significant price swings.
Any further information would help, but these would be a bare minimum. If I don't receive further information, I'd err towards the side of caution, and go with a low budget (perhaps <1 per block), an average decay rate (5 days), and a high fee (~12 Steem at current prices). If 1d) suggests that Steemit Inc is creating an overwhelming majority of accounts, them burning more Steem is ultimately best for the ecosystem, and ties in perfectly with Steemit Inc's stated goal of reducing their stakeholding over time. Or so was stated in the 2017 Roadmap, not sure if that has changed. On the other hand, this data will not account for those planning to jump into account creation as a result of the subsidized accounts. Anyway, I'll of course revise these numbers the first week of October once we get more information about how Steemit Inc is using these new protocols, in practice.
Some of this information can be scraped from the blockchain, and I'm sure it would be of great interest to all witnesses and stakeholders. Ideally, the top witnesses should hire researchers and get independent reports made for a more reasoned perspective. Other stuff, well, we'll just have to hope we get something from Steemit Inc.
Thank you to all developers for getting us to Hardfork 20, and for users of the platform for being patient. See you on the other side of HF20 next week!
PS: I'm trialing power up 100% because SBDs may start printing again post HF20. When SBDs are under $1, it's beneficial to go the power up route, if you were intending to power up anyway. In the past, this also came with social capital and appreciation by the community, though that has since eroded. However, do note that you stand to lose out if in one week's time SBDs shoot well above $1. On a related note- in the face of unstable crypto traders and rampant manipulation, I'm not going to publish an interest rate or a bias if SBD trades in the $0.90 to $1 range.
PPS: This is a good analysis to start with - https://steemit.com/steem/@paulag/exploratory-analysis-account-creation-and-hf20-changes-1537128103339