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As we all know, witnesses are the backbone of the Hive platform, the unsung heroes who ensure everything runs smoothly. They operate critical nodes that keep the platform alive and thriving. Without witnesses, Hive wouldn’t exist, and without us, there would be no content to share and engage with, which is why we need to get familiar with who our witnesses are.
That's why I've created this special edition of "Meet Our Hive Witnesses." This interview series aims to connect with our witnesses, giving you a closer look at the people who keep Hive running. We’ll dive into their work, motivations, and insights through a series of thoughtful questions.
It is the fifteenth edition of Meet Our Hive Witnesses Interview and before I continue with the introduction of the next witness that has honoured us to be interviewed, I'd like to say that, as a Hive user who want to see this platform continue to grow and flourish, we all have 30 votes to cast for any Hive witness of our choice and I will say this is the most important 30 votes you will ever cast on this platform for any witnesses that you deem it fit.
Joining us on this fifteenth edition of Meet Our Hive Witnesses is a dedicated builder of decentralization @borislavzlatanov, an independent thinker, developer, and proud hardware host keeping Hive strong and reliable.
Welcome to my interview, it is a great honour to have you here on the show this week @borislavzlatanov
Thanks, below are the answers:borislavzlatanov
1 What motivated you to become a Hive witness, and how long have you been serving in that role?
@borislavzlatanov My main motivation for becoming a witness is to contribute to Hive’s decentralization. One more independent node in a different geographical location hopefully adds a little bit to this. I have been a witness for close to a year now.
2 What do you believe is the core responsibility of a Hive witness, and how do you personally fulfill it?
@borislavzlatanov Witnesses ensure the network keeps running and is stable, remains decentralized, and evaluate and contribute to network updates. I myself endeavor to fulfill this by learning new things that seem relevant, keeping myself up-to-date with what is going on on the chain and in the wider industry, and looking into proposed updates. Also by communicating with others on Hive about challenges, needs, and success stories, and by being engaged and exchanging ideas.
3 Can you explain how your witness node is set up and what infrastructure you use to keep it running securely and reliably?
@borislavzlatanov I wanted to own the hardware of my node. I am not a fan of hosting these nodes at data centers. Thanks to other witnesses who had already done it, I was also able to figure out what hardware to get. So I got a mini PC that seems quite sufficient for the node and consumes very little power. I use regular home fiber-optic connection.
4 What challenges have you encountered as a witness, and how have you worked to overcome them?
@borislavzlatanov One small challenge so far was that I once had an unexpected crash of my node. I then had to deactivate my witness, update the node and replay, and activate again. I’ve since started using some monitoring tools to be able to react to such situations more quickly, and I’m looking to get still better monitoring and response.
I also had to move my node to a different place, which required re-configuring things with the different router and overall setup there. I guess people using their own hardware have to have the node run in parallel to all their other stuff without interference between them.
5 What specific contributions have you made to the Hive ecosystem outside of maintaining your node?
@borislavzlatanov I’ve developed some tools as part of the @peak.open team, such as Hive Open Stats which provides statistics about the chain and its communities, and Hive Open Polls which provides a polls feature. The latter specifies an open polls protocol which all Hive frontends can adhere to in order to provide the same polls feature. This approach of having an open protocol helps keep all chain users as a single user base, saves a lot of development time, and lets users be on whichever frontend they like and they get the same feature with all the same data.
I’ve also developed a few other things here and there, for example an open-source hbdstabilizer bot, and a concept for Invite A Friend onboarding which I hope to get more feedback on.
6 In your opinion, what differentiates a great witness from an average one on Hive?
@borislavzlatanov I personally look for technical knowledge and understanding (can the person secure the network), standing for one’s values (even if there’s potential financial loss), being able to balance different points of view, having experience and even wisdom (to be able to respond to complex social challenges, since threats to the chain may be larger and more intricate than just technical), and being active in whatever capacities interest the person.
7 How do you engage with the Hive community, and what should users know about the importance of witness voting?
@borislavzlatanov I like curating and commenting and I do that regularly. I also think it’s very important to have a culture of actively supporting people and initiatives that we see as having potential. So I encourage ideas by leaving a comment, asking questions, or just saying a good word. We never know what might come out of something. As far as I understand it, big changes in history come from unexpected places, blockchain itself being a good example. A culture of creativity matters far more to me than large funding and attention. And it is quite within our ability to nurture such a culture.
Regarding the importance of voting. Voting for witnesses and proposals gives users a way to participate in the chain’s governance. I understand why not many people engage in forms of governance - most feel like their participation doesn’t matter so they don’t bother even if there are democratic systems and rounds of public discussion put in place. Maybe we will come up with governance systems where more people feel their participation matters. But even now, if people act like their voice and participation matters, it really will matter. So vote however you feel like, stir up some discussions, and something beneficial will probably come of it.
8 What are your top priorities or goals for Hive’s future, and how are you helping achieve them?
@borislavzlatanov I used to have goals and plans, but in more recent times I’ve become more keen on observing what is going on and responding however it seems fit. I help in the areas I think I can, and when I notice some interesting development or opportunity, I engage and add my little bits to hopefully help make things happen. When I have ideas, I share them, and sometimes I work on developing them further into some tool or facility.
9 Do you support any particular proposals or improvements on Hive? If so, why are they important to you?
@borislavzlatanov I like proposals that give transparency and that contribute open tools and processes to the ecosystem.
One very specific improvement I’d like to see is for BIP39 seed phrases to be used to generate account keys. I think this will greatly help account self-custody, as people will have words that they can write down on a piece of paper to serve as a backup. Right now, if they want a paper backup, they have to write down a long 50-character master password, and I imagine the majority of people don’t bother doing it.
10 What do you think Hive witnesses should do better collectively to improve the blockchain?
@borislavzlatanov. Communicate. Communicate between ourselves and with the users. Communication keeps things going and helps us get further.
11 How transparent are you with your operations, and where can users track your performance or contributions?
@borislavzlatanov All payments I have received as part of projects done have been on-chain, and all code I’ve written for Hive has been open-source. Probably the easiest way to track my contributions is to check out my account feed.
12 What do you wish more Hive users understood about how witnesses work or what witnesses do?
@borislavzlatanov It would probably be good for more users to have some understanding of the workings of the chain and the role of witnesses - that each witness hosts a copy of all the chain data and independently validates each operation. And that API nodes are needed to read things from the chain. And that the top 20 witnesses have the power to redefine the rules of the network. Some understanding of this can help people see and evaluate for themselves how this system differs from centralized alternatives.
13 Have there been any moments where you had to take a difficult decision as a witness? If yes, what was it?
@borislavzlatanov Not so far.
14 Are there any technical or political limitations that restrict your ability to contribute more as a witness?
@borislavzlatanov One technical limitation is the lack of documentation, which I have had to make up for by reading source code and by asking questions. I am not aware of political limitations that restrict my ability to contribute, and hopefully this will remain the case.
15 Why should people vote for you as a witness,what makes your witness stand out from others?
@borislavzlatanov Right now, my witness stands out by being hosted on my own hardware. I know of a few other witnesses who do the same. Perhaps this can be an encouragement for more witnesses to look into doing this, so they can better stand out.
It is so awesome finally having a chat with you @borislavzlatanov
Thanks so much for creating time for meet our Hive witness. Have a wonderful day 🤝🏻
You're welcome.
NB: those were @borislavzlatanov exact words to the interview questions. Nothing was changed.
PROMOTING AND INTERVIEWING HIVE WITNESSES IS ALL I DO
! [ Special thanks to]
@canadian-coconut @resonator @ranchorelaxo @sanjeevm @gogreenbuddy @solominer @edicted @honey-swap @fedesox @trafalgar @yeouido.park @balte @deepresearch @fw206 and everyone who has been supporting my interview. Thanks to you all.
As Hive users we need to do everything in our power to choose witnesses that will represent the community well. Before voting make sure you do some research on the witness you are voting for and be informed. Head over to https://wallet.hive.blog/~witnesses OR https://peakd.com/me/witnesses and click on some of the witnesses names, get to know them a bit better and do your part to make sure this community thrives.
You can read more about @borislavzlatanov here
please vote and support @borislavzlatanov to be your witness today!
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Thanks for reading. Till next time.
You can check and read my previous interview with @kyle ♥ @enginewitty ♥ @ura-soul ♥ @roelandp ♥ @vsc.network♥ @Actifit ♥ @thebbhproject ♥ @Stayoutoftherz ♥ @Wrestorgonline ♥ @Rishi556 ♥ @Botlord ♥ @yabamatt ♥ @seattlea ♥ @Shmoogleosukami and you can make sure you follow me to get updated with the next episode.
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