FRANKLY SPEAKING: A Few thoughts About Service Reliability On The Blockchain

So let's cut right to the chase. Days of service outrages following a hardfork must be fixed, period. It makes very little sense to extol the advantages of transacting on a decentralized and scalable system when that system remains unavailable for days at a time.

Winning over new participants, especially those with significant business interests, will prove to be fruitless if such outages persist. Light Accounts, SMTs, Communities and the like will not help the platform to experience sustained growth if a guaranteed level of service cannot be realized. Moreover, let's consider who and what gets lost during such outages:

• Steemit loses advertising dollars because advertisers don't reach audiences
• Businesses, e.g. Steam Monsters and other DAPP providers cannot service their customers and run the risk of losing money and future business
• Individuals are prevented for submitting posts in a timely manner and have less impact.

In my opinion, the team behind Steem should seriously consider deploying both fail-safe and redundant systems that will mitigate service degradation. The team should also consult other players within the industry in order to augment its own knowledge base and develop a coherent strategy to prevent further outages during future hardforks.

It is my hope that the Steem Team takes these and similar concerns into serious consideration.