Yes, I agree. I actually am experienced in C++ and testing, so I know something of the complexity and size of the task (though I wouldn't know all the details without going more deeply into it all). Co-ordination goes a LONG way when it comes to testing complex systems and I really think we need to have a witness testing channel in chat as a minimum. That in itself would help expose what is and is not occurring.

I worked out earlier (after getting the maths wrong the first time around) that top 20 witnesses currently receive in the region of about $90k per year. Paying others to do professional audits would take a sizeable chunk of that - but if they all split the cost it would be doable. This then comes back to the issue of potentially redirecting some of the witness budget towards tasks such as this but then we have the politics of who gets the job and so the complexities of getting so many individuals to work together in a coherent way just spiral on. I suppose a way of rewarding code changes and bug hunting would go a long way towards helping but @utopian-io doesn't even currently have Steem whitelisted, for reasons I don't understand. :/