We Need Your Help to Protect Steem

Dear Steemians,

After the recent chain split (ver. 0.23 Hardfork), the Steem Blockchain had been in major threat during the process coming directly from former Top witnesses of Steem. As top consensus witnesses, the duty and task would have been to maintain the integrity of the Steem Blockchain but it was decided to abandon the chain they promised to protect.

There were some opportunities to understand each other between Steemit Inc and Steem community members/investors but unfortunately, it didn't work well. The former witness group bought the domain for the fork after the day when a town hall meeting with representatives of each group gathered together on the 11th of March 2020 to discuss the shared value and find out solutions. The decision for a Hardfork from Steem had been prepared and made official on the 18th of March 2020.

The biggest threat that occurred to the Steem Blockchain was when the Hardfork was executed. Before the chain split still 50% of witnesses were running a hostile version 0.23 and were in the Top 20 of the Steem witness list. If that status had been kept that way, it could have resulted in breaking the Steem Blockchain, because these witnesses would not work anymore for the Steem Blockchain directly after the Hardfork. Shortly before the Hardfork, it needed a high effort from the Steem community to gather enough voting power to have at least 65% of witnesses running a non-hostile version and avoid breaking the Steem Blockchain.

As the history now shows, neutral witnesses from the now split Blockchain were technically able to run a non-hostile version and still support the Hardfork. This is not the case for witnesses that have executed a 0.23 version on the Steem Blockchain during the Hardfork.

To ensure the security of the Steem Blockchain, here we suggest updating to a temporary protocol -- Softfork 22.888. This so-called Softfork update is reversible but not limited to this version. We are using it to secure the Steem Blockchain but allowing affected accounts to appeal through the SPS system.

History Review based on facts

Feb 14th, 2020 - Steemit Inc. sold to the Tron Foundation. Concerned voices from the community about tweets and postings that the Steem blockchain may migrate to Tron
Feb 23th, 2020 - Previous witnesses execute Softfork 0.22.2 and limit Steemit Inc.'s stake as a proactive measurement for negotiation.
Mar 2nd, 2020 - With the help of the exchange's stake, Steemit Inc. executes Softfork 0.22.5 to reverse 0.22.2 and place 20 witnesses of their own. Exchanges withdraw their votes shortly after.
Mar 2nd~18th, 2020. - Communications on several layers between different parties like witnesses, communities, Steemit Inc. and investors. Former Steem consensus witnesses gathering part of the community for a Hardfork
Mar 18th, 2020 - Announcement of the 0.23 Hardfork
Mar 20th, 2020 - Chain split and 0.23 Hardfork at 10 AM EST.

Softfork 0.22.888

This temporary Softfork is to adjust the future of the Steem community, which is in the moment still influenced due to the Hardfork.

Due to the uncertain threat that the leaders and main influencers of the new Hardfork represented to the Steem Blockchain, the Softfork will include accounts with the following rules, and restrict a group of operations by these accounts. The barrier for these rules can be lowered at any time when the circumstances require it and consensus is reached.

• Accounts that ran the version 0.23 during the Hardfork on Steem and were still in the Top 20 rank, shortly before the Hardfork.
• Accounts that proxied or directly voted to more than 10 witnesses running the version 0.23 on the Steem Blockchain during the hardfork with high influence.
• Accounts directly associated with operating these accounts.

We'll suggest no more than 20 accounts be included in the list.

Why Softfork 0.22.888 is Necessary to Protect Steem?

The recent evidence showes that a major part of previous witnesses had decided to fork a separate chain as early as Feburary 2020. During this process, the previous witnesses threatened the stability of the Steem Blockchain while running a hostile Hardfork version on Steem, still being Top witnesses.

Additionally, they decided to implement a selective distribution of their forked chain, not only excluding the Steemit Inc. stake but also from normal users that proxied or voted on Steemit Inc.'s witnesses. These users mainly voted partly to Steemit Inc.'s witnesses and also for previous witnesses as part of a protest that they were not confirming the actions of the previous witnesses and kept the balance between the two parties, as it was encouraged from the previous witnesses.

Moreover, different members from the forked Blockchain are still actively spamming and milking the Steem ecosystem. Hostile actions, such as downvoting, against Steem users with different opinions were taken by the the forked Blockchain.

As for now, there is no clear declaration from the leadership or accounts of the forked Blockchain that it is not the goal to harm the Steem Blockchain and community. The hostile attacks may never stop.

Based on all these facts, we have seen the need of a temporary adjustment with Softfork 0.22.888

Call For Your Assistance

We are at an extremely difficult time in the history of Steem, and the power of communities are the key to make Steem great again. We're still here and stand out to protect Steem, because our communities are staying here. They didn't leave if you have really looked around.

Unlike Softfork 222, which is decided by a small group of the previous witnesses with no transparency to the community. We want everybody's voice to be heard about how to move forward. We don't love fight, but actions have to be taken to protect Steem NOW, before it's too late.

• The current Steem Witnesses please kindly decide whether you will support Softfork 22.888 or not in 12 hours. We'll send an instruction shortly about how to upgrade to Softfork 22.888 for those who join to protect Steem.
• Every Steemian please kindly share your opinions and suggestions to the witnesses that you support about how to fight and build for the future of Steem. We understand that other forked chain's messages may flood here, but the voices of those who really love Steem in the past 4 years and look forward to a better future should not be ignored.

All rewards from this post are sent to @null.