So, the other night I had a great idea...
Create a way to store arbitrary data on the STEEM blockchain that can later be retrieved.
Sounds great in theory. The blockchain provides data integrity and validation via the witnesses, thus, providing an unbreakable form of security. With this knowledge in mind, I enacted a test on the blockchain to see if it could handle me creating some large transactions that stored data on the blockchain.
Well, the test was a raving success. I was able to chunk a particular file into pieces of base64 encoded data and upload them to the STEEM blockchain. As well, I was able to download and reassemble this data for viewing.
What it looks like when you upload 60KB transactions
One of the transactions example
@nettybot handled the transaction creation
So what is the point of this post?
Not totally sure. However, very very soon after my testing, I began to notice low level users complaining about bandwidth exhaustion. I naturally got a little concerned because I know that I myself had recently received the bandwidth error.
@timcliff has made a post about a potential fix that is upcoming that will likely address the issue.
If this event can somehow be attributed to myself, then hopefully it is something that will be good that was uncovered sooner rather than later. On the night the bandwidth errors began to appear, I uploaded roughly ~8-10MB to the blockchain of various data in a short period of time. It seems likely to me that I may have triggered a reaction in the underlying algorithm of the STEEM network that is responsible for adjusting bandwidth requirements for transacting data via the blockchain.
As the days move forward...
I will be keeping a very close eye on the network. I run a witness myself and am developing applications and programs that will benefit all users of the community as well as the STEEM network itself. When problems are uncovered, you can trust that I will be there to contribute in any way that I can.
Vote for @netuoso as Witness
- Go to the witness voting page on SteemIt.com
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate the vote box (shown below)
- Input my name (netuoso) and hit vote.
- Give yourself a high-five for making such an awesome decision
MinnowSupport Witness List
- @aggroed
- @ausbitbank
- @followbtcnews
- @neoxian
- @netuoso
- @someguy123
- @teamsteem
- @thecryptodrive
- @theprophet0
PS: Special credit to @SirCork for letting me bounce ideas off of him AND FOR HIS OWN IDEAS and encouragement while I was performing this test.
Some Notes:
- The first data upload test began at
2017-07-15 20:22:51 UTC - The larger uploads began the next day around
2017-07-16 05:44:09 UTC - Bandwidth issues were reported to mods for the first time in @minnowsupport Discord shortly after