Question #1:
Trying to stick to facts of what I experienced and what other users were sharing on Discord.
One of the past white papers lists (I'll try to find a link and another users shared it recently) the use cases of Energi; master nodes (MN) being one of them. MN are there to help secure the network, provider a layer 2, and a method for users to invest. In return for locking away collateral you gain a share of the reward. Jumping over a few details and most of you here know that; mainly setting the scene for my question.
Back in October of 2020 there was a chain split that varied from the many other chain splits at the time. It varied in intensity, duration and severity; ultimately knocking out MN rewards for about 3+ weeks. The NRG team has made claims on Discord that they plan to calculate and track the MN rewards owed. The rewards are a challenge to calculate with users shifting collateral from MN to staking to maintain a flow of rewards. I personally shifted collateral and kept 1k in my MN to help the network. Still need something to help pay for my VPS.
I've searched for any other content on the internet and really can't find any tangible updates. One user on Reddit asked and got pointed towards the Telegram updates channel; the last mention was in early November of 2020.
Questioning prioritization on developments won't be welcomed and I fully understand there are more important items in the pipeline that aren't ready to be publicly shared. Standard DevOps approach to people asking questions.
Where do we stand in getting the MN rewards "paid out" from October 2020? What can give us a good sense of comfort that future chain splits wont disrupt the rewards system?
"Where do we stand in getting the MN rewards "paid out" from October 2020?"
Posted in Discord:
https://discord.com/channels/398355554172534805/698597238393536533/772949772369789009MASTERNODE PAYMENTS UPDATE :
While we are working on resolving some technical issues on the Energi network, we would like to update our users about the status of these issues. We are working hard to restore stability and proper functionality to the blockchain, that is our top priority. Within that, we are currently focused on restoring the functionality of the masternode system, including the resumption of masternode rewards.
For the masternode rewards which have been missed during this time period, we are able to identify which masternodes are online (as the data of when they go online and offline is recorded on the blockchain), and will make an attempt to recover these funds and pay them correctly to the masternodes which remained online during this time period.
Be aware that our priority remains on fixing the technical issues and preventing any future problems. Once we have ensured we have resolved these technical issues, we will look at what can be done to recover masternode funds though this a lower priority item and will likely take at least a few months to complete to ensure it’s done correctly. Nonetheless, this should be well received by masternode holders that there is a good chance they will eventually receive their rewards at some point in the future. Thank you for your support and please stay tuned for any future updates.
"What can give us a good sense of comfort that future chain splits wont disrupt the rewards system?""In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Benjamin Franklin
Here the word that stands out to me is "comfort" as it is hard to determine what each users comfort level is. The 3.1 release will address the difficulty issues that ultimately causes the chainsplits to happen.
All our team can do is guarantee they will do everything possible to ensure this isn't an issue after 3.1 is released.
When dealing with and creating new technology (like a smart contract platform with our security, staking, MNs etc) there is bound to be some bugs. This is why there is a bug bounty program for most projects and very few things are released anywhere without updates/fixes in the future.