New rules have been in effect for several days, but automated enforcement hasn’t until yesterday.
According to the new rules, Team Multiplier-sponsored validators aren’t allowed to kick nominators. This was the case before as well, just not explicitly called out or enforced.
What does the kicking do? It removes the nominator from staking the node in next era, allowing the validator to claim a bigger portion of staking rewards. Of course, it also may deprive the nominator for making any returns for the era.
Because Team-sponsored validators are already helped (subsidized) by a free loan that can go to over 200,000 xx and may charge a commission of up to 18%, this behavior is not allowed. If a validator wants to enjoy the freedom to kick nominators, they must give up Team Multiplier.
In the past kicking was hard to observe, but that’s no longer the case. Now it’s reported and violators are punished. Example:
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO ======================================================================
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO ---- Processing node 02cShVomUi7X6BH8GMW2D5m7ibtGIyvGg3yMXInKt7k= ----
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO Wallet: 6Z7qkzbmo4qj8oQhZHbWMiE5XAuKCHhbKZVED5jp6HbrKUyn
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO cmix id: Ws2j2/MgBTtK8bO+ESvUUpDUmuqEfarxZkldRWjNGjsC
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO No active strike in database
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO Found new strike(s): severe(False), reason: Found 4 kick events at era 95. Total of 8 nominators kicked. Block numbers: 1235269,1244254,1264743,1273472,, info: [{'type': 'Kicking', 'value': {'era': 95, 'data': [{'block_no': 1235269, 'block_hash': '0x6d7bce64e7d5b5a4e2b1644a54c17a5aac776bfeaa72b363cc0c38d06edb248e', 'kicked': ['6X4m4yRyBdsDT4hDrecGDRBkFBKpVLqtsiRpYYhH9XZvLwTP']}, {'block_no': 1244254, 'block_hash': '0x64fd4badf40b560796663acb06315ffdea2a099d83ac7958e38fa45a85bd2334', 'kicked': ['6a7YefNJArBVBBVzdMdJ5V4giafmBdfhwi7DiAcxseKA2zbt']}, {'block_no': 1264743, 'block_hash': '0x4e3cc360bdba7d538a5c78b609d60c300e453b00d967627361584621e0f77c40', 'kicked': ['6asWm2YTmSzANkP89NDfrgon6z3VxT7Kffuvuj24Gw8Dq4HC', '6WotDk7zbCsMYmwvfWfy5SpgBSQtYj8PBN7SZ4GUoV9vx1Bm']}, {'block_no': 1273472, 'block_hash': '0xa060129060f5ce315b73f315cfa8d8e354a02e34eb591e54d642b46056d90618', 'kicked': ['6Z1Uc1wq2YvdsnbUuNDPDhmytgEa5nh4m9AcwVYigHKQbGjy', '6XqNh8tLNKqm3m88tbfU6dVLAGKGixm3KsxvRkqYfdnxxBMW', '6WiL52usAtW9XpmT4ssVWeymEmLCc67PmfAtinvpGZ7TpDpB', '6Z28xFVhq258HBns6AgXXCVcRnMe5n9rKvvXsTy47BHKRyxN']}]}}]
2022-02-21 18:27:05 INFO ****** Adding strike ******
2022-02-21 18:27:06 INFO Multiplier is active, but got strike. Chilling
2022-02-21 18:27:08 INFO [Extrinsic] single call('0x1f9648a04e39cff0e5efe68a37458050cb7038de6e25d408de7894c120c55ca7') sent
2022-02-21 18:27:09 INFO No active cmix downtime event in database
Repeated violators will be kicked from MainNet Transition program.
Find latest enforcement logs here: https://team-multiplier.xx.network/
Do we need the kick feature ΒΆ
Some nominators complain about the kick feature. I think it’s useful and should stay.
For example, the other day (and still as of now) I got a nominator who staked my node with a stake 40x higher than mine. Maybe it’s unintentional, maybe it’s a bug, etc.
Because nominators are anonymous, I have no way to suggest that I’d like him to spread his stake among several nodes (which would also help him earn a better return). Nice kicking (by that I mean several hours before next election) is helpful in this situation. Nominator who gets kicked this way has enough time to pick another node and won’t suffer any losses. In the case he already nominates several nodes, no action is necessary as Phragmen will automatically nominate another node.
As useful as it is, kicking is not allowed for Team-backed validators and I think it’s a good approach especially because not everyone used the feature “nicely”. As validators, we have the choice: take advantage of Team Multiplier or don’t.
Nominators who weren’t kicked in a nice way should pay more attention to validator reputation and pick better validators.
Looking at the logs from February 21 and checking the MainNet explorer, I found that all TM-backed validators who were caught and punished did not have on-chain identity. This indicates that they don’t care about reputation, which is exactly what I suggested to pay attention to when nominating.