Guardians play a central role in the Orbs PoS model - they are expected to be key participants within the Orbs Universe, who enforce the security of the network, align with the long term Orbs vision and actively work to make this vision a reality. A core role of the Guardians is to review the Validators, monitor their operations and ensure proper network operation and security by approving Validators that follow the protocol correctly.

Please read this post to learn more about the different roles in the Orbs PoS ecosystem.

Guardian responsibilities include:

1. Enforcing the protocol by monitoring and performing due diligence on the Validators
2. Routinely participating in elections to vote out misbehaving Validators
3. Communicating with their respective Delegator communities
4. Participating in governance decisions regarding the Orbs project and protocol
5. Promoting the Orbs project and contributing to its ecosystem

Guardians are encouraged to develop tools and carry out activities to better perform their duties.

Below are some ideas for activities that Guardians can engage in:

• Review and approve protocol update proposals and enforce that Validators follow the approved protocol (currently by voting out non-conforming Validators)
• Define and share criteria for “vote out” decision making
• Build network monitoring tools to monitor the network status and the performance of individual Validators. For example, Guardians can gather information about the Validator nodes’ operation by querying the metrics API endpoints of the Validator nodes
• Operate Orbs audit nodes to monitor network activity
• Create processes for Validator-Guardian interaction to enable Guardians to learn more about the Validators and their activities, and to enable feedback from the Validators to the Guardians:
• Host events and meetups
• Maintain a continuous relationship with the Delegators, keeping them up to date on the Orbs project status and news
• Engage the Orbs community on the community Discourse forum - answer questions, lead discussions, share insights etc.
• Create and share online content regarding Orbs

Introducing yourself as a new Guardian

• Create a website (you can use a template like https://github.com/paradigmcitadel/orbs_guardian_delegation or a service like Wix.com to make this easy) and provide the following information:
  • Information about yourself - are you a company or an individual, where are you located and any other relevant information
    • Your background in the blockchain and crypto fields
    • Your involvement in the Orbs ecosystem
    • How will you perform your Guardian responsibilities?
    • Why should a Delegator select you as a Guardian?
    • New Delegators looking for a Guardian use these websites to learn about the potential Guardians. Use this opportunity to establish trust and promote yourself.
• Register in the Guardians’ smart contract - instructions available here (don’t forget to include the website address)
• Go to the Orbs community forum and announce yourself as a new Guardian
• Become active by engaging in the above-described activities

So, there you have it; the Guardians are central to the success of the Orbs network and we hope that this post helps clarify their role and align the expectations of all the participants.

What do you think of the above list? What other activities do you think the Guardians should engage in? Let us know in comments and replies below.