[DAO:1da6bca] Should stale profiles be removed from the Content Servers?

Governance
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by 0x5e5d9d1dfd87e9b8b069b8e5d708db92be5ade99 (paralax)

Each time a user logs into Decentraland with a Wallet, a Profile entity is generated and deployed to the Catalyst node and stored in a content server, subsequently synchronized with all the other nodes in the network. This Profile entity has details such as avatar configuration, including body shapes, eye colors, hair, and the current outfit. Presently, certain nodes have approximately 2M profile entities, and whenever a new node is initiated, it must download all these profiles and create a local copy.
The existing Garbage Collection system exclusively eliminates older versions of a Profiles, specifically when modifications are made on the same account or wallet. However, it is important to note that any profile entity ever created and uploaded to a catalyst server remains indefinitely. In essence, while changes to a profile trigger the removal of previous versions, profiles created years ago and left dormant on the platform persist forever. This perpetual retention accumulates profiles that may no longer serve any active purpose or will never be used again.

It’s also important to highlight that the profile entity works solely as the avatar’s configuration, while ownership and asset information associated with a wallet is securely stored on the blockchain. In the event that a profile entity is lost or deleted, users would only need to reconfigure the avatar and its outfit, no tangible content or ownership data would be compromised and all owned assets would be available.

This DAO poll is to gather consensus on the permanent removal of stale Profile entities from the Decentraland content servers. Managing stale content is necessary for optimizing server resources and improving efficiency. The proposed deletion rules for Profiles is detailed below:

Permanently remove any profile that hasn’t had an update in over a year. After a years of inactivity, the profile entity may be removed from the content server.

If this policy is implemented, it would serve as the default behavior for managing stale profiles. This approach ensures that snapshots of profiles remain coherent, preventing the need for nodes to download extensive profile snapshots during synchronization. By minimizing the download of unnecessary stale data, this policy enhances the efficiency of the synchronization process.

  • yes
  • no
  • Invalid question/options

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

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Voting no, not worth losing Decentraland history just to save a few MBs.
1 BILLION profiles at 14kb each (in an export, which is not compressed and not optimized) is only 14TB.
That’s a single hard drive which cost less than 250 USD, for a BILLION profiles.

If that passes, it’d be great to have an option to disable it.

2 Likes
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Thank you for this information. Why not ask for a grant to purchase a little backup instead?

1 Like
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Hi @HPrivakos ,
The profile entity serves as a configuration cache for avatars, setting it apart from other entities that possess associated assets. There is no risk of actual data loss, the retention of millions of stale profiles provides no value. However, it’s important to note that each profile is not just 14kb; it also includes two images—body and face—totaling an additional 100kb extra. Consequently, for 2 million profiles, this accumulates to more than 200GB per node. Despite this, rebuilding profiles is a straightforward process, and such an operation would only be necessary for users who haven’t returned to the platform in over a year. On the other hand, this it is not only a storage waste regardless of the cost, it is also something that any new node will need to process, adding hours of data synchronization as each entity signature must be validated.

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Should stale profiles be removed from the Content Servers?

This proposal is now in status: FINISHED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes 85% 3,682,314 VP (54 votes)
  • No 15% 699,007 VP (2 votes)
  • Invalid question/options 0% 0 VP (0 votes)
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Should stale profiles be removed from the Content Servers?

This proposal has been PASSED by a DAO Committee Member (0xfb1afa4dc069ffb47b19dbee196045d508fcd5a2)