A plain-language guide to consensus: how many independent participants come to agree on a single shared version of events.
When many independent participants each keep their own copy of the records, how do they all agree on a single, shared version of what happened? The set of rules and procedures that make this possible is called consensus.
Consensus is what turns a crowd of separate copies into one coherent, agreed history.
Participants follow common rules for accepting new information and resolving disagreements. When most participants independently arrive at the same conclusion, that conclusion becomes the agreed record. Anyone trying to push a different version would need to overwhelm the majority — which good designs make impractical.
The Flare networks rely on this kind of collective agreement to stay consistent across all participants.
Consensus is the mechanism that lets strangers rely on a shared record without any one of them being in charge. It is the quiet engine behind the words “decentralised” and “secure”, and understanding it makes the rest of the subject far clearer.
This article is part of the Flare Portal wiki — a free, independent educational reference. It is a conceptual overview and not a substitute for primary technical documentation.