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More info: https://docs.ark.io/tutorials/node/setup.html

Non-forging nodes help relay transactions/new blocks and increase the decentralization and robustness of the network. They also have API access enabled (well, most of them) so developers can get information about the Ark blockchain through a simple web API.

Like in any other crypto network, nodes in Ark all agree to a set of rules. When non-forging nodes receive a block they validate it against their local copy of the blockchain to see if it was produced by a valid delegate. Nodes update themselves and reach consensus on the state of the blockchain by all following the same set of rules. They get their data from nodes in their peer list and peer nodes that give them bad data are blacklisted for a set amount of time.

Right now there is no financial incentive to run a relay node other than to help out the Ark network by relaying transactions. There are a lot of dead relays in the mainnet atm that have been known to cause network issues so the more good nodes there are the better.