BitShares Forum
Main => General Discussion => Topic started by: bytemaster on October 30, 2014, 03:47:50 pm
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I would like to address some concerns that were raised about the post where I describe BitShares as a Decentralized Autonomous Community and provide some background and motivation.
First of all it is important to note that the Company Metaphor applies to all crypto-systems, not just BitShares. It is incredibly useful for helping to design and build the economics of a system and as a result describe the inevitability of a system. Companies provide a service, earn profits, share profits with shareholders, and are a concept that everyone already understands. The Company Metaphor is a great teaching metaphor for those of us who couldn't care less about SEC, marking fluff, or anything other than facts, figures, and profits.
The problem we face is if we take the Company Metaphor to the point where it ceases to be a metaphor and starts to look like reality then we are enter a regulatory quagmire. For every capitalist that is turned on by the Company metaphor, there is a anti-corporation liberal that is turned off. The company metaphor is not personal/emotional and relies on engaging an entirely different part of the brain.... a part of the brain that most of us on this forum like to think with and rely on. Why do we all like the company metaphor, because that is how I have been promoting it and thus we are a self-selected group of individuals that like the company metaphor because it brought us in.
As you can probably imagine I pitch BitShares to people everywhere I go and I sell them on the company metaphor, the profits, the security, the privacy, the yield and dividends. Many of these people are friends, family and friends of friends and thus trust what I say.... I then ask them if they will put $100 into BitUSD or buy $100 of BTSX (people that spend that much eating out several times per week). The answer I get back is almost always, "not now" or "no" and the reason is simple: the system is not mature and they are not looking for a high risk investment. The mental stress of thinking about an investment, following it on coin market cap, and wondering whether or not you will be able to get your $100 back out again is too much.
So as much as we want people to adopt us based upon the company metaphor it engages the wrong part of the brain to attract early adopters and build the initial network effect. It also attracts regulators like flies to poo.
So in the interest of maintaining a clear message for BTS launch I feel we need to distance the public pitch from the company metaphor at this point in our growth cycle. I think the only time we should use the company metaphor to describe BitShares is when we are simultaneously describing Bitcoin, Litecoin, Nxt, and Ripple virtual companies for the purpose of comparing their economics, viability, and sustainability and long term valuation potential. We can keep the company metaphor alive for educational purposes but must be diligent in preventing BitShares from becoming a company in the eyes of the regulators.
BitShares is ultimately a community of people who imbue BTS with perceived value and use BTS as a medium of exchange and unit of account to recognize those who are contributing to the community. We want to focus on the people and what the people are doing and providing value to one another.
Lets build a solid base, build a stable product, and the grow. Today the BTS price is getting hammered, but BitUSD holders are still going strong, the internal markets are being actively traded. Our product works... and lets not forget that.
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Sounds good, but just wondering why the price drop another 20%...
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another 20% drop…hehe
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Well said! I can live with that. :)
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BitStructure : a Structure base on block chain that allows people in a virtual community to exchange value and help each other .
Also short for : BTS
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Lets build a solid base, build a stable product, and the grow. Today the BTS price is getting hammered, but BitUSD holders are still going strong, the internal markets are being actively traded. Our product works... and lets not forget that.
+5%
I don't have particularly strong views on company/country/community metaphor. I think it can be described as anyone of those depending on the audience.
I'm glad that you pitch it to friends and see that it's hard for the majority of mainstream to buy into at this stage. I was worried mainstream would be our marketing focus even though they're not ready for it by in large. (Unless they really need BitAssets or it specifically appeals to them in another way.)
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I kinda want the price to drop and bottom out at .01 USD so I can buy more for real cheap, in a 4 months the price should be over .10 cents but I'm speculating :)
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Can we keep the BitShares name? Too much is changing too fast, making it impossible to market in a coherent way.
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Can we keep the BitShares name? Too much is changing too fast, making it impossible to market in a coherent way.
Not changing the name.
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btsx is at its infancy. It needs a conducive environment to grow healthy and strong - a place that is free from the flies. After the dust settled, we see the sun shines.
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The language we use when talking about BTS will be different than the language we use while talking about BitAssets. I think as long as the marketing message doesn't confuse the two, we'll be fine.
On another note, you can scientifically test what marketing message is best through A/B testing. These are things Brian Page should have been doing a long long time ago.
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Wouldn't it be more accurate and therefore easier to market if we were to describe BitShares as...
Decentralized Autonomous Network Software... (can software or networks be regulated under current laws?)
which enables the formation of Blockchain Secured Communities...
maintained by Delegated Proof of Stake.
The benefits of which include the utility of the DANS in support of...
Freedom of speech
Trustless transactions
Speed of transactions
Cost of transactions
Sovereign control over all stores of productivity
Private communications
Fair rules
Stable rules
Consensus governed changes to rules
Free market resilience
etc......
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Wouldn't it be more accurate and therefore easier to market if we were to describe BitShares as...
Decentralized Autonomous Network Software... (can software or networks be regulated under current laws?)
which enables the formation of Blockchain Secured Communities...
maintained by Delegated Proof of Stake.
The benefits of which include the utility of the DANS in support of...
Freedom of speech
Trustless transactions
Speed of transactions
Cost of transactions
Sovereign control over all stores of productivity
Private communications
Fair rules
Stable rules
Consensus governed changes to rules
Free market resilience
etc......
I like this. Concise, clear, +5%
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Wouldn't it be more accurate and therefore easier to market if we were to describe BitShares as...
Decentralized Autonomous Network Software... (can software or networks be regulated under current laws?)
which enables the formation of Blockchain Secured Communities...
maintained by Delegated Proof of Stake.
The benefits of which include the utility of the DANS in support of...
Freedom of speech
Trustless transactions
Speed of transactions
Cost of transactions
Sovereign control over all stores of productivity
Private communications
Fair rules
Stable rules
Consensus governed changes to rules
Free market resilience
etc......
Nice
leads directly to the topic of net neutrality .. nice :)
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Wouldn't it be more accurate and therefore easier to market if we were to describe BitShares as...
Decentralized Autonomous Network Software... (can software or networks be regulated under current laws?)
which enables the formation of Blockchain Secured Communities...
maintained by Delegated Proof of Stake.
The benefits of which include the utility of the DANS in support of...
Freedom of speech
Trustless transactions
Speed of transactions
Cost of transactions
Sovereign control over all stores of productivity
Private communications
Fair rules
Stable rules
Consensus governed changes to rules
Free market resilience
etc......
Not wild about the name but great list of capabilities/features/benefits.
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The opinion from bytemaster also apply to BitShares Play, and this is the reason why BitShares Lotto was rebranded to BitShares Play.
And we finally switch from gaming entry point to be decentralized game asset marketplace, So Lotto and Play now can be seen totally two different DAC.
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I used to live in a system that said the market is evil, the capital is evil. The ruling elite was pitching a plan to make a more humane society. Leaving aside the fact they could or did not want not build such society aside, the experiment failed. And please have no illusions why that happened - it did not fail because the people started some uprising and overthrew the government fighting for civil liberties. It failed because of its not working economic incentives. The eastern block experiment was an economic failure... cooperatives do not work. People are not build that way. When the UberMan arrives it might be different, now it is still the reality.
Some people do not get BTS or want to wait...they should wait. Those who see the vision will see the vision, those who see the potential will see the potential, those who foresee the piles of money coming their way will see and invest... the one who do not see either of those should wait. That's what they deserve and want.
On a slightly different note - What is the sale pitch of this new Cooperative again? What will we tell those 'I will wait for the train to be crowded to the limit, before I get on.' people, to make them board now?
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On a slightly different note - What is the sale pitch of this new Cooperative again? What will we tell those 'I will wait for the train to be crowded to the limit, before I get on.' people, to make them board now?
"Come spend your money now, before we change our vision again next week and cause another 20% drop"?
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I love the Community part and I disagree with renaming anything. This is BitShares and it is a DAC. A DAC could be run as a company or run by its community; either way, it's a DAC.
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On a slightly different note - What is the sale pitch of this new Cooperative again? What will we tell those 'I will wait for the train to be crowded to the limit, before I get on.' people, to make them board now?
"Come spend your money now, before we change our vision again next week and cause another 20% drop"?
lol
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Wouldn't it be more accurate and therefore easier to market if we were to describe BitShares as...
Decentralized Autonomous Network Software... (can software or networks be regulated under current laws?)
which enables the formation of Blockchain Secured Communities...
maintained by Delegated Proof of Stake.
The benefits of which include the utility of the DANS in support of...
Freedom of speech
Trustless transactions
Speed of transactions
Cost of transactions
Sovereign control over all stores of productivity
Private communications
Fair rules
Stable rules
Consensus governed changes to rules
Free market resilience
etc......
It makes sense to me :) +5%
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On a slightly different note - What is the sale pitch of this new Cooperative again? What will we tell those 'I will wait for the train to be crowded to the limit, before I get on.' people, to make them board now?
"Come spend your money now, before we change our vision again next week and cause another 20% drop"?
lol
How about "We promise to keep Bytemaster occupied with coding for awhile. The (non-) political proposals and poetry have served their purpose. BitShares is where it needs to be now."
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Today the BTS price is getting hammered, but BitUSD holders are still going strong, the internal markets are being actively traded. Our product works... and lets not forget that.
But the majority of bitshares supporters don't have significant amounts of bitUSDs....
On a $40 million market cap $1 million bitUSDs are in hands of strong holders...
Don't get me wrong but your sentence: "but BitUSD holders are still going strong"
at this particular time disappoints me a little bit...
PS I am just expressing my honest current feelings...
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I believe a message playing up the company/business metaphor, such as , "Bitshares does for companies, commodities and other assets what Bitcoin does for currency, and what the Internet did for information", is still a better one.
It distinguishes the value that Bitshares provides from competitors (bitcoin), and plays on the powerful meme of technology's evolving role to help shape human activity.
There's a lot of noise and many alt-coins competing for this space so being on point is very important.
However, this kind of message is clearly going to provoke a clash with regulators who have a statutory mission to protect the unsophisticated and would require careful timing.
If Bitshares is to ever to fulfill it's true potential though then such a clash might become inevitable. A positive takeaway is that, if regulators did seek intervention, then it would provide proof for the market that Bitshares genuinely has something of value to offer.
Sort of in the same fashion that Bitcoin holders feel validated everytime countries with inflationary central banks attempt to ban bitcoin.
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Today the BTS price is getting hammered, but BitUSD holders are still going strong, the internal markets are being actively traded. Our product works... and lets not forget that.
But the majority of bitshares supporters don't have significant amounts of bitUSDs....
On a $40 million market cap $1 million bitUSDs are in hands of strong holders...
Don't get me wrong but your sentence: "but BitUSD holders are still going strong"
at this particular time disappoints me a little bit...
PS I am just expressing my honest current feelings...
BitShares holders would be in much worse shape if BitUSD holders didn't see their wealth hedged well during the BTSX price fall.
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BitShares holders would be in much worse shape if BitUSD holders didn't see their wealth hedged well during the BTSX price fall.
Very true. If the peg had broken as a result of this drop, we would be down over 50% today instead of 10-15%.
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Should be calling it an ecosystem.
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Should be calling it an ecosystem.
Holly cow!
My favorite bird is back!
I was getting scared they have banned excessive posting in the great country of Canada.
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This topic is done. No more value to be found. Post your related thoughts in a topic of your choosing.
And so I am closing it.