BitShares Forum

Main => General Discussion => Topic started by: rysgc on October 04, 2014, 04:47:02 am

Title: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: rysgc on October 04, 2014, 04:47:02 am
No doubt this forum has been priceless for everything happened so far but I think at one point a decision needs to be made about its future. Not to close the forum but to make it invite only or hide it from the masses.

There's so much talent and ideas here and discussions should continue, but since BitSharesX is shaping up rather nicely and it's about to get promoted to the world wouldn't it be better to start something new aimed at end users? This goes for DNS and Music as well. I think the people who actually can contribute to something are already here and those who aren't will find their ways via invites.

I think it's another small but necessary step to get rid of the shady and sometimes amateurish appearance which the whole cryptoworld is suffering from (as seen from the world outside). It's a business and when people are doing some research on all this (Google) they should be presented with facts and numbers, not with endless discussions of uncertainties. Most end users would only care about functionality, privacy and profits, not about how it's made.

I think we should continue using this as development and behind-the-scenes forum and come up with a unified front for all others. Of course all user accounts can be migrated to the new environment but it should act as a real product support forum with a suggestion box while the real work is being done here.

Just my thoughts, looking forward hearing your opinions.


Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: Method-X on October 04, 2014, 04:52:24 am
 +5%
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: tonyk on October 04, 2014, 05:07:22 am
All for it.
'clean slate '

Can I please be allowed to not carry all the negative perception, I managed to accumulate here? Kind of clean slate of kinds.

Those having positive balance (unlike me) should be allowed to transfer it also, btw.


On the main topic - Yes, discussing ideas, should not be searchable in Google, IMHO. I might be wrong on that, but that is how I feel too.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: roadscape on October 04, 2014, 05:14:50 am
I had a similar thought earlier. But this transparency is useful while BTS is so young. The community here is one of the main reasons I've been sold on the vision. The sites are nice and the wiki is useful, but the idea exchange here is amazing.

e: clarity
e2: I retract the pay board comment
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: mint chocolate chip on October 04, 2014, 05:26:07 am
All of you regular, invaluable contributors were all once first time visitors. Maybe you would not have tried to get into the insider group had there been that hurdle.

I think more openness translates into more ideas.


Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: Empirical1.1 on October 04, 2014, 10:07:56 am
No, I think the open forum is fine.

I have thought about a site where even if we don't do our BitShares/DAC coindesk we have a page that is sort of a highlights forum page, that contains the most relevant news & interesting, positive discussions.

While not liking NuBits (ponzi) I think their website is quite simple & friendly. https://nubits.com/

I like the BitShares-X info site but it would amost be worth doing a BitUSD specific website with a simple, friendly walk through too. 
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: liondani on October 04, 2014, 10:59:11 am
I think it would split our efforts in multiple "weaker" pieces...
I think the forum must only be better organized and maybe it needs some tools to make it easier to find the important informations... (somebody proposed up/down voting threads for example)
There exist already channels we can all contribute further like reddit , facebook groups, twitter etc. that are bitshares related...
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: Chuckone on October 04, 2014, 12:15:55 pm
I just have one concern regarding having the forum public to whoever wants to access.

Several groundbreaking ideas are brought up by brilliant forum members, ideas which are then at some point added to the "to do list" of the dev team. They do a terrific job, but they are humans and there's only 168 hours in one week. What I have in mind as Bitshares X (or any other DAC for that matter) being "open source" is basically developping the software, releasing it to the world and then let the others know about all the innovation contained in that release. But you still get the first mover advantage, because while the comptetition is trying to figure out the implications of what was released, the devs are already on to something else.

Having this forum open, several of the best ideas can be "copied" or modified and integrated on another platform even before the dev team is able to integrate them in the software. Then you lose your first mover advantage for that specific idea.

On the other hand though, it's all about which dev team is the most innovative and fastest to implement new ideas, and in that matter I really believe Bitshares has a solid lead over the competition.

Anyway, it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider having a "closed" section where the most innovative ideas could be discussed and debated without the competition spying on those ideas.

Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: vegolino on October 04, 2014, 12:41:11 pm
All of you regular, invaluable contributors were all once first time visitors. Maybe you would not have tried to get into the insider group had there been that hurdle.

I think more openness translates into more ideas.
  +5%
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: Gentso1 on October 04, 2014, 01:15:35 pm
What about a invite only subsection. Something not based on post count but actual content of the user or a willingness to actually help.

I think it would not be a good idea to actually close off the forum all together, it would just isolate people that want to get involved but are new.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: pariah99 on October 04, 2014, 01:57:47 pm
What about a invite only subsection. Something not based on post count but actual content of the user or a willingness to actually help.

I think it would not be a good idea to actually close off the forum all together, it would just isolate people that want to get involved but are new.

I would argue that any closed off section would be nearly equivalent to completely closing off the forums from a 'transparency' perspective.  If people really want to keep prying eyes from seeing their conversations, they should pick a different vehicle for communicating rather than posting on internet forums.

Instead of restricting the forums, I would argue that some minor reorganization of the forums would make it easier for new users to access:
- I think that the forums should be reorganized or renamed in a manner that makes more sense rather than closed off. i.e., the current "Bank & Exchange" forum is under the DAC category, so it should really be the bitsharesX forum.
- The development forums should, in my opinion, be put in a subforum under each DAC.
- I had no idea that KeyID was going to be the vehicle for DNSshares until I happened upon that forum, so I would rename that KeyID/DNS or something more clear.

I can think of a couple more (minor) changes, but the essence of the reorganization should focus on paving the groundwork for more DACs to start popping up, and directing people to the proper subforum for discussing a particular DAC.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: oldman on October 04, 2014, 04:16:09 pm
I completely understand the desire to protect intellectual capital from parasites.

However, this technology is about far more than winning an arms race.

It's about changing the world - and I'm not being glib.

If other platforms can use the ideas generated here to advance decentralized global finance, so much the better.

Bitcoin -> Bitshares -> ?

I don't know what's next, but the sooner we (as in humanity) get there, the better.

TL;DR an open community is the only way forward.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: Ben Mason on October 04, 2014, 09:07:37 pm
I completely understand the desire to protect intellectual capital from parasites.

However, this technology is about far more than winning an arms race.

It's about changing the world - and I'm not being glib.

If other platforms can use the ideas generated here to advance decentralized global finance, so much the better.

Bitcoin -> Bitshares -> ?

I don't know what's next, but the sooner we (as in humanity) get there, the better.

TL;DR an open community is the only way forward.

Totally agree with oldman
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: oco101 on October 04, 2014, 09:16:36 pm
In response to Op I strongly recommend the video that delulo suggested in this tread  : https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=3296
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: bitsapphire on October 04, 2014, 11:54:14 pm
No part of the forum will be closed off in the future. It will however become possible at some point to login with your BTSX/keyID account.

We're open to better ways to organize the forum, however keep in mind that this is ancient software and until we setup the database bridge between the new software and this one we can't implement tag-based categories.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: arhag on October 05, 2014, 03:37:26 am
Strongly disagree. I love the transparent nature of the development of this technology. I love being able to debate with the core devs about how future features should be implemented and what direction to even take these DACs. I love tapping into the collective wisdom of the crowd. I would hate to "pull up the ladder" after getting into a position where I can continue to do these things but other bright people with great ideas out there who have yet to discover BitShares will be at a severe disadvantage at getting to enjoy these same privileges.

Certainly we could better organize and moderate forum discussion to not overwhelm regular users with all of these future proposals and deep technical discussions. I also think at some point we will need a hierarchical threaded discussion system like Reddit, because linear posts in a thread just doesn't scale well. But new users should be able to get access (read and write access) to those technical discussions and debates of future plans and proposals. That is what keeps this system decentralized.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: donkeypong on October 05, 2014, 04:07:41 am
I think we could better organize the info for newbies, FAQs, how to get started, technical issues, and updates, etc. (stuff people really need). Honestly, if the updates material (including tips from I3 folks) were easier to find rather than woven throughout these threads, there would be much less reason for most people to navigate through all these discussions.

Keep the forum, but ensure that everything in those key categories gets posted in a place that is simple for average users to find. And which doesn't take them hours a day just to slog through with knee-high boots.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: James212 on October 06, 2014, 08:59:50 pm
I just have one concern regarding having the forum public to whoever wants to access.

Several groundbreaking ideas are brought up by brilliant forum members, ideas which are then at some point added to the "to do list" of the dev team. They do a terrific job, but they are humans and there's only 168 hours in one week. What I have in mind as Bitshares X (or any other DAC for that matter) being "open source" is basically developping the software, releasing it to the world and then let the others know about all the innovation contained in that release. But you still get the first mover advantage, because while the comptetition is trying to figure out the implications of what was released, the devs are already on to something else.

Having this forum open, several of the best ideas can be "copied" or modified and integrated on another platform even before the dev team is able to integrate them in the software. Then you lose your first mover advantage for that specific idea.

On the other hand though, it's all about which dev team is the most innovative and fastest to implement new ideas, and in that matter I really believe Bitshares has a solid lead over the competition.

Anyway, it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider having a "closed" section where the most innovative ideas could be discussed and debated without the competition spying on those ideas.

 +5%
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: tonyk on October 15, 2014, 02:07:01 am
Yes, yes, yes, by the day!
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: Stan on October 15, 2014, 02:11:42 am
If it's THAT good, PM us, and we'll just post tantalizing teasers about it until it is ready to deploy...   :)
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: tonyk on October 15, 2014, 02:19:24 am

What bitCocain? It is available by the DOGEparty team, but I do not believe it is THAT good.

It just makes you 'a bit happy' or should I say *happyBit*, which is happy name but not too happy state of mind from the looks of it.  :)
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: onceuponatime on October 15, 2014, 04:23:09 am

What bitCocain? It is available by the DOGEparty team, but I do not believe it is THAT good.

It just makes you 'a bit happy' or should I say *happyBit*, which is happy name but not too happy state of mind from the looks of it.  :)

Hi Tony:

It irks me just as much as you, but I found that if I just bite down hard on a piece of wood, or my tongue, I can just let it go without posting a comment.

Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: merockstar on October 15, 2014, 04:45:04 am
All for it.
'clean slate '

Can I please be allowed to not carry all the negative perception, I managed to accumulate here? Kind of clean slate of kinds.

Those having positive balance (unlike me) should be allowed to transfer it also, btw.


On the main topic - Yes, discussing ideas, should not be searchable in Google, IMHO. I might be wrong on that, but that is how I feel too.

*sprinkles some water on you in a sort of mock baptism*

you are hereby disburdened of all past negative perceptions related to your account, both caused by your own appetite for confrontation, and by people's misinterpretations of your intentions. From here on out, as long as you are chill about shit, anyone bringing up the subject of perceived past tactlessness is to be disregarded as clearly they haven't read this post.

your soul is saved my son.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: tonyk on October 15, 2014, 04:54:59 am
All for it.
'clean slate '

Can I please be allowed to not carry all the negative perception, I managed to accumulate here? Kind of clean slate of kinds.

Those having positive balance (unlike me) should be allowed to transfer it also, btw.


On the main topic - Yes, discussing ideas, should not be searchable in Google, IMHO. I might be wrong on that, but that is how I feel too.

*sprinkles some water on you in a sort of mock baptism*

you are hereby disburdened of all past negative perceptions related to your account, both caused by your own appetite for confrontation, and by people's misinterpretations of your intentions. From here on out, as long as you are chill about shit, anyone bringing up the subject of perceived past tactlessness is to be disregarded as clearly they haven't read this post.

your soul is saved my son.

 +5%
Good [aka funny] post, my fiend.
Glad to see you in a better mood *merockstar*.

On dat NOTE, pun both intended and not, I should close this account...[friends emails and PM should still flow freely]...
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: eagleeye on October 15, 2014, 10:10:59 am
The masses probably wont be posting on the forum.
Title: Re: Is it time to close the curtains?
Post by: jae208 on October 19, 2014, 10:56:58 am
I completely understand the desire to protect intellectual capital from parasites.

However, this technology is about far more than winning an arms race.

It's about changing the world - and I'm not being glib.

If other platforms can use the ideas generated here to advance decentralized global finance, so much the better.

Bitcoin -> Bitshares -> ?

I don't know what's next, but the sooner we (as in humanity) get there, the better.

TL;DR an open community is the only way forward.


 +5%

Let's move forward with transparency. I am still here because of the transparency, I doubt that Bitshares would be where it
is at if it were more secretive than it has been.