No abrupt pivot in focus. Dan has been transparently discussing ways to stay in business since last fall.
This has been part of the plan for six months and everyone here has been kept in the loop every step of the way.
Read my posts since March 14th, here and on Steemit if you don't want to be caught by surprise.
Stan - thank you for your response. I've now invested the necessary time to go back through your posts as well as Dan's over the past six months as recommended. I have also investigated Steemit as thoroughly as possible, though I don't use Facebook, Twitter etc. so the social media thing is a little above my paygrade.
To be frank, what I found was disappointing.
Steemit was announced 01-April (current thread) and Dan's last post was 02-May. Cold turkey, nothing since. After years of engagement with this community and nearly 10,000 posts authored I think it is reasonable to call Dan's pivot abrupt in the extreme.
I agree there is a lot of good commentary on the need to raise capital and the community was made aware that new sources of funding are needed. However, at no point do I see "Dan will be shelving Bitshares on 02-May to focus on Steemit; here is the handoff strategy; here is the roadmap". Nor do I see a commitment or any indication that funds raised through Steemit will be used to further development of Bitshares.
Now, Steemit. As an investor I want to invest - the execution is incredible and the platform has real potential as The Next Big Thing, and not just in the crypto space. Dan is a brilliant developer/programmer/strategist/creator and Steemit is his finest work to date. It is going to take me a while to wrap my head around the possibilities the platform offers, but at first blush it appears to be the killer app for crypto. Steemit may well bring crypto to the masses.
As an AGS/PTS investor I am livid. Apoplectic. Here's what I see:
Steem = Bitshares
Steem dollars = bitUSD
Steem power =
(yield)
Steemit is the best of Bitshares packaged with a big social media bow on top. The back-end tech that makes Steemit such an incredibly user friendly and accessible crypto platform was built for Bitshares and funded by AGS/PTS.
There is no world in which Steemit exists without AGS/PTS investment and the dedication and hardwork of the Bitshares community.This is where I would pull Dan into my office, tell him to look me in the eye, and ask him to explain why AGS/PTS/Brownies have not received a share drop. I am truly stunned that there is not even a blog post on the topic. Dan would not be where he is today without the investment and support of this community.
"There were posts, you could have mined, you were invited." "The developers do not owe you and you are not entitled". This is mildly insulting. There are dozens of exciting projects related to Bitshares and it is unreasonable/impractical to expect investors to follow all projects and participate in all ICO/pre-mines. The AGS/PTS 'social contract' was created
specifically to address this issue - and we all invested so we would not need to chase ICOs/pre-mines and could instead participate in future projects via share drop.
Why are there not pitchforks and torches in the streets? Why are the lead devs and forum heroes not demanding answers? It appears the majority of the core Bitshares dev team have become very enthusiastic Steemit "dolphins" and "whales" over the past few weeks. It is absolutely fantastic to see some of our most dedicated, hard working community members hit the 1000% crypto ride we've all been chasing. But a very small percentage of the overall community has benefited.
There is a mailing list. Why was there not an email sent out? Why so little outreach? For something as critical as the lead dev pivoting to another project a clear, concise letter to the community would have been appropriate. Sometime in mid-March: "Dear investor, starting in May, Dan is going to park Bitshares for the foreseeable future and focus on developing Steemit. Steemit uses all of the good things that were built for Bitshares, but is packaged for the majority of internet users (social media) rather than a minority of internet users (investors/finance). There will be no share drop on AGS/PTS/Brownies and investment is via pre-mine only. Here is the road map for the next 12 months." Guidance and forward-looking statements would have resulted in a larger percentage of the community benefiting.
So where do we go from here? Like it or not, there is no recourse with a social contract except an appeal to honor and justice. I believe this writing serves as an appeal, and I would ask Dan to respond in full. Dan is presumably preoccupied with whomever keeps taking down steemit.com so I don't expect a response in the immediate future.
That being the case, I've been investing long enough to know that we all need to be long Steem Power asap. The train has left the station and many of us don't have a ticket.
The Steem market is far too thin to take a position OTC, I've been trading Bittrex over the past few days and the slippage is absurd. This is intentional, and kudos to Dan and team for absolutely destroying CMC. We were all choked when Ripple gamed CMC and knocked us down, couldn't be happier to see karma kicking ass. But it means we can't dump BTS for STEEM in any quantity. Dealing with the clowns daytrading on Bittrex is very, very stale. Try placing a bid for a block of 5 or 10k STEEM and see what happens.
I don't do social media - at all - but will register an account, post content and lobby the Bitshares dophins/whales to 'upvote. I strongly believe Steem Power to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and all community members should make an effort to get a position by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately, my initial investigation into Steemit 'mining' has left the distinct impression that value seems to flow to makeup tutorials, travelogues, breasts. I do not use make up, do not travel to exotic places in provocative clothing and do not possess attractive breasts. Absent some benevolent whale voters, it seems most of us will be 'mining' with a CPU and competing against ASICs. I found it surprising that there is so much exceptional material posted where the authors have clearly invested substantial effort in producing meaningful, well written content... and earned only a few dollars or nothing at all. Yet a man smearing lipstick on his face was rewarded with thousands. Early days, but wow, it's surprising how the 'block rewards' are being allocated now that the public have been invited to 'mine'.
TL;DR: Appeal to Dan to provide guidance on where AGS/PTS/Brownies stand relative to Steemit. Steem Power is an investment this community should not pass up, but market is too thin to trade into a meaningful position. Mining is possible but only worthwhile if you have nice breasts, funny videos or dophin/whale friends. Bitshares community members should have dolphin/whale friends, so we should 'mine' by contributing as we wait to find out where we stand with Dan.
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