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Topics - profitofthegods

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Technical Support / What is the 'Fee Rate'?
« on: October 22, 2015, 01:03:50 pm »
I'm trying to figure out the new trading interface. I think the 'settlement price' is the same as the 'feed price', which is confusing as the same terminology should be used throughout if referring to the same thing, but I can't work out what the 'fee rate' is.

Also I'm thinking the 'margin call price' is the amount you would pay with a fee added if you got margin called at the current price - is that correct? And the maintenance call price is the price at which this would be triggered - but with or without this fee?

I really think these things need little info icons you can hover over to get an explanation because I don't see very many people making the effort to understand how this all works with it like it is.

2
General Discussion / Please stop changing the rules of the game
« on: August 21, 2015, 07:39:22 pm »
I just noticed that Brownie points are now a sharedrop target and might be given other benefits. This is not really a big deal on its own, but it points to something which I think is very important. Every other week the rules of the game change around here, or perhaps to put it more accurately the nature of the value proposition changes. It has been happening constantly, and it is very annoying and off-putting.

You can't build a castle on shifting sands.

If Bitshares wants to draw people in and get people involved and encourage people to build on it, then the one single most important thing those people need is to have some confidence that they won't have the rug pulled out from under their feet by the powers that be.

Personally I would have no confidence in building anything to do with Bitshares, because by the time it was completed things would have changed so much it would probably be unprofitable or impossible.

Please try to make just one damn thing work (commercially speaking) before screwing it off to go and make something else.


3
Meta / Finding it hard to access the forum recently
« on: August 20, 2015, 11:09:25 am »
I've been finding it very hard to access the forum recently.

In chrome I just get SSL errors on almost every page load.

In Firefox I was logged out, couldn't log in with what I thought was my password, and the password reset doesn't work (times out even if you submit within a few seconds).

In TOR I could at least read the forum for a while, but then I just started getting Cloudflare's infuriating impossible to solve captchas (and I mean literally impossible - sometimes it is clear what it says but then it claims you got it wrong even when you are certain you got it right).

For days I've been trying, every now and the,n to use the forum, and it was only just now when I remembered that internet explorer still exists for now that I've actually been able to access the forum and log in.

4
Just saw that Ethereum is going to enable Blocknet for inter-blockchain functionality http://cointelegraph.com/news/114228/blocknet-adding-ethereum-to-suite-of-supported-currencies and it made me wonder whether Bitshares has considered this at all?

It would be great to have pegged assets on the decentralized Blocknet exchange, and to allow people to pay for Ethereum services in BitUSD and so on.

5
General Discussion / If you could start any Bitshares business...
« on: May 07, 2015, 08:51:49 am »
I'm confused why more people aren't starting Bitshares related business. There seems to be less of an 'ecosystem' around BTS than there is for other cryptos, but yet there should be more as the DPoS provides a way to help fund them.

So I just thought I'd ask - Do people even have any good ideas for BTS businesses?

Personally, if I could start any Bitshares business...

I would set up a site selling BitGold. You can say to people "invest in gold online with zero fees and earn interest". That is genuinely better than everything else being offered on the market anywhere in the world right now. I think it is reasonable to assume that its as good a deal as it is practically possible for people to ever get, now or in the future.

Its also a huge market, both in terms of the number of people and even more so in terms of $$$.

What's more its not marketing to crypto-fans (which is a way over-saturated market), its bringing in new blood who may not know or care about cryptocurrency and who don't need to care about it to enjoy its benefits.

If anyone wants to steal this idea from me feel free - but please do consider contacting me as I can help with marketing and some other things.

Any other ideas?

6
Technical Support / Instant Critical Error
« on: April 23, 2015, 05:32:12 pm »
I've just tried to install the Bitshares wallet on a new laptop and when I try to open it I instantly get a critical error 'error occurred while trying to start'.

This is not the same as what other people have posted where it tries to synch and then crashes - this is an instant crash within a second of double clicking to open. I've tried 0.8.1 and also 0.9.0 and the same thing happens.

Can anybody tell me what to do?

7
I just published a post on my new blog entitled 'How to Trade on the Bitshares Decentralized Exchange':

http://cryptorials.io/trade-bitshares-decentralized-exchange/

I want to make sure there's no mistakes and also add in anything I've missed so any feedback would be great. I'll try to keep it updated as things change, and to add more Bitshares related posts if possible.

Also, if anybody wants to write Bitshares related tutorials for a small fee then please let me know as I am looking for writers for more advanced / technical topics which I may not be able to cover so well myself. Please contact me with suggestions before writing anything to make sure its suitable and to discuss a price.

8
Technical Support / Wallet Not Synching
« on: December 08, 2014, 07:36:50 pm »
I haven't been able to get a wallet working for a while now. Half the time it crashes, and when it does let me log in it never syncs, even though it shows connections. I have downloaded the wallet again today from bitshares.org, but I'm not even sure if this site is providing an up-to-date download - I just got 0.4.24.1 from there today. I have also tried deleting everything in the 'chain' folder.

Can anybody tell me what else I can try?

9
General Discussion / Specialization of Delegates
« on: November 13, 2014, 07:29:57 pm »
In principle, would it be possible to create a DAC in which there would be multiple classes of delegates?

In this system you may have 10 delegates elected in each of 10 categories, for example, to reach your 100 total. If this is possible, would it be also be possible for each class of delegate to have a different probability of generating a block (meaning higher pay for some classes than others)?

10
General Discussion / I think Delegates Need to Do This
« on: August 27, 2014, 04:45:08 pm »
I have come to the conclusion that BitUSD and other asset will not reach parity with the underlying asset they are supposed to be pegged to for a very long time.

There are two main reasons for this; the first is because most of the people trading on Bitshares are big Bitshares fans who are overly bullish on BTSX. The second is because there is no good reason to buy BitUSD at the moment.

Let me put it another way - if you think that the price of BTSX is going to go up, you are incentivized to short USD. If you think the price of BTSX is going to go down then there is no reason to buy BitUSD instead of just selling BTSX for BTC or something else.

Arbitrage doesn't work, because performing arbitrage is a bet that the market will return to the peg, but if these bets themselves are the only reason for this to happen, then its a foolish bet.

At the moment there is demand for shorts, but no demand for buying BitAssets. Perhaps the 5% would change this, otherwise the only thing would be mass adoption of BitUSD for paying for things, which probably isn't going to happen until after the peg is proven so isn't much help in this regard.

If the 5% thing is coming along soon then perhaps this post is irrelevant, but until then I think delegates need to step up to the plate and start buying BitUSD. Its my understanding that delegates are earning quite well now, but I haven't seen what they are spending this money on to support Bitshares, which is supposed to be what they do rather than just keeping all the pay for themselves.

Please - calling all delegates - step up to the plate and bet on the market peg working by spending part of your pay on BitUSD whenever it is more than perhaps 1-2% below the value of USD, because you are probably the only ones with the resources and motivation to do it.

11
General Discussion / Wallet Not Synching
« on: August 26, 2014, 06:44:20 pm »
About an hour and a half ago my wallet stopped processing new blocks.

I have 8-9 network connections showing, and it knows what the latest block is because when I hover over the spinning arrows it says 'catching up processed...xxxx out of xxxxx' and the 'out of' bit keeps going up, but the number processed just stays the same.

Does anybody know why this might be happening?

12
General Discussion / Confused by market order, please help
« on: August 25, 2014, 06:11:16 pm »
I've just been playing with the new functionality making small test orders, and I am quite confused how it actually works.

I started off by shorting USD.

I couldn't see this left as an open position anywhere with information about collatoral and margin requirement, but I had thought the idea was I then needed to buy USD to cancel out this 'loan', so I bought the same amount of USD. But those USD were just added to my balance - so what happened to the loan? Do I still need to repay USD at some point, and if so when?

13
General Discussion / What's actually happening?
« on: August 21, 2014, 06:18:21 pm »
What is actually happening at the moment with Bitshares X. I saw something about an update but when I downloaded from the main website it doesn't work as its missing a file. Where can I get this file and is the new functionality with BitAssets live or not?

Bitshares is such hard work to try to follow or get involved with.

14
KeyID / Please Help Me With This Article!
« on: August 07, 2014, 10:57:52 pm »
Hi, I'm trying to write an article about .p2p and I need your help to improve it - please don't hold back, particularly about any inaccuracies but also with any suggestions for improvements or anything I need to add. Be as critical as possible to I can improve it. The idea was for it to be a kind of basic introduction for non-techie people like myself  :)

Explain It Like I'm 5: What's .P2P and Why Do We Need It?

Dot P2P is a new way to create domain names for websites, which offers a range of improvements in privacy, security and cost compared to our current system; but it is also much more than that – it is a 'decentralized autonomous company' (DAC) owned and operated by its users and their chosen representatives, and utilizing state of the art peer to peer technology to completely remove the need for a corporate owner or central controlling authority.

Why the Internet Needs Fixing

Most people think of the internet as something which empowers the masses, opening up opportunities for ordinary people to make their voices heard, to start a business, or to organize themselves in grass roots movements to change the world. This is how we experience the internet in our ordinary lives too – as a multitude of voices, opinions, friends and associates, compared to the monolithic media of the past. This is how we use the internet, but in many cases it stands at odds with the way the internet was built.

The internet was not built as a technological utopia – it was built as a U.S. military experiment for use as a centralized command and control tool. This is reflected in the way that internet users today access their favourite websites. A domain name system is used to associate a convenient human-language address to the actual address of the server running a website, and to connect internet users to the correct web server when they type the address of the website they wish to visit. This system is highly centralized and controlled by a small number of companies, which has undesirable consequences for both website owners and regular website visitors. These include:

Censorship: Using our current system it is easy for governments to censor websites. This is because they can simply contact the central providers of these domain name system (DNS) services and order them to hand over control of that particular website address. This is obviously a huge problem for people living under oppressive dictatorships, but perhaps you think that it is not a problem for those of us lucky enough to live in modern democracies? Think again. The United Kingdom, for example, has embarked on a massive programme of internet censorship under the guise of protecting children from the dangers of pornography1

Privacy: When you register a domain name at the moment you are legally obliged to provide up to date personal and contact details for the website's owner. This in itself is a huge problem for whistleblowers who may want to document their experiences for the public to see and provide context to any documents they are sharing – rather than simply dump a large batch of documents to a site like Wikileaks, which is currently the only safe option. Given the widespread nature of NSA and other government spying it is also a problem for activists and organisers of controversial political campaigns who may feel uncomfortable about having their private lives pored over by government spies, and may be scared of being labelled an 'extremist' as anybody interested in online privacy tools has been2, for example. But even beyond this, current DNS providers generally require people to pay an extra fee if they don't want their details shared publicly with anyone who wants to look them up. So under our current system even partial privacy is considered to be a premium service.

Cyber Squatting: Another significant problem with the current DNS system involves people 'squatting' potentially useful and valuable domain names. These people do not create websites or add anything useful or productive to our internet experience, but are simply vultures seeking to profiteer from buying up thousands of domain names for a few dollars each and then forcing people who may actually be able to do something useful with them to pay a huge price tag to get hold of them. This means that many short, useful and convenient domain names have become unavailable to anyone but rich corporations and often go unused.

Security: Secure certificates – the thing that makes your address bar turn green and tells you that you are definitely using the real website and not a spoof – must also be purchased from a central DNS provider. Security should be standard, but once again under our current system it is considered a premium service – and the not insignificant costs price some people out of the market altogether.

How Does .P2P Fix These Problems?

The .P2P system is decentralized and peer to peer. That means that it is run by a distributed network of users rather than a central authority – this means that there simply is nowhere for governments to go to seize or censor a website. Because the information is stored on many different machines there is no single point of failure and no single authority with the ability to remove a domain name from the system.

Registering and updating a domain just requires your private key – a password of sorts – and can be done by anybody without the need to upload your personal details to a central server.

Owners of domain names can issue their own security certificates using the cryptography of the block chain, reassuring their users that they are safe from scams and hackers without having to pay unfair fees to the large corporations who currently hold a virtual monopoly on internet security.

Domain name squatting is discouraged by two methods. Firstly there is a unique price discovery mechanism through which valuable domain names are sold via auctions in which losing bidders get back their bid amount plus a small profit. This allows the name to find its market price without a small number of people hoarding a large number of domains. Also because .p2p domains must be purchased using the same .p2p tokens which entitle you to a share in the profits generated by this system, including these auctions (see below), there is expected to be more profit to be gained from simply keeping the tokens and taking the profit from people willing to buy domains for a useful purpose that there will be in hoarding domain names in the hope of selling some of them on.

What is a DAC and What Does it Mean for .P2P

A decentralized autonomous company is effectively a business which does not have a single owner or operator, but is instead owned and operated by 'the crowd'.

Anyone wishing to use .P2P services must pay for them using .P2P coins. These coins are a kind of token which also doubles up as a proof of ownership of the company, meaning that anybody who owns them effectively becomes a shareholder in the company. Thanks to Bitshare's 'distributed proof of stake' shareholders have complete control over what happens to the profits generated by the company, and this is done through voting for 'delegates'.  If you own 1% of the coins, your vote counts for 1% of the total vote to choose 100 delegates. These delegates control all of the DACS income from charges levied for its services, and perform two roles – building up the network to expand and improve services, and paying out dividends to regular .P2P owners. These dividends are paid by destroying coins, which tips the balance of supply and demand to make each coin more valuable. You can see how many coins a delegate has chosen to receive and how many will be automatically destroyed before you vote. Anyone can stand to be a delegate.

All of this ensures that .P2P remains democratic – owned an operated by the people and for the people, resistant to censorship and seizure, and with security and privacy built in from the start!

1 https://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-triggers-widespread-internet-censorship-140702/
2 http://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/item/37516-nsa-tags-tor-users-and-priv

Thanks!

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