Quote from: toast on August 01, 2014, 11:09:39 pm

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=6509
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=6508

Goodness! I'm finding it hard to contain my enthusiasm!

Yes! Time to spread the enthusiasm around.

Bitcointalk.org
New Dual snapshot thread
New FollowMyVote thread

  Good work Clains. Nice posts on BTT,  that snapshot graphic does explain it nicely.

That's a great test arhag. At the end of the day it can't be a pain in the ass for users. Look how long and transparently ipv6 has/is taking.
The _ has merit imho.

 

If the '_' is the only one that's really possible. I think it's fine. 'Apple_'  certainly has a lot of value because the'_' is so discreet. I personally think if added, the 100 top brands and perhaps 10-50 crypto brands in the form brand_ and brand_com together will earn more money than everything else combined.

Having said that Toast is clear he'd prefer 'BDNS' & to focus on .p2p's as is for the next few months, which is definitely a .bit killer.

Edit: Trying out a poll now https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=734486.0

I like plus. 

Apple mark.
Apple ex
Apple plus. 

Apple+ looks like google +    The only downside is whether or not it is friendly to type on a phone.   


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

+ Does seem to be the main consensus. Someone I asked also chose +. I've amended it in my description of 'the decentralised Internet' https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=6778.msg90432#msg90432

Ok this is my new ammended idea/concept for marketing this.  Obviously I know we're not really doing any of this, but I like thinking of ideas outside the box, following them through and sharing them, despite knowing very little about how this all works, so apologies for any inaccuracies or if I've misunderstood something basic, and for any distracting from the actual project,  but you never know maybe there's something useful in here.

(I don't know if the green tick idea is do-able or necessary but I know some were worried about copycatting & I got the idea from this post that it might be possible  https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=6778.msg90244#msg90244)

___________________________________________


TDI: The Decentralised Internet by BitShares


The Decentralised Internet, is an entirely new decentralised front end to the internet system that is based on a blockchain, much like Bitcoin.

Where the traditional centralised internet uses .TLD's such as .com & .org , The Decentralised Internet, uses _TLD's such as _com and _p2p and you could even have just a '_', as in apple_ or hotels_ as your web address.
Where the traditional centralised internet is accessed via programs like 'Google Chrome' and 'Internet Explorer', the decentralised internet is accessed via programs like 'BitShares Toast'. ('BitShares Toast' still gives you access to the centralised .TLD sites too, so the best of both worlds really.)

Why use The Decentralised Internet?

On the traditional centralised internet, because of the need to trust a central certificate authority, you can often be the victim of 'man in the middle' attacks and as whistleblowers like Edward Snowden have revealed, your internet actions are often spied on and recorded by 'Big Brother' and others against your will. However the decentralised internet is completely private and secure.

On the traditional centralised internet, sites can also be seized and blocked. However on the decentralised internet, sites can't be blocked or seized. The Turkish government for example, recently blocked, 'Twitter.com', but there would have been nothing they could have done about 'Twitter_com'.
 
How do I get a  _com or a _org?

They are sold via *incentivised auctions, which are started whenever somebody offers the minimum opening bid. (which decreases every month.)

* The next bidder is required to bid at least 10% more than you, and if somebody does bid higher than you, you get half the difference between their bid and yours.

Can anyone bid on and end up buying something like Nike_ or Apple_com?

Yes absolutely! And if you become the owner of apple_com, you can put whatever you like on the site & or sell it later. However only people who can also verify to the blockchain system that they are also the owner of the .com on the centralised internet by the same name will get a green tick next to their site. (To avoid copycatting)

Could these be worth a lot more in the future?

That's for you to decide, but quite frankly we believe the traditional centralised internet is obsolete. What kind of a company wants a site and an online brand that could be blocked or seized at any moment?  Who wants their information spied on all the time? In fact a recent poll showed that over 70% of citizens in many countries felt the current level of spying was 'unacceptable'.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2014/07/US%20spying.jpg

Besides spying, there's also been significant increases in moves towards internet censorship in many countries all over the world. So it's quite possible that in the near future many people will have switched to using the decentralised internet and many famous businesses may wish to put their brands on it too. Youtube.com obviously wouldn't want to have to call themselves Youtub_com on the internet system of the future would they? So who knows how much a site like Youtube_ or Youtube_com could be worth in a year or two...

Could somebody offer a competing decentralised front end internet system other than TDI that everybody ends up adopting?

Yes, It's possible. But only BitShares has the underlying technology and wide support necessary to launch something like this at the moment. BitShares is also the only group to have delivered a working DAC so far, BitShares X. So a combination of wide support, superior technology and first mover advantage means TDI by BitShares has a very good chance of becoming the decentralised internet system of the future. 

 

Quote from: bdnoble on August 09, 2014, 01:53:35 pm

Quote from: Empirical1 on August 09, 2014, 11:03:01 am

Wait I've figured it out ... 

The centralised Internet controls .com .org .net , & if we start .p2p,  there's a risk they use .p2p too. But it's not a problem because all they really control is a ' .  '

But you know what's much cooler than a  '.'? A '!' , and they don't control the '!'

So what about, instead of .TLD's, BitShares DNS takes control of  !TLD's?

BitShares!org, Apple!Com, Party!p2p

Now that is an interesting idea. Although one of the nice things about ".com" is that you can pronounce it "dot com". There's not an easy pronunciation of "!com". I've heard ! pronounced as "bang" but I think it would be a stretch to get people to say it that way.  How about "#com"? Could be pronounced "pound" or "hashtag".

Ampersand, perhaps? @ = "at", easy to pronounce

I agree with the pronunciation problem.
I just don't think you can beat the look of a ' ! ' It totally comes across as an improved dot. 
(I would also say @ is already associated with emails and # with things like twitter.)

 
Apple!com looks great! 

Quote from: Empirical1 on August 08, 2014, 06:36:53 pm

Quote from: toast on August 08, 2014, 03:52:24 pm

Nobody will use an alternate DNS system if it breaks the *entire rest of the internet*.

Maybe it just seems that way because ICANN is a monopoly system that hasn't had a competitor yet.

What if... ICANN is just a forum.  Web addresses are just people's forum usernames. No-one has a monopoly on usernames.

What did you do when BTSX started?

- You tried to register 'Toast'. Why?
- Out of all the usernames in the world someone had already registered 'Toast' on the very first day.
- How many BTSX would you/others have bid for 'Toast' on BTSX if it was resellable? 
- Why have you/someone else not paid 0.1 BTSX for something like 'Toast1', 'Toast2' or 'Toast.p2p' on BTSX yet?

& while someone may incorrectly send money to Toast on BTSX or get scammed by them, it's very unlikely.
Your reputation is based somewhere else,  and your signature at that location, clearly says  BTSX:  nikolai

So you're saying websites will advertise "go to overstock.com on ICANN" vs "go to overstock.com on BDNS" ??
People don't even know what DNS is, they're not going to be switching their DNS resolver depending on which site they want to visit...

Yes in a sense. Instead of marketing as a 'DNS resolver' I would start

  'The Decentralised Internet'

Which would be empty except for new.com's & .p2p's  (but could still take you to legacy .coms)

At first Overstock.com wouldn't know about it or find value in owning a  'decentralised Internet' username just like it took them a while to offer their customers a 'decentralised money' payment option.

When they did decide to offer their customers the option, they would want to be listed under the same user name 'Overstock' or 'Overstock.com' or have it re-direct to the ICANN overstock.com.
If they didn't get it they would have to put an alternative on their homepage  BDNS: Alittlebitextrastock.com which is why Overstock.com on BitShares DNS is valuable.

I would expect the decentralised Internet to leverage off the existing brands in lots of ways

If someone had a version of Youtube with no adverts, no sorry this can't be played in your country, no sign in to see boobs. I'd expect them to either want to be the decentralised youtube & or youtube.com or re-direct traffic from there.

When I Toast  amazon or amazon.com if it didn't take me to the original I'd be expecting to be re-directed to a decentralised market place or at least be marketed one.

If people we're looking for a decentralised more private facebook which they are they'd Toast 'Facebook' or 'Facebook.com' and then I'd expect them to be re-ridirected to somewhere like Keyhotee. Even better if Keyhotee formatted itself in a way that was very familiar to Facebook users. 'Keyhotee - The decentralised Facebook' . You just get so much leverage marketing & communicating yourself off existing brands people know & understand, like the first thing you mentioned in your snapshot announcement '.bit killer'

I'd expect someone if not twitter themselves to own a some kind of twitter that couldn't be blocked at twitter.com and when turkey blocked twitter.com I'd think twitter.com would also buy domains like Turkey.com or turkey.gov and redirect them to twitter.com just to rub salt in the wound. I.e people would buy & redirect  .com domains as a protest. If you Toasted USA.gov you might get to some kind of protest site.

Occasionally you'd get scams but people would know .coms on the decentralised/blockchain  Internet' are different

Having said that it seems to people my .coms are TOO much like .coms from a technical, legal & association POV even though they'd only be on the decentralised Internet and be orange.

Nobody will use an alternate DNS system if it breaks the *entire rest of the internet*.

Maybe it just seems that way because ICANN is a monopoly system that hasn't had a competitor yet.

What if... ICANN is just a forum.  Web addresses are just people's forum usernames. No-one has a monopoly on usernames.

What did you do when BTSX started?

- You tried to register 'Toast'. Why?
- Out of all the usernames in the world someone had already registered 'Toast' on the very first day.
- How many BTSX would you/others have bid for 'Toast' on BTSX if it was resellable? 
- Why have you/someone else not paid 0.1 BTSX for something like 'Toast1', 'Toast2' or 'Toast.p2p' on BTSX yet?

& while someone may incorrectly send money to Toast on BTSX or get scammed by them, it's very unlikely.
Your reputation is based somewhere else,  and your signature at that location, clearly says  BTSX:  nikolai

A bold move to be sure... but also one that is inviting scammers looking to setup a site that mirrors apple.com and collects CC cards.

Yes, this is the biggest one.

But to me, it's not that big an issue. Because everyone will be clear the decentralised BitShares DNS .com is not the same as a centralised ICANN .com unless it's endorsed by the latter.

If BitShares DNS is marketed as a completely separate DNS system where all the domains are newly available and may or may not be owned by the same owners of the centralised ICANN.com then the chance of me, who is terrible with computers handing over money to Amazon.com is about the same as me handing money to Amazon.blueberry. unless one of them is endorsed at the amazon.com site that I access via google chrome that I already trust.

I would maybe have a clear Buyer Beware sign though on the interface.

Buyer Beware: BitShares DNS is a decentralised completely separate DNS system to the one you are used to accessing via say google chrome or explorer. Amazon.com on BitShares DNS may not be owned by the same people who own Amazon.com on ICANN unless they are endorsed by them.

I would also make the top 10-100 000 BitShares DNS .com and other TLD domains very expensive at the start of the DAC.

So when users try to go to Amazon.com for the first year of the DAC they will just see a for sale sign with a minimum opening auction bid maybe even in the $  thousands.  (Declining every month)

This way users will become very familiar that these are different .com's and they are for sale to anybody