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MaxEntropy

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While this message may seem overly critical, it is indirectly intended to be positive... so what does intended imply?

1: It appears to me that Let's Talk Bitcoin people have come up with a stunningly huge idea, in that, awarding authors with micro payments is a revolutionary step beyond: what Guttenburg, the Internet and WordPress has brought to collaboration and information systems. Furthermore, micro paying distributors and commenters is equally as significant.

2: The implementation 'here' is really bloody confusing !

Suggestion:

A: embrace a platform presentation similar to that of GitHub, whereby the user model is mostly understood up front. Heavens, you can clone GitHub Server source code, today. There are many problems with the 'current' implementation of the LTB Coin site, not the least, that it is constrained by the 'bulletin board' model, as utilized. I really do not think people read (comment, collaborate) in such a hierarchically structured manner. More could be said...

B: Separate the Let's Talk Bitcoin website from the prototype LTB Coin project. I feel there is clear difference between the Internet radio entity - Lets Talk bitcoin... and the LTB Coin project. Yes, I can understand how the concept would/could evolve from one to the other.

C: Change the name of the LTB Coin. The concept is so very much larger and more important than LTB will ever communicate to the reader or other participants. This idea could change entirely how content is produced and maintained on the Internet. More thought needs to given to federation services of such as server. More thought needs to be given to a 'widget' that could be plugged into an arbitrary WordPress site and Gateway-ed transactions to the Bitcoin BlockChain.

--

This is probably enough for now. I plan to read the section on New Bee introduction - reading a How to Guide should not be required. GitHub is intuitive.

--

Adam - your group has a really great idea - however, I feel that it should be radically re-vectored. [I bumped into this topic, when it was casually introduced by Andreas in the recent Bitcoin in the Beltway talk which I saw yesterday]

With kind regards, Max Entropy

Posted on July 2, 2014 at 9:29 PM

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• MaxEntropy

  

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  Hmmm...

  I had not intended Item :2 above, to the bolder and enlarged. This union tended consequence of creating a bullet/point, should be considered a 'bug'.

  Posted on July 2, 2014 at 9:47 PM
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• adam

  

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  Hey Max, thanks for the thoughts - here are mine

  If you'd like to start a version of the front page, or find a team to do it that utilizes this style I fully encourage it. The front page is my vision of a decent way to present a lot of diverse yet visually engaging content. It is not finished, it is not definitive, it's just what I like and what i'm doing. We have not added the usability layers, this is all just base level stuff.

  As you've noticed the site lacks basic things - what it doesn't lack are advanced things - we are doing a lot of stuff you can't see. Be patient, I've learned that really helps.

  2 - You're an early adopter! Congratulations! We know it's confusing, which is why LTBCOIN is a deflationary currency so you're not only spliting these early allocations with fewer people, the allocations themselves are larger. If you'd rather wait until this is not true, that's totally an option - Participation is always most valuable when it is scarce.

  Suggestions

  A - I don't understand Github or think its very intuitive at all. We bothered building this platform as such was to build a base level platform that people can reskin as they see fit while still having all the incentivization and distribution layers still hooked in. The current skin of LetsTalkBitcoin.com really isn't intended as anything other than a neutral starting point, and it will certainly continue to adapt over the summer if not being replaced by something else.

  B - We did, the LTB Network has six different shows on it and plays host to an increasing variety of writers. We haven't revealed the rebranding yet, but that's the play.

  C - LTBCOIN is a prototype, first of kind project. I don't want it to be big, I want it to be specific and I want to make sure it works and that all the bugs get flogged out and then we'll launch MEDIA or TALK, both of which I have waiting for the purpose. There are no do-overs with crypto, we're going to take the time to learn. And of course, anyone else can do whatever they want since we're going to open source all our tools.

  I'll ask you to have faith. Big things coming, and if you want to wrap the content from the front page in a github skin get with @cryptonaut to hook you up, he's the platform dev.

  Posted on July 2, 2014 at 10:04 PM
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• MaxEntropy

  

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  Hi Adam,

  Please do not be sooo defensive. I will tackle your comments, each within a separate comment.

  Front Page: I think your front page concept will necessarily have to evolve... quickly. The issue that i see is that your 'content presentation model' is based on an infinite number rows of three (3) columns of author created graphic elements.

  What will you do after N days? Will older items sort to the bottom? Or last page?

  If there are several authors, say 10-20 and each authors one item per week, how large is this page? Or does one need to tediously click next page, next page, in search of a specific rectangular content authored items?

  My point is, is that 'the front page' model only works for 1-2 authors, it does not scale. The 'currency' approach is only useful if your concept scales. The model is not going to work. If I am wrong, I will be happy to eat my hat.

  Lastly, there is a fundamental difference between word authors and media graphics' authors. Currently, a word author must obtain a graphic, probably unique for each item they create and place the front page. I personally do not see that happening, words are different than other media types.

  I am currently using an iPad. The pages on this sight are locked down and can not be zoomed/expanded. The default type font is way too small. I have not tried viewing on other mobile devices... yet.

  With kind regards, Max

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 7:16 AM
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• TNT3

  

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  B: Separate the Let's Talk Bitcoin website from the prototype LTB Coin project. I feel there is clear >difference between the Internet radio entity - Lets Talk bitcoin... and the LTB Coin project. Yes, I can >understand how the concept would/could evolve from one to the other.

  I have the totally opposite view. They feed of each other and people coming for the content, become aware for the possibility for contributing and getting rewarded/earn LTBCoins. The same logic applies to content providers. For somebody just checking ‘the competition’ should be as easy as possible to learn that he can potentially become contributor and be paid in LTBCoins.

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 8:38 AM
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• adam

  

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  I'm just trying to save you wasting your time, the things you're complaining about are known issues. The front page is placeholder and can be extended to 500 items if we want. That's not ideal, but it's actually a pretty good format for dealing with a lot of diverse content.

  But that is not the plan, the plan is to finish the backend and core systems work we're doing and then attack the design problem knowing our capabilities and quirks.

  My priority is user curation and information density, so I suspect we'll wind up with a design somewhat similar except each horizontal row is a category or some sort of distinct classification (most engaging content from a bunch of different metrics, most valuable content based on revenue generated). We're also pursuing an archetype system where users, by defining the types of content they put together let us generate new homepages built specifically for that type of user so it is a standard offer as opposed to something that needs to be customized each time.

  If you look at our iOS app you can see this type of design - Two content lines scrollable horizontally. The top one is audio podcasts, the bottom is written. In the next version you'll be able to turn specific categories on or off from those feeds so you'll only see what you want.

  And my suggestion to create your own front page, or put together an actionable plan and we'll add it to the to-dos. We have an API right now that lets you take everything we do with styling and put it onto any type of format you want. All our content is creative commons.

  Mostly though, you don't know about the collaborative, incentivized content creation CMS we've built, and it'll be hard to understand until we finish and turn it on in to show you in the next month or two.

  So hang tight @maxentropy

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 9:57 AM
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• MaxEntropy

  

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  Adam,

  This is an academic debate... which is good. As I mentioned I bumped into this concept by chance, from an Andreas talk at the Beltway.

  Speaking academically...

  1: You have a killer app / concept in using 'a coin' on top of the Bitcoin block chain. This is really a big big deal. As you will know, all WordPress authors struggle to earn revenue, I am sure. I am not in this space, so I lack first hand knowledge.

  2: I hesitate to use denigrating terms... but the great applications are first based on great ARCHITECTURE, and from what I can see, and I am technical, a bulletin board server is not the approach to take. In fact, this is quick and dirty. I could go into details. I think you should have your people consider GitHub like system architecture. They have easily proven that it does scale. If you want to front-end it with Content Pages, then this is easy.

  3: Furthermore climbing out on the metaphorical limb - I will say, that while your immediate interest is in Let's Talk Bitcoin, this is not where your effort should be applied. Yes, I can understand how you evolved the thinking to get to this place/initiative, but the idea/opportunity is so much larger. I do not believe that the visitors to the Lets Talk Bitcoin site (for which I like/ value the content) will scale sufficiently to bring any sort of meaningful valuation to LTB Coin... and this should be the goal. Not necessarily, for the founders but rather for the community of authors, which will pull on the LTB Coin publishing payment concept. You have an opportunity to challenge Amazon and the major content distributors with your concept.

  4: Federating transactions from LTB Coin augmented WordPress sites/authors/commenters is where your energy should be applied. Define/implement a WP widget and also a LTB /Bitcoin Gateway. Start from this perspective and you can bring huge value to Bitcoin and to your publishing payment system. Bitcoin gateways will thrive with global WordPress adoption. I mean which WordPress blogger would not spend $50 for a professionally developed widget. The LTB Coin Gateways would spread throughout the Internet and improve revenue streams for a new type of author, distributor and reader/commenter. This could be the app pulls Bitcoin away from just payment networks and speculation.

  --

  But I will back off on this discussion as it seems that you are committed to a different vision.

  With kind regards, Max

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 11:29 AM
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• adam

  

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  @maxentropy Adam,

  This is an academic debate... which is good. As I mentioned I bumped into this concept by chance, from an Andreas talk at the Beltway.

  Speaking academically...

  1: You have a killer app / concept in using 'a coin' on top of the Bitcoin block chain. This is really a big big deal. As you will know, all WordPress authors struggle to earn revenue, I am sure. I am not in this space, so I lack first hand knowledge.

  2: I hesitate to use denigrating terms... but the great applications are first based on great ARCHITECTURE, and from what I can see, and I am technical, a bulletin board server is not the approach to take. In fact, this is quick and dirty. I could go into details. I think you should have your people consider GitHub like system architecture. They have easily proven that it does scale. If you want to front-end it with Content Pages, then this is easy.

  3: Furthermore climbing out on the metaphorical limb - I will say, that while your immediate interest is in Let's Talk Bitcoin, this is not where your effort should be applied. Yes, I can understand how you evolved the thinking to get to this place/initiative, but the idea/opportunity is so much larger. I do not believe that the visitors to the Lets Talk Bitcoin site (for which I like/ value the content) will scale sufficiently to bring any sort of meaningful valuation to LTB Coin... and this should be the goal. Not necessarily, for the founders but rather for the community of authors, which will pull on the LTB Coin publishing payment concept. You have an opportunity to challenge Amazon and the major content distributors with your concept.

  4: Federating transactions from LTB Coin augmented WordPress sites/authors/commenters is where your energy should be applied. Define/implement a WP widget and also a LTB /Bitcoin Gateway. Start from this perspective and you can bring huge value to Bitcoin and to your publishing payment system. Bitcoin gateways will thrive with global WordPress adoption. I mean which WordPress blogger would not spend $50 for a professionally developed widget. The LTB Coin Gateways would spread throughout the Internet and improve revenue streams for a new type of author, distributor and reader/commenter. This could be the app pulls Bitcoin away from just payment networks and speculation.

  --

  But I will back off on this discussion as it seems that you are committed to a different vision.

  With kind regards, Max

  @rotalumis @john @stephanie @cryptonaut thoughts?

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 1:33 PM
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• adam

  

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  Also, Max - again - I just want to emphasize that you are complaining about our forums when I've said many times now the whole current design is placeholder and primarily we are finishing the internal systems.

  You seem so distressed that we're not already done and polished, but it seems we're the first to do this so your concern is puzzling.

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 1:44 PM
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• MaxEntropy

  

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  Adam,

  It does not matter what you do with the "internal systems"... you are locked into an architecture and building blocks that can not go to where you need to go.

  Please, ask you developers what I mean. Or if these developers recommended this approach speak to Andreas, as I believe he will understand.

  I am signing off, Max

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 2:04 PM
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• Cryptonaut

  

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  Um.. Lol?

  A couple things..

  • this isnt some off the shelf message board system with a custom theme. Its a fully custom platform built from the ground up and highly extendable. Forums are just one feature we added in and it's also all in heavy development still. Literally our only limits are time and money.

  • github is great and all for open source collaborative coding and version control... That has nothing to with what we are trying to do. Are you suggesting we have the platform as a hosted github page instead, or basically just build something that is like github? Not sure how that makes sense. It's great for developers, but most people don't know how to use it.

  • so basically, our solution is just to build a LTBCoin widget for wordpress? To accomplish what exactly? WordPress Bitcoin asset gateways seems like a terrible idea, especially from a security standpoint. Also not really needed, it can already be exchanged on the DEX and very likely soon to be on actual crypto exchange sites.

  When you say you have technical knowledge, are you actually a programmer/web develop er?

  Posted on July 3, 2014 at 2:18 PM
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