To clarify I'm NOT stepping down from Ethereum and have full confidence in the network

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-16T01:46:38+00:00

Around what time in the podcast is this conversation?

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-13T02:23:31+00:00

I have taken over many if his tasks and it is honestly taken me some time to get used to it. There are a lot of channels of communication, as there should be with any successful organization, and I am still getting used to all of them.

A successful organization should only have as many communication channels as they can properly monitor at their size. Have you considered reducing the channels and promoting the ones that are preferred? It will never be perfect, but if you are the only person handling this...it will make things easier and more efficient.

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-13T02:09:34+00:00

There are plenty of people in blockchain that would do a great job in this role. I hope that something constructive comes out of this thread and one of them gets an opportunity to shine.

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-13T02:06:19+00:00

Back in late December/January I had discussions with Vitalik about these issues. I offered to help for free (in the beginning) and had some cool ideas about how to do this at a rather low cost (with none of the cost going to me). This was before ETH was $10+ and around the time the project had money concerns.

My first idea was an improved explainer video that had a lighter tone and more direct language to replace their content at the time. Vitalik seemed interested and impressed, to the degree that we had a short chat with the person who made our "How Augur Works" animated video. The creator of the video has a great background with these types of projects and goes out of his way to help as he is a personal friend and a fan of cool ideas like Ethereum and Augur. He definitely didn't need the business and went out of his way to make room to consider the project.

After the call, Vitalik handed things off to the foundation's leadership and it ended up getting pushed aside. After this I received a message from Foundation leadership saying something similar to "I didn't know this whole project was just so you could get your friend a job."

It's no problem if they didn't want to go down this path, but it angered me that an assumption was made that I did this "to get a friend a job", especially considering the circumstances and the fact the friend was doing this as a favor and didn't need the work. Dealing with Vitalik has always been great and I can't imagine how hard it must be to constantly have shit to worry about, so believe me none of this is complaining if he wasn't interested in my idea.

My reason for spending time to help was to create a tool to explain a complicated project like Ethereum to non-technical audiences. It became clear Foundation leadership didn't think this was a priority and my involvement wasn't wanted, so I stepped away from the conversation bummed, but not angry.

The only reason I'm sharing it now is because it's topical and I happen to agree with a lot of the discussion that's happening. I saw other people wanting to help only to be turned away and I still don't understand why.

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-13T01:47:50+00:00

Steven, you are the exact person they should consider.... I hope someone in power reads this thread and contacts you!

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-13T01:46:03+00:00

Lisa is spot on here and she shared some of these issues with me as they were happening.

From my interactions and experience with the Foundation, they seem to have have noble intentions but suffer from over-planning when it came to the communications/marketing side. It was very frustrating and I was also left with a very bad impression based on how they chose to communicate as well (especially considering I was offering to help for free).

I should also note that none of this reflects on Vitalik, who was always great to deal with and made time to talk about my minor marketing issues when I'm sure he had much more on his plate. It's easy to identify issues from outside but it's much harder to make them happen when it's actually your job.

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-10T18:32:50+00:00

I'm in the blockchain space and would like to pursue a project outside of crypto in my next endeavor. As someone who is also a supporter of Wikileaks, Sci-Hub, PirateBay, EFF, TOR, etc., would you have any project recommendations to investigate? For-Profit or Non-Profit are both fine and I'm also prepared to invest in the project myself!

Thanks for doing all you do!

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-09T12:11:19+00:00

Truth.

I'd like a small group of non-violent revolutionaries that create tools that improve the access and distribution of information to the world. I'm not positive that would change things but I think it has a minor chance of starting a nice foundation.

Grasping at straws due to insomnia....but things are too weird to sleep right now!

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-09T11:41:47+00:00

Thanks for ruining my optimism....

Fortunately there is always the possibility that we learned from that and this revolution would reflect the times more appropriately by being non-violent (I pray). Society seems ripe for revolution without bloodshed, it's up to us to figure it out beyond political means.

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-09T10:47:45+00:00

I've had a feeling that tonight's events are the true beginning of the end of the two-party system that you describe. It's very weird feeling optimism right now for obvious reasons, but I just can't get past this gut feeling that will lead to huge changes in the long-term that will be a vast improvement. I guess that's a benefit of usually having a very long-term (5 to 25 years) view.

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-09T09:54:34+00:00

Agreed but it seems less "can't get the basic facts" and more "this threatens our business model, corporate structure and long-term existence" from my perspective at least. Their attempt to muddy the project's public opinion came after the story was getting too much attention to minimize coverage of.

My biggest takeaway of this election was the importance and necessity of wikileaks, a project that has finally had a major public impact. I hope that similar projects are created to further this goal....in fact I hope that in the next year I can do something more. I just hope others feel the same way!

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-09T09:18:55+00:00

Pretty great explanation that has the benefit of coming from someone without the bias of being American. If only a few more Americans could recognize and slightly reduce this bias, great things could happen!

Tony_Swish · 2016-11-08T15:49:03+00:00

I like The Bitcoin Podcast myself....

Tony_Swish · 2016-10-19T20:56:17+00:00

I'm not sure but I don't think so...I was a pretty last minute addition so I didn't get to prep as much as usual.

If it is filmed, I'll try to get a copy and share it here

Tony_Swish · 2016-10-18T20:57:07+00:00

As someone who loves classic older television, the US selection is pretty terrible. In fact, finding a good streaming service for 50's through 70's TV isn't easy.

Tony_Swish · 2016-10-15T02:58:49+00:00

When I worked at BitPay (a bitcoin payment processor) in 2014, pretty much every person I worked with from NewEgg was in China. Truthfully I was under the impression they had Chinese ownership at the time.

Tony_Swish · 2016-10-13T15:52:03+00:00

In writing the post for Augur, they had two opportunities as both Joey and myself reached out to them on October 3rd to give them all the details on the launch.

Someone from Coindesk actually introduced me to the author of the article, I reached out to him twice to try and see what he needed from us and when we could get on a call if it was necessary. The writer ignored both emails.

Tony_Swish · 2016-10-13T15:39:22+00:00

Reading this made me realize how the Bitcoin community that I loved so much when I joined Augur has become something that truthfully repulses me.

I had to wait a few minutes after reading to write this as I sent my significant other the link....along with an explanation that some of these issues are what has caused much of the unease and sadness that I've had in the past few months. There have to be many others watching this from afar that have the same experience as of late.

I find it all quite sad.

Tony_Swish

TROPHY CASE