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Alternate cryptocurrencies => Altcoin Discussion => Topic started by: gunner833 on January 28, 2018, 10:53:04 PM



Title: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 28, 2018, 10:53:04 PM
TL:DR
I came across few suspicious things about XSPEC and I contacted jbg (lead (and only?) developer of XSPEC) privately. After the chat I had with him, I am still not sure if I trust the guy. Then after some thoughts and recent events, I have decided that it’s best for everyone to know what I know, and judge for themselves.
I will not invest long term in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) as almost everything jbg says to people is very difficult to prove and some might even be lies. Note that this is my personal conclusion, and it is based on the facts explained below.

LONG VERSION
I have been looking for a coin to invest long term and I have come across XSPEC on this forum a lot, so I decided to take a deeper look.

I am myself a software developer, so I do look quite closely to the code and its change activity. From the github commits, it seems that jbg started working on the project in June last year. There was only a few commits from June to December. From the end of September to the start of December, there was only one commit. From December onwards there has been more commits.

Then I examined these commits further: most of them were UI changes. In the 8 months (Jun 2017 to Jan 2018) there were only 3 changes to the core (most of the codebase is ShadowCoin): a quick fix on ring sizes, OBSF4 and a new feature that enables people giving stakes to the developer (!). All the rest were UI fixes and some library upgrades. That means the codebase is basically ShadowCoin with a few UI bugs fixed plus the ability to give money to the developer. ShadowCoin was a good coin regardless so at least this has inherited all the good bits.

I then checked who have been making these changes. I know that there should be two developers, each with 20+ years of experience, actively working full-time on this cryptocurrency. Weirdly when I looked into who made the code commits, only one person (jbg) had been making commits in the past 8 months. I could not see any commits done by another account.

This already sounded suspicious so I researched more and have come across his real name! This is super weird for a privacy crypto developer who claims to be anonymous. I then found also out he is in his twenties (20+ years of dev experience in his twenties?) and he used to have a bar business for two years (20+ years of dev experience on his twenties with 2 years with a bar business?) which went bankrupt with a $90k+ tax debt. Also he is now running an ecommerce business (he claims he works full time on XSPEC? Anyway website also looks quite amateur to me).

At this point I decided to contact him privately on slack. To summarize the discussion:
- About his age and his experience, he said he claimed to have 20 years experience because he had been paid for a software project he made at school when he was 9. He agreed that he might have over-exaggerated this but commented that it's kinda ok as people usually do this.
- About the bankrupted bar business (two years), he still counted this as dev experience since he developed the PoS system for the bar.
- About the mysterious second dev, he said he is a cryptographer and he is working on stealth staking that will be available in Q2 2018. I asked if the community could see any of his work, not only stealth staking, but he said I should wait until Q2.
- About the no commit period between the end of Sept to the start of December, he claimed that they were working on the UI rewrite and stealth staking. Both features were supposed to be hidden from public for now, so no way to check this.

Here is what I assess the facts given so far:
I thank him for being really transparent as he was open to discussion and didn’t deny my findings. However, everything becomes more suspicious. jbg is definitely knowledgeable in the crypto space, he knows his stuff, and always answers everyone’s questions on Slack. His coding ability is certainly good enough for library upgrades and quick UI bug fixes.

Unfortunately jbg is trying to look much more experienced than he actually is. Exaggerating his work experience is problematic because it is skewing people’s expectation and assumption when investing. We would naturally feel assured as we expect him knowing how to run, scale and lead a team, working in multi-disciplinary complex projects, and so on. This is really suspicious especially in the crypto world where scams are everywhere.

Not only his own dev experience did not check out, it is even more suspicious when there is no commits from the second dev, so-called cryptographer, on the repo. If there really had been some work done by two full-time developers since June last year I would at least see some public commits from them both.

When he claimed that both stealth staking code and UI rewrites are hidden features, I found it really suspicious. Stealth staking code to be hidden I understand, but UI rewrites? He said he does not want to make the UI rewrite public but since December he clearly has made public commits on UI changes. That makes no sense.

I honour his narrative on hidden development work but it is only his word for the last 8 months of development. As it stands, there is no actual proof apart from UI bug fixes and library upgrades. The current github commit history is definitely not enough to justify 8 months work by 1 or 2 full-time experienced developers. From my research, he's also running another ecommerce company on his own, that is a web application. I remain doubtful on the part where he says he is working full time on Spectre too. Suspicious.

As I mentioned at the start, I was going to leave the project silently after speaking with jbg as people should do their own research and make their own conclusion. However there had been a suspicious activity that made me post this publicly. Literally a day after our chat, I noticed that the github repository has been moved to a new one. This means if he or his mysterious teammate did do private commits during Sept to Dec last year, we would probably not be able prove this anymore.  

And a new github account called Bryce has miraculously showed up! This account has done no commits so far, even though it joined in September, but it has now created his first pull request! And of course it is about a library upgrade, no structural change. This is now too suspicious.

In the crypto world I am used to account for worst case scenarios and, in my opinion (and I stress this is my opinion!) the worst scenario for this case is:

- jbg is a developer who found a good abandoned coin and tried to work on it
- he created a nice community around it, he studied about crypto and SpectreCoin specifically very well so he is able to answer all the community questions
- he is lying about his developer experience so he can look more valuable
- he is also lying about another developer/cryptographer as Bryce does not exist
- always from my research, he has an ecommerce company so he can work on the coin only on his free time, not working full time as he said
- the only contribution that he can realistically offer is quick bug fixes as well as speaking to the community. That's why he is always available on slack
- aside from other features he could have done, somehow he found time to implement the feature where the community can donate him money
- his main motivation seems to be getting donations as he certainly is trying to keep the thing going. As the main revolutionary stealth staking is scheduled for Q2, he would have had 6+ months worth of donations by then. It is quite a good deal for him if you only have to do small bug fixes and answering all the common community questions on slack
- he says that he does not have much coins so he's not interested in the coin price. However people have been donating a lot of coins to him: averaged ~$6000/month only on stakes donation at the actual rate, plus all the ones he received previously, plus the ones he owns on his own. These donations means a lot to the country he lives (yup I found out where he lives) as it has a very low average salary.

This is my worst case scenario that I deduced from the information I found. It might not be true, but it is possible.

If you count the number of times I wrote the word "suspicious", you'll understand why I am not going to invest now. It is probably better to wait and see the end of February when 1.4 is scheduled with a full UI rewrite. This is also suggested by jbg and I will pass this on but bear in mind that he is happily receiving donations in the meantime.

Few last things:
- I am not going to reveal jbg identity or how I found it. But I have proofs of our conversation, and I can share this if necessary (with all personal information censored).
- I already spent too much time on this and I need to move on :). For this reason I don't think I am going to reply.
- I really hope jbg will prove what I wrote wrong with the delivery of the Spectre road map on time.
- I hope cryptographer Bryce really exists :)
- crypto is full of smart people and scams, try not to invest on words, but invest on facts.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: cryptohunter on January 29, 2018, 12:26:41 AM
Are you are crypto developer yourself or could you develop a coin similar to this if you wanted to?

Not that this question relates to your post. I have no interest in xspec.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Dullmartini on January 29, 2018, 01:01:17 AM
TL:DR
I came across few suspicious things about XSPEC and I contacted jbg (lead (and only?) developer of XSPEC) privately. After the chat I had with him, I am still not sure if I trust the guy. Then after some thoughts and recent events, I have decided that it’s best for everyone to know what I know, and judge for themselves.
I will not invest long term in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) as almost everything jbg says to people is very difficult to prove and some might even be lies. Note that this is my personal conclusion, and it is based on the facts explained below.

LONG VERSION
I have been looking for a coin to invest long term and I have come across XSPEC on this forum a lot, so I decided to take a deeper look.

I am myself a software developer, so I do look quite closely to the code and its change activity. From the github commits, it seems that jbg started working on the project in June last year. There was only a few commits from June to December. From the end of September to the start of December, there was only one commit. From December onwards there has been more commits.

Then I examined these commits further: most of them were UI changes. In the 8 months (Jun 2017 to Jan 2018) there were only 3 changes to the core (most of the codebase is ShadowCoin): a quick fix on ring sizes, OBSF4 and a new feature that enables people giving stakes to the developer (!). All the rest were UI fixes and some library upgrades. That means the codebase is basically ShadowCoin with a few UI bugs fixed plus the ability to give money to the developer. ShadowCoin was a good coin regardless so at least this has inherited all the good bits.

I then checked who have been making these changes. I know that there should be two developers, each with 20+ years of experience, actively working full-time on this cryptocurrency. Weirdly when I looked into who made the code commits, only one person (jbg) had been making commits in the past 8 months. I could not see any commits done by another account.

This already sounded suspicious so I researched more and have come across his real name! This is super weird for a privacy crypto developer who claims to be anonymous. I then found also out he is in his twenties (20+ years of dev experience in his twenties?) and he used to have a bar business for two years (20+ years of dev experience on his twenties with 2 years with a bar business?) which went bankrupt with a $90k+ tax debt. Also he is now running an ecommerce business (he claims he works full time on XSPEC? Anyway website also looks quite amateur to me).

At this point I decided to contact him privately on slack. To summarize the discussion:
- About his age and his experience, he said he claimed to have 20 years experience because he had been paid for a software project he made at school when he was 9. He agreed that he might have over-exaggerated this but commented that it's kinda ok as people usually do this.
- About the bankrupted bar business (two years), he still counted this as dev experience since he developed the PoS system for the bar.
- About the mysterious second dev, he said he is a cryptographer and he is working on stealth staking that will be available in Q2 2018. I asked if the community could see any of his work, not only stealth staking, but he said I should wait until Q2.
- About the no commit period between the end of Sept to the start of December, he claimed that they were working on the UI rewrite and stealth staking. Both features were supposed to be hidden from public for now, so no way to check this.

Here is what I assess the facts given so far:
I thank him for being really transparent as he was open to discussion and didn’t deny my findings. However, everything becomes more suspicious. jbg is definitely knowledgeable in the crypto space, he knows his stuff, and always answers everyone’s questions on Slack. His coding ability is certainly good enough for library upgrades and quick UI bug fixes.

Unfortunately jbg is trying to look much more experienced than he actually is. Exaggerating his work experience is problematic because it is skewing people’s expectation and assumption when investing. We would naturally feel assured as we expect him knowing how to run, scale and lead a team, working in multi-disciplinary complex projects, and so on. This is really suspicious especially in the crypto world where scams are everywhere.

Not only his own dev experience did not check out, it is even more suspicious when there is no commits from the second dev, so-called cryptographer, on the repo. If there really had been some work done by two full-time developers since June last year I would at least see some public commits from them both.

When he claimed that both stealth staking code and UI rewrites are hidden features, I found it really suspicious. Stealth staking code to be hidden I understand, but UI rewrites? He said he does not want to make the UI rewrite public but since December he clearly has made public commits on UI changes. That makes no sense.

I honour his narrative on hidden development work but it is only his word for the last 8 months of development. As it stands, there is no actual proof apart from UI bug fixes and library upgrades. The current github commit history is definitely not enough to justify 8 months work by 1 or 2 full-time experienced developers. From my research, he's also running another ecommerce company on his own, that is a web application. I remain doubtful on the part where he says he is working full time on Spectre too. Suspicious.

As I mentioned at the start, I was going to leave the project silently after speaking with jbg as people should do their own research and make their own conclusion. However there had been a suspicious activity that made me post this publicly. Literally a day after our chat, I noticed that the github repository has been moved to a new one. This means if he or his mysterious teammate did do private commits during Sept to Dec last year, we would probably not be able prove this anymore.  

And a new github account called Bryce has miraculously showed up! This account has done no commits so far, even though it joined in September, but it has now created his first pull request! And of course it is about a library upgrade, no structural change. This is now too suspicious.

In the crypto world I am used to account for worst case scenarios and, in my opinion (and I stress this is my opinion!) the worst scenario for this case is:

- jbg is a developer who found a good abandoned coin and tried to work on it
- he created a nice community around it, he studied about crypto and SpectreCoin specifically very well so he is able to answer all the community questions
- he is lying about his developer experience so he can look more valuable
- he is also lying about another developer/cryptographer as Bryce does not exist
- always from my research, he has an ecommerce company so he can work on the coin only on his free time, not working full time as he said
- the only contribution that he can realistically offer is quick bug fixes as well as speaking to the community. That's why he is always available on slack
- aside from other features he could have done, somehow he found time to implement the feature where the community can donate him money
- his main motivation seems to be getting donations as he certainly is trying to keep the thing going. As the main revolutionary stealth staking is scheduled for Q2, he would have had 6+ months worth of donations by then. It is quite a good deal for him if you only have to do small bug fixes and answering all the common community questions on slack
- he says that he does not have much coins so he's not interested in the coin price. However people have been donating a lot of coins to him: averaged ~$6000/month only on stakes donation at the actual rate, plus all the ones he received previously, plus the ones he owns on his own. These donations means a lot to the country he lives (yup I found out where he lives) as it has a very low average salary.

This is my worst case scenario that I deduced from the information I found. It might not be true, but it is possible.

If you count the number of times I wrote the word "suspicious", you'll understand why I am not going to invest now. It is probably better to wait and see the end of February when 1.4 is scheduled with a full UI rewrite. This is also suggested by jbg and I will pass this on but bear in mind that he is happily receiving donations in the meantime.

Few last things:
- I am not going to reveal jbg identity or how I found it. But I have proofs of our conversation, and I can share this if necessary (with all personal information censored).
- I already spent too much time on this and I need to move on :). For this reason I don't think I am going to reply.
- I really hope jbg will prove what I wrote wrong with the delivery of the Spectre road map on time.
- I hope cryptographer Bryce really exists :)
- crypto is full of smart people and scams, try not to invest on words, but invest on facts.


Thank you for this research! The amount of accounts shilling xspec on this forum is supremely annoying and another red flag in my opinion. Of course I looked into the coin too and decided to pass because I don’t invest if the team is not known. I also found some threads on Reddit if i recall correctly that went through the revolving door of developers or team members at xspec. Glad to know I’m not the only one on all of bitcointalk that doesn’t trust the future of xspec!


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 29, 2018, 11:17:30 AM
Are you are crypto developer yourself or could you develop a coin similar to this if you wanted to?

Not that this question relates to your post. I have no interest in xspec.

I could try if I had donations in the order of 6k$/month too. ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 29, 2018, 01:57:49 PM

I also found some threads on Reddit if i recall correctly that went through the revolving door of developers or team members at xspec.

could you post a link of this one please? I am curious to read about it :)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: stanstan on January 29, 2018, 02:01:42 PM
Sold my sterling coins a month ago. And glad I did it.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 29, 2018, 02:15:55 PM
Sold my sterling coins a month ago. And glad I did it.

Sterling? LOL. You might misread things. That's also why you bought DeepOnion I guess  ;D


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Betwrong on January 29, 2018, 02:27:21 PM
Thanks for your research and for sharing some valuable info, gunner833!

Indeed crypto world is full of smart people some of which are trying to scam others. That's why we need a place like this, bitcointalk, where it's possible to see from the replies to any ANN thread, whether a project worth investing or not.

Talking about Spectrecoin, I personally would never invest in a coin presented on as few as 4 markets, one of which, Bisq, has $5k daily trading volume. But that's me, I usually avoid taking risks, and maybe that's why I'm not rich still. )


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 29, 2018, 04:39:33 PM
only trying to help ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Peppo on January 30, 2018, 04:14:18 AM
Could you tell, which country (or part of Europe) jbg is living? I tried to pm you, but you don's take messages from newbies.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: johncro_ on January 30, 2018, 08:16:40 AM
you made some good points, which some of them have been discussed on slack channel.
really don't understand why does it matter whats the jbg history,in short period that he is working on this project what he promised he delivered.
Anyways you didn't say anything new that should concern people who did their research.they know its gamble thats why mc is 60mil not 600mil...
you don't like to gamble you find is suspicious thats fine i respect that.lets wait for 1.4realease so we can see what are we dealing with,and q2 is not far along either so given previous expirience i will ride along and see how the project is progressing.I don't think almost 1 year of manipulating people to earn few thousands dollars from staking is worth it for jbg or for anyone
time will tell


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Haneul on January 30, 2018, 08:25:30 AM
It is PoSv3 so its rather fast - 60 sec transactions - It has got stealth addresses that make your transactions go throught separate uncorelated addresses
It will feature Ring Signatures from v1.5 on, that makes your digital signature of transaction signed by a person of a specific pool - It is first ever coin (cept scam ICO TokeyPay totally copied our wallet from github with only changing logo) that has got TOR with OBFUScation4 integrated natively into an opened client. It makes your traffic appear as a normal one to a provider or whoever looks(instead of looking like TOR traffic)
It has got encrypted chat function which is a big deal for privacy (would be more easy to use in v1.4)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: guagua_ga on January 30, 2018, 08:32:38 AM
Based on all my findings, as well as a raw view of the coin’s financial situation, is it clear to me that Spectrecoin (XSPEC) is the privacy coin I want to invest in now. On a technological standpoint, it is impressive compared to the other five big coins. With it’s tiny market cap and steady growth, I feel the potential here is huge for both the short to medium run, and of course, the very long run, where it is important, in my opinion, to be able to achieve some level of privacy in this crypto circus we dwell in.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: chanpinchen on January 30, 2018, 08:56:40 AM
I have invested 2k in this counter as I believe I would make some money based on what I know about it. I think investing  in cryto currency carries certain amount of risk ,as long I think the reward / risk is in my favour , I am comfortable holding it.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: kawabonga on January 30, 2018, 10:11:23 AM
I am full invested in XSPEC, it is a good coin and the dev team is capable. I am sure it will do very well in 2018. Grab coins at this good price before it is too late. And then hold it.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on January 30, 2018, 12:07:54 PM
As a listed member of the Spectrecoin team I really appreciate this post.  It's thorough and raises good questions that people should be asking when it comes to crypto currencies.  JBG is upfront about these issues if you ask him.  AFAICT he is still dedicated to the project.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on January 30, 2018, 12:25:58 PM
A simple google search will give you this information. You will also find in that same search that jpg has been working with easier ways to transact money back in 2007.  ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: konco kereng on January 30, 2018, 12:30:24 PM
I heard a lot of that project was a scam and I've joined on the airdrop project. but until now I still do not find the exchanges on the token.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: skelethon on January 30, 2018, 12:36:57 PM
Thanks for the post, OP! Super interesting.

Kinda interested in the conversation, would be cool if you could share it - but I understand if you'd rather keep it private. ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 30, 2018, 02:43:42 PM
I heard a lot of that project was a scam and I've joined on the airdrop project. but until now I still do not find the exchanges on the token.

One reason might be that your looking in the wrong place, same as you are posting on the wrong thread.

Thanks for the post, OP! Super interesting.

Kinda interested in the conversation, would be cool if you could share it - but I understand if you'd rather keep it private. ;)

User 'skelethon' has not chosen to allow messages from newbies. You should post in their relevant thread to remind them to enable this setting.

Could you tell, which country (or part of Europe) jbg is living? I tried to pm you, but you don's take messages from newbies.

I have enabled it now, even though I will not disclose anything about his identity. I respect his choice of being anonymous.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: AshCoins on January 30, 2018, 03:04:07 PM
you made some good points, which some of them have been discussed on slack channel.
really don't understand why does it matter whats the jbg history,in short period that he is working on this project what he promised he delivered.
Anyways you didn't say anything new that should concern people who did their research.they know its gamble thats why mc is 60mil not 600mil...
you don't like to gamble you find is suspicious thats fine i respect that.lets wait for 1.4realease so we can see what are we dealing with,and q2 is not far along either so given previous expirience i will ride along and see how the project is progressing.I don't think almost 1 year of manipulating people to earn few thousands dollars from staking is worth it for jbg or for anyone
time will tell

This was my exact sentiment after reading the OP.  It was nice research but ultimately nothing that alarming. I’m sure  if you perform the same research on the team of any coin you’ll find red flags worse than this on 95 percent of them.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on January 30, 2018, 03:32:21 PM
TL:DR
I came across few suspicious things about XSPEC and I contacted jbg (lead (and only?) developer of XSPEC) privately. After the chat I had with him, I am still not sure if I trust the guy. Then after some thoughts and recent events, I have decided that it’s best for everyone to know what I know, and judge for themselves.
I will not invest long term in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) as almost everything jbg says to people is very difficult to prove and some might even be lies. Note that this is my personal conclusion, and it is based on the facts explained below.

LONG VERSION
I have been looking for a coin to invest long term and I have come across XSPEC on this forum a lot, so I decided to take a deeper look.

I am myself a software developer, so I do look quite closely to the code and its change activity. From the github commits, it seems that jbg started working on the project in June last year. There was only a few commits from June to December. From the end of September to the start of December, there was only one commit. From December onwards there has been more commits.

Then I examined these commits further: most of them were UI changes. In the 8 months (Jun 2017 to Jan 2018) there were only 3 changes to the core (most of the codebase is ShadowCoin): a quick fix on ring sizes, OBSF4 and a new feature that enables people giving stakes to the developer (!). All the rest were UI fixes and some library upgrades. That means the codebase is basically ShadowCoin with a few UI bugs fixed plus the ability to give money to the developer. ShadowCoin was a good coin regardless so at least this has inherited all the good bits.

I then checked who have been making these changes. I know that there should be two developers, each with 20+ years of experience, actively working full-time on this cryptocurrency. Weirdly when I looked into who made the code commits, only one person (jbg) had been making commits in the past 8 months. I could not see any commits done by another account.

This already sounded suspicious so I researched more and have come across his real name! This is super weird for a privacy crypto developer who claims to be anonymous. I then found also out he is in his twenties (20+ years of dev experience in his twenties?) and he used to have a bar business for two years (20+ years of dev experience on his twenties with 2 years with a bar business?) which went bankrupt with a $90k+ tax debt. Also he is now running an ecommerce business (he claims he works full time on XSPEC? Anyway website also looks quite amateur to me).

At this point I decided to contact him privately on slack. To summarize the discussion:
- About his age and his experience, he said he claimed to have 20 years experience because he had been paid for a software project he made at school when he was 9. He agreed that he might have over-exaggerated this but commented that it's kinda ok as people usually do this.
- About the bankrupted bar business (two years), he still counted this as dev experience since he developed the PoS system for the bar.
- About the mysterious second dev, he said he is a cryptographer and he is working on stealth staking that will be available in Q2 2018. I asked if the community could see any of his work, not only stealth staking, but he said I should wait until Q2.
- About the no commit period between the end of Sept to the start of December, he claimed that they were working on the UI rewrite and stealth staking. Both features were supposed to be hidden from public for now, so no way to check this.

Here is what I assess the facts given so far:
I thank him for being really transparent as he was open to discussion and didn’t deny my findings. However, everything becomes more suspicious. jbg is definitely knowledgeable in the crypto space, he knows his stuff, and always answers everyone’s questions on Slack. His coding ability is certainly good enough for library upgrades and quick UI bug fixes.

Unfortunately jbg is trying to look much more experienced than he actually is. Exaggerating his work experience is problematic because it is skewing people’s expectation and assumption when investing. We would naturally feel assured as we expect him knowing how to run, scale and lead a team, working in multi-disciplinary complex projects, and so on. This is really suspicious especially in the crypto world where scams are everywhere.

Not only his own dev experience did not check out, it is even more suspicious when there is no commits from the second dev, so-called cryptographer, on the repo. If there really had been some work done by two full-time developers since June last year I would at least see some public commits from them both.

When he claimed that both stealth staking code and UI rewrites are hidden features, I found it really suspicious. Stealth staking code to be hidden I understand, but UI rewrites? He said he does not want to make the UI rewrite public but since December he clearly has made public commits on UI changes. That makes no sense.

I honour his narrative on hidden development work but it is only his word for the last 8 months of development. As it stands, there is no actual proof apart from UI bug fixes and library upgrades. The current github commit history is definitely not enough to justify 8 months work by 1 or 2 full-time experienced developers. From my research, he's also running another ecommerce company on his own, that is a web application. I remain doubtful on the part where he says he is working full time on Spectre too. Suspicious.

As I mentioned at the start, I was going to leave the project silently after speaking with jbg as people should do their own research and make their own conclusion. However there had been a suspicious activity that made me post this publicly. Literally a day after our chat, I noticed that the github repository has been moved to a new one. This means if he or his mysterious teammate did do private commits during Sept to Dec last year, we would probably not be able prove this anymore.  

And a new github account called Bryce has miraculously showed up! This account has done no commits so far, even though it joined in September, but it has now created his first pull request! And of course it is about a library upgrade, no structural change. This is now too suspicious.

In the crypto world I am used to account for worst case scenarios and, in my opinion (and I stress this is my opinion!) the worst scenario for this case is:

- jbg is a developer who found a good abandoned coin and tried to work on it
- he created a nice community around it, he studied about crypto and SpectreCoin specifically very well so he is able to answer all the community questions
- he is lying about his developer experience so he can look more valuable
- he is also lying about another developer/cryptographer as Bryce does not exist
- always from my research, he has an ecommerce company so he can work on the coin only on his free time, not working full time as he said
- the only contribution that he can realistically offer is quick bug fixes as well as speaking to the community. That's why he is always available on slack
- aside from other features he could have done, somehow he found time to implement the feature where the community can donate him money
- his main motivation seems to be getting donations as he certainly is trying to keep the thing going. As the main revolutionary stealth staking is scheduled for Q2, he would have had 6+ months worth of donations by then. It is quite a good deal for him if you only have to do small bug fixes and answering all the common community questions on slack
- he says that he does not have much coins so he's not interested in the coin price. However people have been donating a lot of coins to him: averaged ~$6000/month only on stakes donation at the actual rate, plus all the ones he received previously, plus the ones he owns on his own. These donations means a lot to the country he lives (yup I found out where he lives) as it has a very low average salary.

This is my worst case scenario that I deduced from the information I found. It might not be true, but it is possible.

If you count the number of times I wrote the word "suspicious", you'll understand why I am not going to invest now. It is probably better to wait and see the end of February when 1.4 is scheduled with a full UI rewrite. This is also suggested by jbg and I will pass this on but bear in mind that he is happily receiving donations in the meantime.

Few last things:
- I am not going to reveal jbg identity or how I found it. But I have proofs of our conversation, and I can share this if necessary (with all personal information censored).
- I already spent too much time on this and I need to move on :). For this reason I don't think I am going to reply.
- I really hope jbg will prove what I wrote wrong with the delivery of the Spectre road map on time.
- I hope cryptographer Bryce really exists :)
- crypto is full of smart people and scams, try not to invest on words, but invest on facts.


I am fully aware of everything you have stated as a large stakeholder in XSPEC. It's how you interpret this which I disagree with. Coming from someone who has attended law school, please understand the actual legalities about this situation.

For example, I have bank accounts in 3 countries. I've actually had to buy a company off a citizen in these countries to get 100% ownership to then open up a bank account in that country by which I do not have citizenship. How can you claim XSPEC development and being paid in XSPEC as your employment? How would you explain your income? Ask yourself, what are the legal alternatives here? That are of course, legal.

Many of us are in debt on paper, the media can portray whatever it wishes. This is negative for whomever interprets it as negative. People told me how stupid I was for putting student loans into Bitcoin back in the day. The media cannot prove our worth in crypto  ;)

Dig some more into JBG, you will find he is quite experienced in this field. You may find this research betters his image as we can see a timeline in history. As someone who done very well in cryptocurrency, I've been like Morpheus searching for Neo with the development I invest in.

jbg is legit.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on January 30, 2018, 05:55:03 PM
This was my exact sentiment after reading the OP.  It was nice research but ultimately nothing that alarming. I’m sure  if you perform the same research on the team of any coin you’ll find red flags worse than this on 95 percent of them.

You're right, XSPEC is better than stuff like DeepOnion or Verge. The thing is, I would never invest into these last 2 as it's really clear from the very first second that they are bad. It's not so clear and so easy to find from XSPEC, and after I found out some discrepancies, I became doubtful and curious, thus my original post. Just shared my own research, everyone can judge for himself after, I have no interest whatsoever.

jbg said code for 1.4 will be available next week or so (who knows why not now, in a public branch other than master?).

As said, time will tell.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: kawabonga on February 08, 2018, 02:07:08 PM
#prayforbryce


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 15, 2018, 02:02:18 PM
A quick update after a few weeks of my post:

- jbg promise to make 1.4 public: undone.
- active public development in the last 17 days: 1 commit
- proofs that jbg is actively working full-time: still none
- proofs that Bryce is actively working full-time or even exists: still none

I have been chatting with a few people, one told me that jbg said to him that he has 25 years of experience. This is not exaggerating anymore, this is lying.

Also jbg has disappeared from chat, he gave only a quick update saying 1.4 is on track for end of Feb. My guesstimate is that it will not happen, and if any 1.4 will happen, it will be very little work.

Price is also crashing.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on February 15, 2018, 02:44:37 PM
A quick update after a few weeks of my post:

- jbg promise to make 1.4 public: undone.
- active public development in the last 17 days: 1 commit
- proofs that jbg is actively working full-time: still none
- proofs that Bryce is actively working full-time or even exists: still none

I have been chatting with a few people, one told me that jbg said to him that he has 25 years of experience. This is not exaggerating anymore, this is lying.

Also jbg has disappeared from chat, he gave only a quick update saying 1.4 is on track for end of Feb. My guesstimate is that it will not happen, and if any 1.4 will happen, it will be very little work.

Price is also crashing.


Jbg is releasing 1.4 in Feb, it is Feb 15th. A bit early on your update.  

Jbg has been active everyday in discord, you are not. He has most certainly not disappeared. He gave an update about 1.4 being released on schedule at the end of this month 2 days ago. There are moderators such as myself who speak with him directly.

It does not matter whether brycl exists or not when releases are happening, perhaps he's trying to shift the blame on someone else for this controversial cryptocurrency which has illegal implemented tech and you are just too naive to understand why. Although this is not even the case as Bryce has spoken with the community.

The price is crashing? Look at chart and the Books on Cryptopia? The support barrier is at 15K stats (this was the previous all time high!) Im sorry you were stupid enough to buy at an All time high.

Stop bringing up your thread. Its dead.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 15, 2018, 03:59:52 PM
Jbg is releasing 1.4 in Feb, it is Feb 15th. A bit early on your update.  
He said he was making the code of 1.4 public soon, and he didn't.

Quote
Jbg has been active everyday in discord, you are not. He has most certainly not disappeared. He gave an update about 1.4 being released on schedule at the end of this month 2 days ago. There are moderators such as myself who speak with him directly.
false, to quote one moderator:
Quote
yeah jbg has been a bit inactive the last few days, not sure what is wrong. Maybe he's still not feeling well
Maybe you should be a bit more active on discord ;)

Quote
It does not matter whether brycl exists or not when releases are happening, perhaps he's trying to shift the blame on someone else for this controversial cryptocurrency which has illegal implemented tech and you are just too naive to understand why. Although this is not even the case as Bryce has spoken with the community.
Again, false, Bryce has never spoke with the community. Stop spreading misinformation, or bring some facts instead.

Quote
The price is crashing? Look at chart and the Books on Cryptopia? The support barrier is at 15K stats (this was the previous all time high!) Im sorry you were stupid enough to buy at an All time high.

Mah, not sure this deserve even an answer.

Quote
Stop bringing up your thread. Its dead.

So why are you replying  ???


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on February 15, 2018, 04:20:41 PM
Jbg is releasing 1.4 in Feb, it is Feb 15th. A bit early on your update.  
He said he was making the code of 1.4 public soon, and he didn't.

Quote
Jbg has been active everyday in discord, you are not. He has most certainly not disappeared. He gave an update about 1.4 being released on schedule at the end of this month 2 days ago. There are moderators such as myself who speak with him directly.
false, to quote one moderator:
Quote
yeah jbg has been a bit inactive the last few days, not sure what is wrong. Maybe he's still not feeling well
Maybe you should be a bit more active on discord ;)

Quote
It does not matter whether brycl exists or not when releases are happening, perhaps he's trying to shift the blame on someone else for this controversial cryptocurrency which has illegal implemented tech and you are just too naive to understand why. Although this is not even the case as Bryce has spoken with the community.
Again, false, Bryce has never spoke with the community. Stop spreading misinformation, or bring some facts instead.

Quote
The price is crashing? Look at chart and the Books on Cryptopia? The support barrier is at 15K stats (this was the previous all time high!) Im sorry you were stupid enough to buy at an All time high.

Mah, not sure this deserve even an answer.

Quote
Stop bringing up your thread. Its dead.

So why are you replying  ???

Theres a green circle in Discord, this means online. JBG has been online and his last message was very positive.

Yes, Brycel did speak to the community, he is located in the Arctic. I know much more about this project than you. You are spreading misinformation.

Im replying to protect potential investors from people like yourself spreading misinformation about a wonderful project. Now that this information is published, those can interpret it as they wish. Good luck with your accusations. For the record you should grow some balls and post from the account you made your other failed scam accusations from.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 15, 2018, 04:36:31 PM
Quote
Yes, Brycel did speak to the community, he is located in the Arctic. I know much more about this project than you. You are spreading misinformation.

Bring some facts, and not what you mis-heard from people, and we can discuss on something. Otherwise you're just wasting your time, and bumping my dead thread ;) Thanks for that.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: kawabonga on February 15, 2018, 05:50:12 PM
Jbg is releasing 1.4 in Feb, it is Feb 15th. A bit early on your update.  
He said he was making the code of 1.4 public soon, and he didn't.

Quote
Jbg has been active everyday in discord, you are not. He has most certainly not disappeared. He gave an update about 1.4 being released on schedule at the end of this month 2 days ago. There are moderators such as myself who speak with him directly.
false, to quote one moderator:
Quote
yeah jbg has been a bit inactive the last few days, not sure what is wrong. Maybe he's still not feeling well
Maybe you should be a bit more active on discord ;)

Quote
It does not matter whether brycl exists or not when releases are happening, perhaps he's trying to shift the blame on someone else for this controversial cryptocurrency which has illegal implemented tech and you are just too naive to understand why. Although this is not even the case as Bryce has spoken with the community.
Again, false, Bryce has never spoke with the community. Stop spreading misinformation, or bring some facts instead.

Quote
The price is crashing? Look at chart and the Books on Cryptopia? The support barrier is at 15K stats (this was the previous all time high!) Im sorry you were stupid enough to buy at an All time high.

Mah, not sure this deserve even an answer.

Quote
Stop bringing up your thread. Its dead.

So why are you replying  ???

Theres a green circle in Discord, this means online. JBG has been online and his last message was very positive.

Yes, Brycel did speak to the community, he is located in the Arctic. I know much more about this project than you. You are spreading misinformation.

Im replying to protect potential investors from people like yourself spreading misinformation about a wonderful project. Now that this information is published, those can interpret it as they wish. Good luck with your accusations. For the record you should grow some balls and post from the account you made your other failed scam accusations from.

#prayforbryce


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: srqrebel on February 15, 2018, 09:56:27 PM
It does not matter whether brycl exists or not when releases are happening, perhaps he's trying to shift the blame on someone else for this controversial cryptocurrency which has illegal implemented tech and you are just too naive to understand why. Although this is not even the case as Bryce has spoken with the community.
Again, false, Bryce has never spoke with the community. Stop spreading misinformation, or bring some facts instead.

Hate to break it to you, but you are the one spreading the misinformation on this one.  I personally witnessed Bryce's interaction with the community, on Slack last year.  I know of only one instance where he was active on Slack, but he (or someone with his Slack account) definitely spoke with the community on at least one occasion.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 16, 2018, 07:47:25 AM
Thanks for the clarification. I need to change "never" to "once in almost six months".


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Peppo on February 16, 2018, 01:25:19 PM
Yes, Brycel did speak to the community, he is located in the Arctic.
Is he/she native to that country or moved somewhere else?
And do you mean "arctic" something like Alaska or Russia?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 17, 2018, 05:51:32 PM
Once jbg said that he was visiting Bryce in the Arctic.. but of course you need to trust what jbg says again ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: snowboard on February 20, 2018, 03:06:59 PM
So, to the broken promises to make 1.4 code public soon on github, just to add a fact on this:
https://imgur.com/a/SxI3H

Fun he wrote I would have found that suspicious, and he didn't do anything for 21 days :)

We said time will tell, and time is starting telling things... I've got a few other screens of stuff that jbg said he would have done and he never did, will post soon, it's getting fun! :)


This guys looks ALOT (i mean a fucking LOT) like that Deep Onion guy, who has multiple accounts for FUDDING, and like to mislead people by starting and commenting ONLY to subjects related to XSPEC... kinda funny.. and sad..


This guy was pissed as fuck as there was no airdrop for XSPEC, and when people started to correct him on his behaviour he changed account...again haha


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 20, 2018, 03:09:52 PM
So, to the broken promises to make 1.4 code public soon on github, just to add a fact on this:
https://imgur.com/a/SxI3H

Fun he wrote I would have found that suspicious, and he didn't do anything for 21 days :)

We said time will tell, and time is starting telling things... I've got a few other screens of stuff that jbg said he would have done and he never did, will post soon, it's getting fun! :)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 20, 2018, 03:21:36 PM
This guys looks ALOT (i mean a fucking LOT) like that Deep Onion guy, who has multiple accounts for FUDDING, and like to mislead people by starting and commenting ONLY to subjects related to XSPEC... kinda funny.. and sad..


This guy was pissed as fuck as there was no airdrop for XSPEC, and when people started to correct him on his behaviour he changed account...again haha

If you read my replies carefully, you'll see that I gave shit to Deep Onion too.

But anyway, I don't care, think what you want, and you look like a guy who doesn't like facts :)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: kawabonga on February 20, 2018, 05:24:38 PM
#prayforbryce


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: pvk444 on February 21, 2018, 08:46:39 AM
Since facts are important:

1. Yes version 1.4 is not out yet. So what? Fact is that several features planned for 1.4 were pulled into 1.3.5 AHEAD of schedule! As a result, 1.4 was pushed back to end of month. In my book, this is sound product release management.

2. A number of other projects have been using the code without crediting XSPEC (look at the wallet of TokenPay for instance). So just making small, interim commits goes counter to any business rational.

3. What counts in the dev is what he delivers. And the dev has devs have deliverd technically speaking a quite spectacular product. So whether he says he's the King of Persia or an alien from outerspace, is irrelevant. The output is what counts.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 21, 2018, 01:37:38 PM
Since facts are important:

1. Yes version 1.4 is not out yet. So what? Fact is that several features planned for 1.4 were pulled into 1.3.5 AHEAD of schedule! As a result, 1.4 was pushed back to end of month. In my book, this is sound product release management.

2. A number of other projects have been using the code without crediting XSPEC (look at the wallet of TokenPay for instance). So just making small, interim commits goes counter to any business rational.

3. What counts in the dev is what he delivers. And the dev has devs have deliverd technically speaking a quite spectacular product. So whether he says he's the King of Persia or an alien from outerspace, is irrelevant. The output is what counts.

You are totally right in your 3rd point, and that's one of the reason why I wrote the original post. One of the thing I am challenging about this project, that smells quite a lot in my personal opinion, is that the amount of work publicly produced does not justify 2 developers working full time. Have you got an idea of what 2 developers can produce in a full time week of work? In my opinion it's just another lie jpg is saying around (i.e. Bryce does not exist, he's not working full time on XSPEC), like his years of development experience.

On your first point, jbg said more than once that he would have put 1.4 public, and he has not. This means the code is publicly visible, but not released. It takes 2 seconds to do this (put the code in a separate public branch), and it would clear a lot doubts. Why he has promise to do this and he has not, even though it takes 2 seconds? I have my opinion on this :)

Also in my opinion releasing 1.4 will not be enough, you need to check if it contains the amount of work jbg has said it has, which need to justify months of development which cannot be seen happening in github between Jun/Feb. What happened from June to November and in February? From github almost nothing. Where are the proofs that he's actually delivering? Creating a release with a few code changes or library updates does not mean he's delivering. From what is publicly available on github, he's not delivering much.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: pvk444 on February 21, 2018, 07:01:54 PM
Since facts are important:

1. Yes version 1.4 is not out yet. So what? Fact is that several features planned for 1.4 were pulled into 1.3.5 AHEAD of schedule! As a result, 1.4 was pushed back to end of month. In my book, this is sound product release management.

2. A number of other projects have been using the code without crediting XSPEC (look at the wallet of TokenPay for instance). So just making small, interim commits goes counter to any business rational.

3. What counts in the dev is what he delivers. And the dev has devs have deliverd technically speaking a quite spectacular product. So whether he says he's the King of Persia or an alien from outerspace, is irrelevant. The output is what counts.

You are totally right in your 3rd point, and that's one of the reason why I wrote the original post. One of the thing I am challenging about this project, that smells quite a lot in my personal opinion, is that the amount of work publicly produced does not justify 2 developers working full time. Have you got an idea of what 2 developers can produce in a full time week of work? In my opinion it's just another lie jpg is saying around (i.e. Bryce does not exist, he's not working full time on XSPEC), like his years of development experience.

On your first point, jbg said more than once that he would have put 1.4 public, and he has not. This means the code is publicly visible, but not released. It takes 2 seconds to do this (put the code in a separate public branch), and it would clear a lot doubts. Why he has promise to do this and he has not, even though it takes 2 seconds? I have my opinion on this :)

Also in my opinion releasing 1.4 will not be enough, you need to check if it contains the amount of work jbg has said it has, which need to justify months of development which cannot be seen happening in github between Jun/Feb. What happened from June to November and in February? From github almost nothing. Where are the proofs that he's actually delivering? Creating a release with a few code changes or library updates does not mean he's delivering. From what is publicly available on github, he's not delivering much.


Using the number of commits on github as a metric for the work performed is spurious. Also, that's easy to game, by just making some updates to some comments. Instead, compare what has been delivered between releases. So far, the releases have delivered consistently important and fundamental changes, and they have been robust. Isn't that what counts?

Given the noticable changes between releases, and comparing it with the changes that other products deliver in a similar timeframe with even a larger developer base, your argument that the development does not represent the output of two developers is simply not tennable.

You also seem to confuse this project which is driven by privacy enthusiasts and a great, devoted and convinced community that together produces a superior product, with a project that is purely business driven with a large funding behind it. When SpectreCoin is able to hire an army of devs, pay them hundreds of thousands per year then you will certainly need transparent and strong governance.

And even if you were right (and I strongly argue you are not) that the two devs are not pulling their weight, then they are truly geniuses who with "just a few code changes" or "library updates" as you claim, are managing to create a cryptocurrency that has technicaly features which rival (and surpass) some of the best known and best funded coins out there.




Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Thefrolly on February 21, 2018, 07:36:46 PM
My opinion is that it’s dead. What number of privacy coins does Crypto really need? There are loads claiming to do all the equal features XSPEC offers. I wish I had better news.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: pvk444 on February 21, 2018, 08:33:02 PM
My opinion is that it’s dead. What number of privacy coins does Crypto really need? There are loads claiming to do all the equal features XSPEC offers. I wish I had better news.

Please do enlighten us then ... which features are you talking about? I really encourage you to list ALL the relevant features of XSPEC and show the "loads" of coins, which offer the same features set (I make it easier for you : do this just for privacy relevant features).

And if you cared to look at the in-flight development and the community driven projects around XSPEC, you would know that it's far from dead ... the journey is just beginning.

In summary, you don't have any "news", you just share a misinformed opinion.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 21, 2018, 09:57:46 PM
Using the number of commits on github as a metric for the work performed is spurious. Also, that's easy to game, by just making some updates to some comments. Instead, compare what has been delivered between releases. So far, the releases have delivered consistently important and fundamental changes, and they have been robust. Isn't that what counts?

Given the noticable changes between releases, and comparing it with the changes that other products deliver in a similar timeframe with even a larger developer base, your argument that the development does not represent the output of two developers is simply not tennable.

You also seem to confuse this project which is driven by privacy enthusiasts and a great, devoted and convinced community that together produces a superior product, with a project that is purely business driven with a large funding behind it. When SpectreCoin is able to hire an army of devs, pay them hundreds of thousands per year then you will certainly need transparent and strong governance.

And even if you were right (and I strongly argue you are not) that the two devs are not pulling their weight, then they are truly geniuses who with "just a few code changes" or "library updates" as you claim, are managing to create a cryptocurrency that has technicaly features which rival (and surpass) some of the best known and best funded coins out there.

What a shill :)

I am sorry to say that we are running in circle here. If you read my original post, I am not only using the number of commits as metric. There is a detailed description of what have been done. And my conclusion is that, within the timeframe June/Feb, it is not much. I have been through ALL jbg's commits on the project. Have you? Can you distinguish between a noticeable change and a quick patch or a library upgrade?

You are probably too invested and cannot reason objectively, and that's understandable.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: pvk444 on February 22, 2018, 06:46:52 AM
Using the number of commits on github as a metric for the work performed is spurious. Also, that's easy to game, by just making some updates to some comments. Instead, compare what has been delivered between releases. So far, the releases have delivered consistently important and fundamental changes, and they have been robust. Isn't that what counts?

Given the noticable changes between releases, and comparing it with the changes that other products deliver in a similar timeframe with even a larger developer base, your argument that the development does not represent the output of two developers is simply not tennable.

You also seem to confuse this project which is driven by privacy enthusiasts and a great, devoted and convinced community that together produces a superior product, with a project that is purely business driven with a large funding behind it. When SpectreCoin is able to hire an army of devs, pay them hundreds of thousands per year then you will certainly need transparent and strong governance.

And even if you were right (and I strongly argue you are not) that the two devs are not pulling their weight, then they are truly geniuses who with "just a few code changes" or "library updates" as you claim, are managing to create a cryptocurrency that has technicaly features which rival (and surpass) some of the best known and best funded coins out there.

What a shill :)

I am sorry to say that we are running in circle here. If you read my original post, I am not only using the number of commits as metric. There is a detailed description of what have been done. And my conclusion is that, within the timeframe June/Feb, it is not much. I have been through ALL jbg's commits on the project. Have you? Can you distinguish between a noticeable change and a quick patch or a library upgrade?

You are probably too invested and cannot reason objectively, and that's understandable.

Ok, buddy. Whatever you say. Since your only objective for you to have created your account seems to be to spread FUD about a coin, and since holding a rational argument on this topic escapes you, I leave you to it. Time will anyway reveal who is right or wrong.

(PS and just FYI, as a software engineer, I can make a distinction between a small patch and a material change. Can you?)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Maren on February 22, 2018, 08:53:42 AM
It's not FUD. Xspec just another coin in the staking coin flood, it's obvious you're going to shill it if you bought a lot o it.

The truth is... there are so many better coins out there that you don't want to buy one whose sole function is to siphon funds.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 22, 2018, 10:20:40 AM
Ok, buddy. Whatever you say. Since your only objective for you to have created your account seems to be to spread FUD about a coin, and since holding a rational argument on this topic escapes you, I leave you to it. Time will anyway reveal who is right or wrong.

(PS and just FYI, as a software engineer, I can make a distinction between a small patch and a material change. Can you?)

It's nice to hear that I escape a rational argument where I did my research and posted a detailed report. You're only saying "jbg delivers" and don't say why or what.

For example you could post here any change on the ShadowCash core logic (what I was referring as structural change in my original post) here made by jbg since June. But you know, this will require you time, since you'll need to go through his commits (don't worry, there are not many ;D ). A hint: you can find this information already in my original post (again... read it...).

This gives you another fact: jbg has been talking on chat about thinking of implementing several features (RingCT, bulletproof, merging bitcoin core, cold staking, stealth staking, HD wallet ... basically everything he has been asked he answers "we are thinking about it" lol) when he has never done one before. He just using ShadowCash, a 2 years old coin. Nothing wrong with this, but someone needs to tell me how someone could expect he can implement anything in the core logic, when he has never done anything in the last 9 months. Everyone, including you, is saying "jbg delivers", but there are just not proofs of that (apart, again, of simple UI changes and library updates).

You are the one escaping a rational argument here :)

By the way I love these discussions, it's a nice psychological and dialectical exercise to talk to people who are blinded by their investments, so please go on with your arguments.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: HippiePyro on February 23, 2018, 01:28:23 AM
Below are the responses that jbg gave to the community the day of the OP, point by point. The only concern jbg did not respond to in his public slack post was that he alone controls donations and could run off with them. He did address this issue a few days later by suggesting the concept of a community council to control the funds with a multisig wallet. This potential idea is currently being developed, and various options how it would function are being investigated. Jbg has always done right by everyone within the Spectrecoin community. It's true his methods are not “typical” by most standards, but Spectrecoin is not a “typical” project. I have always been satisfied with his work. He has never shown any of the illusions of grandeur or desires of greed that are implied by the OP. I don't think you were given an accurate description of jbg's persona.
Gunner, I appreciate your research and thoughts on the work done thus far, and for not revealing his identity. It is true the commits have not been on the new GitHub, hardly a broken promise, just the usual for our dev. But updates keep coming. I can't say I agree with your conclusion.  I'm not a coder but I have seen the results of his work since I joined the community and compared the older versions to each new one. There have definitely been improvements with both performance, appearance and functionality, with each version. Nothing ground breaking, just what was promised. I don't know what more you can ask of a dev. You are right though, we are simply running in circles here. You said your concerns and he had addressed them. Only time will tell who was correct. 

RESPONSE TO DISINGENUITY ABOUT EXPERIENCE:

It was suggested that I had a bit more experience than I really do:

This is the most true thing in the post. I've never said anything about my age (at least as far as I remember), but I've said I have 20 years’ experience. In reality, if you actually go back through my CV, I've only been working on software development since about 15 years ago, of which 2-3 of those years were spent part-time and the rest full-time. I rounded up (which is hardly rare), but I shouldn't have, and I won't be claiming 20 years any more. I'm sorry that a casual exaggeration from me has led to this shitstorm!

RESPONSE TO QUALITY OF DEVELOPER WORK:


It was suggested I have not made "structural" changes to XSPEC's codebase but rather UI changes and library upgrades and there is not as much activity on GitHub as it would be expected:

I've made some pretty significant changes since I joined the project, and there isn't really a definition of a "structural change", so this is quite hard to respond to. He could basically make this claim regardless of what changes I had made. As we've said before, the development work for v1.4 and v2.0 has mostly been happening directly between Bryce and me rather than on GitHub. With v2.0 it's because we want to keep stealth staking under wraps until it's ready, and with v1.4 it was just out of a desire to not have people trying to run unfinished code.

However, after talking to @Gunners (the author of the BCT post) and having other people express a desire to see the development happening out in public more, I decided to make some changes on GitHub so that the contributions could be seen more clearly, and talked to @brycel about how we could be more transparent with development. We decided to move to a model where we make pull requests to each other and review each other’s' code in public, so that people can see progress. Ironically, this action seems to have been the trigger for his BCT post!



RESPONSE TO RECENT GITHUB ACTIVITY AND OPENSSL MIGRATION:

It was suggested that going ahead with the GitHub repo move would mean that if we did do private commits during Sept to Dec last year, we would probably not be able prove this anymore:

Actually, we took pains to preserve the repository history, and when v1.4 things and v2.0 things are merged in, the history/dates of the commits should be preserved.

It was suggested that if there really had been some work done by two full-time developers since June last year I would at least see some public commits from them both:

He is presumably not aware that Bryce didn't join until September last year. And the "see some public commits from them both" is addressed in the second response above.

Bryce's first pull request was a "library change" (migrating to OpenSSL 1.1) rather than a "structural change”:

That meaningless phrase "structural change" again... Bryce was the most qualified to make this change. Not only does he know OpenSSL through and through, but the change touches parts of the code that deal with important cryptography, which he is most qualified to ensure remains correct. He wanted to move us to OpenSSL 1.1 ever since he started, and he finally did it. I don't see the problem.

RESPONSE TO DEVELOPER ANONYMITY:

The author of the BCT was able to find out my identity and, supposedly, where I live:

Sadly, yes, he was able to find out my real name.
This was due to a misconfiguration on GitHub that has been rectified. I don't think he actually knows where I live based on his statements in the post.



RESPONSE TO PROJECT COMMITMENT CONCERNS:

It was suggested that I am running another ecommerce company on my own, that is a web application:

I am supposedly running an "commerce company" alongside XSPEC (and therefore not devoting full-time work to XSPEC) The only other thing I have is a hobby web service, completely automated, with about 7 customers. I spend maybe 1-2 hours a month on it. Calling it an "ecommerce company" is flattering but a total misrepresentation. I work full-time on XSPEC.

RESPONSE TO PRIOR BUSINESS DEALINGS:

I ran a hospitality business years ago, for a few years. I kept working part-time on software development. The hospitality business didn't go well (I'm much better at software), and ended up owing a bunch of tax. The business was wound up, the bar sold to pay the tax debt, and the rest of the tax debt written off. I don't think more detail than that is warranted.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on February 23, 2018, 03:58:46 AM
On behalf of the SPECTRECOIN team (but mostly myself as I'm not asking their permission to speak on their behalf and am simply assuming from our previous deliberations  :)) I would like to encourage ALL community members from attacking Gunner for positing very valid concerns.   Gunner is not conducting themselves in an unreasonable manner and if you believe in the project there is no reason to be aggressive in the face of a perceived adversity.  It does nothing for the community or  for the project.  Instead I would encourage people to delve into the concerns if you are concerned and if you're not then disregard the issues that Gunner has posted here.  But as an investor I think these would be things you SHOULD be concerned about and do your due diligence to alleviate those concerns.  Currently jbg is working on the 1.4 release and hasn't been AS available for questioning, but it's been all of our experience that he WILL answer questions.  Remember, we are not a football team (American or REAL football) and though though there is nothing wrong with rallying behind an idea, IMO energies would be better spent contributing to the project itself directly  and not e-thugging on message boards.   

@Gunner, though this post poses a threat to the project by possibly inhibiting its spread, it would be negligent of us to not address these things internally so that they won't be a problem in the public so we will.  We aren't perfect and we don't have the capital to pay a team.  Our efforts are community based and, though our pool is growing along with talent, we are still working on ironing kinks so that new kinks have a place to rise... because that's how this works.  A never-ending skein of kinks.  Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the community and the team.  We are, and will be, working on these issues with jbg.  I'm going to apologize in advance as we will probably not accomplish tasks with any expected expediency, but we are trying. 


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 23, 2018, 11:37:08 AM
Thanks for taking the time to reply HippiePyro. I am going to respond to a few points.

Below are the responses that jbg gave to the community the day of the OP, point by point. The only concern jbg did not respond to in his public slack post was that he alone controls donations and could run off with them. He did address this issue a few days later by suggesting the concept of a community council to control the funds with a multisig wallet. This potential idea is currently being developed, and various options how it would function are being investigated.

Sorry to point out that this is another promise to add to the list. As far as I know, this hasn't happen yet, after almost a month. In the meanwhile his donation pocket is growing. People in this community need to start distinguish between what he has promised and what he has actually done.

Quote
Jbg has always done right by everyone within the Spectrecoin community. It's true his methods are not “typical” by most standards, but Spectrecoin is not a “typical” project. I have always been satisfied with his work. He has never shown any of the illusions of grandeur or desires of greed that are implied by the OP. I don't think you were given an accurate description of jbg's persona.

No one gave me a description, all what I wrote is from my personal experience.

Quote
Gunner, I appreciate your research and thoughts on the work done thus far, and for not revealing his identity. It is true the commits have not been on the new GitHub, hardly a broken promise, just the usual for our dev. But updates keep coming. I can't say I agree with your conclusion.  I'm not a coder but I have seen the results of his work since I joined the community and compared the older versions to each new one. There have definitely been improvements with both performance, appearance and functionality, with each version. Nothing ground breaking, just what was promised. I don't know what more you can ask of a dev. You are right though, we are simply running in circles here. You said your concerns and he had addressed them. Only time will tell who was correct.

Yes, we are running in circle, not for long though. In a week we should see the result of around 6 months of development (the gap of commits which everyone can see in github, which I mentioned multiple times.). Let's see. My bet, just to have fun: it will not be in time, pick from these excuses: "dev done, we are testing", "oh we need to fix a $random_bug_you_cannot_prove found during testing", "now we are packaging", "oh there is an unforeseen problem", "bitcoin tests are difficult to integrate", "Bryce has been kidnapped", etc...

Quote
RESPONSE TO DISINGENUITY ABOUT EXPERIENCE:

It was suggested that I had a bit more experience than I really do:

This is the most true thing in the post. I've never said anything about my age (at least as far as I remember), but I've said I have 20 years’ experience. In reality, if you actually go back through my CV, I've only been working on software development since about 15 years ago, of which 2-3 of those years were spent part-time and the rest full-time. I rounded up (which is hardly rare), but I shouldn't have, and I won't be claiming 20 years any more. I'm sorry that a casual exaggeration from me has led to this shitstorm!

Unfortunately this turned out to be worse. I have proofs of him saying he has 25 years of experience, which is not exaggerating anymore, but it's lying. This concern has been also passed to other senior members of the community, can say the names if needed, but no one said a word to the community.

Quote
RESPONSE TO QUALITY OF DEVELOPER WORK:

It was suggested I have not made "structural" changes to XSPEC's codebase but rather UI changes and library upgrades and there is not as much activity on GitHub as it would be expected:

I've made some pretty significant changes since I joined the project, and there isn't really a definition of a "structural change", so this is quite hard to respond to. He could basically make this claim regardless of what changes I had made. As we've said before, the development work for v1.4 and v2.0 has mostly been happening directly between Bryce and me rather than on GitHub. With v2.0 it's because we want to keep stealth staking under wraps until it's ready, and with v1.4 it was just out of a desire to not have people trying to run unfinished code.

However, after talking to @Gunners (the author of the BCT post) and having other people express a desire to see the development happening out in public more, I decided to make some changes on GitHub so that the contributions could be seen more clearly, and talked to @brycel about how we could be more transparent with development. We decided to move to a model where we make pull requests to each other and review each other’s' code in public, so that people can see progress. Ironically, this action seems to have been the trigger for his BCT post!

This is under everyone eyes: another broken promise. Nothing of what it's written above has happened in almost a month. I am still waiting for 1.4 to be made public. After almost a month!
And "with v1.4 it was just out of a desire to not have people trying to run unfinished code." is just another excuse, since he has made a lot of public commits during December (the only active month he had in 9 months), and he wasn't worried at that point. Why? No sense. Also why on Earth someone would try to build from a separate branch other than master?! Again, no sense. And also no one did try that, there was only someone trying to build from master, but never from a separate public branch.

Quote
RESPONSE TO RECENT GITHUB ACTIVITY AND OPENSSL MIGRATION:

It was suggested that going ahead with the GitHub repo move would mean that if we did do private commits during Sept to Dec last year, we would probably not be able prove this anymore:

Actually, we took pains to preserve the repository history, and when v1.4 things and v2.0 things are merged in, the history/dates of the commits should be preserved.

We'll see on this one, but again: it takes 2 seconds to make 1.4 public in a separate branch! Promised but never done.

Quote
It was suggested that if there really had been some work done by two full-time developers since June last year I would at least see some public commits from them both:

He is presumably not aware that Bryce didn't join until September last year. And the "see some public commits from them both" is addressed in the second response above.

Bryce's first pull request was a "library change" (migrating to OpenSSL 1.1) rather than a "structural change”:

That meaningless phrase "structural change" again... Bryce was the most qualified to make this change. Not only does he know OpenSSL through and through, but the change touches parts of the code that deal with important cryptography, which he is most qualified to ensure remains correct. He wanted to move us to OpenSSL 1.1 ever since he started, and he finally did it. I don't see the problem.

This made me laugh :) Bryce (if he actually exists, I doubt it) has just made a simple library update, with a few breaking change fixes between OpenSSL 1.0 and 1.1. My personal estimate for that work: a day or so, max 2. You don't need to be a "cryptographer" to do a library update, and anyone could have done that PR, jbg too (guess what my bet is... :) ). Actually a cryptographer usually is much more theoretical than practical. Anyway after this change Bryce went back in the shadows.

Quote
RESPONSE TO PROJECT COMMITMENT CONCERNS:

It was suggested that I am running another ecommerce company on my own, that is a web application:

I am supposedly running an "commerce company" alongside XSPEC (and therefore not devoting full-time work to XSPEC) The only other thing I have is a hobby web service, completely automated, with about 7 customers. I spend maybe 1-2 hours a month on it. Calling it an "ecommerce company" is flattering but a total misrepresentation. I work full-time on XSPEC.

What he says here on his company might be true, I still have my doubts he's full-time on XSPEC, where has he been the last month? Almost disappeared.

Quote
RESPONSE TO PRIOR BUSINESS DEALINGS:

I ran a hospitality business years ago, for a few years. I kept working part-time on software development. The hospitality business didn't go well (I'm much better at software), and ended up owing a bunch of tax. The business was wound up, the bar sold to pay the tax debt, and the rest of the tax debt written off. I don't think more detail than that is warranted.

This is correct. Even though working as part-time developer is debatable, as he says that only because he integrated an online payment to his POS system of his bar. Also from my research, he's never been a software developer in a company, but he was more into system administration. He also created a couple of IT companies, always around system administration / hosting, which are all closed now. Good entrepreneurial spirit though.


I re-inforce my point:
In my opinion there is the need of proving that a guy who has been proven lying to people about his development experience, is really a full time developer on the project, with also another "cryptographer". At the moment there is hardly any proof of 2 developers working full-time, and I am backing my assumption with quite a lot of facts here.

Time will tell (but after almost a month it's already telling a few things!). But remember: in the meanwhile he's getting donations for doing almost nothing. And people blinded by their investment will keep giving him donations until Q2, that of course will be the end of Q2, that then will be delayed and... you know the story already.

If I was you, I would ask every single day "why 1.4 code hasn't been pushed in a public github branch yet".


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Jaephoenix on February 23, 2018, 11:40:13 AM
Have you guys checked out Retainly? Cute ICO with an MVP, and a nice bounty, to boot


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on February 23, 2018, 11:46:10 AM
Have you guys checked out Retainly? Cute ICO with an MVP, and a nice bounty, to boot

LOL, this forum is the the jungle.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 23, 2018, 11:57:24 AM
On behalf of the SPECTRECOIN team (but mostly myself as I'm not asking their permission to speak on their behalf and am simply assuming from our previous deliberations  :)) I would like to encourage ALL community members from attacking Gunner for positing very valid concerns.   Gunner is not conducting themselves in an unreasonable manner and if you believe in the project there is no reason to be aggressive in the face of a perceived adversity.  It does nothing for the community or  for the project.  Instead I would encourage people to delve into the concerns if you are concerned and if you're not then disregard the issues that Gunner has posted here.  But as an investor I think these would be things you SHOULD be concerned about and do your due diligence to alleviate those concerns.  Currently jbg is working on the 1.4 release and hasn't been AS available for questioning, but it's been all of our experience that he WILL answer questions.  Remember, we are not a football team (American or REAL football) and though though there is nothing wrong with rallying behind an idea, IMO energies would be better spent contributing to the project itself directly  and not e-thugging on message boards.   

@Gunner, though this post poses a threat to the project by possibly inhibiting its spread, it would be negligent of us to not address these things internally so that they won't be a problem in the public so we will.  We aren't perfect and we don't have the capital to pay a team.  Our efforts are community based and, though our pool is growing along with talent, we are still working on ironing kinks so that new kinks have a place to rise... because that's how this works.  A never-ending skein of kinks.  Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the community and the team.  We are, and will be, working on these issues with jbg.  I'm going to apologize in advance as we will probably not accomplish tasks with any expected expediency, but we are trying. 

Thanks for your reply trainasauruswrecks. My small advice: ask for 1.4 code to be made public, as I already did multiple times. Then people can publicly check what has been done in the last months and judge. This will address a few concerns.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 23, 2018, 12:15:23 PM
LOL, this forum is the the jungle.

It's definitely is :D

Have you guys checked out Retainly? Cute ICO with an MVP, and a nice bounty, to boot

Thank you for your good piece of advice. I checked: saw a picture of a credit card on the homepage, and then closed the browser tab.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on February 23, 2018, 03:12:48 PM
I don't know if it has been brought up here, but jbg suggested that perhaps the team form a "council" and we can apply the wallet donations to a multi-sig wallet controlled by the council.  We are the process of forming this Council at the moment.  That way a few of the community members will be in control of the funds and their release to him.  He proposed that if we are not content with the work that he is doing then we could opt to dismiss him and use the funds to hire a new developer.  The team will keep you updated on this and any other advancements that we make in the process of alleviating the existing uncertainty.  Again, thank you for your concern.  You've provided the less tech savvy of us with a necessary direction in this area.   


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on February 24, 2018, 09:21:21 AM
I don't know if it has been brought up here, but jbg suggested that perhaps the team form a "council" and we can apply the wallet donations to a multi-sig wallet controlled by the council.  We are the process of forming this Council at the moment.  That way a few of the community members will be in control of the funds and their release to him.  He proposed that if we are not content with the work that he is doing then we could opt to dismiss him and use the funds to hire a new developer.  The team will keep you updated on this and any other advancements that we make in the process of alleviating the existing uncertainty.  Again, thank you for your concern.  You've provided the less tech savvy of us with a necessary direction in this area.    

Glad I could help to shed some light.

But, again always in my opinion, I don't think this is a problem of being content of jbg work or not, this is about if he is lying to the whole community or not. And in order to check this the actions are very simple:

1- Ask him to put 1.4 code public (promised but not done in almost a month),
2- If you are forming a council, ask him to show 2.0 code to the council, so you can actually see Bryce work.

Bear in mind that commit history can be manipulated, so I would pay attention if he is buying time, like he is doing with 1.4.

1 could clear some doubts (if the work done matches June/February commit gaps), 2 will clear most of them (if there are commmits from Bryce in the period Sept/Feb justify another developer working full time), as long as the council is not colluded and can evaluate the work done.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: kokopopz on February 25, 2018, 08:54:14 PM
3 days to go and we will see who is right.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: scotty0312 on March 03, 2018, 05:22:12 AM
It was interesting reading this review. I'm a member of the spectrecoin community and i have nothing but praise for everyone in it.Every coin at some point will get FUD directed at it, its up to you if you choose to believe it. You only need to spend a little time on spectrecoin discord channel to see the work and effort that goes into delivering spectrecoin. At present JBG and Bryce are working on this project as well as the community. There is a community fund raiser happening soon and the money that is raised will go towards adding extra devs, website/social media and marketing. To this date the devs have always delivered what was promised and that is all that matters to me.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: xlcus on March 03, 2018, 01:47:22 PM
you made some good points, which some of them have been discussed on slack channel.
really don't understand why does it matter whats the jbg history,in short period that he is working on this project what he promised he delivered.
Anyways you didn't say anything new that should concern people who did their research.they know its gamble thats why mc is 60mil not 600mil...
you don't like to gamble you find is suspicious thats fine i respect that.lets wait for 1.4realease so we can see what are we dealing with,and q2 is not far along either so given previous expirience i will ride along and see how the project is progressing.I don't think almost 1 year of manipulating people to earn few thousands dollars from staking is worth it for jbg or for anyone
time will tell

This was my exact sentiment after reading the OP.  It was nice research but ultimately nothing that alarming. I’m sure  if you perform the same research on the team of any coin you’ll find red flags worse than this on 95 percent of them.

That's the problem of crypto coins!

Most of them (at least over 99%) are just ash.

Get smart and conquer your greediness.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: xlcus on March 03, 2018, 02:06:44 PM
@gunner833

Hi,

thank you for your research on the XSPEC.

More interesting to me is the your attitude of investment and your background.

I'd also like to invest to the long-term and potentially project.

Do you have some recommended ones?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: leopard2 on March 03, 2018, 03:40:05 PM
Isn't this funny.  :D

A lot of negativity about XSPEC. A lot of truth in the negative posts, but ponder this:

It is a clone of a 2 year old coin, but that was never denied by the makers. 2 years is relatively new, there are much older coins and they cost more than XSPEC.

Yes, XSPEC is not as mature and not as good as XMR. But XMR costs $350, XSpEC only 1$. This 350 fold difference in price, represents the risk and the opportunity.

So I believe that, if XSPEC developer(s) get their act together there is a 100x+ opporunity in this coin. Of course it could be an outright scam, but you see:

almost every coin when it was young, could have been a scam. You could never invest in BTC, ETH or XMR when they were worth 1$, each of these looked like a fragile baby or a possible scam at the time...


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 03, 2018, 03:42:56 PM
Isn't this funny.  :D

A lot of negativity about XSPEC. A lot of truth in the negative posts, but ponder this:

It is a clone of a 2 year old coin, but that was never denied by the makers. 2 years is relatively new, there are much older coins and they cost more than XSPEC.

Yes, XSPEC is not as mature and not as good as XMR. But XMR costs $350, XSpEC only 1$. This 350 fold difference in price, represents the risk and the opportunity.

So I believe that, if XSPEC developer(s) get their act together there is a 100x+ opporunity in this coin. Of course it could be an outright scam, but you see:

almost every coin when it was young, could have been a scam. You could never invest in BTC, ETH or XMR when they were worth 1$, each of these looked like a fragile baby or a possible scam at the time...

Take a read of this thread before being so sure
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3055715.0

After that come back and tell us why you feel xspec has a chance.

This thread alone should be enough but due to the fact people are so faithful I had to put one up showing the work done over a year and some of the lies told.
If people still promote after all of this it sums up one thing, you hold xspec and have an agenda.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: leopard2 on March 03, 2018, 03:49:43 PM
Yes I have read the thread. It looks legit.

That is the negativity I meant. Look, Xspec and Xmr have almost the same circulation and there is a reason now why Xspec is $1, not $5, not $350.

If the developer pulls an exit scam it is worth $0

If he is just a poser who promised too much initially, but works it out later on, there is a massive opportunity.

Do you think jbg is a criminal? That it the question you need to answer.  ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 03, 2018, 04:02:43 PM
Yes I have read the thread. It looks legit.

That is the negativity I meant. Look, Xspec and Xmr have almost the same circulation and there is a reason now why Xspec is $1, not $5, not $350.

If the developer pulls an exit scam it is worth $0

If he is just a poser who promised too much initially, but works it out later on, there is a massive opportunity.

Do you think jbg is a criminal? That it the question you need to answer.  ;)

Fair call mate.
I'm no lawyer so that question isn't one I could answer with pure confidence, we're talking open source projects being forked here, minimal work being done and false hope being pushed, how would it look in court if an investor told people he was working full time on a project but we had only about a days worth of work on the project visible after a year? probably not so good... Even worse if he put more effort in to a "donate the developer coins" system.

People have his real name, so I would be very interested to know if he's broken laws if this coin shorts, if some one else can answer this question please do.

This is also a worry:
XSpec
$0.825178 USD (-29.18%)
0.00007215 BTC (-32.89%)

Much the same happened yesterday too (in my time zone any way)
Down in to the 7000 sat zone, back up to the 9000s, now back down to the 7000s again, looks like a slow dump to me.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 04, 2018, 08:19:52 PM
Just an update.

As expected, 1.4 didn't come out. And 1.4 is not public on github either, as jbg promised end of January. Also he promised to give a new late release date within 48 hours. Now he is late to give the announcement for the late release date. :o Not sure why he needs 48 hours to give a new release date?!?

Why 1.4 is not in a public branch yet? Because there is no 1.4, and now I am pretty sure that whatever will be released, will never justify the months of development gaps in the github history.

As proved by me and other developers here in this forum, jbg is lying. I am feeling very bad for all the people losing money just so jbg can dump his coins.

If you have a software developer who is a friend of yours, and can distinguish between an UI change, a library update and a core change, ask him to evaluate 9 months of development on XSPEC github account by 2 (1 for 6 months) experienced developers, and you'll have an answer without having to trust me. He'll probably laugh at you for your investment.

Also to people saying "this is crypto, it will come back up", you need to understand that nobody thought this was a scam back in December, now it's pretty clear. This coin will never come back up, unless it gets another pump and dump like it happened in December. But there is no reason why it should happen in XSPEC, it has the same probability of any other of the hundreds of coins out there.

Let's see how many bullets jbg has to shoot to buy more time, I pretty enjoyed the last one: exume mandica's account :D


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: pvk444 on March 04, 2018, 09:01:27 PM
Just an update.

As expected, 1.4 didn't come out. And 1.4 is not public on github either, as jbg promised end of January. Also he promised to give a new late release date in 48 hours. Now he is late to give the announcement for the late release date. :o

Why 1.4 is not in a public branch yet? Because there is no 1.4, and now I am pretty sure that whatever will be released, will never justify the months of development gaps in the github history.

As proved by me and other developers here in this forum, jbg is lying. I am feeling very bad for all the people losing money just so jbg can dump his coins.

If you have a software developer who is a friend of yours, and can distinguish between an UI change, a library update and a core change, ask him to evaluate 9 months of development on XSPEC github account by 2 (1 for 6 months) experienced developers, and you'll have an answer without having to trust me. He'll probably laugh at you for your investment.

Also to people saying "this is crypto, it will come back up", you need to understand that nobody thought this was a scam back in December, now it's pretty clear. This coin will never come back up, unless it gets another pump and dump like it happened in December. But there is no reason why it should happen in XSPEC, it has the same probability of any other of the hundreds of coins out there.

Let's see how many bullets jbg has to shoot to buy more time, I pretty enjoyed the last one: exume mandica's account :D

1. Jgb had a tragic event in the family last week ... but I expect, you will anyway decry this as a lie and not believe it

2. You claim you are a developer. Then you should know that a simple line of code metric does not reflect the work underlying the code. Or have you never spent hours or days to find a bug, which turned out to be a misplaced comma?

3. I don't know what you think Jgb is getting form this financially, and which coins you think he is dumping. The XSPEC ICO netted about 15k USD. None of this went to Jbg. About half a year ago, the XSPEC community donated some funds for Jbg to take on the development full time. This netted the equivalent of less than 10k for him and Bryce. And the staking donations, which was introduced in the latest release are still untouched, as can be checked on the blockchain by everybody.

4. You are claiming blatent lies. Why? Because there is a small delay in a soft target? Because he is not showing all the code or does not prepare a detailed time sheet? Show me which project in crypto does that. Because Jbg exagerated his experience? So what? Which CV does not do that? That does not make him less capable. Or did you have a technical discussion with him and can state that he does not know what he is talking about?

5. Whereas previously you at least introduced some facts (although you patched your story with unverified statements and assumptions), now you start with conspiracy theories that Mandica is in reality jbg. How low will you sink to pursue your agenda?

6. And even if you and your buddy would be 100% correct in your ad-hominem attacks, and jbg would be really such a bad guy, that does not say anything about XSPEC as a product, as a project, or the strenght of the community. Even if it was developped by a bunch of hustlers and thieves (who did not get any benefit from it), the product is still working as advertised.

7. Which brings me to my last point. You created an account for no other apparent purpose than shaming XSPEC. Why? What is your true motivation? You don't seem to be the person who is here for altruistic reasons, just wanting to make the world a better place. So either you get some saddistic pleasure from trying to fud a project, or your are on a personal vendetta, or perhaps most simply you have some financial gain from putting XSPEC down. And the fact you recruited preshpr1nce to join this farce with hunt, does not change anything.

None of your statements or so called "findings" are proof of scam. You might want to conclude that, but that does not make it true. The fact that there is a working, viable product, different from what it was derived from, and the fact that it delivers what it is saying it does, makes the scam accusation complete, and utter non-sense. The fact that the main culprit in your story did not have any financial gain from this, further contradicts your scam accusation.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 04, 2018, 09:36:15 PM
Thanks for replying pvk444, glad to see you are back talking to me even if I can't stand a rational argument. I am still waiting for you to provide some proof of development like you said in your previous posts. Quoting you:

Quote from: pvk444
Given the noticable changes between releases, and comparing it with the changes that other products deliver in a similar timeframe with even a larger developer base, your argument that the development does not represent the output of two developers is simply not tennable.

Maybe you are only a shiller? Noticable changes between releases :D :D

I will wait for you to reply to this before having to lose more time to reply to your points, and basically repeat the same things I wrote in my first post again.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: STOPBEINGREEDY on March 05, 2018, 05:04:32 AM
Yes I have read the thread. It looks legit.

That is the negativity I meant. Look, Xspec and Xmr have almost the same circulation and there is a reason now why Xspec is $1, not $5, not $350.

If the developer pulls an exit scam it is worth $0

If he is just a poser who promised too much initially, but works it out later on, there is a massive opportunity.

Do you think jbg is a criminal? That it the question you need to answer.  ;)

Fair call mate.
I'm no lawyer so that question isn't one I could answer with pure confidence, we're talking open source projects being forked here, minimal work being done and false hope being pushed, how would it look in court if an investor told people he was working full time on a project but we had only about a days worth of work on the project visible after a year? probably not so good... Even worse if he put more effort in to a "donate the developer coins" system.

People have his real name, so I would be very interested to know if he's broken laws if this coin shorts, if some one else can answer this question please do.

This is also a worry:
XSpec
$0.825178 USD (-29.18%)
0.00007215 BTC (-32.89%)

Much the same happened yesterday too (in my time zone any way)
Down in to the 7000 sat zone, back up to the 9000s, now back down to the 7000s again, looks like a slow dump to me.

Well, well, well. Look at all the drama unfolding in this thread.

Bottom line:
Xspec has a Core loyal and commited following.
This Core following is happy to have jbg on board.
And I think we realise that jbg doesn't have to be perfect to make this gig work but we appreciate his presence and consistency since he has been part of the project.

We still are very happy with the project that is Xspec.
And we are convinced it is going to go a long way.

Some "hands" have already been shaken out:

If there are doubters left amongst Xspec holders, am sure the chance is still here for them to make an exit too.

Due diligence and investing only what you can afford to loose are amazing things.
They make mighty strong hands out of anyone and impart the freedom to actually be committed to a project.
Peace!

Some "hands" have already been shaken


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: STOPBEINGREEDY on March 05, 2018, 05:06:25 AM
P.s ..last sentence a typo! :)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: djpitagora on March 05, 2018, 09:21:25 AM

And even if you were right (and I strongly argue you are not) that the two devs are not pulling their weight, then they are truly geniuses who with "just a few code changes" or "library updates" as you claim, are managing to create a cryptocurrency that has technicaly features which rival (and surpass) some of the best known and best funded coins out there.


except they din't deliver anything yet. Yes, XSPEC is a good privacy coin, but not thanks to these two. Eveything that makes XSPEC good was implemented in shadowcoin and these guys just took the code and implemented tor obfs4 instead of the old tor integration. And they also did a shady job on that because they just copied the tor binaries from firefox and call them on command line.

Can you show me anything else these two guys have implemented? Let the code speak. Please paste the commit link and lets discuss their merits.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 05, 2018, 08:21:55 PM
Hey, jbg came back with a new nice set of excuses! Let's analyze them together.

First of all: judge on his decision to not reply publicly to my thread. Was that a good decision? Price was at ~30k sats at the time of my review. Today it reached ~5k sat.
Secondly: judge on his decision of continuing not to reply to 3 threads with 3 independent reviews of the code (this thread you are reading, but also here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3055715) and here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3065979)). Will this be a good decision?

But let's dig into his excuses, it's fun.

1) Few weeks ago jbg comes on chat to reassure the community that "it's looking good to hit our target of end of Feb". So you assume he knows what he is doing, the release will happen and he is aware of what is missing to develop. He basically did an estimate that the work needed to be done could be completed by the end of the month. 3 days ago jbg comes back and says the he needs 24/48 hours to give another release date, as he's late. What? So he doesn't know anymore how much work is left? Why can't he give a new release date straightaway? Ok, let's wait for these 48 hours. Now after more than 48 hours he comes back saying he is not going to give a new late release date. So he's basically saying he has no idea about how much work is left. He now says "it's not imminent".

2) Thankfully someone asked him why he has not made 1.4 public yet. After more than a month when he failed to do so, he now said that "unfortunately things that can't go public yet (stealth staking) are a bit mixed up with things that should already be public". This is now becoming ridiculous. 2 experienced developers have mixed up the code of 2 separate features, one feature due (end of) Q2 and the other due (end of) February, and also implemented by 2 different developers. The most embarrassing thing to me is that he does not even realise that he is basically saying he is an amateur programmer. 40 years of experience in 2 developers and they did this. Also this is worrying because this means that he is trying to manipulate the github commit history, like I said a few posts before, what else is he manipulating? But now I think that is pretty sure that there is no stealth staking and he is just late because he has not done much work. This will be proved when (and if) he will release 1.4, when everyone will be able to see that he has not done all he promised. And new excuses will come.

3) After being absent for a month, after all these threads saying he has not done much, one of the first thing he asked on Discord today is more money. Now the new line is that he need to hire a new developer, and of course the money are not enough. Wouldn't it be better if he started working instead? Or maybe he is not able to do the work? Don't take me wrong, decentralise development is definitely a good idea, as he has proved he cannot deliver multiple times. But asking for more money after all of this.. unfortunately he deleted the message saying money are not enough (ah!).

4) He repeated that he is working full time, this goes against 3 independent reviews by 3 different developers (this thread you are reading, but also here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3055715) and here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3065979))

5) The brand new excuse for the lack of core changes is that he is building the foundation for the future and he is learning the code base. 9 months to do a few library updates, UI changes and learn a code base? Guess what it would happen if you had this record of achievements after 9 months in a real software company working full time. I personally would not pass the probation period even for a junior developer with these results. To not forget that there is supposedly also another dev working on this project.

And now some other stuff I researched:
1) I was digging into some more code to check effective core changes. In the official release notes for 1.3.5, jbg wrote he implemented "Automatic ring size determination for stealth transactions". Very good candidate to check! Guess what? There is no code change for this. All the code for this is ShadowCash code. He only renamed a few javascript functions, but the logic is the same as ShadowCash. And he wrote about this change on the official release notes for 1.3.5, even though the code has always been there.

2) I have read some people saying that jbg integrated Tor in SpectreCoin. That's not true. Again the code has the truth: the first TOR integration has been done by lulworm in January 2017.

3) On this I am not completely sure but I'll leave it here so someone else can double check. jbg stated on chat that he had to withdraw money from the donation address SgGmhnxnf6x93PJo5Nj3tty4diPNwEEiQb, so I had a look. Firstly the donation address has received ~100k XSPEC so far, which is not bad at all for 9 months without doing much, and for someone who claims he has not got much coins, and asks for more to hire another developer. Then I followed all the outgoing transactions, and most of them go through this address: SdsaXSYCksJcW18AJ6HcG1ZwgFKcU7WYrr which has 233k XSPECs received so far. I also followed a few other outgoing transactions and reached other few addresses, one in particular has 34k XSPECs and 110k received (SaKHqXU67HdP5NsatVXwb6DSSDdRYRKyrr through transaction cd40a8c93b7526255bb36dd3982ae4eee0b345da0fbae2aa9a1d3c5e82d33635). In this one stuff start to get interesting, as if you track what's happening into this address you can quickly arrive to addresses with a lot of XSPECs: SWNSHaAXLcehx3bXAdZSTD9CKpEwCJLtjT with 50k XSPECs, if you track the most recent ingoing transaction of +49,999.9992 XSPEC (fc48d7b0ab3c590e921a439fc6bcbca13ae3339b72d2212b9d074f8b54783d5a) you reach an address with a million coins received: SdyjGEmgroK2vxBhkHE1MBUVRbUWpRAdVG.

Anyway to conclude, the only thing that jbg is producing so far is excuses, still have to see any proper development on XSPEC.
We yet have to see 1.4 code on github after more than a month. Now he has another excuse. Let's see what's the next one.
We yet have to see any of the XSPEC shillers to post some github commits of his hard work done in the past also.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: hias on March 05, 2018, 08:55:34 PM
I want to thank you gunner833 for your detailed informations about xspecter. Hard to find and get such neutral and informative informations.
Unfortunately I started reading about your postings today. I am holding some coins and would have sold most of them if I would followed your postings earlier.
I am not sure what to do now since the price is down and I am holding a small amount of coins. Anyway I will try to keep following your posts, they seem valuable.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: kawabonga on March 05, 2018, 09:16:36 PM
#prayforjbg
#ripbryce


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 05, 2018, 09:55:29 PM
I want to thank you gunner833 for your detailed informations about xspecter. Hard to find and get such neutral and informative informations.
Unfortunately I started reading about your postings today. I am holding some coins and would have sold most of them if I would followed your postings earlier.
I am not sure what to do now since the price is down and I am holding a small amount of coins. Anyway I will try to keep following your posts, they seem valuable.

Sorry to hear you're losing money. I am not sure what to advice you, the price dropped a lot, so it might bounce back a bit on the short term, but who knows?

I would not keep for the long term.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: STOPBEINGREEDY on March 05, 2018, 10:21:42 PM
I want to thank you gunner833 for your detailed informations about xspecter. Hard to find and get such neutral and informative informations.
Unfortunately I started reading about your postings today. I am holding some coins and would have sold most of them if I would followed your postings earlier.
I am not sure what to do now since the price is down and I am holding a small amount of coins. Anyway I will try to keep following your posts, they seem valuable.

Dude, there is a core community which isn't abandoning this project. You know what that means? You and anyone else with the same sentiments only have to sell your coins little by little as the price recovers. You will be able to get your money back.

Or you could panic sell now---entirely up to you.
Some of us are playing a long term game and are accumulating.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: d0d15 on March 06, 2018, 01:27:40 AM
@gunner833,

nice observation regarding donation address, but IMO you ignored important aspect. Value of XSPEC significantly increased end of December. At the beginning of 2017 it was less than 2 cent, July - Aug 10-20 cent, beginning of December 30 Cent. So with this in mind 100k of coins don't look that much, but it still doesn have to be bad. It depends on time when did he or they (in case donations were meant for  the first crew who left the project.).

'Regular' community started paying jbg sometimes around start of this Year (staking donations.), and during this time approx 4k of coins have been collected IIRC.
Before it was mainly ICO holders who paid/donated I think, and they seem to be ok with it? So if whales don't mind giving him 100k of coins for fixing few bugs, library maintenance, why would we be against?

Also, as a software developer I know I wouldn't be ready to work for someone who is paying me regular salary e.g. 3k of EUR per month if my works is going to make my client filthy rich. I know many developers do this, I just said I wouldn't. But I would maybe work part time, bit less for the money (This is just me.). So I can understand such relationship.

Regarding address with million coins, could this be exchange?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 06, 2018, 09:58:52 AM
@gunner833,

nice observation regarding donation address, but IMO you ignored important aspect. Value of XSPEC significantly increased end of December. At the beginning of 2017 it was less than 2 cent, July - Aug 10-20 cent, beginning of December 30 Cent. So with this in mind 100k of coins don't look that much, but it still doesn have to be bad. It depends on time when did he or they (in case donations were meant for  the first crew who left the project.).

'Regular' community started paying jbg sometimes around start of this Year (staking donations.), and during this time approx 4k of coins have been collected IIRC.
Before it was mainly ICO holders who paid/donated I think, and they seem to be ok with it? So if whales don't mind giving him 100k of coins for fixing few bugs, library maintenance, why would we be against?

Also, as a software developer I know I wouldn't be ready to work for someone who is paying me regular salary e.g. 3k of EUR per month if my works is going to make my client filthy rich. I know many developers do this, I just said I wouldn't. But I would maybe work part time, bit less for the money (This is just me.). So I can understand such relationship.

Regarding address with million coins, could this be exchange?


You are probably right about the coin value. But still jbg says he does not own much money, not sure this is true either.

Pretty sure the 1M address is not an exchange, it would have much more transactions (deposits and withdrawals).

What do you think about all the other points?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: djpitagora on March 06, 2018, 11:43:57 AM
I want to thank you gunner833 for your detailed informations about xspecter. Hard to find and get such neutral and informative informations.
Unfortunately I started reading about your postings today. I am holding some coins and would have sold most of them if I would followed your postings earlier.
I am not sure what to do now since the price is down and I am holding a small amount of coins. Anyway I will try to keep following your posts, they seem valuable.

same here. Thanks gunner. I didn't do my due diligence until gunner mentioned that github needs a close inspection.

I can confirm everything he said about the lack results. Over the course of a few hours I did a quick code review of all changes since last summer and other then a few UI changes (colors and alignments) and some quick version updates there isn't much, not even what a single part time dev should produce. The guy has been getting paid a lot of money to basically do nothing. What does this mean? It means all those promises of stealth staking are probably empty as well. He will never deliver on anything substantial.

And all those pathetic fanboys that cry FUD can just come up with a commit hash and argue otherwise, show us the incredible work done by two full time devs with 40 years of combined experience.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: spectre_jbg on March 07, 2018, 02:37:59 AM
The tone of this is such that I don't think rational discussion is likely, but I'd like to respond to one or two specific things.

3) After being absent for a month, after all these threads saying he has not done much, one of the first thing he asked on Discord today is more money. Now the new line is that he need to hire a new developer, and of course the money are not enough. Wouldn't it be better if he started working instead? Or maybe he is not able to do the work? Don't take me wrong, decentralise development is definitely a good idea, as he has proved he cannot deliver multiple times. But asking for more money after all of this.. unfortunately he deleted the message saying money are not enough (ah!).

I have not asked for more money. As a matter of fact, upon learning that some people were talking about a new "donation drive" based on the misguided idea that more money can somehow increase my output, I asked them to either call it off, or direct any raised money towards either finding more developers or marketing or other efforts. At no point have I made any request for more money, and in fact I have in the last days suggested that we should reduce the staking donations I'm receiving and use some of that to fund bounties to get more people working on the project. Many people have witnessed these discussions in Discord in the last days so I don't think there is much ambiguity here.

I can think of only a few explanations for your comment above. (1) you legitimately misunderstood something I said (though I don't think I said anything that could be intepreted this way). (2) somebody impersonating me on Discord is trying to get some donations for themselves (I didn't find any evidence for this so I don't think it's the case). (3) you are making this up, or willfully misrepresenting something I said.

2) I have read some people saying that jbg integrated Tor in SpectreCoin. That's not true. Again the code has the truth: the first TOR integration has been done by lulworm in January 2017.

I've never claimed this, and I have no control over claims made by random anonymous Internet strangers that I've probably never even spoken to.

3) On this I am not completely sure but I'll leave it here so someone else can double check. jbg stated on chat that he had to withdraw money from the donation address SgGmhnxnf6x93PJo5Nj3tty4diPNwEEiQb, so I had a look. Firstly the donation address has received ~100k XSPEC so far, which is not bad at all for 9 months without doing much, and for someone who claims he has not got much coins, and asks for more to hire another developer. Then I followed all the outgoing transactions, and most of them go through this address: SdsaXSYCksJcW18AJ6HcG1ZwgFKcU7WYrr which has 233k XSPECs received so far. I also followed a few other outgoing transactions and reached other few addresses, one in particular has 34k XSPECs and 110k received (SaKHqXU67HdP5NsatVXwb6DSSDdRYRKyrr through transaction cd40a8c93b7526255bb36dd3982ae4eee0b345da0fbae2aa9a1d3c5e82d33635). In this one stuff start to get interesting, as if you track what's happening into this address you can quickly arrive to addresses with a lot of XSPECs: SWNSHaAXLcehx3bXAdZSTD9CKpEwCJLtjT with 50k XSPECs, if you track the most recent ingoing transaction of +49,999.9992 XSPEC (fc48d7b0ab3c590e921a439fc6bcbca13ae3339b72d2212b9d074f8b54783d5a) you reach an address with a million coins received: SdyjGEmgroK2vxBhkHE1MBUVRbUWpRAdVG.

I've checked, and none of the addresses you have mentioned (other than the donation address) are in my control. They are almost certainly exchanges' addresses which obviously receive many coins from many people.

Working on this project is becoming increasingly demoralising and difficult considering that there is almost zero reward, and constant accusations that even if ignored cause significant stress, but I hope that the tone will improve once I am able to show some results.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 07, 2018, 11:07:24 AM
The tone of this is such that I don't think rational discussion is likely, but I'd like to respond to one or two specific things.

Thank you very much for taking the time to finally answer publicly. I am so sorry you don't like the tone, but we have being having a rational discussion without you for long. Ah, by the way, I don't like the fact that you answer here after more than a month of my post either. And I don't like that you answered only a couple of points either, and of course avoid the main ones. Anyway the increasingly argumentative tone was intentional to invite you to answer, and as you see it worked.

Quote
I have not asked for more money. As a matter of fact, upon learning that some people were talking about a new "donation drive" based on the misguided idea that more money can somehow increase my output, I asked them to either call it off, or direct any raised money towards either finding more developers or marketing or other efforts. At no point have I made any request for more money, and in fact I have in the last days suggested that we should reduce the staking donations I'm receiving and use some of that to fund bounties to get more people working on the project. Many people have witnessed these discussions in Discord in the last days so I don't think there is much ambiguity here.

I can think of only a few explanations for your comment above. (1) you legitimately misunderstood something I said (though I don't think I said anything that could be intepreted this way). (2) somebody impersonating me on Discord is trying to get some donations for themselves (I didn't find any evidence for this so I don't think it's the case). (3) you are making this up, or willfully misrepresenting something I said.

You deleted the message, so I'll stop on this one. You can now say I made it up, as I have no proof. Glad to see that the only point I clearly said I can't prove because you deleted the message took most of your attention.

Quote
2) I have read some people saying that jbg integrated Tor in SpectreCoin. That's not true. Again the code has the truth: the first TOR integration has been done by lulworm in January 2017.
I've never claimed this, and I have no control over claims made by random anonymous Internet strangers that I've probably never even spoken to.

And, if you read the sentence you quoted again, I haven't said you claimed that either. But your shillers keep saying that, so I am telling them the truth.

Quote
I've checked, and none of the addresses you have mentioned (other than the donation address) are in my control. They are almost certainly exchanges' addresses which obviously receive many coins from many people.

Working on this project is becoming increasingly demoralising and difficult considering that there is almost zero reward, and constant accusations that even if ignored cause significant stress, but I hope that the tone will improve once I am able to show some results.

So you are sending most of the donations to SdsaXSYCksJcW18AJ6HcG1ZwgFKcU7WYrr, which has 232k XSPECs received, it's clearly *NOT* an exchange address and it's also not in your control?

And the fact that you say it's zero reward, you keep intelligently saying something that can't be proved. You are smart enough to know that this kind of discussions go nowhere, but you keep saying it. You could be a big holder, or linked to big holders (see Mandica) and these 2 new excuses (it's not rewarding, need to hire a new developer) could be good excuses to exit. Now you could find a random developer, give him the code and say to everyone you are tired and enjoy the money.

To summarise for you:
- Where is 1.4 code? More than a month after your promise: https://imgur.com/a/BHF5s (https://imgur.com/a/BHF5s)
- How on Earth have you mixed up 1.4 code with stealth staking? How long is it taking you to cherry pick a few commits?
- Why after almost a week you still don't know how much work is left to finish 1.4? And after 3 weeks of announcing that 1.4 was on time for the end of February?
- Why have you lied in 1.3.5 release notes saying you implemented "Automatic ring size determination for stealth transactions"?
- Why have you lied about your software development experience? After our private chat, where you were of course trying to minimise the mistake ("everyone exaggerates experience") I had a recognized loyal member of your community telling me that you told him you have 25 years of dev experience, and you are in your 20s. This was not exaggerating, this was lying.
- Do you think it's realistic saying that learning a code base, a few library updates, UI fixes, CI and ability to send money to developer is enough work for 9 months for 1 developer (plus one developer for 6 months)?
- Where is Bryce work? Can you show his 6 months worth of development? Maybe to your community longstanding members?
- What do you have to say about 3 independent reviews of your code (this thread you are reading, but also here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3055715) and here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3065979)) where we all agree you are not working full time? Can you give us some proofs of the contrary? Also some people from your community agrees on this.
- Why are you talking about "zero reward" from XSPEC? The donation address in control by you received so far ~100k XSPECs, which in my opinion is a very good deal for what optimistically seems a part time job for you.
- Why are you sending most of the donations to SdsaXSYCksJcW18AJ6HcG1ZwgFKcU7WYrr? That address has 232k coins received and it's linked with addresses holding milions of coins which are clearly not exchange addresses.
- Are you planning to exit soon?
- How many coins does Mandica hold?

Let's see if you respond to these instead.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: spectre_jbg on March 07, 2018, 11:37:44 PM
Thanks for the summary. I think the first three questions are pretty similar, or at least my answer to them will be pretty much the same, so I'm going to answer them together.

- Where is 1.4 code? More than a month after your promise: https://imgur.com/a/BHF5s (https://imgur.com/a/BHF5s)
- How on Earth have you mixed up 1.4 code with stealth staking? How long is it taking you to cherry pick a few commits?
- Why after almost a week you still don't know how much work is left to finish 1.4? And after 3 weeks of announcing that 1.4 was on time for the end of February?

Throughout my association with XSPEC I've been pretty bad at deadlines, time estimation and project management. I think this is pretty well-known in the community. It's not just a case of cherry-picking commits, as I haven't been committing nice small units of work like I should have been. I'm working on tidying things up, though for various reasons I'm not at full output right at this moment. As you may have seen on Discord, we're moving to bring people with better skills in these areas (project management, planning release dates, etc) into the core team.


- Why have you lied in 1.3.5 release notes saying you implemented "Automatic ring size determination for stealth transactions"?

Automatic ring size for stealth transactions was not working prior to v1.3.5. As of v1.3.5 it works. The release notes indicate the new (working) functionality. I don't see the problem here. Release notes are not supposed to be a work log; they describe the changes vs. the previous version.


- Why have you lied about your software development experience? After our private chat, where you were of course trying to minimise the mistake ("everyone exaggerates experience") I had a recognized loyal member of your community telling me that you told him you have 25 years of dev experience, and you are in your 20s. This was not exaggerating, this was lying.

I am not aware of the community member you refer to nor do I recall having the conversation you claim that they relayed to you, so I can't really respond in a meaningful way to this. We've already gone over my exaggeration of my experience, which is something that I stupidly did in an ad-hoc conversation on Slack, and have never done since. I regret it. What more is there to say?


- Do you think it's realistic saying that learning a code base, a few library updates, UI fixes, CI and ability to send money to developer is enough work for 9 months for 1 developer (plus one developer for 6 months)?

Yes. The codebase is large, quite complex, and changes to it involve people's money so need to be done carefully. The library updates were not minor. All the changes required testing and debugging. Lines of code are not a good measure of time spent.

And then there's the changes that aren't public yet. Sure, I can't prove their existence yet, like anything that hasn't been made public yet, but I don't understand the impatience. I frankly am not concerned if people don't believe I've been working on v1.4 all this time, because when it's released their disbelief will be moot...


- Where is Bryce work? Can you show his 6 months worth of development? Maybe to your community longstanding members?

It will be released when it's ready, like the rest of our work. See above.


- What do you have to say about 3 independent reviews of your code (this thread you are reading, but also here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3055715) and here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3065979)) where we all agree you are not working full time? Can you give us some proofs of the contrary? Also some people from your community agrees on this.

You know as well as I do that proving something like this is virtually impossible. These "reviews" all minimise the work I've done using phrases like "a few library updates" as if this work does not require careful implementation, testing and debugging. Lines of code is not a good measure of time spent. See my response to "Do you think..." above.


- Why are you talking about "zero reward" from XSPEC? The donation address in control by you received so far ~100k XSPECs, which in my opinion is a very good deal for what optimistically seems a part time job for you.

As others have pointed out but you tend to conveniently ignore, the price of XSPEC has varied a lot over time. The actual amount of fiat money that I've received from XSPEC is small, and certainly doesn't do much to justify the stress of trying to get work done in this environment, being constantly being accused of having some bad motivations. Since I don't have access to any "stash" of XSPEC (yes, I know I can't prove this), the price is not much motivation for me. I'm working on this because it's an interesting tech project that I took stewardship of, which I would like to see through, not because I expect to get some financial reward.

Please also refer to recent Discord announcements; I am going to relinquish control of incoming donations and the decisions about how they are spent. For the reasons described in last sentence of the previous paragraph, I would work on this project even without the donations (which are small anyway) so they might as well be used to bring more people on board and try to drive the project forward faster.


- Why are you sending most of the donations to SdsaXSYCksJcW18AJ6HcG1ZwgFKcU7WYrr? That address has 232k coins received and it's linked with addresses holding milions of coins which are clearly not exchange addresses.

That address is an exchange deposit address. Once I send coins there, the XSPEC on the blockchain is now in the hands of the exchange. So any coins leaving it are being moved around internally by the exchange or withdrawn to other exchange users. I don't see how you can infer anything from the addresses that it's "linked" to, they will just be other addresses of the exchange or addresses of other exchange users. Saying they are "clearly not exchange addresses" is just lying, I'm sure you understand things well enough to know that you can't easily make inferences like this.


- Are you planning to exit soon?

No, I am not. I've put a huge amount of work into this coin and I would like to see it through to some kind of stability and progress. Like any developer I don't expect to be around one project forever, but I also don't like unfinished business. Before moving on I'd like to have v1.4 and v2.0 released, a stable core team in place to continue development, and solid governance that prevents one person from having to bear the brunt of constant accusations while trying to get work done. Once these things are in place it's possible that I would consider leaving. I prefer not to use the word "exit" since it's generally associated with leaving *with* something, and that's not likely to be the case here.


- How many coins does Mandica hold?

I have no idea. She has claimed to me, several months ago, that she holds "very little" XSPEC. I asked for a clearer indication of how much, and it was not forthcoming. She may hold a lot, or she may genuinely hold almost none. My suspicion is that she still has some significant holdings.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: spectre_jbg on March 07, 2018, 11:48:56 PM
I just read a little further back in this thread and saw the accusation that I "exhumed" Mandica's account. It should be very easy for anyone who's been around bitcointalk for a while to verify that the Mandica that started XSPEC (long before I got involved), who has been very active on BCT here for quite some time, is the same Mandica that has come back to the project recently and is on our Discord. I'd appreciate if someone would take the effort to independently verify this somehow since I really don't need more wild accusations directed at me...


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 08:17:15 AM
Thanks for your answers jbg. Haven't answered to a few points as I believe or we are going nowhere or you answered.

Quote
- Where is 1.4 code? More than a month after your promise: https://imgur.com/a/BHF5s (https://imgur.com/a/BHF5s)
- How on Earth have you mixed up 1.4 code with stealth staking? How long is it taking you to cherry pick a few commits?
- Why after almost a week you still don't know how much work is left to finish 1.4? And after 3 weeks of announcing that 1.4 was on time for the end of February?
Throughout my association with XSPEC I've been pretty bad at deadlines, time estimation and project management. I think this is pretty well-known in the community. It's not just a case of cherry-picking commits, as I haven't been committing nice small units of work like I should have been. I'm working on tidying things up, though for various reasons I'm not at full output right at this moment. As you may have seen on Discord, we're moving to bring people with better skills in these areas (project management, planning release dates, etc) into the core team.

It is still very shady that you haven't given a new release date after a week of the past promised one. And it's still very shady that after a month you promised to make it public, you only now realised that you mixed up the code. And it's very amateur that you mixed up the code. These things to me are saying that you have no idea what you are doing, since you can't work effectively with a workflow involving multiple developers and git branches and you don't have experience in doing estimations and can't asses how much work is left. To me you never worked as software developer, these things that you are failing are common tasks in a day to day job.

Quote
Automatic ring size for stealth transactions was not working prior to v1.3.5. As of v1.3.5 it works. The release notes indicate the new (working) functionality. I don't see the problem here. Release notes are not supposed to be a work log; they describe the changes vs. the previous version.

Where is the change that made them work?

Quote
I am not aware of the community member you refer to nor do I recall having the conversation you claim that they relayed to you, so I can't really respond in a meaningful way to this. We've already gone over my exaggeration of my experience, which is something that I stupidly did in an ad-hoc conversation on Slack, and have never done since. I regret it. What more is there to say?

What ad-hoc conversation? I have got 4 screenshots where you said you have +20 years of dev experience. You kept saying this for long, why are you still trying to minimize?

Quote
- Do you think it's realistic saying that learning a code base, a few library updates, UI fixes, CI and ability to send money to developer is enough work for 9 months for 1 developer (plus one developer for 6 months)?

Yes. The codebase is large, quite complex, and changes to it involve people's money so need to be done carefully. The library updates were not minor. All the changes required testing and debugging. Lines of code are not a good measure of time spent.

And then there's the changes that aren't public yet. Sure, I can't prove their existence yet, like anything that hasn't been made public yet, but I don't understand the impatience. I frankly am not concerned if people don't believe I've been working on v1.4 all this time, because when it's released their disbelief will be moot...

Yes, changes are not public even after over a month you promised to make them public, which would have cleared all this mess. And still aren't public after the new excuse that you mixed up the code. Given how organised you are, I am very doubtful you were organised with testing other then "open wallet, click, click, done". Which is the basic manual testing needed to test UI changes or library updates. You haven't changed anything regarding money a part of the ability to send them to you.

Quote
- Where is Bryce work? Can you show his 6 months worth of development? Maybe to your community longstanding members?

It will be released when it's ready, like the rest of our work. See above.

Someone genuine would try to shed some light on 6 months of a mysterious developer work. Of course you don't.

Quote
As others have pointed out but you tend to conveniently ignore, the price of XSPEC has varied a lot over time. The actual amount of fiat money that I've received from XSPEC is small, and certainly doesn't do much to justify the stress of trying to get work done in this environment, being constantly being accused of having some bad motivations. Since I don't have access to any "stash" of XSPEC (yes, I know I can't prove this), the price is not much motivation for me. I'm working on this because it's an interesting tech project that I took stewardship of, which I would like to see through, not because I expect to get some financial reward.

Please also refer to recent Discord announcements; I am going to relinquish control of incoming donations and the decisions about how they are spent. For the reasons described in last sentence of the previous paragraph, I would work on this project even without the donations (which are small anyway) so they might as well be used to bring more people on board and try to drive the project forward faster.

Good that you are giving out control of donations. I hope you do it, as I have been told about this a month ago and it hasn't happened yet either. How long is it taking you to do something this simple?

Quote
That address is an exchange deposit address. Once I send coins there, the XSPEC on the blockchain is now in the hands of the exchange. So any coins leaving it are being moved around internally by the exchange or withdrawn to other exchange users. I don't see how you can infer anything from the addresses that it's "linked" to, they will just be other addresses of the exchange or addresses of other exchange users. Saying they are "clearly not exchange addresses" is just lying, I'm sure you understand things well enough to know that you can't easily make inferences like this.

Ok, that might be an exchange address, but it's definitely the exchange address associated with your account from 2017-08-12 23:47:12, time when you did the first deposit from the donation address. Anyone can check this just checking their Cryptopia deposit address on the explorer. And if you see the pattern of deposits and withdrawals before that, it's clearly yours also before. There is no point for an exchange to write complicated and risky logic to share addresses between users, when they can have infinite addresses.

So my questions remains:
- Why are you sending most of the donations to SdsaXSYCksJcW18AJ6HcG1ZwgFKcU7WYrr? That address has 232k coins received and it's linked with addresses holding milions of coins.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 08:35:16 AM
What started as valid argument seems to be degrading into "doubt," speculation, subtle ad-hominem jabs at character, unbacked claims bordering on threat, and challenges that jbg has no obligation to respond to.  At this point I just question the motivation of these posts.  It seems a lot of effort on behalf of those making the "scam" claims and what initially seemed as a tight weave is starting to show some thread wear.
Post the screen-shots, Gunner.  What are you hiding from?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 08:44:37 AM
What started as valid argument seems to be degrading into "doubt," speculation, subtle ad-hominem jabs at character, unbacked claims bordering on threat, and challenges that jbg has no obligation to respond to.  At this point I just question the motivation of these posts.  It seems a lot of effort on behalf of those making the "scam" claims and what initially seemed as a tight weave is starting to show some thread wear.
Post the screen-shots, Gunner.  What are you hiding from?

Nothing man, I am still not sure he's genuine, and you need go to in depth when you try to debunk a scammer. If he's genuine, he'll be able to answer the questions without any problem, but he avoided for more than a month. Ask yourself why?

Now that he started, let him continue please, it will be better for you too.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 08:56:05 AM
Post the screen shots please.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 09:16:28 AM
Post the screen shots please.

one (https://ibb.co/fRXCf7), two (https://ibb.co/faKa07), three (https://ibb.co/cM3USn) and four (https://ibb.co/m4XpSn).

Happier?

Names removed on the forth one as it was a private conversation and I haven't asked for authorisation to publish, I can ask and disclose if that makes you feel even happier.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 09:21:39 AM
"Authorization?" 
You going to get a fine or something?  Ya'll buddies? 
Or you just don't want him to come into question.
I think that individual needs a much scrutiny for making that claim as jbg does.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 09:24:39 AM
Cool, I am going to ask both users and let you know.

In the meanwhile, let's continue and say I have got 3 screenshots, and jbg mentioned an "ad-hoc conversation" when he clearly wrote it multiple times.

Why do you think he was trying to minimise again?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 09:40:57 AM
So three things on slack.  Which he's admitted to and regrets.
One instance of hearsay that is, as of yet, unverified... (so lets hope they can get a screenshot as well).
And then a nitpick at semantics.
Just post the name man.  They made a claim.  Let them back it.  Call them out too.  This is the web.  There is not privacy in a chatbox.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 09:47:55 AM
I have asked them. Following your same thinking, do you want me to disclose also jbg real name and surname then?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: CisColtz on March 08, 2018, 09:55:01 AM
I haven't invested into SpectreCoin project but I have participate into telegram bounty and what I have read there everyday makes me think that somehow you misunderstood all the situations somehow. In my opinion , they are a legit project with a solid team but this is just my opinion.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 10:21:06 AM
I don't give a shit.  
If you are comfortable blowing someone's spot based on the traces they've left on the web, that's up to you.  It's up to the individual to operate in a manner that allows for them to be private.  If he's left footprints and if you feel comfortable releasing his real name... I don't care.   But I don't see how that is of benefit as we can at least confront jbg by his screen-name and we are not afforded that same benefit of confrontation with your... I dunno... informant.
But I thought your original post was unbiased and informative.  It had a feel of genuinely pointing out concerns.  This most recent post has some passive aggression and presumptions about what makes a "genuine person" in the form of an ultimatum and a lot of very speculative input.  The tone has changed.  

I love to troll, it's a simple pleasure in my life and a horrible indictment of my character.  Your first post was a REALLY good example of how I would present something if I wanted to look distanced and like I was genuinely trying to help (but I was actually baiting someone)... but this most recent post is starting to reek of something more personal.  Like the bait wasn't substantial so you're "upping" your game .  Throwing subtle jabs here trying to goad someone into an emotional reaction... which we both know would result in you "winning" from a troll perspective.  

The other guy (Preshprince)'s post started in that manner.  Making claims without proof and such.  I peeped that game from the get go.  But now you're starting to head in that direction.  
So why do all this?  You said your piece initially, which informed the people.  They can make their decisions from that first post and decide whether JBG is genuine or not yeah?  You're attempting to set the precedent for what is and isn't acceptable now.  You aren't just providing your "findings" you're challenging character.  You're questioning semantics.  You're  hiding sources.  These are also questionable actions.

Edit:  Didn't nail preshprince's screen name.  Edited


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 10:42:19 AM
I understand your comment and you are right, I have changed my tone. But for a reason.

If more than a month ago I was doubtful, after a month of looking of what's going on in XSPEC, my doubts are becoming more and more certainty. I have written why endless times. Also the change of tone was intended to make jbg reply.

Think about it from my perspective:
you lose a lot of time to share your research to the community for 0 return and you mostly get quick shill answers which you have to spend more time answering to. Then the guy doesn't even answer to you. After a month, the market says I am right, and then he of course answers. Not because he wants to, because the market says so.

Also I then ask him for very simple things to clear everything up, and after more than a month they are still not done!

How do you want me to approach a, what now I believe is, potential scammer? Do you want me to go gentle with him?

Like: hey, so sorry you missed your own set up deadline to release 1.4, and you still don't know when you are going to release it. You also haven't made 1.4 code public after a month, how many more months do you want? 2 or 3? Let's do 4!

Do you think this would work better?

I don't approve much preshprince tone, he's way harsher than me and has spent less time researching XSPEC in general than me, but hey, his choice.

You asked for screenshots, I gave them to you. I am not lying as you can see. You can think I am not genuine, but to be honest I don't care anymore. I only care about jbg responses and his ability of release 9 months worth of development work with 1.4. This hasn't happened yet, and it's the only thing everyone should care about. Plus maybe his donation address transactions, which is worrying too.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: rowandg on March 08, 2018, 10:54:07 AM
I am not invested in this project anymore and have been asked to share my story multiple times. I don't think it matters much, since it was a personal decision, but here goes:

I found out who jbg is, which did not match the profile he publicly portrays to his investors.
An article popped up about his history, which made me lose trust in his ability to run a business.
The reason he says its important for him to remain anonymous, is because it could compromise the project otherwise.

I do not know if this project is a scam, but these three points made me too uncomfortable to stay. So I left.

Like I said, its personal. Community is nice, I hope the project succeeds.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 12:06:20 PM
I understand your comment and you are right, I have changed my tone. But for a reason.

If more than a month ago I was doubtful, after a month of looking of what's going on in XSPEC, my doubts are becoming more and more certainty. I have written why endless times. Also the change of tone was intended to make jbg reply.

Think about it from my perspective:
you lose a lot of time to share your research to the community for 0 return and you mostly get quick shill answers which you have to spend more time answering to. Then the guy doesn't even answer to you. After a month, the market says I am right, and then he of course answers. Not because he wants to, because the market says so.

Also I then ask him for very simple things to clear everything up, and after more than a month they are still not done!

How do you want me to approach a, what now I believe is, potential scammer? Do you want me to go gentle with him?

Like: hey, so sorry you missed your own set up deadline to release 1.4, and you still don't know when you are going to release it. You also haven't made 1.4 code public after a month, how many more months do you want? 2 or 3? Let's do 4!

Do you think this would work better?

I don't approve much preshprince tone, he's way harsher than me and has spent less time researching XSPEC in general than me, but hey, his choice.

You asked for screenshots, I gave them to you. I am not lying as you can see. You can think I am not genuine, but to be honest I don't care anymore. I only care about jbg responses and his ability of release 9 months worth of development work with 1.4. This hasn't happened yet, and it's the only thing everyone should care about. Plus maybe his donation address transactions, which is worrying too.

I see what you are saying, but again it is my perception that you are attempting to dictate the terms and conditions of what is "acceptable" as far as a response goes and though I may misremembering your earlier post  it feels as if the goals posts are being moved with each response.  On top of that I don't understand why you feel as if it's the responsibility of jbg to respond to you.    You feel under appreciated for the work that you did to investigate this issue so you begin implementing snark to "get a response."  I understand that you may not find the intrinsic motivation of having done something positive for the crypto community enough to sate you for the work that you did, but posts like the previous one question whether this was for the good of the crypto community or not.  If you are not invested and have a genuine interest in fleshing out the concerns with jbg... then why the violent communication technique?

When I go back and look at your earlier post where you suggested times by which a project should be completed and see that the authority with which you presented your information may be flawed, incomplete, or both I find myself questioning what you used as a benchmark and whether or not any of the code based arguments were of any merit.  Because the things you are claiming should take a very short time (If I'm understanding correctly) can be quite a hefty task.

Also that "Should I post jbg's real name and location" statement makes me think you wish to use that as some sort of leverage.  As if you're hanging this over the community's head or something.  I don't understand the intention there either.

I thank you for posting the pics instead of using them in a threatening fashion.  If we are here to call people out then there's no reason for the "I got a gun in my pocket" talk... just shoot.  It showed me that you weren't being ENTIRELY genuine about the information you were claiming to present.  But I still think you're generally being genuine.  Sometimes people stretch the validity of things to prove a point and you came clean, so I'm cool with that.  But  I am still not sure why you are choosing to hide the screen name of the individual that claimed jbg said he had 25 years of experience coding.  That's a pretty damning claim.  I'd like to see evidence of this and if someone is willing to say that shouldn't they weigh in here with some evidence.  Turn something that is just hearsay into something a bit more tangible?   


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on March 08, 2018, 12:10:35 PM
I am not invested in this project anymore and have been asked to share my story multiple times. I don't think it matters much, since it was a personal decision, but here goes:

I found out who jbg is, which did not match the profile he publicly portrays to his investors.
An article popped up about his history, which made me lose trust in his ability to run a business.
The reason he says its important for him to remain anonymous, is because it could compromise the project otherwise.

I do not know if this project is a scam, but these three points made me too uncomfortable to stay. So I left.

Like I said, its personal. Community is nice, I hope the project succeeds.

Rowan, I made a response about this personal information. A lot of news can be interpreted as negative based on title more than facts, reason, and moreover conclusion. I remember your name and its literally sad to see people leave.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 08, 2018, 12:26:38 PM
I don't give a shit.  
If you are comfortable blowing someone's spot based on the traces they've left on the web, that's up to you.  It's up to the individual to operate in a manner that allows for them to be private.  If he's left footprints and if you feel comfortable releasing his real name... I don't care.   But I don't see how that is of benefit as we can at least confront jbg by his screen-name and we are not afforded that same benefit of confrontation with your... I dunno... informant.
But I thought your original post was unbiased and informative.  It had a feel of genuinely pointing out concerns.  This most recent post has some passive aggression and presumptions about what makes a "genuine person" in the form of an ultimatum and a lot of very speculative input.  The tone has changed.  

I love to troll, it's a simple pleasure in my life and a horrible indictment of my character.  Your first post was a REALLY good example of how I would present something if I wanted to look distanced and like I was genuinely trying to help (but I was actually baiting someone)... but this most recent post is starting to reek of something more personal.  Like the bait wasn't substantial so you're "upping" your game .  Throwing subtle jabs here trying to goad someone into an emotional reaction... which we both know would result in you "winning" from a troll perspective.  

The other guy (Preshprince)'s post started in that manner.  Making claims without proof and such.  I peeped that game from the get go.  But now you're starting to head in that direction.  
So why do all this?  You said your piece initially, which informed the people.  They can make their decisions from that first post and decide whether JBG is genuine or not yeah?  You're attempting to set the precedent for what is and isn't acceptable now.  You aren't just providing your "findings" you're challenging character.  You're questioning semantics.  You're  hiding sources.  These are also questionable actions.

Edit:  Didn't nail preshprince's screen name.  Edited

I wouldn't say my post started in a troll manner, I went through the code and provided my findings, would you expect me to come across this in a positive tone when I'm convinced the community has been taken for a ride by jbg?

Also similar to gunners response, you've taken your own time to gather information and share it with the community, the response is a full blown shill attack and people trying to discredit you as a person, my mannerisms will vary person by person, if some one is attacking me do not expect a positive response, I'm not a robot..

My ways as a person are pretty simple, I enjoy helping people, I'll give even a stranger time of day if I can give value, but if some one gives me poor attitude they will get nothing but poor attitude back, I treat people the way I expect to be treated and expect the same back from people, start shilling, lying or trying to hurt innocent people and you'll see a different side of me, I have no desire to change this nature either, I find it fair.

A world full of sensitive people isn't a good one either, don't be so critical, blunt and to the point achieves more than burning time on emotions, if I was writing a thread on a mental health forum I would take a different tone, I don't expect emotional sensitivity from traders.

You've also said you get pleasures out of trolling, who are you to question any ones nature? Trolls are bottom dwellers and are good for nothing.

And if this is enough to discredit information and findings in today's world, I give up.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 12:47:02 PM
I understand your comment and you are right, I have changed my tone. But for a reason.

If more than a month ago I was doubtful, after a month of looking of what's going on in XSPEC, my doubts are becoming more and more certainty. I have written why endless times. Also the change of tone was intended to make jbg reply.

Think about it from my perspective:
you lose a lot of time to share your research to the community for 0 return and you mostly get quick shill answers which you have to spend more time answering to. Then the guy doesn't even answer to you. After a month, the market says I am right, and then he of course answers. Not because he wants to, because the market says so.

Also I then ask him for very simple things to clear everything up, and after more than a month they are still not done!

How do you want me to approach a, what now I believe is, potential scammer? Do you want me to go gentle with him?

Like: hey, so sorry you missed your own set up deadline to release 1.4, and you still don't know when you are going to release it. You also haven't made 1.4 code public after a month, how many more months do you want? 2 or 3? Let's do 4!

Do you think this would work better?

I don't approve much preshprince tone, he's way harsher than me and has spent less time researching XSPEC in general than me, but hey, his choice.

You asked for screenshots, I gave them to you. I am not lying as you can see. You can think I am not genuine, but to be honest I don't care anymore. I only care about jbg responses and his ability of release 9 months worth of development work with 1.4. This hasn't happened yet, and it's the only thing everyone should care about. Plus maybe his donation address transactions, which is worrying too.

I see what you are saying, but again it is my perception that you are attempting to dictate the terms and conditions of what is "acceptable" as far as a response goes and though I may misremembering your earlier post  it feels as if the goals posts are being moved with each response.  On top of that I don't understand why you feel as if it's the responsibility of jbg to respond to you.    You feel under appreciated for the work that you did to investigate this issue so you begin implementing snark to "get a response."  I understand that you may not find the intrinsic motivation of having done something positive for the crypto community enough to sate you for the work that you did, but posts like the previous one question whether this was for the good of the crypto community or not.  If you are not invested and have a genuine interest in fleshing out the concerns with jbg... then why the violent communication technique?

When I go back and look at your earlier post where you suggested times by which a project should be completed and see that the authority with which you presented your information may be flawed, incomplete, or both I find myself questioning what you used as a benchmark and whether or not any of the code based arguments were of any merit.  Because the things you are claiming should take a very short time (If I'm understanding correctly) can be quite a hefty task.

Also that "Should I post jbg's real name and location" statement makes me think you wish to use that as some sort of leverage.  As if you're hanging this over the community's head or something.  I don't understand the intention there either.

I thank you for posting the pics instead of using them in a threatening fashion.  If we are here to call people out then there's no reason for the "I got a gun in my pocket" talk... just shoot.  It showed me that you weren't being ENTIRELY genuine about the information you were claiming to present.  But I still think you're generally being genuine.  Sometimes people stretch the validity of things to prove a point and you came clean, so I'm cool with that.  But  I am still not sure why you are choosing to hide the screen name of the individual that claimed jbg said he had 25 years of experience coding.  That's a pretty damning claim.  I'd like to see evidence of this and if someone is willing to say that shouldn't they weigh in here with some evidence.  Turn something that is just hearsay into something a bit more tangible?  

My ultimate point is that the only person that you need to blame for this should be jbg, because how he is handling and how he had handled this. Maybe a response from the start of my thread would have stopped everything at the start. Now he's just trying to stop the boat from sinking.

And again, sorry if I repeat myself, I asked one simple thing, make 1.4 public, he promised to do so more than a month ago and hasn't done it yet. And a new excuse came out recently. Again, if you are trying to debunk a scammer, would you go easy with him after a more than a month? Maybe to you this looks normal, sorry but I have a total different perception. More than a month to publish some code, action which takes 2 seconds, and after more than a month come up with a new excuse? I simply can't go easy with this, it would be an insult to my intelligence.

Again the only thing I am asking is simple facts, simple facts which jbg has been failing to provide in over a month. jbg has no responsibility to answer me. I am doing very simple and straight questions and he is free to avoid to answer them.

On the hidden information on the screenshot, I asked. One hasn't answered yet, one answered but does not want the information to be made public, so I will not. I can post you privately the screen of his response if you'd like to, with nickname hidden again. Sorry to have mentioned it, but we need to think like it never existed. I respect people privacy, as I am doing with jbg. I will never release his information, but you have asked me to release some other person nickname, which might be linked to his real name, so I have done an example to make you understand why I wouldn't do it, otherwise I would have revealed jbg details already.

Remember that debunking a potential scammer is not an easy task, as you can see, and it requires a lot of time. All of this for 0 reward. I am still asking myself why I am doing this, and I think I have an exaggerated sense of justice, which I should start think about how to settle down :)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: sirsplashalot on March 08, 2018, 01:07:54 PM
I don't give a shit.  
If you are comfortable blowing someone's spot based on the traces they've left on the web, that's up to you.  It's up to the individual to operate in a manner that allows for them to be private.  If he's left footprints and if you feel comfortable releasing his real name... I don't care.   But I don't see how that is of benefit as we can at least confront jbg by his screen-name and we are not afforded that same benefit of confrontation with your... I dunno... informant.
But I thought your original post was unbiased and informative.  It had a feel of genuinely pointing out concerns.  This most recent post has some passive aggression and presumptions about what makes a "genuine person" in the form of an ultimatum and a lot of very speculative input.  The tone has changed.  

I love to troll, it's a simple pleasure in my life and a horrible indictment of my character.  Your first post was a REALLY good example of how I would present something if I wanted to look distanced and like I was genuinely trying to help (but I was actually baiting someone)... but this most recent post is starting to reek of something more personal.  Like the bait wasn't substantial so you're "upping" your game .  Throwing subtle jabs here trying to goad someone into an emotional reaction... which we both know would result in you "winning" from a troll perspective.  

The other guy (Preshprince)'s post started in that manner.  Making claims without proof and such.  I peeped that game from the get go.  But now you're starting to head in that direction.  
So why do all this?  You said your piece initially, which informed the people.  They can make their decisions from that first post and decide whether JBG is genuine or not yeah?  You're attempting to set the precedent for what is and isn't acceptable now.  You aren't just providing your "findings" you're challenging character.  You're questioning semantics.  You're  hiding sources.  These are also questionable actions.

Edit:  Didn't nail preshprince's screen name.  Edited

I wouldn't say my post started in a troll manner, I went through the code and provided my findings, would you expect me to come across this in a positive tone when I'm convinced the community has been taken for a ride by jbg?

Also similar to gunners response, you've taken your own time to gather information and share it with the community, the response is a full blown shill attack and people trying to discredit you as a person, my mannerisms will vary person by person, if some one is attacking me do not expect a positive response, I'm not a robot..

My ways as a person are pretty simple, I enjoy helping people, I'll give even a stranger time of day if I can give value, but if some one gives me poor attitude they will get nothing but poor attitude back, I treat people the way I expect to be treated and expect the same back from people, start shilling, lying or trying to hurt innocent people and you'll see a different side of me, I have no desire to change this nature either, I find it fair.

A world full of sensitive people isn't a good one either, don't be so critical, blunt and to the point achieves more than burning time on emotions, if I was writing a thread on a mental health forum I would take a different tone, I don't expect emotional sensitivity from traders.

You've also said you get pleasures out of trolling, who are you to question any ones nature? Trolls are bottom dwellers and are good for nothing.

And if this is enough to discredit information and findings in today's world, I give up.

The 'senior dev' who likes to help people.  ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 08, 2018, 01:09:37 PM
The 'senior dev' who likes to help people.  ;)

the shiller guy who speaks out of turn ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 08, 2018, 02:05:14 PM
The 'senior dev' who likes to help people.  ;)

The shill who can't contribute anything useful ;)

What was the point in that post? can't add anything of intelligence as per usual, nice one!


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 02:24:12 PM
I understand your comment and you are right, I have changed my tone. But for a reason.

If more than a month ago I was doubtful, after a month of looking of what's going on in XSPEC, my doubts are becoming more and more certainty. I have written why endless times. Also the change of tone was intended to make jbg reply.

Think about it from my perspective:
you lose a lot of time to share your research to the community for 0 return and you mostly get quick shill answers which you have to spend more time answering to. Then the guy doesn't even answer to you. After a month, the market says I am right, and then he of course answers. Not because he wants to, because the market says so.

Also I then ask him for very simple things to clear everything up, and after more than a month they are still not done!

How do you want me to approach a, what now I believe is, potential scammer? Do you want me to go gentle with him?

Like: hey, so sorry you missed your own set up deadline to release 1.4, and you still don't know when you are going to release it. You also haven't made 1.4 code public after a month, how many more months do you want? 2 or 3? Let's do 4!

Do you think this would work better?

I don't approve much preshprince tone, he's way harsher than me and has spent less time researching XSPEC in general than me, but hey, his choice.

You asked for screenshots, I gave them to you. I am not lying as you can see. You can think I am not genuine, but to be honest I don't care anymore. I only care about jbg responses and his ability of release 9 months worth of development work with 1.4. This hasn't happened yet, and it's the only thing everyone should care about. Plus maybe his donation address transactions, which is worrying too.

I see what you are saying, but again it is my perception that you are attempting to dictate the terms and conditions of what is "acceptable" as far as a response goes and though I may misremembering your earlier post  it feels as if the goals posts are being moved with each response.  On top of that I don't understand why you feel as if it's the responsibility of jbg to respond to you.    You feel under appreciated for the work that you did to investigate this issue so you begin implementing snark to "get a response."  I understand that you may not find the intrinsic motivation of having done something positive for the crypto community enough to sate you for the work that you did, but posts like the previous one question whether this was for the good of the crypto community or not.  If you are not invested and have a genuine interest in fleshing out the concerns with jbg... then why the violent communication technique?

When I go back and look at your earlier post where you suggested times by which a project should be completed and see that the authority with which you presented your information may be flawed, incomplete, or both I find myself questioning what you used as a benchmark and whether or not any of the code based arguments were of any merit.  Because the things you are claiming should take a very short time (If I'm understanding correctly) can be quite a hefty task.

Also that "Should I post jbg's real name and location" statement makes me think you wish to use that as some sort of leverage.  As if you're hanging this over the community's head or something.  I don't understand the intention there either.

I thank you for posting the pics instead of using them in a threatening fashion.  If we are here to call people out then there's no reason for the "I got a gun in my pocket" talk... just shoot.  It showed me that you weren't being ENTIRELY genuine about the information you were claiming to present.  But I still think you're generally being genuine.  Sometimes people stretch the validity of things to prove a point and you came clean, so I'm cool with that.  But  I am still not sure why you are choosing to hide the screen name of the individual that claimed jbg said he had 25 years of experience coding.  That's a pretty damning claim.  I'd like to see evidence of this and if someone is willing to say that shouldn't they weigh in here with some evidence.  Turn something that is just hearsay into something a bit more tangible?  

My ultimate point is that the only person that you need to blame for this should be jbg, because how he is handling and how he had handled this. Maybe a response from the start of my thread would have stopped everything at the start. Now he's just trying to stop the boat from sinking.

And again, sorry if I repeat myself, I asked one simple thing, make 1.4 public, he promised to do so more than a month ago and hasn't done it yet. And a new excuse came out recently. Again, if you are trying to debunk a scammer, would you go easy with him after a more than a month? Maybe to you this looks normal, sorry but I have a total different perception. More than a month to publish some code, action which takes 2 seconds, and after more than a month come up with a new excuse? I simply can't go easy with this, it would be an insult to my intelligence.

Again the only thing I am asking is simple facts, simple facts which jbg has been failing to provide in over a month. jbg has no responsibility to answer me. I am doing very simple and straight questions and he is free to avoid to answer them.

On the hidden information on the screenshot, I asked. One hasn't answered yet, one answered but does not want the information to be made public, so I will not. I can post you privately the screen of his response if you'd like to, with nickname hidden again. Sorry to have mentioned it, but we need to think like it never existed. I respect people privacy, as I am doing with jbg. I will never release his information, but you have asked me to release some other person nickname, which might be linked to his real name, so I have done an example to make you understand why I wouldn't do it, otherwise I would have revealed jbg details already.

Remember that debunking a potential scammer is not an easy task, as you can see, and it requires a lot of time. All of this for 0 reward. I am still asking myself why I am doing this, and I think I have an exaggerated sense of justice, which I should start think about how to settle down :)

Again, how jbg handles this and the blame you're placing on jbg presumes the fact that you somehow feel that you are entitled to have jbg answer you.  I think that you think an awful lot of your "research" to think that this is somehow sinking a boat, but it's your research and you can place that amount of value on it if you like.  I'm not so sure it's that valuable at this point, where initially I was convinced there was some merit.
  
You also asked jbg to make 1.4 public and he has not been present due to the loss of an individual that was "close" to him according to a recent announcement in discord.  He only just came back to a few days ago and he's responded to your concern today.
  
I do not know of any promises that he made to you.  I have not see them.  Can you please show me screen shots of those as well?  But if he did not promise this then this presumes that he "owes" this to you as a response as well.  I'm not sure who you are, but as this conversation goes on I'm seeing more and more entitlement.  You're "asking for simple facts" but jbg doesn't owe you anything.  IF he was aware of your existence and DID promise this to you, which I will need to see then you are completely justified and do deserve a response to that.

Okay, I understand your source not wanting to use a name that may make them vulnerable and I respect you for not doing that.  Unless that person can provide evidence then that's not really something that should be pursued as it's an unjust smear.  Initially I commended your work in trying to expose a potential scammer.  It's an honorable and reward-less task, but like I said it's moving past that at this point and is getting a bit facetious and personal.  There's really no reason to NOT continue being objective and succinct without the unnecessary jabs.  They aren't lending any credit to you.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 02:38:46 PM
I don't give a shit.  
If you are comfortable blowing someone's spot based on the traces they've left on the web, that's up to you.  It's up to the individual to operate in a manner that allows for them to be private.  If he's left footprints and if you feel comfortable releasing his real name... I don't care.   But I don't see how that is of benefit as we can at least confront jbg by his screen-name and we are not afforded that same benefit of confrontation with your... I dunno... informant.
But I thought your original post was unbiased and informative.  It had a feel of genuinely pointing out concerns.  This most recent post has some passive aggression and presumptions about what makes a "genuine person" in the form of an ultimatum and a lot of very speculative input.  The tone has changed.  

I love to troll, it's a simple pleasure in my life and a horrible indictment of my character.  Your first post was a REALLY good example of how I would present something if I wanted to look distanced and like I was genuinely trying to help (but I was actually baiting someone)... but this most recent post is starting to reek of something more personal.  Like the bait wasn't substantial so you're "upping" your game .  Throwing subtle jabs here trying to goad someone into an emotional reaction... which we both know would result in you "winning" from a troll perspective.  

The other guy (Preshprince)'s post started in that manner.  Making claims without proof and such.  I peeped that game from the get go.  But now you're starting to head in that direction.  
So why do all this?  You said your piece initially, which informed the people.  They can make their decisions from that first post and decide whether JBG is genuine or not yeah?  You're attempting to set the precedent for what is and isn't acceptable now.  You aren't just providing your "findings" you're challenging character.  You're questioning semantics.  You're  hiding sources.  These are also questionable actions.

Edit:  Didn't nail preshprince's screen name.  Edited

I wouldn't say my post started in a troll manner, I went through the code and provided my findings, would you expect me to come across this in a positive tone when I'm convinced the community has been taken for a ride by jbg?

Also similar to gunners response, you've taken your own time to gather information and share it with the community, the response is a full blown shill attack and people trying to discredit you as a person, my mannerisms will vary person by person, if some one is attacking me do not expect a positive response, I'm not a robot..

My ways as a person are pretty simple, I enjoy helping people, I'll give even a stranger time of day if I can give value, but if some one gives me poor attitude they will get nothing but poor attitude back, I treat people the way I expect to be treated and expect the same back from people, start shilling, lying or trying to hurt innocent people and you'll see a different side of me, I have no desire to change this nature either, I find it fair.

A world full of sensitive people isn't a good one either, don't be so critical, blunt and to the point achieves more than burning time on emotions, if I was writing a thread on a mental health forum I would take a different tone, I don't expect emotional sensitivity from traders.

You've also said you get pleasures out of trolling, who are you to question any ones nature? Trolls are bottom dwellers and are good for nothing.

And if this is enough to discredit information and findings in today's world, I give up.

I would.  It was biased and goading and assumes a relatively sterile environment that presumes little or no familiarization as far as the code is concerned.  jbg came in on the middle of a project and was tasked with reviewing all of the code that preceeded his entry into the project.

Now it's true there are some zealots among the community that take any disparaging comment about the coin personally.  I don't understand that but... you know... whatever... People gunna do, I guess.  I don't care how you respond to them.  You being diplomatic is the least of my concerns on a fucking message board like BCT. 
 
I also have little concern for peoples' emotions and am not particularly sensitive myself... irl and online but especially online where verbal context isn't present.  But this is more about statements that you presented as fact but didn't have much anything to back those facts up except what you believe... but you presented those beliefs as "truth."

I do derive pleasure from trolling, but it has little to do with any of this and if it was an attempt to discredit me... I DID say it's a horrible indictment of my character, BUT it does put me in a unique position to spot possible troll tactics like trying to goad people into an online altercations in subtle fashion after appearing to be credible and diplomatic.  I'm not questioning nature.  I don't care about anyones' "nature" online.  I do care about intent.  And I do question intent when someone goes from someone seeming to have authority over a topic to someone taking caddy digs at another person.  Gunner's original post was well laid out and objective.  I'm simply saying that this most recent one takes multiple jabs at jbg personally and it caused me to rethink some of his original post that I commended initially.  I'm not saying there is ulterior motive... but I didn't question whether there WAS ulterior motives before and now I do.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Ponya on March 08, 2018, 02:41:08 PM
Do you have bounty program?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 08, 2018, 02:54:24 PM
I would.  It was biased and goading and assumes a relatively sterile environment that presumes little or no familiarization as far as the code is concerned.  jbg came in on the middle of a project and was tasked with reviewing all of the code that preceeded his entry into the project.

Now it's true there are some zealots among the community that take any disparaging comment about the coin personally.  I don't understand that but... you know... whatever... People gunna do, I guess.  I don't care how you respond to them.  You being diplomatic is the least of my concerns on a fucking message board like BCT. 
 
I also have little concern for peoples' emotions and am not particularly sensitive myself... irl and online but especially online where verbal context isn't present.  But this is more about statements that you presented as fact but didn't have much anything to back those facts up except what you believe... but you presented those beliefs as "truth."

I do derive pleasure from trolling, but it has little to do with any of this and if it was an attempt to discredit me... I DID say it's a horrible indictment of my character, BUT it does put me in a unique position to spot possible troll tactics like trying to goad people into an online altercations in subtle fashion after appearing to be credible and diplomatic.  I'm not questioning nature.  I don't care about anyones' "nature" online.  I do care about intent.  And I do question intent when someone goes from someone seeming to have authority over a topic to someone taking caddy digs at another person.  Gunner's original post was well laid out and objective.  I'm simply saying that this most recent one takes multiple jabs at jbg personally and it caused me to rethink some of his original post that I commended initially.  I'm not saying there is ulterior motive... but I didn't question whether there WAS ulterior motives before and now I do.

This is your view, you say I've provided no evidence but I've gone through the commits and shown examples where "big improvements" are nothing more than a few lines of code, in some cases less than that, others have reviewed and agreed with me, what more proof do you want? I've given examples rather than pure speculation.

You don't appear to get the point that jbg has been on board for 9 months, in the real world people jump on to projects much larger than this in size and have far far less time to understand the code base enough to bring value, imagine hiring some one who claims 15-20 years of experience and they can't bring value for 9+ months, where do we see value from jbg's work?

This isn't a personal attack on jbg, I don't know the guy and I don't care for XSPEC, the shilling on the forum and the talks about deadlines being missed on top of gunners findings made me go look at a coin I otherwise wouldn't of cared for.. simple as that.

You're obviously the one with bias views here, you're trying to defend it without adding much more than an attack on ones approach.

As for mentioning you're a troll to discredit you, you called yourself a troll, every one will have their own view on this and yes, I'll say it discredits you in my eyes, people with half a brain have better things to do than troll, try being helpful rather than an asshole.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: celtic99 on March 08, 2018, 02:58:50 PM
I would stay far away from this coin, too many shills for this coin. Smells scammy and looks like a pump and dump.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 08, 2018, 03:13:05 PM
I would.  It was biased and goading and assumes a relatively sterile environment that presumes little or no familiarization as far as the code is concerned.  jbg came in on the middle of a project and was tasked with reviewing all of the code that preceeded his entry into the project.

Now it's true there are some zealots among the community that take any disparaging comment about the coin personally.  I don't understand that but... you know... whatever... People gunna do, I guess.  I don't care how you respond to them.  You being diplomatic is the least of my concerns on a fucking message board like BCT. 
 
I also have little concern for peoples' emotions and am not particularly sensitive myself... irl and online but especially online where verbal context isn't present.  But this is more about statements that you presented as fact but didn't have much anything to back those facts up except what you believe... but you presented those beliefs as "truth."

I do derive pleasure from trolling, but it has little to do with any of this and if it was an attempt to discredit me... I DID say it's a horrible indictment of my character, BUT it does put me in a unique position to spot possible troll tactics like trying to goad people into an online altercations in subtle fashion after appearing to be credible and diplomatic.  I'm not questioning nature.  I don't care about anyones' "nature" online.  I do care about intent.  And I do question intent when someone goes from someone seeming to have authority over a topic to someone taking caddy digs at another person.  Gunner's original post was well laid out and objective.  I'm simply saying that this most recent one takes multiple jabs at jbg personally and it caused me to rethink some of his original post that I commended initially.  I'm not saying there is ulterior motive... but I didn't question whether there WAS ulterior motives before and now I do.

This is your view, you say I've provided no evidence but I've gone through the commits and shown examples where "big improvements" are nothing more than a few lines of code, in some cases less than that, others have reviewed and agreed with me, what more proof do you want? I've given examples rather than pure speculation.

You don't appear to get the point that jbg has been on board for 9 months, in the real world people jump on to projects much larger than this in size and have far far less time to understand the code base enough to bring value, imagine hiring some one who claims 15-20 years of experience and they can't bring value for 9+ months, where do we see value from jbg's work?

This isn't a personal attack on jbg, I don't know the guy and I don't care for XSPEC, the shilling on the forum and the talks about deadlines being missed on top of gunners findings made me go look at a coin I otherwise wouldn't of cared for.. simple as that.

You're obviously the one with bias views here, you're trying to defend it without adding much more than an attack on ones approach.

As for mentioning you're a troll to discredit you, you called yourself a troll, every one will have their own view on this and yes, I'll say it discredits you in my eyes, people with half a brain have better things to do than troll, try being helpful rather than an asshole.

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I believe you said Brycel "does not exist."  Perhaps I'm recalling a different post but I thought that was you.
 
And yes I'm sure devs do arrive on projects much larger in size, but more likely with more developers than one.  It's not like he was folded in.  He was thrust in after the other devs left if my understanding is correct.
I wouldn't call my views "biased" I'm just trying to be objective when reading the posts here and the further they move away from simple fact and start to deviate towards ad-hominem attacks the less credible they become in my eyes.  I'm not even defending the project or jbg.  I'm just seeing red flags in these posts that lead me to question their reason.  And "because I'm a white knight" sounds awesome as a primary objective in these posts I have to remind myself that this is the net and these are chat boxes.  We can say anything about ourselves yeah?  It doesn't really do much in the way of making a point.

As for this
Quote
As for mentioning you're a troll to discredit you, you called yourself a troll, every one will have their own view on this and yes, I'll say it discredits you in my eyes, people with half a brain have better things to do than troll, try being helpful rather than an asshole.

I did say I derive pleasure from trolling.  This is not a solitary defining characteristic of my being nor is it the only thing I derive pleasure from.  I do enjoy helping people as well... but again, we can say whatever we want and take it all with a grain of salt.  It seems to me that you are relying on what one may consider an "easy out" in terms of trying to make me not seem valid in questioning the intent of these posts.  But I was very open about being trollish and how it was applicable to the situation and why these posts give me reserve.  I feel like I'm being very neutral and non-incendiary when I point out these discrepancies that have lent ME some doubt as to pure motivations in these posts.  That's all.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Ponya on March 08, 2018, 03:17:35 PM
What about bounty?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 09, 2018, 02:40:53 AM
Again, how jbg handles this and the blame you're placing on jbg presumes the fact that you somehow feel that you are entitled to have jbg answer you.  I think that you think an awful lot of your "research" to think that this is somehow sinking a boat, but it's your research and you can place that amount of value on it if you like.  I'm not so sure it's that valuable at this point, where initially I was convinced there was some merit.
  
You also asked jbg to make 1.4 public and he has not been present due to the loss of an individual that was "close" to him according to a recent announcement in discord.  He only just came back to a few days ago and he's responded to your concern today.
  
I do not know of any promises that he made to you.  I have not see them.  Can you please show me screen shots of those as well?  But if he did not promise this then this presumes that he "owes" this to you as a response as well.  I'm not sure who you are, but as this conversation goes on I'm seeing more and more entitlement.  You're "asking for simple facts" but jbg doesn't owe you anything.  IF he was aware of your existence and DID promise this to you, which I will need to see then you are completely justified and do deserve a response to that.

Okay, I understand your source not wanting to use a name that may make them vulnerable and I respect you for not doing that.  Unless that person can provide evidence then that's not really something that should be pursued as it's an unjust smear.  Initially I commended your work in trying to expose a potential scammer.  It's an honorable and reward-less task, but like I said it's moving past that at this point and is getting a bit facetious and personal.  There's really no reason to NOT continue being objective and succinct without the unnecessary jabs.  They aren't lending any credit to you.

The reasons why I am asking him to put 1.4 code public are simple:
- it's a very simple action (2 seconds) who would prove what he says he's doing
- he promised it

Again, as his own set up and missed deadlines, he continuously promises things and then does not fulfill them.

Here's the screenshot (https://image.ibb.co/fALHhn/1_4_code_online.png)

This message is from end of January. We are the 9th of March, and it still hasn't happened. And now there is a new excuse why this hasn't happened, he says he has mixed up the code, after more than a month of his promise to put it publicly online the week after.

The truth is simple in my opinion: at that point in time he has done 0 work for 1.4, but he could say anything he wanted because his community just believes him without asking for proofs. And it took advantage for this continuously:
- his experience (proved)
- him working full time (obvious if you are a software developer and check the commit history)
- Bryce and his work (where is Bryce? where are his 6 months worth of development?)
- him saying he does not hold many coins

After a month and a half now, he hasn't done a simple thing that would have cleared up all of this.

And now I found out that he has an address connected with the donation address which has 233k coins received and it's connected with an address with 1M coins received, when he always said that he does not own much coins.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 09, 2018, 04:04:13 AM
Again, how jbg handles this and the blame you're placing on jbg presumes the fact that you somehow feel that you are entitled to have jbg answer you.  I think that you think an awful lot of your "research" to think that this is somehow sinking a boat, but it's your research and you can place that amount of value on it if you like.  I'm not so sure it's that valuable at this point, where initially I was convinced there was some merit.
  
You also asked jbg to make 1.4 public and he has not been present due to the loss of an individual that was "close" to him according to a recent announcement in discord.  He only just came back to a few days ago and he's responded to your concern today.
  
I do not know of any promises that he made to you.  I have not see them.  Can you please show me screen shots of those as well?  But if he did not promise this then this presumes that he "owes" this to you as a response as well.  I'm not sure who you are, but as this conversation goes on I'm seeing more and more entitlement.  You're "asking for simple facts" but jbg doesn't owe you anything.  IF he was aware of your existence and DID promise this to you, which I will need to see then you are completely justified and do deserve a response to that.

Okay, I understand your source not wanting to use a name that may make them vulnerable and I respect you for not doing that.  Unless that person can provide evidence then that's not really something that should be pursued as it's an unjust smear.  Initially I commended your work in trying to expose a potential scammer.  It's an honorable and reward-less task, but like I said it's moving past that at this point and is getting a bit facetious and personal.  There's really no reason to NOT continue being objective and succinct without the unnecessary jabs.  They aren't lending any credit to you.

The reasons why I am asking him to put 1.4 code public are simple:
- it's a very simple action (2 seconds) who would prove what he says he's doing
- he promised it

Again, as his own set up and missed deadlines, he continuously promises things and then does not fulfill them.

Here's the screenshot (https://image.ibb.co/fALHhn/1_4_code_online.png)

This message is from end of January. We are the 9th of March, and it still hasn't happened. And now there is a new excuse why this hasn't happened, he says he has mixed up the code, after more than a month of his promise to put it publicly online the week after.

The truth is simple in my opinion: at that point in time he has done 0 work for 1.4, but he could say anything he wanted because his community just believes him without asking for proofs. And it took advantage for this continuously:
- his experience (proved)
- him working full time (obvious if you are a software developer and check the commit history)
- Bryce and his work (where is Bryce? where are his 6 months worth of development?)
- him saying he does not hold many coins

After a month and a half now, he hasn't done a simple thing that would have cleared up all of this.

And now I found out that he has an address connected with the donation address which has 233k coins received and it's connected with an address holding 1M coins, when he always said that he does not own much coins.

I understand the reasons that you're asking for 1.4.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with asking.  They are good reasons to ask IMO.
But you're mistaking "promises" for "projected times of completion" and then you're not really "asking"  you're "demanding" because there is an expectation that you will receive an answer to your requests.  I cannot stress enough that these things aren't owed to you.  You made good points simply by posing the questions.  But you're evading the fact that this has become personal.   Because you've moved away from simple inquisition to personally challenging jbg's character I question that validity of your research.  You've stepped beyond "informing the community" into a realm that self prescribes importance beyond that of a concerned member of the crypto community.

jbg has shown repeatedly that he is not capable of setting realistic deadlines.  In this case an unexpected life event resulted in the delay.  Since he is the only coder... if he stops working the entire project is delayed.  Doubling or tripling his completion time (which is the common tactic used for projects) would have alleviated this problem all together and hopefully he'll learn from that mistake this time.  Piecing together a time-line of why he is late involves delving into his personal life which I think we both agree SHOULDN'T be on display.     But also jbg hasn't released commits from the beginning.  He's always released the entire package when he was finished with it

I don't understand what Brycel has to do with jbg.  If you have a problem with Brycel's work (which is the cryptographic portion of the code I believe) that is something you should take up with Brycel who was hired personally by Mandica and is not active in the community.  It's okay to be upset about that, or question that, but I don't think that is okay to hold over jbg.

I also don't understand what the problem is with an exchange holding that many coins nor do I see how an exchange address being tied to a wallet with 1M coins is relevant.  It seems normal to me that these things would be connected but this is a highly speculative correlation you are trying to make here IMO.

So if we remove the things that are speculative (addresses to exchanges being linked to wallets) and the things not expressly related to jbg (Brycels work) and the things that we aren't due since  it was Manidca that brought him on AND it delves into his personal life (proof of experience) THen we are left with one thing.

You want to see 1.4 right now even though he says it's not finished?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 09, 2018, 05:00:33 AM
Quote
I understand the reasons that you're asking for 1.4.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with asking.  They are good reasons to ask IMO.
But you're mistaking "promises" for "projected times of completion" and then you're not really "asking"  you're "demanding" because there is an expectation that you will receive an answer to your requests.  I cannot stress enough that these things aren't owed to you.  You made good points simply by posing the questions.  But you're evading the fact that this has become personal.   Because you've moved away from simple inquisition to personally challenging jbg's character I question that validity of your research.  You've stepped beyond "informing the community" into a realm that self prescribes importance beyond that of a concerned member of the crypto community.

Yes, because, as I already explained to you, now after more than a month my doubts are becoming certainty, and I will not go easy with a potential scammer. Again I cannot force anyone to answer me, but I am free to keep doing the questions as much as I like. Again, if you think I am not genuine and don't agree with my methods: I don't care. I am trying to debunk a potential scammer and it's not an easy task and I'll do it the way I think is right. I think you don't understand how difficult this thing is. jbg is reading all my moves online, I am open and public. And he's hiding everything and answers when he wants, can just say random words and everyone in the community believes them. I need to back up every single thing with facts.

An example:
- mid Feb says he's going to finish 1.4 in time
- he disappears for 10 days
- comes back early March and says he need 24h/48h to assess
- after more than 48h, he says release it's not imminent
- yesterday he makes an announcement and at the end says there will be an announcement for 1.4. An announcement of an announcement.

No one questioned him.

Would you believe me if I didn't keep the screenshots, which luckily I took a month ago? Of course you wouldn't.

Quote
jbg has shown repeatedly that he is not capable of setting realistic deadlines.  In this case an unexpected life event resulted in the delay.  Since he is the only coder... if he stops working the entire project is delayed.  Doubling or tripling his completion time (which is the common tactic used for projects) would have alleviated this problem all together and hopefully he'll learn from that mistake this time.  Piecing together a time-line of why he is late involves delving into his personal life which I think we both agree SHOULDN'T be on display.     But also jbg hasn't released commits from the beginning.  He's always released the entire package when he was finished with it

You can see it as he's a bad project manager, or that he's lying to people, so a potential scammer. I am more in favor of the latter.
The fact he has released the entire package when he has finished is just not true. It's something you heard around. The github history shows he worked incrementally the only time he worked, that is December / January. In all other months (Jun-Dec, Feb-Mar, 7 months!) there is not tangible work, a part of a week or so in September.

Quote
I don't understand what Brycel has to do with jbg.  If you have a problem with Brycel's work (which is the cryptographic portion of the code I believe) that is something you should take up with Brycel who was hired personally by Mandica and is not active in the community.  It's okay to be upset about that, or question that, but I don't think that is okay to hold over jbg.

My point is that jbg made Bryce(l) up. There is no Bryce(l) which I can contact. The only proof for this is to see his 6 months worth of software development, anything else is pointless discussion. Anyone genuine would try to shed some light, jbg is not.

Quote
I also don't understand what the problem is with an exchange holding that many coins nor do I see how an exchange address being tied to a wallet with 1M coins is relevant.  It seems normal to me that these things would be connected but this is a highly speculative correlation you are trying to make here IMO.

A scammer would have many coins, would keep saying BS to people, and then would dump their coins. Big addresses are moving now and there are whales dumping already. Make your self some questions.

Quote
You want to see 1.4 right now even though he says it's not finished?

Of course. He has done so already during December/January. Just look at the commits in github. This will prove also again that he's not working full time as he says. Ask your self why he hasn't done an action which takes 2 seconds after a month and a half after promising it.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 09, 2018, 08:10:01 AM
Can't fault what gunner is saying here.
The word promise may be strong, but let's look at it like this,

As a project that holds investors, if you say something is coming on a date, it is an expectation, asking the question is not a demand, saying he's failed to meet his own words is not a demand, outside of crypto if you were invested in a project and the developer told you something is coming on a date, you would expect this to be true, if he fails you'll want to see proof or reason as to why he has failed.

So in this scenario, he has made claims about the the release of 1.4, he's failed to meet these claims so now gunner is asking him to put up the work done to prove work is actually being done.

To give an example, if I invested in a developer who was building a block of units, he said the foundation would be set by a given date and this failed to happen due to say an issue with a builder, the investor would ask for evidence of this, and also ask for evidence of what's being done to resolve.

Without any evidence the investor would typically pull out of threaten to do so first.

How is this any different? people are investing in to this coin and he's not doing his part as the developer.

The proof is there in the screenshot, and we can see how people react to false deadlines just by looking at the price of XSPEC.

Aside from his communications with gunner, he's also told the entire community that it would be here in Feb.

Can I just give you some advice also, you care about this coin, you dislike people seeing this thread, if you're going to keep bumping it up you have to do better than this, all you're doing is giving it more visibility while being constantly beat in your comments, you are hurting the 1 thing you're trying to save ;)

Good work gunner, keep it up mate :)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 09, 2018, 09:24:01 AM
Can't fault what gunner is saying here.
The word promise may be strong, but let's look at it like this,

As a project that holds investors, if you say something is coming on a date, it is an expectation, asking the question is not a demand, saying he's failed to meet his own words is not a demand, outside of crypto if you were invested in a project and the developer told you something is coming on a date, you would expect this to be true, if he fails you'll want to see proof or reason as to why he has failed.

So in this scenario, he has made claims about the the release of 1.4, he's failed to meet these claims so now gunner is asking him to put up the work done to prove work is actually being done.

To give an example, if I invested in a developer who was building a block of units, he said the foundation would be set by a given date and this failed to happen due to say an issue with a builder, the investor would ask for evidence of this, and also ask for evidence of what's being done to resolve.

Without any evidence the investor would typically pull out of threaten to do so first.

How is this any different? people are investing in to this coin and he's not doing his part as the developer.

The proof is there in the screenshot, and we can see how people react to false deadlines just by looking at the price of XSPEC.

Aside from his communications with gunner, he's also told the entire community that it would be here in Feb.

Can I just give you some advice also, you care about this coin, you dislike people seeing this thread, if you're going to keep bumping it up you have to do better than this, all you're doing is giving it more visibility while being constantly beat in your comments, you are hurting the 1 thing you're trying to save ;)

Good work gunner, keep it up mate :)

You are sadly mistaken if you think I'm attempting to "save" a coin or am emotionally invested in a dataset.  This is not an issue of "care."  This is an issue that deserves visability so I'm in full promotion of bumping this to the top.  My inquieries are not something to "beat."  I see that you think that this is some sort of gladiatorial battle that you are "winning" which is why you attempted to turn my words against me in some desperate attempt to discredit me when I am just posing questions and concerns to gunner.  Questions are not really something to discredit.  You either answer them or don't.  I'm not making any claims.  As I stated before I found your post particularly biased and non-objective highlighting incomplete "research" to skew information.  jbg has said that "lines of code" are not a good benchmark to determine the amount of time dedicated to producing a product. 

I can't fault Gunner for badgering or harassing.  That's his prerogative an if he can't suffer a potential scammer lightly and thinks this will be an effective method of drawing them out... then that's cool by me.  I'd personally prefer that he kept his argument succinct and within the bounds of provable fact.  Having said that I do think that he's being or trying to be genuine.
 
BUT statements like "Brycel is made up by jbg"  Yes, I CAN fault gunner for those.  He is making an assertion by saying that.  This is a belief.  Not a fact.  Until he can prove this belief it's a fact... This is unreasonable FUD.
It's not a matter of whether or not I believe him.  This is a matter of proof and evidence is necessary.  Is it a possibility that Brycel is a fabricated entitiy?  Sure.  But saying that he is without proof is not only speculative, but negligent.
Also continuing to equate lines of code with actual invested time SEEMS to be ignoring the other responsibilities that jbg has that he stated have been time consuming for him. 
@ gunner You aren't seeing enough commits for your liking so you think this is a scam.  That's a fair statement.  And this is clearly of interest to you as you apparently made a new account to address this situation.  I'd encourage you to continue with your assessment but refrain from overstepping into statements like the above that you haven't or can't back up.
I wouldn't still be questioning your intentions if you hadn't made your assertions  personal  and made backless statements presented as truth.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 09, 2018, 10:04:36 AM
You are sadly mistaken if you think I'm attempting to "save" a coin or am emotionally invested in a dataset.  This is not an issue of "care."  This is an issue that deserves visability so I'm in full promotion of bumping this to the top.  My inquieries are not something to "beat."  I see that you think that this is some sort of gladiatorial battle that you are "winning" which is why you attempted to turn my words against me in some desperate attempt to discredit me when I am just posing questions and concerns to gunner.  Questions are not really something to discredit.  You either answer them or don't.  I'm not making any claims.  As I stated before I found your post particularly biased and non-objective highlighting incomplete "research" to skew information.  jbg has said that "lines of code" are not a good benchmark to determine the amount of time dedicated to producing a product. 

I can't fault Gunner for badgering or harassing.  That's his prerogative an if he can't suffer a potential scammer lightly and thinks this will be an effective method of drawing them out... then that's cool by me.  I'd personally prefer that he kept his argument succinct and within the bounds of provable fact.  Having said that I do think that he's being or trying to be genuine.
 
BUT statements like "Brycel is made up by jbg"  Yes, I CAN fault gunner for those.  He is making an assertion by saying that.  This is a belief.  Not a fact.  Until he can prove this belief it's a fact... This is unreasonable FUD.
It's not a matter of whether or not I believe him.  This is a matter of proof and evidence is necessary.  Is it a possibility that Brycel is a fabricated entitiy?  Sure.  But saying that he is without proof is not only speculative, but negligent.
Also continuing to equate lines of code with actual invested time SEEMS to be ignoring the other responsibilities that jbg has that he stated have been time consuming for him. 
@ gunner You aren't seeing enough commits for your liking so you think this is a scam.  That's a fair statement.  And this is clearly of interest to you as you apparently made a new account to address this situation.  I'd encourage you to continue with your assessment but refrain from overstepping into statements like the above that you haven't or can't back up.
I wouldn't still be questioning your intentions if you hadn't made your assertions  personal  and made backless statements presented as truth.

I would probably do what you say for someone who is not a proven liar. jbg has been proved to lie about his experience, my question is now how many other things has he lied on?

So I checked all the claims he made which are in my opinion doubtful.

The claims are:
- he worked as software developer
- not only that, but he's also an experienced software developer
- he's working full time on XSPEC
- he's working with another +20 years experience developer
- the other developer has been working for 6 months
- he does not owns much coins
- he's working on 1.4
- he's releasing 1.4 with all the features he said he's going to include
- he's releasing 1.4 at the time he said
- he's uploading the code publicly on github
- the work he has done is enough to justify 9 months of development
- he's not rewarded by XSPEC

I probably forgot some, anyway some of these are difficult to prove if jbg does not help, and he decided not to help for long, now he comes to answers what he wants and then disappears again. You can read my previous posts to find clues of why I think most of these are false, and some of them are already proven to be false.

That's why an investment in XSPEC is all based on jbg trust, and you are perfectly aware of this. And that's also why I am challenging what he says.

If I only have to base my opinion on facts, which do not comprehend jbg claims, this is a 100% scam because:
- he is a proven liar
- no one is working on the codebase. Out of 9 months, there are only 2 months of activity of 1 developer.

This is a much simpler discussion, but since there are still many people listening to him, it's far more interesting to check what a proven liar is claiming and then people around him believing without a single question.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 09, 2018, 10:34:02 AM
You are sadly mistaken if you think I'm attempting to "save" a coin or am emotionally invested in a dataset.  This is not an issue of "care."  This is an issue that deserves visability so I'm in full promotion of bumping this to the top.  My inquieries are not something to "beat."  I see that you think that this is some sort of gladiatorial battle that you are "winning" which is why you attempted to turn my words against me in some desperate attempt to discredit me when I am just posing questions and concerns to gunner.  Questions are not really something to discredit.  You either answer them or don't.  I'm not making any claims.  As I stated before I found your post particularly biased and non-objective highlighting incomplete "research" to skew information.  jbg has said that "lines of code" are not a good benchmark to determine the amount of time dedicated to producing a product. 

I can't fault Gunner for badgering or harassing.  That's his prerogative an if he can't suffer a potential scammer lightly and thinks this will be an effective method of drawing them out... then that's cool by me.  I'd personally prefer that he kept his argument succinct and within the bounds of provable fact.  Having said that I do think that he's being or trying to be genuine.
 
BUT statements like "Brycel is made up by jbg"  Yes, I CAN fault gunner for those.  He is making an assertion by saying that.  This is a belief.  Not a fact.  Until he can prove this belief it's a fact... This is unreasonable FUD.
It's not a matter of whether or not I believe him.  This is a matter of proof and evidence is necessary.  Is it a possibility that Brycel is a fabricated entitiy?  Sure.  But saying that he is without proof is not only speculative, but negligent.
Also continuing to equate lines of code with actual invested time SEEMS to be ignoring the other responsibilities that jbg has that he stated have been time consuming for him. 
@ gunner You aren't seeing enough commits for your liking so you think this is a scam.  That's a fair statement.  And this is clearly of interest to you as you apparently made a new account to address this situation.  I'd encourage you to continue with your assessment but refrain from overstepping into statements like the above that you haven't or can't back up.
I wouldn't still be questioning your intentions if you hadn't made your assertions  personal  and made backless statements presented as truth.

I would probably do what you say for someone who is not a proven liar. jbg has been proved to lie about his experience, my question is now how many other things has he lied on?

So I checked all the claims he made which are in my opinion doubtful.

The claims are:
- he worked as software developer
- not only that, but he's also an experienced software developer
- he's working full time on XSPEC
- he's working with another +20 years experience developer
- the other developer has been working for 6 months
- he does not owns much coins
- he's working on 1.4
- he's releasing 1.4 with all the features he said he's going to include
- he's releasing 1.4 at the time he said
- he's uploading the code publicly on github
- the work he has done is enough to justify 9 months of development
- he's not rewarded by XSPEC

I probably forgot some, anyway some of these are difficult to prove if jbg does not help, and he decided not to help for long, now he comes to answers what he wants and then disappears again. You can read my previous posts to find clues of why I think most of these are false, and some of them are already proven to be false.

That's why an investment in XSPEC is all based on jbg trust, and you are perfectly aware of this. And that's also why I am challenging what he says.

If I only have to base my opinion on facts, which do not comprehend jbg claims, this is a 100% scam because:
- he is a proven liar
- no one is working on the codebase. Out of 9 months, there are only 2 months of activity of 1 developer.

This is a much simpler discussion, but since there are still many people listening to him, it's far more interesting to check what a proven liar is claiming and then people around him believing without a single question.

He did admit that he lied, yes.  And I don't know the difference between someone has coded for 15 years and someone who has coded for 20.  20 certainly sounds better but in terms of what a 20 year would be capable of in comparison I'm not sure. 
I think all of those statements that you posted would be lovely to know.  Even with help from jbg though I don't know that it will prove anything.  once a liar in the eyes of people, always a liar right?  The only way any of this could possibly come to a head is that he show work on 1.4 and then 2.0 after that.    The other stuff would require him to expose himself or would be questionable as he can say it... but not really prove it.
I agree.  This does require an enormous amount of trust.  And I think it's fine to challenge what he says.  Do that.  By all means challenge what he says but understand that there really isn't an answer that he can give that can be trusted, by you, or that wouldn't compromise him. 
He's slow as shit.
It's frustrating that he is operating as every available position within spectrecoin because he's the only "recognized" individual associated with it.  From what I can tell... he just wants to code. 
I think it's wise to challenge what he says... but not by generalizing his character on a solitary action.  Not with baseless FUD.   Like I said before... I Troll.  I'm not ONLY a Troll.   He's lied... but that doesn't necessarily make him ONLY a liar.  At least he fesses up.  Habitual liars usually stack lies upon lies and he came clean off the bat. 
Also, would making smaller commits over a period of time be better?  I'm not sure how that works.  Is it just to show work or so code can be reviewed as its completed?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 09, 2018, 10:41:54 AM
You are sadly mistaken if you think I'm attempting to "save" a coin or am emotionally invested in a dataset.  This is not an issue of "care."  This is an issue that deserves visability so I'm in full promotion of bumping this to the top.  My inquieries are not something to "beat."  I see that you think that this is some sort of gladiatorial battle that you are "winning" which is why you attempted to turn my words against me in some desperate attempt to discredit me when I am just posing questions and concerns to gunner.  Questions are not really something to discredit.  You either answer them or don't.  I'm not making any claims.  As I stated before I found your post particularly biased and non-objective highlighting incomplete "research" to skew information.  jbg has said that "lines of code" are not a good benchmark to determine the amount of time dedicated to producing a product. 

I can't fault Gunner for badgering or harassing.  That's his prerogative an if he can't suffer a potential scammer lightly and thinks this will be an effective method of drawing them out... then that's cool by me.  I'd personally prefer that he kept his argument succinct and within the bounds of provable fact.  Having said that I do think that he's being or trying to be genuine.
 
BUT statements like "Brycel is made up by jbg"  Yes, I CAN fault gunner for those.  He is making an assertion by saying that.  This is a belief.  Not a fact.  Until he can prove this belief it's a fact... This is unreasonable FUD.
It's not a matter of whether or not I believe him.  This is a matter of proof and evidence is necessary.  Is it a possibility that Brycel is a fabricated entitiy?  Sure.  But saying that he is without proof is not only speculative, but negligent.
Also continuing to equate lines of code with actual invested time SEEMS to be ignoring the other responsibilities that jbg has that he stated have been time consuming for him. 
@ gunner You aren't seeing enough commits for your liking so you think this is a scam.  That's a fair statement.  And this is clearly of interest to you as you apparently made a new account to address this situation.  I'd encourage you to continue with your assessment but refrain from overstepping into statements like the above that you haven't or can't back up.
I wouldn't still be questioning your intentions if you hadn't made your assertions  personal  and made backless statements presented as truth.

Still no good argument here, all I see is some guy who thinks he is good at putting a psychological spin on everything, you're pretty poor at it too, but A+ for confidence.
You have XSPEC in your signature, you're telling me you don't have an investment in this coin?

Also you like throwing around the word discredit, there's nothing to discredit here, you provide no good argument.
Also as for Brycel, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Trying to say prove it to something which the counter itself hasn't been proven is pointless.
Shall we discuss if unicorns exist while we're at it? I would like for you to prove to me that they don't ;)


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 09, 2018, 10:49:54 AM
He did admit that he lied, yes.  And I don't know the difference between someone has coded for 15 years and someone who has coded for 20.  20 certainly sounds better but in terms of what a 20 year would be capable of in comparison I'm not sure.
Remember that also 15 years is a claim. I have done some more research and I am really doubtful he has 15 years of commercial development experience. You can find my research in my previous posts.

Quote
I think all of those statements that you posted would be lovely to know.  Even with help from jbg though I don't know that it will prove anything.  once a liar in the eyes of people, always a liar right?  The only way any of this could possibly come to a head is that he show work on 1.4 and then 2.0 after that.    The other stuff would require him to expose himself or would be questionable as he can say it... but not really prove it.

Totally agree, and that's why today, 9th of March, with 1.4 code still hidden, after claimed it would have been made public at the end of January, there is a very big red alert for me.

Quote
I agree.  This does require an enormous amount of trust.  And I think it's fine to challenge what he says.  Do that.  By all means challenge what he says but understand that there really isn't an answer that he can give that can be trusted, by you, or that wouldn't compromise him.  
He's slow as shit.
It's frustrating that he is operating as every available position within spectrecoin because he's the only "recognized" individual associated with it.  From what I can tell... he just wants to code.  
I think it's wise to challenge what he says... but not by generalizing his character on a solitary action.  Not with baseless FUD.   Like I said before... I Troll.  I'm not ONLY a Troll.   He's lied... but that doesn't necessarily make him ONLY a liar.  At least he fesses up.  Habitual liars usually stack lies upon lies and he came clean off the bat.

He fessed up because I brought strong proofs, do you think he would have done it otherwise?

Quote
Also, would making smaller commits over a period of time be better?  I'm not sure how that works.  Is it just to show work or so code can be reviewed as its completed?

It should just be public, so you can actually check that work has been done. You can commit whenever you like to commit, there are guidances, but you can do whatever you want. As long as we can check the commits, and the work done in the commits. We can't check the commits for 1.4, jbg said they would have been made public end of January, now we are in March and he comes up with an excuse to still keep them private. It smells so dodgy man.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 09, 2018, 11:30:14 AM
You are sadly mistaken if you think I'm attempting to "save" a coin or am emotionally invested in a dataset.  This is not an issue of "care."  This is an issue that deserves visability so I'm in full promotion of bumping this to the top.  My inquieries are not something to "beat."  I see that you think that this is some sort of gladiatorial battle that you are "winning" which is why you attempted to turn my words against me in some desperate attempt to discredit me when I am just posing questions and concerns to gunner.  Questions are not really something to discredit.  You either answer them or don't.  I'm not making any claims.  As I stated before I found your post particularly biased and non-objective highlighting incomplete "research" to skew information.  jbg has said that "lines of code" are not a good benchmark to determine the amount of time dedicated to producing a product. 

I can't fault Gunner for badgering or harassing.  That's his prerogative an if he can't suffer a potential scammer lightly and thinks this will be an effective method of drawing them out... then that's cool by me.  I'd personally prefer that he kept his argument succinct and within the bounds of provable fact.  Having said that I do think that he's being or trying to be genuine.
 
BUT statements like "Brycel is made up by jbg"  Yes, I CAN fault gunner for those.  He is making an assertion by saying that.  This is a belief.  Not a fact.  Until he can prove this belief it's a fact... This is unreasonable FUD.
It's not a matter of whether or not I believe him.  This is a matter of proof and evidence is necessary.  Is it a possibility that Brycel is a fabricated entitiy?  Sure.  But saying that he is without proof is not only speculative, but negligent.
Also continuing to equate lines of code with actual invested time SEEMS to be ignoring the other responsibilities that jbg has that he stated have been time consuming for him. 
@ gunner You aren't seeing enough commits for your liking so you think this is a scam.  That's a fair statement.  And this is clearly of interest to you as you apparently made a new account to address this situation.  I'd encourage you to continue with your assessment but refrain from overstepping into statements like the above that you haven't or can't back up.
I wouldn't still be questioning your intentions if you hadn't made your assertions  personal  and made backless statements presented as truth.

Still no good argument here, all I see is some guy who thinks he is good at putting a psychological spin on everything, you're pretty poor at it too, but A+ for confidence.
You have XSPEC in your signature, you're telling me you don't have an investment in this coin?

Also you like throwing around the word discredit, there's nothing to discredit here, you provide no good argument.
Also as for Brycel, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Trying to say prove it to something which the counter itself hasn't been proven is pointless.
Shall we discuss if unicorns exist while we're at it? I would like for you to prove to me that they don't ;)

Again, I'm not sure why you are attacking me.  I'm not arguing.  I'm questioning.  Sorry I didn't like you're post if that's what you are being aggressive about. 
I'm not saying I don't have some money in xspec. I do.  Money and time.  I like the community. But I don't have any emotion involved in it as a coin.  It's just data.  I don't have a feeling one way or the other and I didn't invest what I couldn't afford to lose. 
I like what Gunner is doing.  I think it's important to hold people accountable. 
The burden of proof is on the person making the assertion
I'm not making assertions here and you're not contributing anything to my inquiries.   
If it can't be proven it shouldn't be asserted.  I think Gunner understands that.
Maybe you've had to many people attack you directly because of your post.  I'd apologize for the zealots, but that's their job.  I don't encourage that.  As a result I think that you think my posts are something they aren't and if I wanted to deal with people like you I'd just hop over to 4chan where at least they are witty.  So as a courtesy, I'm informing you that I'm going to just communicate with Gunner from this point forth.  I hope your day gets better.


@Gunner... yes that's true 15 years is a claim.  Mandica is the only person who has met jbg.  I wonder how they feel about these claims and jbg's abilities since it was the project lead that brought them on according to them.

If the 1.4 code hadn't had the delay.  Would this issue be resolved or would it be resolved with the release of 1.4?  Because it's still late.  Would that amount of delay still render this situations a "scam?"

I have no way of knowing if he would have fessed up as I've never met the individual.  I suppose he could have denied that the jbg you presented to him was him.  I'm surprised he didn't honestly. 

So you think that 1.4 is NOT going to come out?  That's what you're saying?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 09, 2018, 11:52:01 AM
@Gunner... yes that's true 15 years is a claim.  Mandica is the only person who has met jbg.  I wonder how they feel about these claims and jbg's abilities since it was the project lead that brought them on according to them.

Mandica has replied to the other thread, but not this one. And she was mainly trying to discredit preshpr1nce, not much responding to questions. But again we would need to trust Mandica's claims, a person who probably has a lot of coins (as jbg stated too) and so interests on one side of the truth.

Quote
If the 1.4 code hadn't had the delay.  Would this issue be resolved or would it be resolved with the release of 1.4?  Because it's still late.  Would that amount of delay still render this situations a "scam?"

I have no way of knowing if he would have fessed up as I've never met the individual.  I suppose he could have denied that the jbg you presented to him was him.  I'm surprised he didn't honestly.  

So you think that 1.4 is NOT going to come out?  That's what you're saying?

I am waiting to see the 1.4 code to decide, I don't care much about the release, although is worrying that is late.
I would like to see the amount of work done in 1.4, to prove 7 months of development which is missing from github (Jun-Dec, Feb-Mar), and so to prove jbg claim that he's working full time.

If that happens, I am very happy to shut the fuck up and, maybe, also buy some XSPECs.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 09, 2018, 12:00:08 PM
Again, I'm not sure why you are attacking me.  I'm not arguing.  I'm questioning.  Sorry I didn't like you're post if that's what you are being aggressive about. 
I'm not saying I don't have some money in xspec. I do.  Money and time.  I like the community. But I don't have any emotion involved in it as a coin.  It's just data.  I don't have a feeling one way or the other and I didn't invest what I couldn't afford to lose. 
I like what Gunner is doing.  I think it's important to hold people accountable. 
The burden of proof is on the person making the assertion
I'm not making assertions here and you're not contributing anything to my inquiries.   
If it can't be proven it shouldn't be asserted.  I think Gunner understands that.
Maybe you've had to many people attack you directly because of your post.  I'd apologize for the zealots, but that's their job.  I don't encourage that.  As a result I think that you think my posts are something they aren't and if I wanted to deal with people like you I'd just hop over to 4chan where at least they are witty.  So as a courtesy, I'm informing you that I'm going to just communicate with Gunner from this point forth.  I hope your day gets better.


@Gunner... yes that's true 15 years is a claim.  Mandica is the only person who has met jbg.  I wonder how they feel about these claims and jbg's abilities since it was the project lead that brought them on according to them.

If the 1.4 code hadn't had the delay.  Would this issue be resolved or would it be resolved with the release of 1.4?  Because it's still late.  Would that amount of delay still render this situations a "scam?"

I have no way of knowing if he would have fessed up as I've never met the individual.  I suppose he could have denied that the jbg you presented to him was him.  I'm surprised he didn't honestly. 


So you think that 1.4 is NOT going to come out?  That's what you're saying?

More psychological spin! My replies aren't emotional, just pointing out what you're doing.
Why keep bringing it back to 1.4? why not focus on jbgs lies and lack of work to date?

The guy is 29 years old, even 15 years is bs, playing with code in your teens is not commercial experience, and yes this matters, working 40+ hours a week with deadlines for an entire year alone has far more value than playing with code for fun after school, he first claimed 20+ years and told one member 25 years, was he coding at the age of 4?

He also owned and worked in a bar, not something you would do along side full time software development. He has clearly lied here, it's not a minor exaggeration, it's a full on lie.

And you do have an agenda here, it shows by your approach, you keep diverting from the main issue and focusing on 1.4, the smallest point raised here and the one thing no one can prove as of yet, other than the fact he's given false deadlines etc.

As for your comments about Mandica being the only one who's met him, read the bold part in your above quote, due to this we don't need to meet the guy to conclude what I've said above.

Calling you what you are is not an attack, just an observation + the lack of care to be a nice guy towards shills.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: trainasauruswrecks on March 09, 2018, 01:12:39 PM
@Gunner... yes that's true 15 years is a claim.  Mandica is the only person who has met jbg.  I wonder how they feel about these claims and jbg's abilities since it was the project lead that brought them on according to them.

Mandica has replied to the other thread, but not this one. And she was mainly trying to discredit preshpr1nce, not much responding to questions. But again we would need to trust Mandica's claims, a person who probably has a lot of coins (as jbg stated too) and so interests on one side of the truth.

Quote
If the 1.4 code hadn't had the delay.  Would this issue be resolved or would it be resolved with the release of 1.4?  Because it's still late.  Would that amount of delay still render this situations a "scam?"

I have no way of knowing if he would have fessed up as I've never met the individual.  I suppose he could have denied that the jbg you presented to him was him.  I'm surprised he didn't honestly.  

So you think that 1.4 is NOT going to come out?  That's what you're saying?

I am waiting to see the 1.4 code to decide, I don't care much about the release, although is worrying that is late.
I would like to see the amount of work done in 1.4, to prove 7 months of development which is missing from github (Jun-Dec, Feb-Mar), and so to prove jbg claim that he's working full time.

If that happens, I am very happy to shut the fuck up and, maybe, also buy some XSPECs.

I'd hope that you'd continue to be vigilant for everyone's sake.  As I said before I think checks and balances of this nature are necessary and a lot of us cannot decipher code and need to be informed of concerns like this.  BUT because I cannot decipher code I also have to be careful when considering the points that you're making which is why I questioned intent with the change of tone.  There is benefit to spreading false information on both sides of the code base and when I'm reading accusations I want as little emotion as possible and as much tangible fact as possible to make the most informed decisions.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 09, 2018, 01:35:34 PM
@Gunner... yes that's true 15 years is a claim.  Mandica is the only person who has met jbg.  I wonder how they feel about these claims and jbg's abilities since it was the project lead that brought them on according to them.

Mandica has replied to the other thread, but not this one. And she was mainly trying to discredit preshpr1nce, not much responding to questions. But again we would need to trust Mandica's claims, a person who probably has a lot of coins (as jbg stated too) and so interests on one side of the truth.

Quote
If the 1.4 code hadn't had the delay.  Would this issue be resolved or would it be resolved with the release of 1.4?  Because it's still late.  Would that amount of delay still render this situations a "scam?"

I have no way of knowing if he would have fessed up as I've never met the individual.  I suppose he could have denied that the jbg you presented to him was him.  I'm surprised he didn't honestly.  

So you think that 1.4 is NOT going to come out?  That's what you're saying?

I am waiting to see the 1.4 code to decide, I don't care much about the release, although is worrying that is late.
I would like to see the amount of work done in 1.4, to prove 7 months of development which is missing from github (Jun-Dec, Feb-Mar), and so to prove jbg claim that he's working full time.

If that happens, I am very happy to shut the fuck up and, maybe, also buy some XSPECs.

I'd hope that you'd continue to be vigilant for everyone's sake.  As I said before I think checks and balances of this nature are necessary and a lot of us cannot decipher code and need to be informed of concerns like this.  BUT because I cannot decipher code I also have to be careful when considering the points that you're making which is why I questioned intent with the change of tone.  There is benefit to spreading false information on both sides of the code base and when I'm reading accusations I want as little emotion as possible and as much tangible fact as possible to make the most informed decisions.

Don't be worried, I will :)

But if you don't want to trust me, find a experienced developer friend and ask him to asses the XSPEC github repository. This way you don't need to trust me.

Anyway, I am doing an in depth research of all the donation address transactions. The results I have seen so far are pretty worrying. Will share as soon as I have everything well written.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: uniball on March 09, 2018, 07:25:04 PM
@cuntner833 get over your self-indulgent prick self. You sound like a whiny little titty baby. "Boohoo boohoo... Gimme gimme gimme gimme... Look at me look at me." Shut the fuck up. No one owes you shit. This is crypto. Get over it.

This thread is sounding more and more of a Tinder hook up for you and Precious Princess. Do everyone a favor and go fuck yourselves.

"The results I have seen so far are pretty worrying."... Fucking millennials.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: preshpr1nce on March 09, 2018, 10:50:23 PM
@cuntner833 get over your self-indulgent prick self. You sound like a whiny little titty baby. "Boohoo boohoo... Gimme gimme gimme gimme... Look at me look at me." Shut the fuck up. No one owes you shit. This is crypto. Get over it.

This thread is sounding more and more of a Tinder hook up for you and Precious Princess. Do everyone a favor and go fuck yourselves.

"The results I have seen so far are pretty worrying."... Fucking millennials.

I would be upset too if I only had one ball :D


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: uniball on March 10, 2018, 12:18:05 AM
@cuntner833 get over your self-indulgent prick self. You sound like a whiny little titty baby. "Boohoo boohoo... Gimme gimme gimme gimme... Look at me look at me." Shut the fuck up. No one owes you shit. This is crypto. Get over it.

This thread is sounding more and more of a Tinder hook up for you and Precious Princess. Do everyone a favor and go fuck yourselves.

"The results I have seen so far are pretty worrying."... Fucking millennials.

I would be upset too if I only had one ball :D

Duh...nice observation. Where did you get your degree? Nice Observation University with a Specialization in sucking that Gunner dick? Idiot.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 10, 2018, 09:14:47 AM
thanks for bumping the thread


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Charlz124 on March 10, 2018, 09:02:20 PM
Thank you for the information. Very useful to read . A lot of people who want to cheat. Good thing there's a place like this, bitcointalk.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Noelnada on March 10, 2018, 09:41:03 PM
Well, Xspec seemed like a reasonably good cryptocurrency but it's listed only on Cryptopia so it's risky in my opinion. It might go somewhere if the developers team expands itself and the community do something to get it listed on a bigger exchange.

I have been following closely DeepOnion during the last months, they also come from a very small dev team but they expanded over time and upgraded the wallet constantly, bringing innovative features like DeepVault in the process (allowing to register digital files on the blockchain). Now they are ready to bring Stealth Address to DeepOnion, check it here if you want to know more about the subject : https://deeponion.org/community/threads/stealth-addresses-coming-to-deeponion-number-one-privacy-coin.29704/

I am not here to say XSPEC is bad and has no future, all I am saying is that when there is a will and a community, there is always possibilities to recruit developers and work hard to improve the crypto projects. Maybe there is hope.





Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 26, 2018, 10:23:15 AM
A little update for this wonderful drama:

- 1.4 is one month late, but TWO MONTHS have passed now since jbg said he would have published 1.4 code for everyone to see. This is still not done. After the ridiculous excuse of mixing up 1.4 code with stealth staking code, then the excuse he is working on project restructuring first, he now has the excuse of coin rebrand. Remember that publish some code on github takes 2 seconds.
- I love that jbg says development needs to be more public, when he is the only one holding this off, and achieving this takes 2 seconds.
- Mandica, the founder of XSPEC, never met or talked to Bryce, all interactions (communication and money, if he exists, but now it's clear he does not) happened through jbg.
- Mandica has no idea of what stealth staking is.
- one of the reason for the fork is that jbg did not show his work to Mandica either (and presumably not even to any of the other community members!). Seems that Mandica is in agreement with me when I say he is not working full-time and he has not been working much (or at all) on 1.4. Just another lie from jbg.

On the other hand, everyone has been pretty good at producing announcements. Unfortunately they cannot be translated to code :D

Anyway I am still surprised about how many people still follow the BS and lies jbg says. Some people understood it though, but the others are going to find out the hard way.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: xlcus on March 26, 2018, 12:28:26 PM
A little update for this wonderful drama:

- 1.4 is one month late, but TWO MONTHS have passed now since jbg said he would have published 1.4 code for everyone to see. This is still not done. After the ridiculous excuse of mixing up 1.4 code with stealth staking code, then the excuse he is working on project restructuring first, he now has the excuse of coin rebrand. Remember that publish some code on github takes 2 seconds.
- I love that jbg says development needs to be more public, when he is the only one holding this off, and achieving this takes 2 seconds.
- Mandica, the founder of XSPEC, never met or talked to Bryce, all interactions (communication and money, if he exists, but now it's clear he does not) happened through jbg.
- Mandica has no idea of what stealth staking is.
- one of the reason for the fork is that jbg did not show his work to Mandica either (and presumably not even to any of the other community members!). Seems that Mandica is in agreement with me when I say he is not working full-time and he has not been working much (or at all) on 1.4. Just another lie from jbg.

On the other hand, everyone has been pretty good at producing announcements. Unfortunately they cannot be translated to code :D

Anyway I am still surprised about how many people still follow the BS and lies jbg says. Some people understood it though, but the others are going to find out the hard way.

The key problem is not only the jbg. The present problem is the dev team has the incompatible contradiction. Thus they decided to fork. That really sucks.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 26, 2018, 01:10:54 PM
The key problem is not only the jbg. The present problem is the dev team has the incompatible contradiction. Thus they decided to fork. That really sucks.

That is only the cherry on top, the main concern to me is a guy lying to people all along and not producing any code. Maybe also people getting excited about a fork of a shitcoin :D But now that they have been properly informed, it's their choice. I'll just keep documenting the never ending contradictions.

The fork doesn't make any sense in my opinion, it could be easily avoided, but Mandica has interests to fire a shit developer, and jbg has interests to distract people from the fact that he has never really worked on the things he said.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: GD199 on March 31, 2018, 12:03:24 AM
runnn to save your selfs....straight out scam right here


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunner833 on March 31, 2018, 08:36:09 AM
Shit, some interesting info there gunner, are you saying 200 thousand or 2 hundred xspec? you've put a dot rather than a comma?

It's 200k, my fault, thanks preshpr1nce. Edited.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: htsz_da12 on March 31, 2018, 08:38:48 AM
I regret the investment in the dollar, which was prepared to invest when the market value was only a dozen or so, but I hesitated, which led to the subsequent increase in my regret.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: KryptoKai on March 31, 2018, 09:19:16 AM
It was a great bit of investigative journalism, that is why bitcointalk is such a great tool for learning and sharing. JBG scammed the xspec community and for all we know it was him constantly cashing out that was pushing the price down. With JBG gone, XSPEC should prosper and start to rise high where it should be - assuming there is a real developer on board this time.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Athavan on March 31, 2018, 03:50:23 PM
TL:DR
I came across few suspicious things about XSPEC and I contacted jbg (lead (and only?) developer of XSPEC) privately. After the chat I had with him, I am still not sure if I trust the guy. Then after some thoughts and recent events, I have decided that it’s best for everyone to know what I know, and judge for themselves.
I will not invest long term in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) as almost everything jbg says to people is very difficult to prove and some might even be lies. Note that this is my personal conclusion, and it is based on the facts explained below.

LONG VERSION
I have been looking for a coin to invest long term and I have come across XSPEC on this forum a lot, so I decided to take a deeper look.

I am myself a software developer, so I do look quite closely to the code and its change activity. From the github commits, it seems that jbg started working on the project in June last year. There was only a few commits from June to December. From the end of September to the start of December, there was only one commit. From December onwards there has been more commits.

Then I examined these commits further: most of them were UI changes. In the 8 months (Jun 2017 to Jan 2018) there were only 3 changes to the core (most of the codebase is ShadowCoin): a quick fix on ring sizes, OBSF4 and a new feature that enables people giving stakes to the developer (!). All the rest were UI fixes and some library upgrades. That means the codebase is basically ShadowCoin with a few UI bugs fixed plus the ability to give money to the developer. ShadowCoin was a good coin regardless so at least this has inherited all the good bits.

I then checked who have been making these changes. I know that there should be two developers, each with 20+ years of experience, actively working full-time on this cryptocurrency. Weirdly when I looked into who made the code commits, only one person (jbg) had been making commits in the past 8 months. I could not see any commits done by another account.

This already sounded suspicious so I researched more and have come across his real name! This is super weird for a privacy crypto developer who claims to be anonymous. I then found also out he is in his twenties (20+ years of dev experience in his twenties?) and he used to have a bar business for two years (20+ years of dev experience on his twenties with 2 years with a bar business?) which went bankrupt with a $90k+ tax debt. Also he is now running an ecommerce business (he claims he works full time on XSPEC? Anyway website also looks quite amateur to me).

At this point I decided to contact him privately on slack. To summarize the discussion:
- About his age and his experience, he said he claimed to have 20 years experience because he had been paid for a software project he made at school when he was 9. He agreed that he might have over-exaggerated this but commented that it's kinda ok as people usually do this.
- About the bankrupted bar business (two years), he still counted this as dev experience since he developed the PoS system for the bar.
- About the mysterious second dev, he said he is a cryptographer and he is working on stealth staking that will be available in Q2 2018. I asked if the community could see any of his work, not only stealth staking, but he said I should wait until Q2.
- About the no commit period between the end of Sept to the start of December, he claimed that they were working on the UI rewrite and stealth staking. Both features were supposed to be hidden from public for now, so no way to check this.

Here is what I assess the facts given so far:
I thank him for being really transparent as he was open to discussion and didn’t deny my findings. However, everything becomes more suspicious. jbg is definitely knowledgeable in the crypto space, he knows his stuff, and always answers everyone’s questions on Slack. His coding ability is certainly good enough for library upgrades and quick UI bug fixes.

Unfortunately jbg is trying to look much more experienced than he actually is. Exaggerating his work experience is problematic because it is skewing people’s expectation and assumption when investing. We would naturally feel assured as we expect him knowing how to run, scale and lead a team, working in multi-disciplinary complex projects, and so on. This is really suspicious especially in the crypto world where scams are everywhere.

Not only his own dev experience did not check out, it is even more suspicious when there is no commits from the second dev, so-called cryptographer, on the repo. If there really had been some work done by two full-time developers since June last year I would at least see some public commits from them both.

When he claimed that both stealth staking code and UI rewrites are hidden features, I found it really suspicious. Stealth staking code to be hidden I understand, but UI rewrites? He said he does not want to make the UI rewrite public but since December he clearly has made public commits on UI changes. That makes no sense.

I honour his narrative on hidden development work but it is only his word for the last 8 months of development. As it stands, there is no actual proof apart from UI bug fixes and library upgrades. The current github commit history is definitely not enough to justify 8 months work by 1 or 2 full-time experienced developers. From my research, he's also running another ecommerce company on his own, that is a web application. I remain doubtful on the part where he says he is working full time on Spectre too. Suspicious.

As I mentioned at the start, I was going to leave the project silently after speaking with jbg as people should do their own research and make their own conclusion. However there had been a suspicious activity that made me post this publicly. Literally a day after our chat, I noticed that the github repository has been moved to a new one. This means if he or his mysterious teammate did do private commits during Sept to Dec last year, we would probably not be able prove this anymore.  

And a new github account called Bryce has miraculously showed up! This account has done no commits so far, even though it joined in September, but it has now created his first pull request! And of course it is about a library upgrade, no structural change. This is now too suspicious.

In the crypto world I am used to account for worst case scenarios and, in my opinion (and I stress this is my opinion!) the worst scenario for this case is:

- jbg is a developer who found a good abandoned coin and tried to work on it
- he created a nice community around it, he studied about crypto and SpectreCoin specifically very well so he is able to answer all the community questions
- he is lying about his developer experience so he can look more valuable
- he is also lying about another developer/cryptographer as Bryce does not exist
- always from my research, he has an ecommerce company so he can work on the coin only on his free time, not working full time as he said
- the only contribution that he can realistically offer is quick bug fixes as well as speaking to the community. That's why he is always available on slack
- aside from other features he could have done, somehow he found time to implement the feature where the community can donate him money
- his main motivation seems to be getting donations as he certainly is trying to keep the thing going. As the main revolutionary stealth staking is scheduled for Q2, he would have had 6+ months worth of donations by then. It is quite a good deal for him if you only have to do small bug fixes and answering all the common community questions on slack
- he says that he does not have much coins so he's not interested in the coin price. However people have been donating a lot of coins to him: averaged ~$6000/month only on stakes donation at the actual rate, plus all the ones he received previously, plus the ones he owns on his own. These donations means a lot to the country he lives (yup I found out where he lives) as it has a very low average salary.

This is my worst case scenario that I deduced from the information I found. It might not be true, but it is possible.

If you count the number of times I wrote the word "suspicious", you'll understand why I am not going to invest now. It is probably better to wait and see the end of February when 1.4 is scheduled with a full UI rewrite. This is also suggested by jbg and I will pass this on but bear in mind that he is happily receiving donations in the meantime.

Few last things:
- I am not going to reveal jbg identity or how I found it. But I have proofs of our conversation, and I can share this if necessary (with all personal information censored).
- I already spent too much time on this and I need to move on :). For this reason I don't think I am going to reply.
- I really hope jbg will prove what I wrote wrong with the delivery of the Spectre road map on time.
- I hope cryptographer Bryce really exists :)
- crypto is full of smart people and scams, try not to invest on words, but invest on facts.



Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: aws on July 29, 2018, 05:58:30 PM
any news on this project?


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: viralz on August 06, 2018, 03:31:47 AM
any news on this project?

They have new wallet and its features are ways beyond my expectation.
I know that their website is not cool but the coin is really cool.
https://spectreproject.io

I ll keep some


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: NQkeemi on August 12, 2018, 10:01:36 AM
I don't know whether it has been raised here, yet jbg recommended that maybe the group frame a "chamber" and we can apply the wallet gifts to a multi-sig wallet controlled by the board. We are the way toward shaping this Council right now. That way a couple of the network individuals will be responsible for the assets and their discharge to him. He recommended that on the off chance that we are not content with the work that he is doing then we could pick to expel him and utilize the assets to enlist another engineer. The group will keep you refreshed on this and whatever other progressions that we make during the time spent lightening the current vulnerability. Once more, thank you for your worry. You've given the less educated of us with an important bearing around there.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Wilamot on August 15, 2018, 07:03:12 AM
My supposition is that it's dead. What number of protection coins does Crypto truly require? There are loads asserting to do all the equivalent highlights XSPEC offers. I wish I would be wise to news.


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: Suzemw on August 17, 2018, 11:36:06 PM
I simply read somewhat additionally back in this string and saw the allegation that I "unearthed" Mandica's record. It ought to be simple for any individual who's been around bitcointalk for some time to check that the Mandica that began XSPEC (some time before I got included), who has been extremely dynamic on BCT here for a long while, is the same Mandica that has returned to the venture as of late and is on our Discord. I'd acknowledge in the event that somebody would require the push to freely check this some way or another since I truly needn't bother with all the more wild allegations coordinated at me...


Title: Re: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
Post by: gunners83 on December 29, 2021, 09:54:32 AM
after almost 4 years, who was right here?  :D