Me either.  This is a question of succession management.  When a really big project changes hands from one group of people to another group of people, the group in control usually goes around and shows the incoming group all the ins-and-outs of what is going on.  This leads to a smooth transition.

What we have here is a group in control that deliberately is rejecting contact with the group it expects to take over the reigns, and isn't even going to leave them any documentation (whitepaper, code comments) to read on their own.  Maybe this is due to language barriers, maybe this is due to a true desire for anonymity, I don't know, but it is a huge huge huge burden to overcome.   And, it seems to me, a needless burden that shouldn't be there.

Most of all, there is a growing sense of frustration on both sides I think.  BCNext and CfB are always making statements that the community is not living up to expectations and its own potential.  The community just wants some goddamn basic clarity on a few key, fundamental points.  I shake my head in bewilderment and confusion about how such a situation can exist.

It will probably not end well.

+1.  This is the starting point to get out of the existential mess that has been discussed over the past ten or so pages.  

We can't depend on anything except open source code released on April 4 (I hope) that will apparently have our core feature of transparent forging non-functional(!?!) and who knows what level of comments / overview to enable understanding of how it all is supposed to work.

This is a pile of lemons as far as I am concerned, a bitter fruit,  but we have got to try and make lemonade from it.  

The key is to organize some kind of Kahn Academy system set up where we can dissect this source code when it comes out (and any documentation it contains) and try to create a training program to get a designated corps of programmers up to speed on it.  I am not a Java programmer and I have no idea how to best orient them to a specific, cryptic project.   But I do know if we don't set this training academy up to generate people capable of continuing NXT-specific cryprocurrency code development, we are going to fail.  

And if we tear into the source code like a bunch of piranha on April 4 and just make a blizzard of comments on This Monster Thread which then get lost under the weight of subsequent pages while we go off on some other tangent, then our fail will be an Epic Fail.  

Absolutely, a project manager.  But also, a training academy.  Organized now, ready to go April 4.  We need to start by either conducting a census of willing Java programmers from our own ranks, or we need to start identifying and lining up qualified professional Java programmers whose salaries we are going to pay from the NXTtechdev fund.   That's what it's there for.  

As a side prediction, I personally think the current practice of "put up a bounty for X" isn't going to work for organized core tinkering to create basic functionality.  Starting with transparent forging.  Which apparently we are going to have to get working on our own.

The second key thing is to get a set of spokespersons in place that can be seen by the public as the face of NXT.  I know we are decentralized and are supposed to eschew central leadership as part of our creed, but if we do not engage the public to embrace NXT, then NXT will fail.  And the public doesn't want to hear endless whining about mystical reclusive creators, they want to put their money into something that at least looks like it knows what it is doing.  That is the job of a spokesperson - not leadership, but to create the appearance of leadership to the public.  I am going to Texas Bitcoin Conference not as a leader within NXT but as a spokesperson for NXT.  

Project manager, training academy, spokespersons...that's enough for one post.

I don't even know how to start on the topic of project leadership.  All I know is that our competitors have it, for better or worse.

http://fusion.net/modern_life/story/ethereum-bitcoin-currency-created-19-year-372034

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/ethereum/

+1.  Gotta call it like I see it.  Plus, the highlighted quote should add two words: "through April".

NXT FUNDING COMMITTEE VOTE STARTS IN 53 HOURS
AT 12:01 AM MARCH 1 (UTC)

Remaining eligible nominees with as-yet undeclared intentions (PM me if you want off this list):

2Kool4Skewl, Arckam_(frmelin), bitcoinpaul,  buybitcoinscanada, Cointropolis_JustabitTime, Come-from-Beyond
Damelon, davethetrousers, drevil,   ferment, Fry, hughmanwho, Jean-Luc, jl777, Klee, landomata, laowai80,  msin, mww
nexern, opticalcarrier, PeercoinEnthusiast,  Pouncer,  Ricot, SecondLeo, smaragda,  VanBreuk,  ZeroTheGreat


Something Zahlen said:  A candidate does not need to be good at writing English. Some candidates may not have English as their mother tongue. If you're voting, don't confuse lots of writing for ability to judge the worth of a project. Remember that ultimately the committee's job is to decide which projects get funded.

If you are on this list and want to be on a NXT funding committee, go here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=479167.msg5280476#msg5280476

Background:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345619.msg5280786#msg5280786

WE NOW HAVE A FULL SLATE

(Actually, antanst was a little late to the nominee party and was never on the blue list above.  But he's a coder, he runs multiple NXT nodes and he wrote the NXT Reddit tipbot.  Since I'm drunk with power and making the rules here, I say he's now a candidate for techdev.  If you disagree, don't vote for him - run against him!).

(However, I am not so drunk that I'm gonna let just anybody on this slate.  Newbie BC.NXT has posted on the candidate thread.  However, after checking his credentials and posting background, I will not be listing him on the ballot.   To quote the mythical American television commercial: Sorry, Charley, only the best tuna get to be Star-Kist.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_slate

Good luck to these nominees who have declared themselves candidates:


NXTmarketingfund: allwelder, Damelon,  Mario123, Asian Prepper, joefox, brooklynbct, CoinTropolis_NiftyNikel, Uniqueorn, salsacz
NXTtechdevfund: EmoneyRu, Anon136, l8orre, abuelau, antanst
NXTinfrastructurefund: rickyjames, chanc3r, EvilDave, pandaisftw, ChuckOne, ^[GS]^


Yeah, you may have seen this before.  I'll be putting it up every ten pages or so.  It's one of those "legitimate, transparent process" things.

Sorry, Charlie, only the best tuna get to be Star-Kist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_the_Tuna

http://www.starkist.com/charlie

(God, I loved those commercials when I was a kid...)

I'm just joking around with you, I know you're not digging at me or forgetting me.  It's all about the LOLs.

And the fun and the grub.

Let me make a suggestion to keep this ball rolling.  We should ask the Cryptsy folks to document what was required to get NXT plugged into their system.  Then we should turn right around to allwelder or some of the other Chinese NXT members and see that this info from Cryptsy gets communicated to BTX38.com in China.  We need to be on both of these exchanges as soon as possible.  It is the only way we are going to get exposure to a new pool of capital to buy NXT and get our exchange volume back up.  

I have been assigned to be on the "Alt Currencies" panel.  I was prepared to be a speaker and lobbied hard to get on their roster.  In the end, I don't think that the timing / delay in sending in the registration documents had anything to do with NXT not getting a speaker slot.  I think it all comes down to money.  All the speakers are all either really big in the bitcoin world or they paid premium fees to be speakers.  NXT officially bought in at the conference "Supporter" level, which is at the bottom rung of the ladder and does not specifically state that you get to speak.   Plus, Salsa negotiated our gig as "Supporter" for only $1000 instead of the usual $2500.  We got a bargain, but scraping in on the bottom does not get you put in front of the crowd holding a microphone.

Ahem.   

They have  a keynote speaker spot at Texas Bitcoin Conference on March 5.  I'll report.

+1.  +1.  +1.

Etherium had a HUGE recognition and visibility advantage over NXT.  We are going to have quite a hard fight to overcome that.  I predict when they finally do come out, they will instantly be over NXT on coinmarketcap.    

This is great, thanks!

One correction: the green word should be "candidates", not "nominees".

Maybe I should do a graphic like this in Word 2003....

NXT FUNDING COMMITTEE VOTE STARTS IN 60 HOURS
AT 12:01 AM MARCH 1 (UTC)

Remaining eligible nominees with as-yet undeclared intentions (PM me if you want off this list):

2Kool4Skewl, Arckam_(frmelin), bitcoinpaul,  buybitcoinscanada, Cointropolis_JustabitTime, Come-from-Beyond
Damelon, davethetrousers, drevil,   ferment, Fry, hughmanwho, Jean-Luc, jl777, Klee, landomata, laowai80,  msin, mww
nexern, opticalcarrier, PeercoinEnthusiast,  Pouncer,  Ricot, SecondLeo, smaragda,  VanBreuk,  ZeroTheGreat


Something Zahlen said:  A candidate does not need to be good at writing English. Some candidates may not have English as their mother tongue. If you're voting, don't confuse lots of writing for ability to judge the worth of a project. Remember that ultimately the committee's job is to decide which projects get funded.

If you are on this list and want to be on a NXT funding committee, go here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=479167.msg5280476#msg5280476

Background:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345619.msg5280786#msg5280786

WE NOW HAVE A FULL SLATE

(Actually, antanst was a little late to the nominee party and was never on the blue list above.  But he's a coder, he runs multiple NXT nodes and he wrote the NXT Reddit tipbot.  Since I'm drunk with power and making the rules here, I say he's now a candidate for techdev.  If you disagree, don't vote for him - run against him!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_slate

Good luck to these nominees who have declared themselves candidates:


NXTmarketingfund: allwelder, Damelon,  Mario123, Asian Prepper, joefox, brooklynbct, CoinTropolis_NiftyNikel, Uniqueorn, salsacz
NXTtechdevfund: EmoneyRu, Anon136, l8orre, abuelau, antanst
NXTinfrastructurefund: rickyjames, chanc3r, EvilDave, pandaisftw, ChuckOne, ^[GS]^


Yeah, you may have seen this before.  I'll be putting it up every ten pages or so.  It's one of those "legitimate, transparent process" things.

Texas Bitcoin Conference Brochure Draft

Well, everyone that has looked at my draft copy of this in past pages has said it looks like some old guy with no artistic sense whatsoever did it on Microsoft Word.  

Well, ah, yes.  That would be me.

So I've sent the file to mvag and w4lace who have offered to help make it look better.  Thanks, y'all!

I'll post their update here when I get it...

Final Draft Of Texas Bitcoin Conference Brochure

http://www.scribd.com/doc/209289198/NXT-Brochure-Draft

This goes to the printer in Austin in 36 hours.  Anybody have any comments to tell me I've said something stupid, please tell me now.

The website new2nxt.com is live and it's mine.  I will clean it up during the rest of the week and over the weekend.  I intend for it to be (yet another) newbie site to find info and links on how to get started with NXT.

Thank you, donor who shall remain forever nameless, for funding the printing of these brochures.  

The NXT community is full of REALLY GREAT people.

Hey...who you calling grumpy?

I remember getting excited because they were gonna upgrade me at work from the original IBM PC to the IBM XT with a 20 Megabyte Winchester hard drive.  No more floppies for me!  I still had to load programs at home from cassette tape on my TRS-80...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer_XT

Thanks!  It's actually pretty close, on March 22.

Regarding Texas Bitcoin Conference, I have gotten word that Tai Zen (Asian Prepper) and I are officially confirmed for door passes as official NXT sponsors.  I am told I will be participating on the Alternative Cryptocurrencies panel, a secondary discussion group that will be held at the same time as their "Big Three" main discussion groups at 3:20 on March 6.  This is totally appropriate, as NXT is being given bottom-rung "Sponsor" status for Salsa's payment of only $1000 instead of the quoted $2500.  See schedule link below.  

http://texasbitcoinconference.com/schedule

This is the beginning, NXT will grow from here in future conferences.  And I am certainly looking forward to this one.  

I'm gonna start a game here.  Which is probably a mistake.  Play along if you like. 

This page is my

BIRTH YEAR

and blue is my favorite color.

Nobody has minded one bit about me becoming a self-deluded totalitarian dictator in this thread.  I don't think they're gonna feel bad about you just crashing it.  Welcome!  You're part of the thread now!


Everybody has been a little distracted and busy throwing everything they've got into improving this baby in its first 90 days.


Up.


A post-apocalyptic hellscape where BTC has reached $10,000 is somewhere I do not want to see even a glimpse of, much less live through.  Or in.

OK, snarky comments aside (dude, it was like you were feeding me straight lines! I just couldn't resist!) I think NXT is something really different and really special on a lot of levels.  The philosophy within it.  The people behind it.  The future before it.  Who knows where it will go.  But if it doesn't go up, and really really really up, it won't be because we didn't try.