TradeFortress, I am so sorry this happened to you (and to us, your customers/investors).  I think the most important thing you can do right now aside from dealing with the problem itself is to communicate.  Please keep us posted on the details, in particular getting us our funds back.  I sent you two emails regarding my CoinLenders accounts and hoping for the best.

And also hoping that you recover from this stronger and wiser, including your good reputation.

Either way, I'd like to know ASAP how CoinLenders refunds will be handled.  I was only using my Inputs wallet as a gateway into CoinLenders.  And now it's impossible to actually make a withdrawal out of CL.  It registers on the CL side, but not on the Inputs side.

What about CoinLenders?  Is that dead too?

No one has put any black marks on RealSolid's trust rating, and there is no indication that mcxNOW is scamming anyone, unless you want to count the chat window or trollbox where people often talk about planned pumps and dumps. 

Calling someone a scammer is a serious accusation so it would be nice if you actually had some (ok, pun intended) real solid evidence to point to.  Otherwise it sounds like you just don't like him, which is OK, but a different matter.

OK, I think I'm all set, except for one thing.  What is the actual formatting (syntax) used for a subcategory?  I tried to look that up last night but couldn't find it.  I know for category, it's [[category:specific category]] but how would it look on the edit page for a subcategory?

Were you an admin before?  What was your role?

OK, I'll plan on that, but it will be mostly next week.  Need to get a part replaced on my computer this week so I'll be out of commission for a couple days.

So, just to be clear... I'm assigning general categories, but not trying to get any more specific than that, correct?

Also, once I assign one general category (or more if warranted), do I then remove it from the front page by simply deleting it on the edit screen?

Finally, I apologize for not adding you back as an admin originally.  I knew better, but was in the "users, writers" mode and left it at that.  Glad ranlo fixed that

Looks like I'm going to be helping out with categorizing articles.  I get how to put the main category on.  What about the subcategories?

Also, once you assign a category, do you then take the article off the front page?

Can one of the more experienced category admins please give me the crash course before I get in too deep?

Thanks!

Or just get it fixed before he takes DVC off, which I believe is in about four weeks.  I don't know if that's even realistic, though.

I'm curious what your arguments to mcxNOW were.  Perhaps the same ones will still work for keeping it on?  I don't want to be a pest about it, though, and I've already messaged RS about it, but maybe it would help others to also write.

I don't care too much about Mt. Gox for personal use, but I do have an account with them somewhere, so maybe I'll write them and request this anyway.  Thanks for the info.

Posting to watch this.  I would LOVE to use this (once it's ready), but only if RS keeps DVC on the exchange--that's my primary alt coin right now

I'm working on setting up a directory of businesses who accept Devcoins on my website--the kind of directory where businesses can submit and edit their own listings to a site which will then be optimized and marketed for traffic generation.

Anyway, I need some help with some programming issues--details are here:  http://creativecurrencies.cu.cc/help-wanted-01/

I'm willing to pay a coder/programmer in Devcoins to do that work, so please submit your proposal.

I may bump this post a couple times in the next week just so people see it, but please submit any questions or discussion about it to me directly via PM.

Thanks!

I guess I'm assuming mutually beneficial because the client keeps paying.  Why would the client keep paying if the client wasn't perceiving some benefit?  Granted, this may not apply in quite the same way to this situation, but in general, when I'm paid to write for someone, that person is hiring me because they see a benefit to me writing for them which they are willing to pay for.  It does seem like in this case, part of my job is to also look after the client beyond what would normally be expected in a client/writer relationship, like I need to be asking the client:  "should you even be paying me?" and "Should I even be working for you in this way?"  Now, the system was set up the way it is long before I came on board, so I can't be accused of in some way pulling the wool over the client's eyes.  However, maybe I should be "seeing the light" that in reality the client is actually harmed by this relationship, and out of a sense of moral duty, refrain from further "exploiting" the client by no longer publishing any articles.  This is the part where I'm feeling a lot of verbal pressure here in this thread to be altruistic when I'd rather be motivated by self-interest. 

I do recognize that this brings up the argument of well, if it isn't me "gaming the system," it will be someone else, so why shouldn't it be me, and that if there is actual exploitation going on, that isn't a valid argument in defense of my actions.  But with the more recent posts from UnthinkingBit, I'm thinking that might become irrelevant, as these posts represent the client changing the terms to be even more beneficial to the client--rating writers and so forth.  What I truly appreciate about UnthinkingBit is that he doesn't change things in a hurry and carefully considers each new step before implementing it.  This also shows that the client is still in control of the relationship; even if I absolutely love the current terms because I'm getting paid so much, when the client makes a change, there isn't going to be a thing I can do about it, other than to reevaluate my own participation.  This is the part that convinces me that however much I may be benefiting today, I am not exploiting the client, because the client is empowered to change the relationship at any time, and is feeling quite free to do so.  He's just more patient than most

And yes, I recognize that people who buy DVC on the exchange are also motivated by self-interest.  This means that in many people's eyes, including traders, DVCs hold value.  This is a healthy sign.  The trend I see of more people opening businesses which take them in payment is another good sign which will eventually mean it's going to be more expensive for people to buy Devcoins as fewer people will be dumping them.  I hope they too are motivated by self-interest.

In the end, I would like to see the client/writer relationship set up to where the benefit is truly mutual (if it's not this way now, then any change towards making it so is good), because to be perfectly honest, I would like to be free to participate where I only need to look out for my own interests and not fret about whether or not the client is truly benefited by me simply doing my job as instructed.  In other words, I'm not thrilled with being put in a position where I might be the exploiter, but I can't be responsible for setting someone else's boundaries, only respecting them once they are set by that person.

As for what I do with my earnings, that is dictated by self-interest, but not desperation.  I do sell a lot of them for Bitcoins, mainly because I have discovered some good places to put Bitcoins where they can earn return, and so far I have not found those same opportunities for Devcoins.  The exception is that on mcxNOW my Devcoins do earn interest, and I will take full advantage of this until mcxNOW pulls the plug.  I do stockpile a lot of Devcoins, though.  I like to try to take advantage of pumps by having existing high sell orders in place just in case.  I also have an opportunity to pay for a service I'm needing in Devcoins so I'm saving up for that as well.  In other words, using my earnings to better my life--same as every other person who's ever gotten paid to do anything.

My initial thought when I found this opportunity was to immediately trade out my earnings and run, because I did think surely there is no way this can last.  And maybe it can't.  But I do now have a vested self-interest in making it last as long as possible, in the sense that I now find it in my best interests to help out with the project in other ways (within my personal limitations) and also do something with all my earnings that I believe will also help the project.  Again, the same basic thing I see other Devtome writers doing.  This process is a very natural, organic process, part of the development of a healthy economy.  My concern in all the criticism leveled at writers, though, is that this process gets stifled to the detriment of everyone.

I could offer my opinions all I want, but there isn't really a process that I'm aware of where my opinion could go from me spouting off to an actual change in the way the Devcoin project works.  All I can think of right now is that if someone has a concern about how the payment system is structured, he should express that concern to UnthinkingBit, because so far, he's the only one I know of (and please inform me of other genuine decision makers that I may be missing) who has the authority to make any sort of change to any aspect of the Devcoin project.

With that said, my opinion is that UnthinkingBit should proceed with what is truly going to be most beneficial to the Devcoin project as a whole, even if that means that in the short term I won't get paid as well as a writer.  Once such a decision is made, then I reevaluate my contribution and see if I continue as a writer.  If I choose not to, it's no hard feelings or anything, just moving on.

I can't be any more specific than that because of the gap in my technical knowledge which I mentioned before.

As for my opinion on the proportion of payment writers get, it really depends on what the actual goal of the Devtome is.  If the point is to get Devcoins into as many hands as possible, as in bring them into wider circulation, then I think that system is brilliant.  There's a relatively easy, straightforward way for fairly intelligent but otherwise ordinary people to get lots of Devcoins in their wallets.  The fact that it favors good writers (and the type of writers who most benefit are those who write consistently and prolifically), means that the writers will likely write about Devcoins not just on the Devtome but wherever else they might be writing.  Pair a good writer with a good marketer and you will get the word out.  If the goal is to develop all these cool techie things, then obviously you'd want to make it a sweet deal for the programmers and developers of those things.

Come to think of it, the bounty issue could be solved very easily in any number of ways, one of them being that for certain techie projects that are considered paramount (such as fixing the code to keep DVC on mcxNOW, assuming that will satisfy RS), the bounty isn't a certain number of shares but a percentage of the total pool, or just a plain amount, for example, 10% of generated shares or 18,000,000 DVC, sort of a flip side of limiting the Devtome pool to a certain percentage.

One thing that I would propose is that for those who are interested, one or more proven writers can be "assigned" to each techie project.  I'm not the first to notice that often programmers suffer from an inability to communicate the significance of what they are doing to average nontechnical people such as myself.  Put a writer on that project and give that writer access to the programmers for interviewing, and set up some way that they both benefit from the ensuing article.  Make it worth the programmer's while because I'm sure it will try his patience to have to break it down into baby steps for the writer (probably more than once!), and make it worth the writer's while for having to take the extra step of interviewing the programmer and then putting all the information into a nice engaging story.  There are probably a number of approaches that can be taken for compensation.

I think that one of the issues going on is a huge disconnect between the writers who are nontechnical and just coming on board and the programmers who have been doing cool stuff for a while.  The word about the importance of what the programmers are doing is not getting out because the programmers aren't describing it in plain English.  The writers don't write about these projects because they don't know the first thing about them.  Put the two together and you will have some decent promotional material about each project which can then be widely disseminated to the benefit of writer, programmer, and project.

It's really a matter of prioritizing and then incentivizing what is determined to be the priority.  I'm totally cool with bouncing around ideas like this.  I just don't think it's fair to take out one's frustrations with not liking the current system onto the people who are taking advantage of it.  It's not a crime to make the most of a situation that benefits you, even if that system is for the time being majorly rigged in your favor.  I will definitely continue to make the most of the current system and yes I will be the first to say it's been my lucky break.  But I'm not particularly attached to it going on like this forever, and if/when it changes I'll either adapt or move on, and I'll be better off economically for it as long as I can steer clear of the scams.

Although I personally do tend towards altruism, I believe that an economic system that depends on altruism will not in the long run be sustainable.  For it to work in the long run, it has to work just fine when the majority of the participants are for the most part looking out for their own interests.  I'm not talking about survival of the fittest or dog eat dog, just people going along trying to better their lives and doing what's best for them while still being generally ethical.  The reality is that this is how most people operate, so you want your currency to work for them and still accomplish the overall goals.

Weisoq, I don't think you understand where I'm coming from here.  I am not, nor will I ever be a Devcoin coder, developer, or activist.  I am perhaps an early adopter, but other than that, nothing special or remarkable for the Devcoin project.

I am a regular person who saw a banner ad saying I could earn Devcoins by writing for the Devtome, so I applied for the position and got accepted.  I have found this position to be beneficial and I'm happy to keep working in this way as long as it's mutually beneficial to me and the client, which in this case is the Devcoin project, specifically the Devtome.

There's been a lot of chatter here about whether or not the way writers are paid is truly mutually beneficial, but so far the client keeps paying and the client has not given any indication of the terms of pay changing.  If or when that happens, then I have to make a decision as to whether or not it's still beneficial to me to continue.

To be perfectly honest, I don't really care about all the other stuff.  Not only that, I'm not qualified to care because I lack adequate technical knowledge.  That's not to say I don't find it interesting or worthy of being cared about.  It's just that my involvement with the Devcoin project is as an economic unit--someone who finds having Devcoins to be economically beneficial.  The opportunity to earn them was offered and I took it.  Having earned Devcoins for a while now, I do find it to be in my best interest to contribute in some way to making Devcoin a viable currency, and I'm working on what is possible given my own capabilities.  That doesn't mean that I am qualified to make decisions or even offer opinions about the fundamentals of the project, especially the coding and high tech and gaming stuff.  I know nothing about these things and that kind of knowledge was not a condition for me getting involved.  If my vote is ever asked for I will do my best to vote in an informed manner, but so far my vote has not been asked for in any formal sense.  And I've never been given the impression that airing my opinions here counted as voting.

So given that I was never told I needed to be a computer programmer or understand how 3-D printing or high level interactive gaming works in order to join as a writer, then why is it that every single time there is some sort of problem with Devcoins, including technical coding issues, people think it's cool to dump on the writers--as if any of this were somehow our fault, or that jumping on an opportunity because it benefited us and sticking with it for the samw reason is somehow a crime against the viability of the Devcoin project?  I am not gaming the system or being passive aggressive by deferring to the decision makers of the project; I am being honest.  I am an adopter of Devcoin, and I would like to leave it at that.  While I don't know much about programming, I do know a little something about what makes a currency viable.  One thing I do know is that you need plain ordinary adopters, and lots of them, if you want your currency to get off the ground.  Well, we're here, and I at least would like to stay.  But I'm getting a bit annoyed with getting put into the scapegoat role--that was definitely not mentioned in the banner ad.  It's also not a very good way to welcome future Devcoin adopters.

I got a response to my email after I popped in on the chat window and said something along the lines of I hope Devcoin will remain on the exchange because that's the main alt coin I trade, etc.  Not sure if the two events were connected or not.  Just FYI...

Please do write RealSolid mcxnow.exchange@gmail.com and tell him all about how you were about to join but might not now because you heard the sad news that Devcoin is going to be delisted.

I think it's good for RS to get a lot of feedback that DVC will be missed because he may simply not be aware of how important it is to a lot of his customers (or potential customers).

You're going to have to convince the decision makers on that one.  That's all I'm trying to say.  You can write an article about why things should change, how they should change, and why it's ridiculous to keep things the way they are.  Then you should send a link to your article to the decision makers of the Devcoin project.  But you might as well get paid for it in the mean time.

Personally, the biggest issue I see with Devcoins is that there lacks an economy for them.  However, I see that changing as more people are opening up businesses which accept Devcoins in payment.  Some of those businesses have been opened up by Devtome writers.  I'm working on a venture myself.  I guess I don't see the problem.  It seems to be working the way it should be working using the current payout system.  It's just going to take some time.

Having Devcoin kicked off mcxNOW would be annoying, to be sure.  But it's not going to kill Devcoin (I suspect it will have more negative ramifications for mcxNOW than it will for Devcoin).  If there is a genuine problem with the DVC code, then it's a good idea to fix it.  But honestly, RealSolid is the first person I've encountered who ever found that to be an issue.  My wallet and the Devcoins inside it work just fine, and I have a much easier time sending DVCs around than I've lately had sending Bitcoins around from certain addresses.

Those of you who code and who would love to fix whatever the coding issue is with Devcoin, but who balk because we fat cat and mercenary writers just hog all the shares, I'd really love to read an article which explains in plain English what the issue was and how it was fixed.  Just sayin'.  Did someone make a rule that coders are not allowed to also write?

And for the record, I would have no problem with it if there were modifications made which limited writer shares further or limited the piece of the pie the Devtome took--especially if those decisions were made in the best interests of the Devcoin project overall.  As I have said before, the client is always right.  Please understand that it's not us who are keeping this from happening.  It would be great if all you coder types would quit implying that it is somehow our fault that you're not getting as many shares as you believe you deserve.  I am just writing according to the terms that were laid out for me.  If they change in the future, as long as it's not in the middle of a round, I will not protest or complain, and I don't think anyone else is either.  Your beef is not with us.

I hope the issue can be fixed so that DVC can remain on mcxNOW, but in the mean time, I'd appreciate it if we writers weren't blamed for the problem, especially considering we did not write the code, nor would most of us be able to fix it even if we wanted to (I'm not a coder).

Believe me, anything I can do to support coders who can fix this issue, I would be willing to do because I really LOVE having DVC on mcxNOW.  But again, I repeat, it's not my decision.

OK, I hadn't thought to look for non BTC combinations.  Good to know.  If I want to use LTC as an intermediary, that might work.  Then again, sounds like it's back to Vircurex I go...


Not anymore.  RS can't wait to get rid of them  

Not sure when that will actually happen.  You should write him and tell him you like Devcoins.  Maybe you'll have better luck than I did.