Here is the an update from the Espers Q&A with Cryptocoderz on 7/5/17 from the official Espers Discord
https://discordapp.com/invite/hhYP8yT7/5/17 Q & A
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1. Masternodes
2. POS & Patch
3. Exchanges
4. Sites on Chain
5. Whitepaper Update & General Questions:
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1. Masternodes:
Q: Masternodes would be managed by individuals who would stake their tokens ?
A: No masternodes are managed people who want to participate in contributing hardware like mining to the network for running one or multiple sidechains that do the heavy lifing, the system wouldn't balloon out of control either with proper chain management so it's almost like a different way of mining since of course masternodes get a little more on whatever they stake but have to lock a certain amount of coin to participate, well that's the old method anyway we're going to be changing that just have to see how it can be logically be done stabily.
Q: Masternodes newbie here, i read somewhere that esp masternodes are unique, yes? if so, can you explain why esp is unique?
A: They'll be in charge of one or more (operator selectable) sidechains that provide the function for some of the upcoming features that everyone's excited about.
Same concept as servers are with the internet. Hope that made a little sense.
Q: Will there be rewards for selecting the under supported features or would the code just dictate which feature the chain needs the most processing power at any given moment?
A: You can select what side chains you want to run, they'll be labeled, and yeah you'll get more rewards for the more you assist with operating
Q: 25 mil to run a masternode, right?
A: That was the last voted on number
Though many want to change it
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2. POS & Patch:
Q: So where are we at with pos?
A: As far as PoS goes we're running some more tests on anything as this is a rather large change to the PoS method everything has to be made sure that it's stable. Otherwise we've corrected the issue with the PoW/PoS ratio of generation of blocks and added in the new skew curve for both PoW and PoS, no more possible stalls even with insane hash changes and it will keep the blocks well shuffled
Q: Why is the stake weight fixed?
A: well there's nothing wrong with the stake wieght to begin with. it's just that the way the reference system is done causes issues with high load. which we're now all seeing.
So there's simple ways to correct the issue but it could cause unforseen problems so we've just been running local net test runs of it to make sure things will continue work as they should after the PoS implementation is modified. It's a fairly significant alteration to its function
There's going to be a small fork in the next week or two (toggle date will be set with the new wallet release later tonight) but it will be a good while out for everyone to have time update to it. This will patch VRX and turn the skew curve on
Next will be the PoS update
With the new update we re-arranged some of the source and also have redone the way that network, syncing and staking information is displayed as well. With the source re-arrangements we've also added toggled debug log prints for those who want to get techy
Q: the high load issues for staking, is that why people do not see stakes for weeks at a time?
A: Yes
There are a lot of people on the network and with the way currently the network handles stakes and weight isn't suitable for the load
There's already a solution
:smiley:
Q: And this solution is scalable with network growth right?
A: Well yes, we described it in the last get together :smiley: where wieght is reset after staking
Q: But if there's a large amount of people staking, then taking into consideration the number of blocks, is it possible that the larger stakers re-mature before the smaller stakers get any?
A: No as it's all done by time and there's a 2 hour time out period, could make it more but that's the standard period already in place and it should do fine. Adjustments can be made to finalize anything as well if it comes down to it but it's a fine line, you don't want to have the wait too long otherwise if net usage is low it could cause the chain to run sluggish but as long as there's few connections it'll be fine.
Working correctly this will make those with smaller amounts that have been staking forever (as the weight just compounds almost infinitely) will stake before larger wallets regain any weight
Also reseting the weight will be nice to keep overall weight down and the PoS thread lighter
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3. Exchanges:
Q: Any news from more exchanges? bittrex and others?
A: Haven't spoken with bittrex, we submitted the new form though
So just need to go talk with them again and see
As soon as we talk with them we'll be back to let everyone know what they said
That's if they decide to give us the time of day
But they've at least talked to us before
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4. Sites on Chain:
Q: Sites on chain is the gem of espers right now, I see a decentralized network of merchants coming from it. Being able to put forth product in an anonymous way is very appealing to many long term bitcoin users.
I believe if you start laying down the principles of site on chain with espers and show progression, you will have the resources made available to you to run the network that you envision.
This is were I see most users interested in espers ATM
A: Correct and that's why the demo of it and the documentation is important. Just had to correct a few current issues first :smiley:
Everyone hates the PoW/PoS ratio
And hates the stake wait, not weight
Lol
Getting blocks to mix properly is a good idea
Beyond being the way things should be
Q: If I saw a product with a picture and a price with a button that says buy now on the espers desktop wallet that would be amazing
On the site on chain section
Simple but profound
A: Well all you'd have to do is load an e-commerce site or what not
Once you store the data on the chain you're done, you can store the whole thing on it
Then just have the client render it
Q: Would it be quick or a 5 min dl
Without masternodes it would be slow with a Heavy network right?
A: Should be honeslty be very quick, as you're talking about a p2p network which usually can push some decent bandwidth when needed and besides this will all be raw code that's rendered by the wallet
Yeah without doing masternode operated side-chains it would be difficult to manage
Doing it this way would make the system responsive
And easy to handle
Also it would be nearly impossible to bog it down
And even if one system slowed down it would be localized to that one system
Because each task would be handled by a different chain
Modular
Any kind of slow down in any area could be easily addressed
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5. Whitepaper Update & General Questions:
Q: What's the ETA on the Whitepaper? I was under the impression it was going to be completed by this week.
A: Yes it is, Holidays came up so things got pushed back a couple days
Sadly I also was dragged into things lol
Q: What's your biggest hurdle that you have encountered right now? It's a loaded question I know
A: Really it's currently a few people out there in crypto that don't like what we're doing for whatever reason, constant flak, fud and false accusations. But it's to be expected at the same time
Q: Espers is written in c++ is that going to change in the future?
A: Currently there are no plans to change it yet. A rewrite for native web versions is a thought but we need to have built the initial system first and deployed it before taking it and doing other things with it
Otherwise we'll just spread ourselves and people will be dissapointed
Q: In the future, how will this network be governed? I'm assuming CryptoCoderz wont be developing this coin for the rest of their lives, so how will changes to the network be made? I'm wondering if it'll be a democratic coin or a centralized coin.
A: Well, you're talking years in the future? That's a good question. Would be nice to have a large enough community to continue like BTC, but without the endless pointless bickering
Have to go linux style as btc did, open source, community run
