The Definition of a Fair Alt Chain Launch. Why does nobody Use It?

[mullick]

Source: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Alt-chain_release_RFC





 Why Compete?

Bitcoin will already have hurdles to grow adoption. It would be unwise to create more by introducing competing crypto-currencies for no reason. Therefore, if you choose to create a new crypto-currency, it would be advisable to solidify a strong reason for doing so in advance, perhaps discussing it with others who have experience working with crypto-currencies who can provide valuable input. Usually the first thing to ask yourself is, why not improve Bitcoin instead of competing? Even if your changes require a "hard fork", and/or don't get a positive response from the existing Bitcoin community immediately, you can still try them out on a (possibly incompatible) test network (clearly noted as such so people don't try to exchange/use it as real currency; eg, "Bitcoin Infinite Division Test" instead of "TinyCoin"). There are very few things that cannot be adopted by Bitcoin given proper development effort; for example, Namecoin and BitMessage use Bitcoin technology for non-currency purposes, while PPCoin and Freicoin introduce changes that would violate the economic social contract Bitcoin has been adopted under (that is, they violate one or more prohibited changes to Bitcoin).
Basic Changes

There are a number of flaws with Bitcoin that cannot be corrected without a "hard fork". Any serious alt chain should at least attempt to address these concerns and issues.
Announcement Format

The initial announcement of the alt chain MUST contain a post to the alt-chain forum titled "[RFC] <Alt-Chain-Name> - <tl;dr>".

The [tl;dr] is a short one line description of the alt chain (e.g. "[RFC] - MinorLeftieCoin - the alt chain for lefties under 18!"

The RFC thread SHOULD contain the Timeline for the coin (see below).

Another, separate placeholder Announcement Thread MUST be created at this point (e.g. "[ANN] MinorLeftieCoin"). All further official announcement about this alt chain SHOULD go in that thread - this thread will be useful for people who wish to subscribe to announcements only, and not get all the clutter from the discussion. Other announcement channels such as Twitter/Blog/Google+ can be published as well.
Launch Timeline



 RFC thread

This is the initial step, where the key elements of the net alt chain should be presented in a clear and concise manner. This post SHOULD contains:

    Who - The developers / founders behind the chain (forum IDs + any other information they're willing to release, possibly including real names, contact information, previous projects, twitter IDs)
    Benefits - Key benefits over Bitcoin - why do you think this chain can compete with the main Bitcoin chain?
    Other alts - Comparison to other significant crypto-currencies, when applicable.
    Merged mining - Will this support Merged Mining? How exactly will that be implemented, with which existing chains? When will merged mining be enabled?
    Shortcomings - What can go wrong with this Alt chain? What are its drawbacks?
    Attacks - Will this chain be resilient to attacks by Bitcoin miners with a huge hashpower? (Such attacks happened before on new alts ... authors of new alt chains should come up with ways to protect against this ... e.g. not enable merged mining so soon)
    Open Source License - All alt chains MUST be completely open source, for obvious reasons. Preference is given to github for project hosting, but any open repository is ok. The exact license should be chosen prior to launch.
    Schedule:
        Proposed source code release date - this can happen any time after the RFC. Authors are encouraged to release source code as soon as they have it available, but they can wait for "proper maturity of the codebase" if they so desire.
        Proposed Pre-Launch (testnet) Date - this must be at one week after the launch of the source code, and at least two weeks after the RFC thread, to allow time for proper discussion and review.
        Proposed Launch Date - this must be at least two weeks after the pre-launch date, to allow time for testing.
        Proposed date for exchanges to open. This can either at the launch date, or any time after date, but should be announced beforehand.

Any of the components listed above (e.g. launch schedule, specific technical details) can be skipped from the initial RFC, if the authors wish to hasten the process. However, these dates MUST be filled in before the RFC thread is "closed" by posting a message to the announcement thread, AND updating the top post in the RFC thread.


Source code release

This is a mandatory step that can follow anytime between the publication of the RFC, up to one week before the pre-launch date. The one week period is required to let people examine the source code for possible bugs/backdoors/problems.


Pre-Launch

This step must not occur sooner than the date planned in the RFC, and must happen at least one week after publishing the source code. It can be delayed for various reasons if the author needs more time.

The purpose of the pre-launch is to do a dry run of the alt chain. This dry run MUST happen on a dedicated testnet.

The pre-launch phase MUST be accompanied with an official binary release, with at least LINUX and WINDOWS binaries. The binaries SHOULD include both a miner/daemon and a GUI.

The pre-launch phase MUST include an official channel for binary publication (e.g. Github, SourceForge), where future official binaries will be released.

The software MUST be properly versioned. The pre-launch version numbers are numbered 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, ... (with 0.X.1, 0.X.2, ... for minor bug fixes releases). The post-launch version numbers are 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, ... (with 1.X.1, 1.X.2, ... for bug fixes).


4. Launch

This step must not occur sooner than the date planned in the RFC, and must happen at least two weeks after the pre-launch. This is the official chain, that will have value, as opposed to the pre-launch release which was a testnet release (testnets can be reset at any point).

The same versioning and binary release guidelines from the Pre-Launch phase apply to the Launch phase.


Further notes

    Any major update to the client MUST have releases on all supported platforms including Linux and Windows. This can be automated or semi-automated, so "I don't know how to compile on Windows" is not an excuse - find someone you trust who does know how to compile on Windows. The releases SHOULD be concurrently released on all platforms.
    Pre-mine - Sadly this needs stating explicitly - the main chain MUST NOT have any pre-mined blocks except 1-2 blocks to test the chain really works.

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[mullick]

I initially thought this was an old topic. It seems it may be new in response to all the new launches. Hard to tell It was last edited today

[NWO]

I'm playing devils advocate here.

Is any coin a fair launch? If you are aiming for worldwide acceptance, hasn't the small population in this forum already accumulated a disproportionate amount before the general population even had a chance?

Think about it.

I find it concerning when people shout scamcoin and get all mad/ riot when a coin has been premined, instamined or released without notice. When in reality they are only angry that they themselves were not given a fair starting point to 'profit'. 

Example? ChinaCoin. Everyone knew it was a pump/dump but after FTC people were hoping lightening would strike twice.

[mullick]

I am not doing any of that just saying. If you dont want people to bitch and you want to do it a s fair as possible then This would be the way to do it.

I have always said If you want greater acceptance at launch and after, release it in all languages in as many places a possible simultaneously. Contact top members of all forums and give them a heads up as far as a time. Setup a dropbox and link everyone to that dropbox. Visit Irc channels and post a link to the dropbox and any info. At the scheduled release time upload the file to the drop box. If Diff was set at 1 or higher depending on the feedback Your would have an amazing launch. I in no way am a programer or want to release a coin. But I do think I could do a much better job than most of these releases

It seriously makes me laugh when I ask devs if they will release it in all languages just even here on the forums and they say no, more than one of them. The coin will never get past here and a few exchanges that way. Broad release is key! I just cant believe the releases are all happening in one tiny section of ONE FORUM.

A few big players can so easily ruin it that way. Broad release will amount to many more small miners that combined will compete with the big players equating to distributed wealth and just less bitching overall. It could go the other way and everyone would bitch but eventually people would realize there arent major bag holders from mining early on. It will also equate to much more trading which will create a stable platform for when it goes to an exchange.