http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28199.0

[se63pj]

I found this thread criticizing everything they could about bittrust.org. Disclaimer I am behind it. As regards innovation people have short attention spans, first they ridicule the concept, then as it gains traction suggest it's dangerous, then they copy it and claim it was nothing special while their version is the best on the market. That's competition and I know it well, but I also know a good idea when i see it, Bitcoin is a bloody good idea despite the current market turbulence and the solution and system I am developing for it is also a bloody good idea. Further disclaimer I didn't waste more than 1 hour on the initial landing pages so those who have criticized them may well have a point, but trust is earned over time not and not lost by a few naysayers who are more than likely wished they hadn't the foresight to build the concept themselves.

[1715292464]

1715292464

[1715292464]

1715292464

[1715292464]

1715292464

[BitcoinPorn]

Slow down there little buddy.

Criticizing?  Let's use the word exploring and finding out.  As that thread makes no full on claims about your site, and in fact I think kind of questioned it is all.  

Glad to see you are alive.

I made this on reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/inibg/bittrust_api_transactions_commissions_affiliate/

Please feel free to sign up there and talk more about your site, I would encourage it honestly, because right now there is a site open, but no one claiming to be behind it until now, so please understand the whole trust issue, especially in regards to Bitcoin (and in fact, if you want to keep progressing, this is a fact you need to start being more understanding of, like right now lol).

But yeah, I highly suggest just dropping some information about your site on that reddit link, I made sure the title was a question, not a comment (just for this reason you seemed to have made this thread, I make no assumptions on whether a site is trustworthy or not, just go by what information is available).

[se63pj]

HI, I will go and reply also on redit.

And to continue to answer your points and others concerns/criticisms let me know here and I would be happy to provide clarification.

At the outset I will give some of my credentials in this space so others are aware of where I'm coming from. I am a system admin, well versed in SQL optimization, scaling of large scale products and I have spent the last few years doing PCI compliance for small businesses who needed to comply for merchant accounts. I Know only too well of the hassles and frustrations legitimate small businesses go through to verify their creditability before they are granted almost unlimited access to others accounts. I Understand full well the reasoning behind and the security issues facing merchant banks and visa and MasterCard given the large scale potential for fraud within their system. That said it is an antiquated system developed long before the internet was ever envisaged and as a result the plaster bandage solutions which are implemented (PCI Compliance for one) are generally too great an obstacle for most small enterprises. I see Bitcoin as one of the first real innovations designed with the Internet in mind for online payments and have no hesitation in backing this with investment and development hours. Not least in developing concepts which I believe will enhance the ecosystem and bring a much needed element of trust into a system which currently lacks any sort of disclosure between unknown traders.  My investors page specifically called out not for investment dollars but rather biz dev people who would be able to assist in bringing legitimacy to the venture.

[nickwit]

Well I was criticizing it - it looks really dodgy to me.


Do you really operate out of 132 New Bond Street or is that just one of those rent-a-mailbox deals?

If you do, how come when I google "132 New Bond Street" there seem to be a fair few Nigerian-style scams operating out of the same address?


Why have you got social-links that don't link to anything?

Have you basically just described a nice-to-have API without having implemented any of it? (or actually understanding how you're going to do it?)


Are you intending to build a closed-source, non-distributed system,  on top of a distributed, open-sourced network?


Are you intending to charge for the use of this API?


--

"Well versed in SQL Optimization" - riiight... not really a developer then? Out of curiosity, how come you're based in the UK with all these non-UK spellings?



Sorry... paraphrasing Gandhi is now a hackneyed cliche - it means absolutely nothing... and launching a venture in which you haven't "wasted" more than an hour on the "landing page", reeks of bullshit to me. At the very best it betrays a profound lack of understanding as to how to do web-marketing/interaction.


Any money-related product that uses a picture of an attractive woman to try to... what? attract people?, ought to ring major alarm bells.

[se63pj]

Here you do nothing other than cast accusations. On the other thread however, you made some more interesting points:

So it's not actually an API - rather a centralised site for handling ebay-style reputations? With an API?

The core philosophy to this looks to me like an attempt to de-anonymise the currency (and I'm not sure that that is a good thing) by putting all participating payments through a central system (and I'm not sure that's a good thing) in a non open-source/transparent way (and we all know that's a bad thing)... for money.

It is JUST an API. It is designed to build a layer of trust over a users transactions, like described on the site.
It's designed to allow app developers a central system for quick development in three ways, 1) they can use the API and develop quick apps off that data and API, 2) they can launch quickly with an established user base of offers by sellers and push their users / offers to them buyers. 3) it provides the missing layer of trust between unknown anonymous parties who would like to possibly transact but without any form of past history see each other as

he looks really dodgy to me

in your words

You're quote:

We're at war basically - and the attacks on wikileaks highlighted major weaknesses in the system... a decentralised currency is just a part of it. We need to decentralise everything... and the "troubles" that bitcoin had about a month ago were all down to centralisation.

Sounds like you're a little paranoid and given the state of affairs within the governments, legal systems etc. you are more than rightly aware of the issues. But decentralizing everything is not possible IMO. Building an API based on data means it will have to live in a server somewhere to operate, you cant build a database on bit torrent.  And yes I am a developer in answer to this:

"Well versed in SQL Optimization" - riiight... not really a developer then?

...

The best one could do would be to use an open database such as fluidDB see here : http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/24/fluiddb-aims-to-become-the-wikipedia-of-databases/

This is an idea I will investigate as it could well be the closest we can get to openness for an API which works on a database operation like we're discussing here. However, what concerns me slightly is by opening up the data totally, could really expose traders and loose some of the anonymity which would be attractive in some places to be designed in. I will think more about this.

As regards development, I'm here to discuss this in an open way. Happy to take constructive feedback and take on board and hopefully address any concerns and adapt accordingly. I believe in getting as much feedback as possible while in development and hence why I have put this out there, instead of waiting till we had what we thought was "IT" then launched and then learned later that we had in some way gone in the wrong direction.

[se63pj]

I have thought about the fluidDB idea some more, I think it would not be possible because anyone would be able to modify the data unverified, thus creating positive feedback, removing negative feedback etc. It needs to be only trusted sources who have access to only limited data-sets which they are allowed, for it to not be abused.

[nickwit]

Here you do nothing other than cast accusations.

No - actually I asked a series of questions, that you failed to answer.


Let's try them one at a time:


1) Do you really operate out of 132 New Bond Street or is that just one of those rent-a-mailbox deals?

    If you do, how come when I google "132 New Bond Street" there seem to be a fair few Nigerian-style scams operating out of the same address?