NEM (XEM) Official Thread - 100% New Code - Easy To Use APIs

[Bizmark13]

Phew... Almost had a heart attack when I saw that the title was changed to "Redemption ends". Glad to see that there are still a couple of weeks left. I still have my 0.1 NEMstake on the AE which I'll be redeeming in the next couple days. It's good to see that this project is moving forward though. I'll be looking forward to the launch. The next several days/weeks/months should be exciting.

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[jabo38]

These are a selection of complaints I have seen on BTT from random sources (not necessarily my concerns).  I have collected them and rated them to see how the general crypto community will accept us.  So far, I think we deserve the grade of D.  So lots of room for improvement.  I know that might be harsh to say, but I tried to take a hard look in the mirror.  

Green = We are doing it right
Black = not good and/or not bad
Red = We are definitely lacking

Major problems that need to be addressed and are crypto wide problems:

1.   Miners – sooner or later miners very will might be the end of Bitcoin. NEM has found a good solution to POW.
2.   Block chain bloat – NEM devs have been designing NEM with this in mind and have some possible solutions already.
3.   Transaction per second  and speed of transactions clearing– even the best networks don’t come anywhere close to being scalable to the likes of Mastercard or Visa.  As far as I know, NEM like all other cyrptos doesn’t yet have the answer.
4.   Adaption – We are working on that
5.   Security – The NEM is being designed with security and safety in mind
6.   Adaptability to future features – NEM has been designed with this in mind.

Typical alt coin woes:

Alts are scams – NEM is not a scam
Pumpers, dumpers, and market manipulators – NEM might be susceptible to manipulation, almost everything is, but it will hopefully be minimized because of the wide distribution.
Lots of thefts and “hacks” that were really just the devs – NEM devs have implemented multisig just to prevent that
Anonymous developers that might run – Some of the developers are anonymous but running won’t help them.
Distribution is terrible – NEM worked hard on this and probably has the best distribution ever of any crypto
Poor image – NEM has been mainly hurt by delays.  Launching may or may not help this.
Low adoption rate – Right now NEM has no adoption really
Little community participation – NEM’s community has a few very active people, but needs many more.
trolls, and liars – we are trying hard to avoid that, but sometimes we have been involved in trolling
Some personalities in crypto are quite strange/harsh/rude – most NEMsters are nice
Fragmentation of the community  - the community that exists is fairly connected and with a common vision
Security – NEM is doing really good to make sure that we have security
Closed development process that is not transparent – NCC is open source but NIS is not
Lack of vision – It isn’t completely clear yet what NEM’s vision will be though some ideas have been put forth.
Lack of direction – NEM has direction, but with better vision it would be better.  Right now we are just trying to do the basics of getting started, so direction is easy.  After that is done, we need to concentrate our direction.  
Lack of dev support to users – NEM devs are communicating frequently
Lack dev rewards for working – so far no rewards for any of the community members but especially the devs.
Not good communication from leadership in community – NEM has good communication
Alts are like penny stocks – Yes, they are and right now NEM has no plan to counter this
Updates just come when they come – That is how software like this works, but it could be better.
Lack of good names – Our name could be better.
Lack of good symbols/icons/logos/mascots – We are lacking
Not social enough – We don’t yet have a social aspect of NEM
Just not fun – We don’t have a twist to make NEM fun
Lack of integration with old financial systems – We haven’t done any of this but we should not be surprised if AltNEMO or other parties are already doing it or have plans to do it.
No backward compatibility with old financial systems – May be hard to do but again it is not impossible like the above.
In crypto sometimes there are coins that are lost and can’t be recovered – We have no plan to recover lost coins
Crypto is not like a currency but instead a very volatile asset – This is true, crypto might someday become a currency, but it must first be a collectable, then an asset, and then finally money.  There is a natural order.
Lack of faucets to play around with a coin – No planned faucets yet
Not viral – No good viral aspect of NEM
Vaporware apps – NEM most definitely isn’t vaporware
Vapor assets on asset exchanges – NEM doesn’t have any vapor assets (yet)


Issues that might apply specifically to NEM:

Marketing is lacking – we need more money and after launch we might have it, for the budget of $0 we are doing pretty good.
Some people don’t want their software copied so they put in traps or don’t make it open source – I am not sure about this, but NEM devs haven’t mentioned this.
Price ticker in client – I personally don’t think it is needed.  This isn’t so much about the price right now.
Node rewards are too little – NEM is planning on making a system for node rewards so that people running nodes will have an incentive.
Vulnerable to Sybil Attacks or DDOS – I am not sure
Address collisions - good
Offline paper wallets – It is fairly easy for somebody to make an offline private key and print it up.
Random block times (too long or too short) – BR has done a lot of work to fix this.
Need an official source of news updates include blogs/you tube/radio – We have a plan but no steps have been taken to implement it.
Need a centralized source of information for a platform (not searching dozens of different blogs/you tube/radio/websites/forums)- Maybe an official blog/newsletters should be the primary source and then Twitter, Facebook, radio ads and youtube talks are responses to the newsletters (radio a quick summary, and youtube a broader and wider discussion). - We have a plan but no steps have been taken to implement it.
NEM NCC user interface tiles should be movable, customizable and people should be able to change the colors.  NXT can do this. – client is not customizable
Need to have an example page like NXT http://nxt.org/demo/ - We don’t have a page like that, but it isn’t hard to get NEM started like it is NXT
Blockchain takes a long time to download – Devs are working on a solution
UI is confusing and hard to use – It isn’t so bad, but we need tutorials
Language and terms are not intuitive – better terms could be used
Tech is buggy – still lots of bugs, need more testers.  Overall the software is usable.
Need tutorials – we are working on this, but they could be much better and more abundant.  
Need a welcoming message saying hello for the first time somebody uses the client- This is very true.  First time users of the client need a walk through.
Links to Q and A – We are working on it
Corrupting the blockchain database if not shut down properly – Devs are working on it
Need for hardware wallet – NEM is very safe already and has taken care of many of the problems that caused people to need hardware wallets on other platforms.
Lack of good infographics to explain things easily – We need more
Need for smart contracts with lots of flexibility – We have none right now
Good APIs – We have very good APIs and documentation
Mining/forging is difficult or not profitable – NEM is working on that with node rewards
Transaction fees are not variable and often too high - fixed
It uses Java (not a strike against it or against Java). But... – The devs are capable in their use of Java.
It launches via a .bat file on Windows or .sh file on Mac/Linux. No GUI -- just a text console app that spawns a local web server that hosts the UI. – We could use better UI development, and better ways to start NEM
It took several hours to download the blockchain – devs are working on it
Client updating needs to be handled better (more automatic, or with more permission from user) – I think it is fine
Once some (or all) of the blockchain is downloaded, subsequent client startups take a ridiculous amount of time because it has to "process" every single block before it can start. I started it 45 minutes ago. It's still not finished. – so far this hasn’t been a problem with NEM

What to do?

If you have any ideas how to fix any of the red or black on this post, please come by Telegram/forum and talk to us.

Or if you have some time and would like to help us work on fixing some of these problems, again come by Telegram/forum.  

[Kolbas]

These are a selection of complaints I have seen on BTT from random sources (not necessarily my concerns)......
3.   Transaction per second  and speed of transactions clearing– even the best networks don’t come anywhere close to being scalable to the likes of Mastercard or Visa.  As far as I know, NEM like all other cyrptos doesn’t yet have the answer.
.......

NODE transactions are instant. Checked it myself. Something like 3-5 seconds

[jabo38]

almost all networks show the transaction in a few seconds.  but then there is the matter of when it actually clears a few blocks.  NEM transactions too often will show up in 1-2 seconds, but our block time is 1 minute.  Node's block time too is listed as 60 seconds on their announcement page. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=590421.0

furthermore, if you want to spend the XEM that somebody sent you, you need only wait for the first block confirmation.  in Node you have to wait more than that, so in Node, it isn't really your money to spend until a longer time has passed.

[Eadeqa]

furthermore, if you want to spend the XEM that somebody sent you, you need only wait for the first block confirmation.  in Node you have to wait more than that, so in Node, it isn't really your money to spend until a longer time has passed.

Node claims to have implemented instant transaction confirmation. That's different than what you re talking about.

[patmast3r]

These are a selection of complaints I have seen on BTT from random sources (not necessarily my concerns)......
3.   Transaction per second  and speed of transactions clearing– even the best networks don’t come anywhere close to being scalable to the likes of Mastercard or Visa.  As far as I know, NEM like all other cyrptos doesn’t yet have the answer.
.......

NODE transactions are instant. Checked it myself. Something like 3-5 seconds

That doesn't mean it's scalable. In fact the jury is still out on secure now that POA doesn't seem to be working correctly.

[patmast3r]

almost all networks show the transaction in a few seconds.  but then there is the matter of when it actually clears a few blocks.  NEM transactions too often will show up in 1-2 seconds, but our block time is 1 minute.  Node's block time too is listed as 60 seconds on their announcement page. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=590421.0

furthermore, if you want to spend the XEM that somebody sent you, you need only wait for the first block confirmation.  in Node you have to wait more than that, so in Node, it isn't really your money to spend until a longer time has passed.

Not according to what the NODE dev is saying / planning. Not much info on how it's actually achieved though.

[mixmaster]

I still don't understand how NODE can speak of "50 confirmations within a second" (see whitepaper). As I understand it, they use the term "confirmations" in another way as it is usually used in a blockchain context.
For NODE 50 confirmations seems to mean: 50 p2p nodes confirmed the transaction as valid.
Usually 50 confirmations mean: The complete p2p network confirmed 50 times (with a progress of 50 blocks) that the blockchain is still valid - implying that the given transaction is confirmed not only by 50 nodes but by the whole p2p network 50 times.

That is a huge difference and if I am right with this interpretation, NODE is using the term misleading.

But anyway, I suggest to discuss the details of NODE's features in their thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=590421.new;topicseen#new

[patmast3r]

I still don't understand how NODE can speak of "50 confirmations within a second" (see whitepaper). As I understand it, they use the term "confirmations" in another way as it is usually used in a blockchain context.
For NODE 50 confirmations seems to mean: 50 p2p nodes confirmed the transaction as valid.
Usually 50 confirmations mean: The complete p2p network confirmed 50 times (with a progress of 50 blocks) that the blockchain is still valid - implying that the given transaction is confirmed not only by 50 nodes but by the whole p2p network 50 times.

That is a huge difference and if I am right with this interpretation, NODE is using the term misleading.

But anyway, I suggest to discuss the details of NODE's features in their thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=590421.new;topicseen#new

Yes, that's how they use the term. However they are using it that way because they truly think that in their system one node confirming a tx is as good as 1 block confirmation in common blockchain systems.

Like I said though...not much known about how they wanna do it.
First they said it was a fully connected net. Then they were talking about neural networks and recently it started to look a little like a system with masternodes.

We'll only see how and if it really works when they disclose the necessary information.

[makoto1337]

Is xtester responsible for stake distribution & allocation IN ANY WAY???

Nope. Why?

Stake distribution is going in the nemesis block, which is going to be handled by the core devs. The transactions from the nemesis block will all be public for all to see.

[makoto1337]

I still don't understand how NODE can speak of "50 confirmations within a second" (see whitepaper). As I understand it, they use the term "confirmations" in another way as it is usually used in a blockchain context.
For NODE 50 confirmations seems to mean: 50 p2p nodes confirmed the transaction as valid.
Usually 50 confirmations mean: The complete p2p network confirmed 50 times (with a progress of 50 blocks) that the blockchain is still valid - implying that the given transaction is confirmed not only by 50 nodes but by the whole p2p network 50 times.

That is a huge difference and if I am right with this interpretation, NODE is using the term misleading.

But anyway, I suggest to discuss the details of NODE's features in their thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=590421.new;topicseen#new

Yes, that's how they use the term. However they are using it that way because they truly think that in their system one node confirming a tx is as good as 1 block confirmation in common blockchain systems.

Like I said though...not much known about how they wanna do it.
First they said it was a fully connected net. Then they were talking about neural networks and recently it started to look a little like a system with masternodes.

We'll only see how and if it really works when they disclose the necessary information.

I'm also not sure what happens if the blockchain unravels due to soft forks. It seems that "instant" transactions are not useful unless you can guarantee they will permanently be in a block. And the only way to do that is through Probabilistic Byzantine Consensus, aka Nakamoto Consensus. In other words, you need a blockchain and you need several blocks to show that all the Byzantine generals agree.

[mixmaster]

Is xtester responsible for stake distribution & allocation IN ANY WAY???

Nope. Why?

Stake distribution is going in the nemesis block, which is going to be handled by the core devs. The transactions from the nemesis block will all be public for all to see.

Good.  

I DO NOT trust xtester properly allocating my stake due to his apparent consent to an obvious case of embezzlement.  

I am not reading big red caps letters. Period.

[jelin1984]

What happen??

Again problem with nem or not?.........?

[mixmaster]

What happen??

Again problem with nem or not?.........?

No, why do you ask?

[jelin1984]

Because I see some red letters

[patmast3r]

Because I see some red letters

That just a new service. Dumb posts contain them now so you can spot them easier.

[makoto1337]

I did some analysis just to check this out:

makoto$ ipython
Python 2.7.9 (default, Dec 13 2014, 15:13:49)
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

IPython 2.4.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
%quickref -> Quick reference.
help      -> Python's own help system.
object?   -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.

In [1]: "NxtChg" == "xtester"
Out[1]: False

[makoto1337]

Because I see some red letters

That just a new service. Dumb posts contain them now so you can spot them easier.

I wish BTT had that! 

[amytheplanarshift]

smaragda, you seem to have some serious issues, but your issues (as far as I can tell... your posts are not the easiest to follow to be honest) do not involve NEM and therefore have no place in this thread.

[amytheplanarshift]

smaragda, you seem to have some serious issues, but your issues (as far as I can tell... your posts are not the easiest to follow to be honest) do not involve NEM and therefore have no place in this thread.

Let me see if I understood correctly...  are you saying that AS A NEM STAKEHOLDER I don't have the right to NOT trust xtester?  

You totally have that right. But your issues with other coins do not exactly involve NEM, and I still can't figure out what xtester has to do with any of this. So sure, feel free to have a problem with him personally, but that still does not have anything to do with NEM as far as I am concerned as xtester does not have the power to control any particular aspect of NEM at all.