[ANN][SILKCOIN][DARKSILK PREANN][TESTING STORMNODES/DarkSIlk MARKET/I2P]

[pgb]

Hello, i have bought silk after reading this thread.  I Looking forward to swapping for the Dark Silkcoins once rhe reaver has started.  WHEN is the swap to Dark Silkcoins starting? This is my first post here! Finally made the dive.  It is good read.  But i read that there is a swap but there is nowhere to swap currently? I would like to use my silk on the Darknet.  Is there a link to your dark market?

I know you stated you read the thread, maybe resd more of the thread from page 114 onwards for a full picture. After you have read that I am willing to bet most of your answers will of been answered and you'll have new questions

OKAY i read some more and seems you say there is a dark market on i2P? How do i connect to i2p?

I think he asked you to read because there is no swap from SILK to DarkSilk. The swap will be from SILK to the new SLK. To get DarkSilk you can either buy in the ICO or mine them after launch.

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[yell4george]

Hello, i have bought silk after reading this thread.  I Looking forward to swapping for the Dark Silkcoins once rhe reaver has started.  WHEN is the swap to Dark Silkcoins starting? This is my first post here! Finally made the dive.  It is good read.  But i read that there is a swap but there is nowhere to swap currently? I would like to use my silk on the Darknet.  Is there a link to your dark market?

I know you stated you read the thread, maybe resd more of the thread from page 114 onwards for a full picture. After you have read that I am willing to bet most of your answers will of been answered and you'll have new questions

OKAY i read some more and seems you say there is a dark market on i2P? How do i connect to i2p?

I think he asked you to read because there is no swap from SILK to DarkSilk. The swap will be from SILK to the new SLK. To get DarkSilk you can either buy in the ICO or mine them after launch.

Or trade SLK for DRKSLK via Weaver, but all of this, including the market is in the final stages of development.

[Bitcoinasourus]

Do we have any information on how the swap will take place?

EDIT: Could someone link or just explain what use SLK would be after we have Darksilk? Whats the benefit of using SLK? I didnt find proper info about it or just missed.

I think this is the question allot of us want to know. The market price reflects this confusion imo. There is no reason we shouldn't be around 3k.

Is SILK going to be the equivalent to ether's gas? What is going to put buy support on silk, other than further adoption as a currency, and speculation trading? Is there a plan to have it function further within the network?

Maybe if storm node's also required a holding of SILK and DrkSLK?

I've read the whole white paper a few times so I am clear. There is mention of sandstorm, but nothing new for silk in terms of features. The whole rebuild of the coin should be commended, but the orig investors aren't getting much for continuing to support. Or develop from the public end of things.
Most people who are using silk are internet savvy, they won't use silk as an entry point to silknet. When they buy BTC first. They will directly convert BTC to DrkSILK.

SILK got a total work over under the hood, in doing so it is a better coin. How ever the guts of SilkNet features still went into Darksilk, no? If silk is tied to a dark net coin, mainstream business won't adopt so you are catering to darknet types. There won't be any market drive for silk.
DarkSilk has a bright future no doubt, but how SILK is added to the equation is still a mystery.


At least if current silk holders, or staking wallets got a 10% bonus on the DarkSilk ICO. It would take the sting out of holding this long to see the desired features go into the new coin. Or some kind of incentive.

[Bitcoinasourus]

Im sorry i bELIEVe i misunderstanded your post.  Maybe you pgp are asking same questions as me.   You know the first silkcoin many thouasands of btc investors disrespected and left away from here.  So the truth always need known or else the btc will not be returned

Yes we are saying the same thing. There isn't a marketplace yet because darksilk isn't done yet. Once done, it will finally be completion of what the community bought into. Then we can move on with getting people back into silk.

Trak you should read the white paper. It explains questions you have.

https://t.co/qgsO4yV0rL

The whole project is solid, don't get me wrong. My post kinda comes across fud'y. I am just a long time holder of silk, so I just wanted to know how the project is adding value.

[Orestes]

Im sorry i bELIEVe i misunderstanded your post.  Maybe you pgp are asking same questions as me.   You know the first silkcoin many thouasands of btc investors disrespected and left away from here.  So the truth always need known or else the btc will not be returned

Yes we are saying the same thing. There isn't a marketplace yet because darksilk isn't done yet. Once done, it will finally be completion of what the community bought into. Then we can move on with getting people back into silk.

Trak you should read the white paper. It explains questions you have.

https://t.co/qgsO4yV0rL

The whole project is solid, don't get me wrong. My post kinda comes across fud'y. I am just a long time holder of silk, so I just wanted to know how the project is adding value.

I really empathize in your frustration but you must understand that not all things can be made known upfront. I too am long time holder of Silk, but havind hold on for so long I would not dare to dismiss this project as a whole and thus Silk in particular. The developer continually reiterated that Silk will be encorporated as a crucial component of the Silk Network, trust should be placed on that notion.

If that is not enough then wait for DRKSLK but if SLK ends up being more then just a coin you might have lost your position. This call is for investors to make, something about judging a book by its cover i think...

[Xtrata]

Im sorry i bELIEVe i misunderstanded your post.  Maybe you pgp are asking same questions as me.   You know the first silkcoin many thouasands of btc investors disrespected and left away from here.  So the truth always need known or else the btc will not be returned

Yes we are saying the same thing. There isn't a marketplace yet because darksilk isn't done yet. Once done, it will finally be completion of what the community bought into. Then we can move on with getting people back into silk.

Trak you should read the white paper. It explains questions you have.

https://t.co/qgsO4yV0rL

The whole project is solid, don't get me wrong. My post kinda comes across fud'y. I am just a long time holder of silk, so I just wanted to know how the project is adding value.

I really empathize in your frustration but you must understand that not all things can be made known upfront. I too am long time holder of Silk, but havind hold on for so long I would not dare to dismiss this project as a whole and thus Silk in particular. The developer continually reiterated that Silk will be encorporated as a crucial component of the Silk Network, trust should be placed on that notion.

If that is not enough then wait for DRKSLK but if SLK ends up being more then just a coin you might have lost your position. This call is for investors to make, something about judging a book by its cover i think...

Well, it should say what use SLK will be, why would anyone hold the coins if we cant know what use they will be for more then swaping coins? Makes no sense to hold that back if thats whats happening.

[Mrboot]

Where can i find info about the darksilk Ico and coin amount reward etc?

[Orestes]

Im sorry i bELIEVe i misunderstanded your post.  Maybe you pgp are asking same questions as me.   You know the first silkcoin many thouasands of btc investors disrespected and left away from here.  So the truth always need known or else the btc will not be returned

Yes we are saying the same thing. There isn't a marketplace yet because darksilk isn't done yet. Once done, it will finally be completion of what the community bought into. Then we can move on with getting people back into silk.

Trak you should read the white paper. It explains questions you have.

https://t.co/qgsO4yV0rL

The whole project is solid, don't get me wrong. My post kinda comes across fud'y. I am just a long time holder of silk, so I just wanted to know how the project is adding value.

I really empathize in your frustration but you must understand that not all things can be made known upfront. I too am long time holder of Silk, but havind hold on for so long I would not dare to dismiss this project as a whole and thus Silk in particular. The developer continually reiterated that Silk will be encorporated as a crucial component of the Silk Network, trust should be placed on that notion.

If that is not enough then wait for DRKSLK but if SLK ends up being more then just a coin you might have lost your position. This call is for investors to make, something about judging a book by its cover i think...

Well, it should say what use SLK will be, why would anyone hold the coins if we cant know what use they will be for more then swaping coins? Makes no sense to hold that back if thats whats happening.

SLK has not been re-released yet an SLK is not really necessary for swapping coins. The weaver can swap DRKSLK to BTC and vice versa perfectly without it.

To be blunt no one is required to say a thing, if the dev wants to implode their own coin they have the right to do so. But not giving information for a tid bit longer will not have that effect. The price is correcting from the tremendouse increase that has happened in the past week/months.

So yeah they are holding back but all will be known before you're actually able to use it im sure. Relax and hold tight is what i would advice.

[SLievensDRKSLK]

Here is more of a visual representation of the Silk Network and its underlying interconnecting workings

[OrsonJ]

Could you help me with a couple of questions please.

With the decentralized market, will it be possible to pay for goods using Silk or will it be DarkSilk only?

With Silk being accepted as payment for Weaver services, how will the USD to Silk rate be determined? Will it simply be based on the current Silk/BTC rate on exchanges?

Thanks.

From my understanding the market place will be DarkSilk only. The USD to Silk rate will be determined based on the current Silk/BTC rate on exchanges. But these are not really your questions i think. The main theme underlying you questions is why consider Silk, will it be worth the risk of an investment. To this i would say yes! Whatever happens to Silk you can be sure that it won't be just an apendix. Have trust in the developers, have trust in the weaver, have trust in both of the complementary coins.

Thanks. You're right in a way, but it's not that I'm considering investing. I had some originally and invested in more when Spencer first began posting as SCDeveloper and was saying things like:

DarkSilk is an entirely new coin with the opportunity for Silkcoin investors to buy in below the market price upon launch and continuously throughout its existence.

However, if the USD to Silk rate is determined by the rate on exchanges then Silk investors pay the exact same as everyone else. That's fine, it's obviously their prerogative to go back on that, but it almost feels like a cruel joke that the Silkcoin thread's been used as a de factor prelaunch thread when practically all of the development work and exciting new features are going into DarkSilk.

My point is, aside from at least giving us a functional chain by cloning BLK, nothing being proposed gives anyone an incentive to invest in Silk itself, nor gives it any more value. If you get the same rates for Weaver services with BTC as Silk, why bother with Silk? It feels a bit like this has just been glossed over. Is Silk only being included as a token gesture or in order to fulfill some past commitment? Or is it as Orestes believes, after you've finished with all those exciting new features for DarkSilk and DarkSilk's tesing and DarkSilk's launch will Silk be further developed?

My last commit to Silk was three days ago. Watch-Only, MultiSig Addresses, CheckLockTimeVerify and more. The new Silk is not just a send and receive coin.

But obviously it is hidden snuggly away in a sand dune where no prying eyes can fork it

Silk, DarkSilk and Weaver are integral to each other. The system itself is almost like a feedback loop, self perpetuating. A lot of thought has gone into this.

On top of that and the foundation of code we will be begin with, the growth, development, direction and improvements to Silk and DarkSilk will be continual.

There is also no reason why we cannot sell DarkSilk at a better rate for SILK than for BTC in the crowdsale.

My personal feeling towards Silkcoin is that it needs an honest and public team behind it, with the same direction and purpose in their work. It has had a dubious past and it is time to clean that up. Since MintPal, the original developers, The Silk Road Marketplace and Ross Ulbrichts imprisonment, the name Silkcoin has been linked synonymously with illegal operations, scams, dumps, mistrust and misdirection.

Those times are over.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my concerns. With the features you mention in the commit, are any exclusive to SILK or does DarkSilk have them too? What I'm sort of struggling with, and it seems like others are too now, is how the "feedback loop" you mentioned will work. Specifically how SILK will factor into it and what will power the loop on its side. You've given us a lot of detail about technical aspects of DarkSilk but when it comes to how SILK will factor in or what incentives there will be for anyone to use SILK you become uncharacteristically vague. If there's going to be a feedback loop of sorts how do you see it working? Or if you can't explain in detail at the present moment could you at least explain why?

[SLievensDRKSLK]

Could you help me with a couple of questions please.

With the decentralized market, will it be possible to pay for goods using Silk or will it be DarkSilk only?

With Silk being accepted as payment for Weaver services, how will the USD to Silk rate be determined? Will it simply be based on the current Silk/BTC rate on exchanges?

Thanks.

From my understanding the market place will be DarkSilk only. The USD to Silk rate will be determined based on the current Silk/BTC rate on exchanges. But these are not really your questions i think. The main theme underlying you questions is why consider Silk, will it be worth the risk of an investment. To this i would say yes! Whatever happens to Silk you can be sure that it won't be just an apendix. Have trust in the developers, have trust in the weaver, have trust in both of the complementary coins.

Thanks. You're right in a way, but it's not that I'm considering investing. I had some originally and invested in more when Spencer first began posting as SCDeveloper and was saying things like:

DarkSilk is an entirely new coin with the opportunity for Silkcoin investors to buy in below the market price upon launch and continuously throughout its existence.

However, if the USD to Silk rate is determined by the rate on exchanges then Silk investors pay the exact same as everyone else. That's fine, it's obviously their prerogative to go back on that, but it almost feels like a cruel joke that the Silkcoin thread's been used as a de factor prelaunch thread when practically all of the development work and exciting new features are going into DarkSilk.

My point is, aside from at least giving us a functional chain by cloning BLK, nothing being proposed gives anyone an incentive to invest in Silk itself, nor gives it any more value. If you get the same rates for Weaver services with BTC as Silk, why bother with Silk? It feels a bit like this has just been glossed over. Is Silk only being included as a token gesture or in order to fulfill some past commitment? Or is it as Orestes believes, after you've finished with all those exciting new features for DarkSilk and DarkSilk's tesing and DarkSilk's launch will Silk be further developed?

My last commit to Silk was three days ago. Watch-Only, MultiSig Addresses, CheckLockTimeVerify and more. The new Silk is not just a send and receive coin.

But obviously it is hidden snuggly away in a sand dune where no prying eyes can fork it

Silk, DarkSilk and Weaver are integral to each other. The system itself is almost like a feedback loop, self perpetuating. A lot of thought has gone into this.

On top of that and the foundation of code we will be begin with, the growth, development, direction and improvements to Silk and DarkSilk will be continual.

There is also no reason why we cannot sell DarkSilk at a better rate for SILK than for BTC in the crowdsale.

My personal feeling towards Silkcoin is that it needs an honest and public team behind it, with the same direction and purpose in their work. It has had a dubious past and it is time to clean that up. Since MintPal, the original developers, The Silk Road Marketplace and Ross Ulbrichts imprisonment, the name Silkcoin has been linked synonymously with illegal operations, scams, dumps, mistrust and misdirection.

Those times are over.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my concerns. With the features you mention in the commit, are any exclusive to SILK or does DarkSilk have them too? What I'm sort of struggling with, and it seems like others are too now, is how the "feedback loop" you mentioned will work. Specifically how SILK will factor into it and what will power the loop on its side. You've given us a lot of detail about technical aspects of DarkSilk but when it comes to how SILK will factor in or what incentives there will be for anyone to use SILK you become uncharacteristically vague. If there's going to be a feedback loop of sorts how do you see it working? Or if you can't explain in detail at the present moment could you at least explain why?

Because we feel we have solved the ultimate issue, stability, if we start talking about the ins and outs of the exact workings, everyone will copy.

[OrsonJ]

Could you help me with a couple of questions please.

With the decentralized market, will it be possible to pay for goods using Silk or will it be DarkSilk only?

With Silk being accepted as payment for Weaver services, how will the USD to Silk rate be determined? Will it simply be based on the current Silk/BTC rate on exchanges?

Thanks.

From my understanding the market place will be DarkSilk only. The USD to Silk rate will be determined based on the current Silk/BTC rate on exchanges. But these are not really your questions i think. The main theme underlying you questions is why consider Silk, will it be worth the risk of an investment. To this i would say yes! Whatever happens to Silk you can be sure that it won't be just an apendix. Have trust in the developers, have trust in the weaver, have trust in both of the complementary coins.

Thanks. You're right in a way, but it's not that I'm considering investing. I had some originally and invested in more when Spencer first began posting as SCDeveloper and was saying things like:

DarkSilk is an entirely new coin with the opportunity for Silkcoin investors to buy in below the market price upon launch and continuously throughout its existence.

However, if the USD to Silk rate is determined by the rate on exchanges then Silk investors pay the exact same as everyone else. That's fine, it's obviously their prerogative to go back on that, but it almost feels like a cruel joke that the Silkcoin thread's been used as a de factor prelaunch thread when practically all of the development work and exciting new features are going into DarkSilk.

My point is, aside from at least giving us a functional chain by cloning BLK, nothing being proposed gives anyone an incentive to invest in Silk itself, nor gives it any more value. If you get the same rates for Weaver services with BTC as Silk, why bother with Silk? It feels a bit like this has just been glossed over. Is Silk only being included as a token gesture or in order to fulfill some past commitment? Or is it as Orestes believes, after you've finished with all those exciting new features for DarkSilk and DarkSilk's tesing and DarkSilk's launch will Silk be further developed?

My last commit to Silk was three days ago. Watch-Only, MultiSig Addresses, CheckLockTimeVerify and more. The new Silk is not just a send and receive coin.

But obviously it is hidden snuggly away in a sand dune where no prying eyes can fork it

Silk, DarkSilk and Weaver are integral to each other. The system itself is almost like a feedback loop, self perpetuating. A lot of thought has gone into this.

On top of that and the foundation of code we will be begin with, the growth, development, direction and improvements to Silk and DarkSilk will be continual.

There is also no reason why we cannot sell DarkSilk at a better rate for SILK than for BTC in the crowdsale.

My personal feeling towards Silkcoin is that it needs an honest and public team behind it, with the same direction and purpose in their work. It has had a dubious past and it is time to clean that up. Since MintPal, the original developers, The Silk Road Marketplace and Ross Ulbrichts imprisonment, the name Silkcoin has been linked synonymously with illegal operations, scams, dumps, mistrust and misdirection.

Those times are over.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my concerns. With the features you mention in the commit, are any exclusive to SILK or does DarkSilk have them too? What I'm sort of struggling with, and it seems like others are too now, is how the "feedback loop" you mentioned will work. Specifically how SILK will factor into it and what will power the loop on its side. You've given us a lot of detail about technical aspects of DarkSilk but when it comes to how SILK will factor in or what incentives there will be for anyone to use SILK you become uncharacteristically vague. If there's going to be a feedback loop of sorts how do you see it working? Or if you can't explain in detail at the present moment could you at least explain why?

Because we feel we have solved the ultimate issue, stability, if we start talking about the ins and outs of the exact workings, everyone will copy.

Okay that makes sense. Sounds exciting! Thanks.

[SLievensDRKSLK]

I will say this, the price stability model we have developed will not be implemented from launch, it cannot be. We will first need to launch Silk and complete the swap, complete the crowdsale, launch DarkSilk and then begin the work on the stability model implementation.

Like I continue to say, we are building and have been building strong foundations for a year and will continue to do so up until launch.

After launch, the building begins on top of the solid foundations.

[SLievensDRKSLK]

I will say this, the price stability model we have developed will not be implemented from launch, it cannot be. We will first need to launch Silk and complete the swap, complete the crowdsale, launch DarkSilk and then begin the work on the stability model implementation.

Like I continue to say, we are building and have been building strong foundations for a year and will continue to do so up until launch.

After launch, the building begins on top of the solid foundations.

Hello and thank you for your responsives.  I would like to ask how the Silkcoin to Silkcoin swap will then happen? Will you be working with poloniez? I have purchased my coins from this exchange.  If not working with poloniex what will happen to all the leftover silkcoins that are left on poloniex? I read that you plan to use the reaver for swapping? Will this not cause problem with 2 chains of coins? What will happen to my silkcoins in poloniex?

Silkcoin -> Silk swap is on Weaver.

Silkcoin market on Polo will close after one month.

Silk market on Polo will open straightaway.

[SLievensDRKSLK]

I will say this, the price stability model we have developed will not be implemented from launch, it cannot be. We will first need to launch Silk and complete the swap, complete the crowdsale, launch DarkSilk and then begin the work on the stability model implementation.

Like I continue to say, we are building and have been building strong foundations for a year and will continue to do so up until launch.

After launch, the building begins on top of the solid foundations.

Hello and thank you for your responsives.  I would like to ask how the Silkcoin to Silkcoin swap will then happen? Will you be working with poloniez? I have purchased my coins from this exchange.  If not working with poloniex what will happen to all the leftover silkcoins that are left on poloniex? I read that you plan to use the reaver for swapping? Will this not cause problem with 2 chains of coins? What will happen to my silkcoins in poloniex?

Silkcoin -> Silk swap is on Weaver.

Silkcoin market on Polo will close after one month.

Silk market on Polo will open straightaway.

What are the specs for the New Silk? Will it be of the same current? It is good you have already finalised this with Poloniex regarding the swapping.   I have never since seen two markets of the same coin on this exchange.

I have coordinated with Polo and will continue to do so

[drizzle2405]

Don't forget, DRKSLK will have less supply than SLK, most likely keeping DRKSLK at a higher price than SLK, so naturally people will buy into SLK as well just on the fact of a lower price and it still ties into the system.  My interpretation is look at it like gold and silver...  Everyone uses both, just one is more expensive...  And one you may be able to do more things with, but that doesn't make the other one "useless", as it still serves a purpose.  Come to think of it, it's a rather genius system and brings more liquidity to the SILK Network than anything.

[yell4george]

Silk will be still pure PoS, it will have 10000 blocks of PoW at the start of the new chain but these blocks give a 0 block reward and simply allow the chain to progress into PoS smoothly.

Coin Suffix: SLK
Algorithm: Scrypt
PoW Period: 10,000 Blocks
PoW Target Spacing: 60 Seconds
PoW Difficulty Retarget: 10 Blocks
PoW Reward per Block: 0 SLK
Full Confirmation: 10 Blocks
Maturity: 350 Blocks
PoS Target Spacing: 64 Seconds
PoS Difficulty Retarget: 10 Blocks
PoS Reward: 2 SLK Static PoS Reward
Minimum Confirmations for Stake: 350 Blocks
PoS Min: 12 Hours
PoS Max: Unlimited
Total Coins: 2,000,000,000 SLK
Block Size: 2MB (2X Bitcoin Core)

DarkSilk will be PoW and PoS. PoW will be Argon2d, GPU mineable and without restriction in terms of time or blocks. PoS will be using the Blake2B algorithm.

Coin Suffix: DRKSLK
PoW Algorithm: Argon2d
PoW Period: Unlimited
PoW Target Spacing: 60 Seconds
PoW Difficulty Retarget: 10 Blocks
PoW Reward per Block: 1 DRKSLK
Full Confirmation: 10 Blocks
PoS Algorithm: Blake2B
PoS Target Spacing: 64 Seconds
PoS Difficulty Retarget: 10 Blocks
PoS Reward: 0.1 DRKSLK Static PoS Reward
PoS Stake Split Combined Threshold: 500 DRKSLK
Maturity: 100 Blocks (~100 minutes)
Minimum Confirmations for Stake: 1440 Blocks (~1 day)
PoS Min: 1 Hour
PoS Max: Unlimited
Stormnode Collateral Amount: 10000 DRKSLK
Stormnode Min Confirmation: 10 Blocks
Stormnode Reward: 0.25 DRKSLK Static Reward
Budget Reward: 10,000 DRKSLK Static Reward Every 41,091 blocks (~30 days)
Budget Proposal Fee: 100 DRKSLK, 20 confirmations (~20 minutes)
Total Coins: 90,000,000 DRKSLK (~105 years)
Block Size: 20MB (20X Bitcoin Core)

Do ignore 'Block Size:' as they are not final.

[yell4george]

Silk is ready in terms of styling and splashscreen, code is also all done except for watch only addresses within the GUI. The watch only address feature is something that no one has within their GUI and has been worked on by Alistair (Infernoman) and credit must go to him and his hard work.

DarkSilk just needs a few fixes carried out and the marketplace adding to the codebase, along with the other items in the list posted above. The team is really happy with the work carried out and being carried out.

Weaver is still under development...this is something of course that will never truly end, with your input and suggestions we hope to create an enterprise platform for users of the Silk Network that wil grow and adapt for years to come. Currently security for users is our key concern with optional user pins and 2FA implemented recently. The web address for Weaver will be https://weaver.silknetwork.org and the first time people will see the platform will be when we open for user registrations in preparation for the Silkcoin to Silk swap.

Now we all know you all want timeframes. Here is the plan. Get DarkSilk finished and Weaver functional. Silk is effectively ready. DarkSilk should take a maximum of 4-6 weeks to be finalised. This means we are aiming for a March launch for Silk if not before, if everything goes smoothly without finding more errors along the way. DarkSilk then would be launched in April. The Crowdsale would then happen with full Weaver functionality aimed for April/May. At this point we would then be working on new features set out by ourselves and suggestions put forward by the community.

In the long term we will be looking to have Silk and DarkSilk work off of each other, in both a blockchain and real world sense. Price stability and distribution being the key focal point. This is something that has been planned, worked upon and will be set into action. This is a currency we want all Bitcoin users to be questioning to switch to, altcoin users to use without question and new adopters to choose over all others.

[yell4george]

So is the chain starting from zero with SLK?  There will in theory be a large amount of SILK lost during the transition(stuff in cryptsy, unclaimed polo addresses etc), so will the projected amount of SLK available at launch be much less than SILK that exists now?

Also what is the purpose of SLK if DRKSLK is basically a better coin in all ways?  It seems like you more or less built a coin from scratch with the amount of work youve put into it, and then attached it to the SILK network/name because of its community/name/price, and as an entry point into weaver, which is essentially a centralized platform, yes?  Do weaver fees go to nodes processing the transactions/performing services or do they go to the dev crew to maintain the weaver platform?

Also I was originally under the impression that SLK would also have masternodes that ran services on top, but since that isnt the case, what purpose does it actually serve besides being one of a myriad of functional coin networks?  Is there anything planned that will actually use both networks(besides weaver, which sort of depends on SLK/DRKSLK, not the other way around)

Should I look at SLK as a quick and easy-to-use payment method, and DRKSLK as more of an in-depth service layer?

So is the chain starting from zero with SLK?

Yes, well, block 1, we lost block 0 (Genesis) that had no coins in it.

There will in theory be a large amount of SILK lost during the transition(stuff in cryptsy, unclaimed polo addresses etc), so will the projected amount of SLK available at launch be much less than SILK that exists now?

We will snapshot the amount of Silkcoin (SILK) in circulation just prior to the launch of Silk (SLK), addresses attaining Silkcoin (SILK) after the will not be eligible for the swap. The swap is indefinite to start with as we know there are a lot of holders of Silkcoin (SILK) that will come out of the woodwork down the road, some of which could be large investors and we do not want to see anyone losing any investment or time.

Short answer, the same as the amount of Silkcoin in circulation as at the point of launch of Silk.

Also what is the purpose of SLK if DRKSLK is basically a better coin in all ways?  It seems like you more or less built a coin from scratch with the amount of work youve put into it, and then attached it to the SILK network/name because of its community/name/price, and as an entry point into weaver, which is essentially a centralized platform, yes?  Do weaver fees go to nodes processing the transactions/performing services or do they go to the dev crew to maintain the weaver platform?

The purpose is to provide a network that encapsulates two cryptographic currencies sharing a safe platform that is trusted and are trusted. Silk will be developed further, with Stormnodes, Smart Contracts and more. Weaver is a centralised site that utilises decentralised services. Transactions and messaging are decentralised and handled by either the Bitcoin, DarkSilk or Silk networks. If the fees are for transactions from a DarkSilk wallet to another DarkSilk wallet (same for BTC and SLK) the fees are that of the networks which goes to the nodes, plus a withdrawal fee which goes towards the funding of Weaver.

Our aim is to decentralise the entire Weaver platform into both DarkSilk and Silk directly and onto the blockchain. We do not like centralisation in any form as much as the next user.

Should I look at SLK as a quick and easy-to-use payment method, and DRKSLK as more of an in-depth service layer?

I would say that SLK is an easy gateway for users to start using and being a part of the Silk Network and DRKSLK is for the advanced user and as you put it, "an in-depth service layer", as such.
 

So another question which might have already been answered is how exactly will the swap be performed? I know that might sound kind of stupid but I've never done a swap for a coin before.

Nice and easily.

1. Deposit your Silkcoin (SILK) to your Weaver online wallet.
2. Enter the Swap section of Weaver.
3. Select the amount of Silkcoin (SILK) to swap 1:1 with Silk (SLK) and submit.
4. Your Weaver wallet will be credited with Silk (SLK).

[yell4george]

All you have to do is read a little bit to find the answers.

Everything is in final development and details are subject to change based on community input, etc