[ANN][QBC] Quebecoin - X11 DGW - Forked! New Mac/Win/Linux Wallets!

[ghonyme]

The exchange is up again.

Merci!  This is great news!  Glad to also see people behind this coin pop up in forum and remind everyone that everyone has their hands on the steering wheel and we are ready to heed to developments which might be required of us.

Thank's for your message.

As I said on the french forum, we are at a critical step for quebecoin. Personally, if I have no new from development, I will remove all cryptobec services in one month.... It's a lot of time and money to manage a site like this for nothing....

[snowcrawl]

Thanks, the hash rate went back up to normal, as of early this morning, on the SuchPool Quebecoin mining pool as well.  Megadeth199, an extra 9 hours has been added to your mining period in order to make up for the downtime.

I will remove all cryptobec services in one month.... It's a lot of time and money to manage a site like this for nothing....

I know that the only reason I am still here is because of the work that ghonyme has put into this.  The principle was good, whether or not Quebecoin will be the way to get there is still uncertain.  Assuming interest in this project might resume, you can count on my full support.  But it is understandable that there is a limit to how much longer you can wait.

[megadeth199]

Thanks, the hash rate went back up to normal, as of early this morning, on the SuchPool Quebecoin mining pool as well.  Megadeth199, an extra 9 hours has been added to your mining period in order to make up for the downtime.

Oh cool, Thank you very much

[ShadowBits]

Thanks, the hash rate went back up to normal, as of early this morning, on the SuchPool Quebecoin mining pool as well.  Megadeth199, an extra 9 hours has been added to your mining period in order to make up for the downtime.

I will remove all cryptobec services in one month.... It's a lot of time and money to manage a site like this for nothing....

I know that the only reason I am still here is because of the work that ghonyme has put into this.  The principle was good, whether or not Quebecoin will be the way to get there is still uncertain.  Assuming interest in this project might resume, you can count on my full support.  But it is understandable that there is a limit to how much longer you can wait.

What is required for continued support?  I mean, even talking of taking services away is not good for the coin.

[ghonyme]

Thanks, the hash rate went back up to normal, as of early this morning, on the SuchPool Quebecoin mining pool as well.  Megadeth199, an extra 9 hours has been added to your mining period in order to make up for the downtime.

I will remove all cryptobec services in one month.... It's a lot of time and money to manage a site like this for nothing....

I know that the only reason I am still here is because of the work that ghonyme has put into this.  The principle was good, whether or not Quebecoin will be the way to get there is still uncertain.  Assuming interest in this project might resume, you can count on my full support.  But it is understandable that there is a limit to how much longer you can wait.

What is required for continued support?  I mean, even talking of taking services away is not good for the coin.

We need to manage this project as a project should be manage. (roadmap, deadline, release date....)

In the roadmap, we should have things like that :
- Deamon update with last patchs
- android wallet
- Find merchands which should be ready to accept quebecoin. For example a pub in Montreal ready to sell his beer with 50% discount if you pay with quebecoin....

[snowcrawl]

We need to manage this project as a project should be manage. (roadmap, deadline, release date....)

In the roadmap, we should have things like that :
- Deamon update with last patchs
- android wallet
- Find merchands which should be ready to accept quebecoin. For example a pub in Montreal ready to sell his beer with 50% discount if you pay with quebecoin....

That's right, just to reiterate.  There are certain critical aspects of the project that are not being managed at the moment because we don't have the right technical talent involved yet.  Someone to work out the android wallet, being just one example.  Also, because the state of this thing is in limbo, quebecoin has gone off the radar for a number of people who were initially quite involved and interested.

As far as merchant adoption is concerned.  I think it would make sense to begin with less formal, home based businesses by people who already know how to use crypto currency ideally.  Like someone from our circle who is able to sell vegetables from their garden.  Just to get a baseline of merchant activity, before pitching the idea to an established brick and mortar business in downtown Montreal.  As it is, there are not yet a whole lot of places in Montreal that accept bitcoin, as far as I can tell.  I have not personally gone to some of the places that do, such as Montreal Poutine, so I am not sure what the experience is like for the customer.  Whether or not they do a good job of handling bitcoin customers,  or if it is still something that just looks good on paper as a gimmick, but which they are still struggling to figure out themselves.

[ghonyme]

Do you have a list of places which accept bitcoin in montreal ?

[snowcrawl]

Do you have a list of places which accept bitcoin in montreal ?

The following is from CoinMap.org :

A & M Services - Bookkeeping & Taxes
Atelier 77
AutoCoinage Bitcoin ATM/Canada Hotdog
Bar La Caverne
BitAccess Bitcoin ATM
Bitcoin Embassy
BitHost
Canfone.com
CellTek
Clinique de Massages
Crêperie St-Paul
Instacoin ATM
Kigurumi Canada
L'Espagne à vos pieds
La porte logique
Le Goût du Libre
Me Louis Sirois, LL.B. avocat
Montreal Bitcoin ATM Suite #194
Montreal Poutine
Montreal Rental Apartments
Netlink Studio
Red Rhino Recording
Sandman
sport code - MAXIM
Voxel Factory
YMR Technologies
Zinzan Studio Montreal

[snowcrawl]

Worth noting that there is one hotel in Montreal that accepts bitcoin.  And they are within easy walking distance of the Longueil Université de Sherbrooke Metro Station.


http://www.sandmanhotels.ca/fr/hotels/montreal-longueuil/

This is what Kigurumi Canada is:

http://www.kigurumi.ca/

As you can see they have an online store and specialize in one type of item, an animal themed fleece costume that originates from Japan.  I see on their website that they have the bitoin logo.

I think a web based store that has a similar design and sells a simple product for Quebecoins, like custom T-shirts for example.  Could be another possible way to implement Quebecoin into the local merchant scene.

[snowcrawl]

- Find merchands which should be ready to accept quebecoin. For example a pub in Montreal ready to sell his beer with 50% discount if you pay with quebecoin....

This has been the problem from the very beginning.  We first become excited by the idea of this coin because of the potential for it to be used in that way, as a currency that could be used within Quebec and beyond.  However, at such an early a stage in development, where few are aware of us, it would be unrealistic to find merchants willing to consider accepting Quebecoin as payment while the coin has no definite value.
`
I think one possible way forward would be to first offer the idea of using Quebecoin as a token coin.  As something that can be used as part of the marketing tools of a business, such as coupons.  Customers would get the opportunity to access special items, offers, and discounts available only if they pay a nominal fee in Quebecoin to the merchant.  For example, pay 500 QBC and receive a code that you enter at checkout to save 40% on specific items.  This would be a far more realistic starting point.

This could also be another way for merchants to gradually become involved with using cryptocurrency in general.  One that would be less demanding than trying to integrate Bitcoin into their payment system as the first step.

As demand for the coin would increase, we could then add more uses that would make Quebecoin work like a currency that has a specific value.

[ShadowBits]

- Find merchands which should be ready to accept quebecoin. For example a pub in Montreal ready to sell his beer with 50% discount if you pay with quebecoin....

This has been the problem from the very beginning.  We first become excited by the idea of this coin because of the potential for it to be used in that way, as a currency that could be used within Quebec and beyond.  However, at such an early a stage in development, where few are aware of us, it would be unrealistic to find merchants willing to consider accepting Quebecoin as payment while the coin has no definite value.
`
I think one possible way forward would be to first offer the idea of using Quebecoin as a token coin.  As something that can be used as part of the marketing tools of a business, such as coupons.  Customers would get the opportunity to access special items, offers, and discounts available only if they pay a nominal fee in Quebecoin to the merchant.  For example, pay 500 QBC and receive a code that you enter at checkout to save 40% on specific items.  This would be a far more realistic starting point.

This could also be another way for merchants to gradually become involved with using cryptocurrency in general.  One that would be less demanding than trying to integrate Bitcoin into their payment system as the first step.

As demand for the coin would increase, we could then add more uses that would make Quebecoin work like a currency that has a specific value.

Actually that is a great idea.  Also, I'm impressed with the list of businesses available willing to take Bitcoin!  Wow!  What a list!  I promise you that in FL, this list does not exist, at least not the area I generally live in.  What is stopping us from doing what you are proposing?!  I mean, the idea is there and a bunch of businesses are there.  Where is the lady who took this project over after that Gagnon guy?  Why has she left the ship?  Honestly, it didn't take much time after saving this coin for most of its dedicated members to leave, which is really sad and disheartening.  Seemed like everyone was relying on others to save the coin.  Also, there needs to be better linking of messages between the English and French forums.  If someone posts something in French on this forum, I can translate it for the English people.  Having no activity on the forums is the best way to kill this coin.  So thanks for the few who are responding here, but its not enough.  All the people involved with this coin should have each others email/cells and should be all over the forums when new people arrive.  Maybe reward new people with coins.  SOMETHING has to happen otherwise everyone in here has killed the coin.

I can donate coins since you guys gave me so many, I can help donate towards new users, but without something, all my words mean nothing...  Has nobody gone to University of Montreal, Concordia, and McGill?  I feel like if we can't pull this off, that we are letting ourselves down big time.  Montreal is an enormous city and you guys can generate a huge list of vendors who accept BTC, I'm surprised this project has almost no breadth in it.  If someone told me I lived in NYC and that they couldn't start a NYCoin, I would laugh at them.

This is almost how ridiculous it is.  A bunch of hippy kids in Montreal.  Why not work with smoke shops to spread Quebecoin!?  Even if its a smoke shop, at least its local and they are open minded.  Why not contact the city and see if they can work out a deal with certain bicycle rental places where they can pay in Quebecoin for the day and get bicycles to ride around the city?!  If we can't find way of doing this, I think we only have ourselves to blame for the lack of creativity guys.  Why not reach out to Solstice Music Festival (I think thats what it is called).  Its a big rave that happens every July in Quebec.  Its really big and international!  Why not try to make the local currency at the event Quebecoin, so that people are not as worried to get their actual cash stolen.  I would be cool to have the city promote the coin, even if it was something that cost our community money, and even if for only an hour.

[ShadowBits]

Also, do you guys realize SuchPool.pw is located in Montreal?  Has anyone reached out to fellow Quebecers and asked for suggestions?

[snowcrawl]

 Where is the lady who took this project over after that Gagnon guy?  Why has she left the ship?

I can't speak personally for M-L Richard, but I did notice that she has since become involved in the start up of a Montreal based bitcoin investment fund called Cryptomen.  

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=811602.0

That project appears to have the potential to be lucrative, whereas Quebecoin, for the moment, would require some serious leg work to become anything substantial.  I would imagine she will return once a new development comes that will put Quebecoin on people's radar.

Honestly, it didn't take much time after saving this coin for most of its dedicated members to leave, which is really sad and disheartening.  Seemed like everyone was relying on others to save the coin.

The successful coins also have bitcointalk threads that have gained a critical number of members reading and participating, which helps to keep the wheels running.  We only have a few chiming in on this thread, I think perhaps because we haven't yet distinguished the coin from the crowd or reached the appropriate audience.


 

Also, there needs to be better linking of messages between the English and French forums.  If someone posts something in French on this forum, I can translate it for the English people.

We can all write well enough in English to do so for the sake of this thread.  Since I understand that we are posting in the English section of Bitcointalk.  The important thing is to keep the discussion lively and active.  We did post in French several times in this thread, because that was one of the defining characteristics of the project, the desire to carve out something that delivers a message in our own language.  But we have other venues for doing that, such as our website forum.  

[ShadowBits]

 Where is the lady who took this project over after that Gagnon guy?  Why has she left the ship?

I can't speak personally for M-L Richard, but I did notice that she has since become involved in the start up of a Montreal based bitcoin investment fund called Cryptomen.  

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=811602.0

That project appears to have the potential to be lucrative, whereas Quebecoin, for the moment, would require some serious leg work to become anything substantial.  I would imagine she will return once a new development comes that will put Quebecoin on people's radar.

Honestly, it didn't take much time after saving this coin for most of its dedicated members to leave, which is really sad and disheartening.  Seemed like everyone was relying on others to save the coin.

The successful coins also have bitcointalk threads that have gained a critical number of members reading and participating, which helps to keep the wheels running.  We only have a few chiming in on this thread, I think perhaps because we haven't yet distinguished the coin from the crowd or reached the appropriate audience.


 

Also, there needs to be better linking of messages between the English and French forums.  If someone posts something in French on this forum, I can translate it for the English people.

We can all write well enough in English to do so for the sake of this thread.  Since I understand that we are posting in the English section of Bitcointalk.  The important thing is to keep the discussion lively and active.  We did post in French several times in this thread, because that was one of the defining characteristics of the project, the desire to carve out something that delivers a message in our own language.  But we have other venues for doing that, such as our website forum.  

Thank you for your response.  Is there more activity on the websites forum or on here?

[snowcrawl]

Thank you for your response.  Is there more activity on the websites forum or on here?

There was a post yesterday by Patrick Morin.  He said that he updated DSN seeds.  Which I expect should fix the issue we had with inactive nodes that resulted in mining downtime for several hours a couple days ago.  But generally there is not much activity in the quebeco.in forum, because there are only about 10 people who might post on there at any given time.

[snowcrawl]

As I said on the french forum, we are at a critical step for quebecoin. Personally, if I have no new from development, I will remove all cryptobec services in one month.... It's a lot of time and money to manage a site like this for nothing....

I am sending a substantial Quebecoin reward to morinpa for working on the problem we had with the nodes.  To the following address:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=708702.80

[Lemayilleur]

Also, do you guys realize SuchPool.pw is located in Montreal?  Has anyone reached out to fellow Quebecers and asked for suggestions?

Yes Suchpool are Quebecers. I chatted with them briefly in May and they did not seem too excited or inspired by Quebecoin. They run QBC on their pool for profit/BTC and not because they loved the idea – and there’s nothing wrong with that. They looked like a group of fun folks.

Why not contact the city and see if they can work out a deal with certain bicycle rental places where they can pay in Quebecoin for the day and get bicycles to ride around the city?!  If we can't find way of doing this, I think we only have ourselves to blame for the lack of creativity guys.  Why not reach out to Solstice Music Festival (I think thats what it is called).  Its a big rave that happens every July in Quebec.

We don't have the tool/services in place to even "spend" QBC right now. We're truly like Bitcoin back in 2010 when it was barely known. And we see other crypto-projects/coins evolve around us fucking fast… QBC isn't a coins that can innovate at that speed. Like Snowcrawl said, we don't have the resource required for that... how many developepr will be excited to work on QBC with no promises of a reward that can feed their familly? A very few. Some did already, but  they can't be doing this for ever, they're hungry too you know...

Hope I'm not coming out as a downer lol. Just thinking to myself that there's so much to do, yet so little "spare" time.

Where is the lady who took this project over after that Gagnon guy?  Why has she left the ship?

I can't speak personally for M-L Richard, but I did notice that she has since become involved in the start up of a Montreal based bitcoin investment fund called Cryptomen.  

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=811602.0

That project appears to have the potential to be lucrative, whereas Quebecoin, for the moment, would require some serious leg work to become anything substantial.  I would imagine she will return once a new development comes that will put Quebecoin on people's radar.

I used to exchange e-mail with ML-R every now and then about QBC related stuff. Now she seems extremely busy with her current project so much it looks like she almost forgot about QBC - Ever since she got going on cryptomen lol. That's allright said it before - people will come and go. Some will stick around more thant other. Some will never come etc etc (so much philosophical)

Cryptomen (the service) is setting it's nest up in a huge niche, which HUGE potential. If they manage to pull it off and remain true to their goals, it'll be crazy.

Anyway,

I look at Quebecoins as if it was a share in, not a company, but a very long term project. The amount of QBC being slowly mined, shared, accumulated will remain de same possibly for the next HUNDREDS of years. My only hopes are that QBC be distributed MOSTLY to the population of Quebecers, and then to anyone else who shows or showed interest about it and us. I'm personally collecting considerable amount of QBC with that VERY goal in mind - but I'm not thinking in days, weeks, or even months - I'm thinking in years. :O Cryptocurrencies are freaking new, we'll see a Bitcoin 2.0, we'll see new things we never even thought would be possible, we never imagined. QBC can be anything, but the 21 million share will remain

I agree that a roadmap would be cool. But let’s call it a wish list and not be too hard on the deadlines.  

In another news, as I’ve stated on the French Webpages today… I’m likely to be slowly learning and practicing PowerShell scripting. This might be of good use in the future. For my personal pet project, I’m thinking about trying to make a QBC mining calculator. Sounds so stupid simple, but it took me 1h15 yesterday to get a little form up with two buttons, one that spits the mining difficulty, and one that closes the form. Rofl

[snowcrawl]

Yes Suchpool are Quebecers. I chatted with them briefly in May and they did not seem too excited or inspired by Quebecoin. They run QBC on their pool for profit/BTC and not because they loved the idea – and there’s nothing wrong with that. They looked like a group of fun folks.

Unfortunately, the launch of Quebecoin back in April had none of the ingredients of innovation needed to set it apart from all of the other fad altcoins that have been popping up everywhere like bad weeds.  It also did not come with the promised maple syrup for IPO investors .  That leads to an identity crisis, which fails to attract people to join the conversation and promote development.  So it is not surprising that someone heavily involved with the industry would not be impressed with someone who has merely cooked up a different flavor of the same recipe that was already been copied and followed a thousand times.

We don't have the tool/services in place to even "spend" QBC right now. We're truly like Bitcoin back in 2010 when it was barely known. And we see other crypto-projects/coins evolve around us fucking fast… QBC isn't a coins that can innovate at that speed. Like Snowcrawl said, we don't have the resource required for that... how many developepr will be excited to work on QBC with no promises of a reward that can feed their familly? A very few. Some did already, but  they can't be doing this for ever, they're hungry too you know...

Earlier in this thread I did set up a kind of experimental transaction for Quebecoin.  To make the Quebecoin equivalent of a $20 donation to a charity.  I picked a Montreal based charity called Mission Bon Accueil, or in English "Welcome Hall Mission".  They provide food and shelter to Montreal's homeless and most vulnerable.  I asked for everyone to pitch in some Quebecoins, arbitrarily setting the number of Quebecoins to be collected to roughly what $20 worth of bitcoin would allow you to mine at that given time.

http://www.missionbonaccueil.com/en#.VEvDKvnF8r

The idea was similar to the one used by bitcointalk's Laszlo, when he asked if someone could send him pizza in exchange for bitcoins.  In 2010 it was such an early point in bitcoin's history that essentially nobody had yet used it as a currency.  Laszlo was simply using the most basic tools he had at his disposal to try to make that first transaction happen.  And that was all that was needed to get the ball rolling  For example he did not say: "For the first bitcoin transaction I am hiring a team of web developers to create a highly advanced website that will allow you to select a pizzeria close to where I live and will automatically convert bitcoins to fiat and wire the money to the restaurant."

I think that for the earliest use, Quebecoin would work more like a token.  Imagine those plastic tokens that you use in the laundry rooms of certain apartment complexes.  The tenants have to buy them in order to do their laundry, and it prevents people who don't live there from doing their laundry.  Because the machines do not accept quarters.  That's a rather unexciting, low tech concept.  But then again so was asking someone to send you a pizza for a few thousand bitcoins back in 2010.

So there could initially be some specific use for Quebecoin at one local online store, for example.  It would be a matter of finding a business that is small enough that they would not mind taking a chance on an unusual marketing strategy involving our little cryptocurrency.  To offer customers the chance to use Quebecoin in some very limited way.  At first the only customers who would show up would be a few people from this thread.  I am thinking that the only value for Quebecoin would be to receive a discount code to use at check-out in order to save a certain percentage on the total sales price, or perhaps to get free shipping.

The benefit for this small retailer is that they would gradually be introduced to the concepts of cryptocurrency.  Without taking the risk of diving head first in accepting bitcoin as a form of payment.  Learning the basics of how to manage wallets and how to transfer the Quebecoins they receive into Bitcoin.  I would also consider providing an extra incentive to the first merchant who adopts Quebecoin.  Such as complimentary cloud hashing shares.  Let's say about 20 MHS of Zeushash.com litecoin shares.  That would also give them some crypto income that they could use.

Even this small amount of activity would be enough to drive up some demand for QBC, and give it some small value.  Gradually you could, over time add more merchant activity, and more substantial products and services being offered in exchange for Quebecoin.

Of course my main goal here would be to find ways to encourage more people from Quebec to get involved with using and benefiting from bitcoin. The kind of people who do not hang out on bitcointalk, and who probably don't read English very well.  Quebecoin is nothing more than a tool for reaching that goal.  Ideally finding new people who are not already aware of cryptocurrency, or how it works and who probably doubt that it is something that they could be concerned with.  Trying to make the process of using it simpler than it already is for people who's level of computer literacy is limited to using email.  For them we would need to design a simple online wallet.  Expecting them to be able to download the Windows wallet as it is now, is already too complicated.

Realistically that is a very broad goal, which could be achieved either with or without Quebecoin.  Depending upon whether or not Quebecoin would end up becoming a viable concept.  I think that the project that ML-R is working on has much of the same goal in mind.

Cryptomen (the service) is setting it's nest up in a huge niche, which HUGE potential. If they manage to pull it off and remain true to their goals, it'll be crazy.

[Lemayilleur]

Thanks for expanding, I get your point now and I agree. I would myself accept to receive QBC as a payment for things that I sell. Or by playing the middle-man/token game. I'm just worried it'll be hard to convince small business to be excited enough about QBC to accept it as a payment, and sit on it - but this is far from impossible. I simply don't think I have what's needed to convince them.

Side story that's somewhat related to this. A friend of a friend had issues with their PC. I went to their place and fixed their problem as well as a little cleanup while at it. They thanked my by giving me 40$. I accepted the 40$, but quickly told them about crypto-currencies and our little QBC decentralized project. I explained to her that I wasn't taking their 40$, but that I investing/gambling it in QBC - for her. I would be super excited to announce her some day that this 40$ is now worth 80$ and that she can freely sell her share, keep them, spend them or what not. I thought this was a nice idea, and I decided that from now on, I would be doing this when ever a friend or family member offered me money for services I would of otherwise did for free.

Question for anyone who reads: what's the most reliable way to calculate your expected reward while mining? From my understanding, there's about 14,000 QBC being created daily? Would (Your Hash)x(14000)\(Net Hash) give a reliable estimate? Or is there a way to calculate it more accurately? I'll probably to more of my own research about this, but thought maybe someone here knows better already?

[snowcrawl]

Question for anyone who reads: what's the most reliable way to calculate your expected reward while mining? From my understanding, there's about 14,000 QBC being created daily? Would (Your Hash)x(14000)\(Net Hash) give a reliable estimate? Or is there a way to calculate it more accurately? I'll probably to more of my own research about this, but thought maybe someone here knows better already?

Since I only figured out how to run a CPU miner on my PC, I have occasionally experimented with Betarigs.com's selection of X11 mining farms.   Generally, any of the occasional spikes you see in the hashrate graph correspond to a moment when I rented a big rig for a few hours:

http://explorateur-qbc.circonference.ca/statistics/


 They give you a wide range of hashrates to choose from from just 1 Mh/s up to huge farms over 700 Mh/s.  The time of the mining contract varies from a few hours to sometimes up to 2 weeks, depending upon what you are willing to pay for (in bitcoins).  I have tried mining with a large over 100 Mh/s farm on the cryptobec pool before, paying over 0.01 BTC to mine for a few hours.  This was at the time that the difficulty was higher, so generating less Quebecoins.  I realize that it is not worth pointing too much power at Quebecoin, because so few are mining it.  

I am just about to complete a 24 hour mining contract that is rated at 8.6+ Mh/s.  I think I would not bother going above that mining power.  The following miner:

https://www.betarigs.com/rig/4608

The actual hashrate varies.  Sometime it can go signifcantly higher.  Right now it is at about 6.4 Mh/s.  Overall average might by 8.25 Mh/s  For the first couple of hours I was getting a poor hashrate, which has been a typical problem this week mining Quebecoin, but then it went up and has been good for the remainder.  The owner of the miner gave me an extra hour to mine make up for the loss.

I am looking at getting a bit over 4000 QBC for 24 hours.  I paid the equivalent of $1.07 in bitcoin for the miner rental.  The global hashrate has been from 25-33 Mh/s over that period.  I think that if you plug the numbers into your equation it does come up close to 4000 coins estimated.