Suggestion 1 - Lightning for donation payouts
I just used lightning for the first time and ... its crazy cheap + crazy fast and I am soooo excited.
Since the weekly donations are usually below any threshold, where onchain settlement makes sense, I believe lightning would be a great idea as a payout option for the donations.
What do you think about distributing the donations via LN ?
Suggestion 2 Seat buy back program:
There are barely deals on the seat auctions. What do you think about using a percentage (lets say 5%) of the donations to buy back seats ?
By doing so, we would add some liquidity to the seat market.
Great suggestions! You have inspired me to put my thoughts "out there" on the subject of improvements. It is ultimately up to nonnakip what NastyFans does.
Lighting for donation payouts - This would be fantastic for those who are interested. I personally would hate to see the legacy option disappear or fans be forced to take any action other than keeping their account active to receive distributions. However, having the option would be a major advancement that I'd love to see. It could also have the effect of lowering the cost of entry to join NastyFans and increasing auction volumes by reducing seat transaction fees if implemented for the auction.
Seat buy back program - This is an idea that I have been considering for a while from NastyMining's perspective, but want to approach with caution. Free markets are awesome and I don't want to see NastyFans do anything to artificially inflate the cost of seats as this can be destructive to the organization long term. If seats aren't being purchased on the open market, that means the market feels they are overpriced. I would argue the best thing to happen would be for the price to fall until the market sees an opportunity to purchase seats and get involved in strengthening the organization to increase it's value and ultimately profit. A seat buy back program could in fact price out those who want to get involved and help the organization thrive long term. Not having a large amount of seats available for sale near the current price is also a deterrent for large investors who want to buy in without massively moving the market. Going the other way, introducing a way to allow users to "short" sell NastyFans seats would help the market find support levels while increasing volumes, creating another Bitcoin donation stream for seat owners (short costs) & building up demand for seats. Since those "shorts" would in reality be "promises" to buy seats in the future, I'd love to see them designated as such. Back to NastyMining's perspective... NastyFans distributed 5,000 seats to help bail NastyMining out of the BFL mess. A great way to thank NastyFans for this would be to take ownership of 7,500 seats and eliminate the 25% donation altogether. I think there are creative approaches possible to do this while limiting the effect on the market, such as the introduction of "promises" and other available options. Making NastyMining a regular seat owner could also open the door to other possibilities like rebranding NastyFans to a more inclusive name (example: BitcoinEnthusiasts instead of NastyFans).
I mentioned above my thoughts of rebranding NastyFans, eliminating the 25% donation to NastyMining, and introducing "promises" as a way to "short sell" seats. I'll expand on those ideas and introduce a few more for discussion below...
Bootstrap NastyFans.org - I know that nonnakip loves the efficient and simple approach of nastyfans.org, but I think it does turn off some users. A bootstrapped theme would give the website the same cloned look you see on marketing focused operations, but I think it is something a majority of fans would consider a positive development.
Eliminating 25% Distribution to NastyMining - I'd love it if NastyMining were able to give thanks to NastyFans for all their support by taking ownership of 7,500 NastyFans seats and giving up claim to the 25% distribution. This would have the end result of giving seat owners 100% of the donations sent to NastyFans and breaking it free of it's required support of NastyMining as well as making NastyMining a regular seat owner along with all others.
Rebranding - If NastyFans is able to eliminate the 25% distribution to NastyMining, it might be appropriate to rebrand to a new name that is more inclusive for the Bitcoin community at large. This could open the club up to new fans, help clear up misunderstandings about what the club is, and make previously made NastyFans products more collectible.
Fan Rankings - Fans could receive some sort of points for their participation and be ranked on a public list (if they choose to be included). Trading seats, purchasing items, making donations, mining with NastyPool, wearing a signature, all could be things that could earn users points. The public ranking list could then be used by other fans to reward users with prizes for their participation or by NastyFans as a new way to issue NastyCredits.
NastyCredits Development/Overhaul - I would love to see NastyCredits have their own auction in the future and be more widely distributed. I'd also love to see them somehow incorporated into "promises," perhaps as the cost of holding such a promise to create a market with ongoing demand for NastyCredits.
NastyFans Seat Promises - Since there is no current method of putting in a buy order, the next best thing is a promise to buy. I have been brainstorming a way for users to "short sell" seats with the intent to purchase them at a later date and lower price to profit. I think this available option would help stimulate the market with additional liquidity as it would allow for a new type of NastyFan to bring balance to the market price.
NastyPoP Expansion - The lack of p2pool hashrate has been detrimental to NastyPoP payouts recently. While p2p mining is a great idea and should be supported, I think we can do more to make NastyPoP an attractive option while also offering support to p2pool. What if there were multiple pool options available with NastyPoP? For example, what if NastyPool acted like a middleman for other pools the same way it does for p2pool with NastyPoP payouts? Users could be given separate links for what pool they want to support, and the rewards could then be shared by all miners based on their hashes during the payout period regardless of what pool they were mining. Then miners would be deciding the mix of pools and ultimately their rewards. Introducing more variables might result in some interesting payout periods and activity. I imagine miners would be fascinated by this approach and willing to give it a shot.
Development Fund Donations - All of these ideas take a massive amount of work to be done right. The fact is that it isn't lack of ability that keeps these things from being completed. These things aren't completed because nonnakip is in high demand and doesn't have the time to implement these types of changes. I would love to see users pull some coins together to thank nonnakip for his efforts and perhaps entice him to implement some of these or other suggestions in the future.
If anyone makes a donation to nonnakip, I would be willing to match the donated amount, up to 1 BTC. I'd prefer nonnakip posted a donation address, but I can hold donations for him until he gives an address or an alternative method is used if anyone is interested.