i have been part of the itz community since October 2017 just before the original dev disappeared and the project almost fell apart. We've come a long way together. Its still going. Thanks to a number of people. And we've had a dev holding things together as well. You can read my posts here or on the old btctalk. I have said we owe him a lot, and the others who stepped in as well. If you look at my old posts, especially from last year, i was saying we need a vision for the coin. It had a vague idea at the time which made no sense and had no business model. then the dev vanished and probably dumped all his coins long before. but i really don't know. and it was some months of confusion. While others, including our dev, have been working with twitter, making fixes to the wallet and network, looking at the website and so many other things, i've still been thinking about the same problem: What's the vision, and what's the business model. without these two things, there's no "aim" to everything else. our goals are all short-term. which means no one should invest in this. because it will dump again. I'm saying this as one of the masternode holders.
I shared my own vision and ideas for these two things in discord. they are there in "roadmap". I'll post a general outline here for everyone as well. I'm not trying to take over the project or make anyone follow my ideas. i just want this discussion to be on everyone's mind now, and to consider this as a potential way forward from here. If there are other visions (with a business model) for the coin, lets have a look at everything and choose the one that looks like it might succeed (meaning, will have the best chance to make money and create something with some real value).
Interzone up till now has been a DASH wannabe. a token that does nothing, that nobody will ever want to use. with a vague "social aspect" that seems to be a chat feature in masternode wallets. that's not a good idea. In fact its just the lame idea that the original dev made up before he dumped his coins, if that's what he did. It was just some talk to sell tokens. The Mastodon.social idea is interesting because it has a following already. so its possible to incorporate that somehow. someone else can explain how, and i think that would be great to include that.
Interzone is not a token, its a Place. In fact, Interzone is from Naked Lunch by WS Burroughs. Who was a Beat Generation writer. And his books were not politically correct, to say the least. And the Beats were all about helping each other get published. And that's where i think ITZ should be going. We should be involved in publishing writers. And we can do this with crypto in a way no one was ever able to before. Because we can give authors 100% of their prophets for their work. Writing a book takes a long time. And writers get a percentage after that. But with crypto our income to run a platform is paid by: 1. speculation of the coin 2. fees from the network. If people are using the token, we can keep the platform going. And it can be run off masternodes. and as it is now with mining, or changing to POS. This would be for the group to discuss. I personally think, and sounds like maybe other agree, that POS is a possiblity. In any case i think the token should be swapped with the re-birth of this project, to start fresh with some capital so we can, among other things, pay developers and make the work load easier. This is a business, like all crypto currency projects ought to be nowadays. They are de-centralized businesses. If they're not, than what are they? And what business can start without capital? The details of how to run the network are best worked out by the most tech savy in our community.
I see Interzone as a platform dapp you enter through the wallet. You need a minimum balance to go in, but you don't have to spend it. and you either enter as a reader or author. on the author side you're given a way to upload your work, along with you copyright to prove its yours. On the reader side you have a bookstore at your fingertips, with the first ten pages available to read so you can have some idea what its about. And there's a "social aspect" to it where you can publish reviews, and authors can be rated. like we see elsewhere, ie Amazon, etc. And reviewers themselves can be rated, so there's incentive to do that, and possibly itz as well. And you can talk with the authors. with there on the platform. They determine their price. which will be a few dollars at most, i suspect. or maybe cents. depending on whether they're established. You might even be able to negotiate the price with them if they're new authors. This would be the Interzone the Beat writers would use. And authors will WANT TO
USE IT, because they take 100% profit for their work. They can format it themselves. That's very easy. The traditional publishing industry isn't necessary for this. And i personally feel that the industry is often more in the way of new work. Because you're subject to the tastes of agents, publishers, who have their own agendas and are often times too politically correct. And they take a large cut. Amazon, too. it takes a cut, of course. For readers and book lovers, you're engaging with new books directly. Interzone just brings everyone together in a comfortable way. And anyone can publish there. All that matters is if it sells. thats the only judge of your work. whether people like it.
With a dapp it can't be taken down. we can protect it. and purchases go right from the buyer to the author. we don't take a percentage. we're not part of it.
Imagine if we discovered new writers. Or if we attracted some established ones. It would not only be profitable, it would be culturally interesting. And it would be about free speech, which is what blockchain can do better than anything around.
If there are other ideas about where Interzone should go, i would like to see them posted here. So we can all look at the alternatives, and everyone can vote. Someone said they wanted itz to be for gaming. post a clear plan with a business model. lets look at it.
I can see Interzone not only offering books, but also magazines. we can partner with people working in online magazines and literature. if someone wants to sell their book on Interzone they are paid in itz. And they might need to pay a fee to someone we partner with to check their copyright or help them get one.
This is the vision i'd like us to consider as we go forward. I don't want to be anyone's boss. or tell anyone what to do. my stake is my masternode. If we go in this direction i will help to make it happen. but we're a community. I don't want any money. i want itz to have real value. It would be great to move in some new direction, and be competitive going into 2019, with a very crowded crypto market. People want to know 1. what's the vision 2. whats the business model. This is my suggestion for us going forward. But it wouldn't be possible without all the work some of the people in our community have done so far.