Thanks Drak
yes, the community is an essential part. a successful "coin" needs this. but also a successful coin needs a leader. i think it needs both. i'm not saying you are refusing to lead. but i still am a little wary that you want the community to possibly pull more of the weight than is reasonable. you can not single-handedly resurrect VIA, nor can the community. but between the two at this moment in time, you are the more critical component in my opinion . it seems like projects that are doing well, or recovering from lows, have very active development - and very active communication - from the lead dev. i feel like the lack of communication over the past few months is what triggered the recent drop in the price of VIA to some depressing levels. it gave the impression that nothing was happening, while at the same time, some interesting things were happening with other coins. basically, VIA is being leapfrogged.
for what it's worth, people like myself, masternode, otoh, others haven't sold a single VIA. some people have asked for "proof" of this. no idea how to prove it, but those people can do some blockchain research if they are so paranoid.
as far as this horrible forum is concerned, i think unfortunately it is a place that you must continue to use for communication. like mos eisley, here "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." but i think it's a requirement. particularly now, with what is happening.
ready to look forward, not backward.
Good post. I disagree on several points but it seems to be in sync with what it is needed to be done now in VIA and, again, BTCDrak "seems" -only seems-, to be willing to do. Old habits die hard -actually NEVER die- and Drak's panic and personal paranoia about so called "fudsters" remains as intact as his willingness to sacrifice the great strides that were made to have a real free speech and open forum. That guys posted some provocative statements but, to be quite honest, most of them are true and deserve an answer (for instance, whatever happened to the "zynga deal"?). He also proved quite profusely Drak's interest are much more focused -or have been for months- on other coins and investments rather than on VIA. Drak himself refuses -why?- to say how much of the ICO money is still available and in what, BTC, Fiat? and what is his real, personal, stake in VIA. These are very serious issues at this time and they all should be subject to extreme transparency if the support of the community is to be obtained.
As for you, Primitive's quotes, I believe the real "scum" in VIA has been operating behind the scenes, not on the forums of BTCT, as we are now beginning to have a clearer picture of it. Much more clear will reveal ion time. The fortunes of VIA would have been quite different if the "scum" would have been revealed here long ago, instead of keeping it operating in the background. We, evidently, have quite a different definition of what "scum" is in crypto.
People has asked, yes, and quite logically, about the dealings in VIA of the likes of you, masternode, otoh and Drak, of course. They have every right to think the worst at this point, since you guys have been controlling, very unethically, seemingly at will, the destinies of their investments in the project. It is very easy to demonstrate if you have or haven't sold any coins: Put a link to your wallet addresses. That simple. The fact that the one on the first page for otoh's wallet doesn't work, doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it? But, like I said already, if Drak himself refuses to produce this info, the leader of the project, who else is going to volunteer his?
Drak has posted that he's looking for PR, including a PR firm. While that is a sign of action on a front that is sorely needed, what we have to do is at least try to avoid clear mistakes that others before have committed. Hiring a PR firm is not cost effective nor has represented any help at all for the various projects that have used that tactic before, BlackCoin comes to mind. I repeat it is not cost effective nor propels the project forward to hire a pR firm. Now a Dedicated and compensated person, working full time on that regard, that's a different proposition altogether and a much cheaper and obviously effective one. But, again, it will never work when the main communication channel -this forum- continues to be CENSORED. That's a total no-no. Every single project that has tried it, has had to go back to free speech mode. Including BlackCoin. But there are many other examples. To pretend to be in favor of crypto while at the same time exercising censorship is like having slaves and pretending to be against slavery, ok?
I have to be sarcastic and quite skeptic -even in agreement with the message- for the "late day" request for
transparency for the people that were enjoying their scummy tactics for months when VIA was a huge financial success. Like you, Primitive and masternode. It is quite amazing, indeed, that now, when your stacks are worth practically nothing, como to the community for help and ask for transparency. You don't come, as one would have expected, with real actions talking louder than words such as
"here's my 10% of my holdings to support the efforts of the community and the dev" to show real support and meaningless action. Mind you, even that would have just a testimonial value considering your millions of VIA are, de facto, worthless so it would be more of a gesture than actual generosity, but it would be something, rather that just empty words, at quite the wrong time, pretending to come clean because "you haven't sold a single VIA" which may or may not be true but it is meaningless because the only reason you didn't, if in fact you did not, was because you wanted more and believed, for months, that with your access to private information and capacity of create direction in the background, you would gain much more. Greed, pure and simple, has been your undoing. There's no redemption possible to those scummy actions. The only possible one would be through real actions now, by the community and the dev. No influence. No privileges. In or out. Trust, I doubt you will ever regain.
So, once again, the address of those wallets, so everyone can know what you have done in VIA. And, much more importantly, a demonstration, clear, concrete, specific significant, of what you are willing to do for the project. Or not. It's your call. But think what doing things your way have brought to the project in general and to your investment in particular. If that is better than the proposed alternative, by all means, continue your merry ways.
