Bybitcoin, I have a proposal for a productive use of the
bounty funds.
One area I think needs immediate attention and will go a long way towards greater adoption and helping secure the network is
realtime technical support. Many users struggle to understand the Nxt concept & to run the Nxt software. Most are in no position to spend hours struggling with it only to start all over again when a new version is released.
CfB is busy with dev and at the same time being inundated with level 1 support questions. I propose setting up a dedicated thread (or even a support ticketing system) where we give a bounty to someone for manning a real time support desk. He/she should be competent in java, server setup, security and all the basic tech stuff that most users struggle with now. The tech support needs to understand basic functionalities and behaviour of Nxt, but need not be in the dev category (these ppl would be more productive actually going the dev).
The idea is that if we have 2/3 ppl on this support desk, we will have 24x7
personalized realtime tech support and users in various time zones don't have to post a problem/bug and wait for 12 hours before CfB responds and then wait for another 12 hours for the next feedback. This team will liaise with the dev team for L2 support and bugs feedback, who will in turn liaise with the invisible BCNxt for L3 support.
Because Nxt is brand new software and brand new concept, such professional tech support will go a long way to making it the Nxt bitcoin - fast!
I'm a big supporter of this idea. I've been patrolling the Nxt Forum and offering help where I can, as well as trying to keep the wiki up to date. I'm getting a little bitter about collecting a total of 100 Nxt in donations (current market value: $0.81USD) for all the time and effort I've been putting in (aside from my own [small!] BTC investment) -- especially when I see peer nodes on my network sitting on 19 million, 32 million, and 40 million coins.
I'm HAPPY to help people install, run, trade, etc., but just can't continue to do it for a pittance when I know people are sitting on millions of coins and contributing nothing. Investing 1 BTC into a fundraiser has worth, but so does the investment of my time. I will offer my services as a support person, but not for zero return.
Many people are offering help. What's sad is that there are GAPS that these people are filling that have NOT been asked for, so no central entity is monitoring that effort and rewarding it. And that's unfortunate, because the kind of help people like me and opticalc and Johnycrypt and drexme are providing is critical to the future of Nxt.
Documentation, communication, and tech support are critical functions. You can build the best crypto that will ever exist, but if nobody understands it, hears about it, or can use it -- it's dead.
I also struggle with my ability to authoritatively answer questions because I very rarely get to look "under the hood". I *think* I understand forging and hallmarks and other details, but to arrive at that understanding I have to rely on snippets of gold dropped by CfB and others in forum posts. I wish BCNext had a published design spec (or formal white paper) that was authoritative.