@gjhiggins
I had a look at your 'scorecard'..
OK if it's for giggles it's cool..
If it is meant to be reasons of making a serious developer legitimate I would immediately remove the Open Source row..
If indeed all Dan's points above are fulfilled - then a serious investor would not have to question if it is Open Source or not. The mere public credentials of that developer would be solid enough to TRUST that developer.
If a developer dedicates several years of his life to a project he believes in and he want to make it into a good and solid business for everyone to benefit from in an honest and ethical correct fashion, then of course he need to keep his source/codes to himself, until that day when everyone knows it is HIS project.
Then and only then can he start thinking about how much of the source he can safely disclose to the public, and still be in charge of his business..
It is not for bad reasons an honest developer does not want to disclose his coding in public, it is fear of losing his lifework!
Give him time - show him you trust his brilliant work - then he will show you trust.
There are still honest business people on this planet. Dan is one of them I can guarantee you!
Topic: Tips on not getting scammed & a fun callout to serious devs. - page 4. (Read 4513 times)
here are some tips for telling the difference between serious & fake developers:
I've been working on a possible scorecard, just for sh*ts and giggles:
http://minkiz.co/posting/
Cheers
Graham
Peoples,
I'm getting tired of all the scams on here of the so called "developers" of crypto-currencies, duping people into investing with fancy artwork and blurby (but ambiguous) text.
It gives ALL of the serious developers in this forum a bad rep, yet its a typical case of the few spoiling it for the many.....actually, it probably isn't, there are WAY more scammy developers that couldn't even put a "Hello World" together without a tutorial than real ones...hmmm.....anyway.
Of course, you investors are partly to blame as you seem to let the fear of missing the next big thing warp your logic to make it emotional. PLEASE do some due diligence into the developers that you are planning to invest into. Fake developers are easy to spot if you know what to look for, as are real ones.
Before I get to the topic heading subject matter, here are some tips for telling the difference between serious & fake developers:
1) Any developer that wants to stay anonymous, RUN! Gone are the days where this was acceptable, because back then, there was no money to be made ripping people off, so anonymous developers were not a threat
2) Verify the developers credentials, don't just take his word for it. A passport picture with the signature and numbers blurred out, and a 2nd/3rd or even 4th picture of that same person doing something crypto related should also be provided. If the developer is willing, other proof should be provided, it doesn't have to be addresses where they live (unless they are willing to go that far), but a Linked-In account that is aged, or Facebook, even Twitter...can all provide credence to that persons identity.
3) Voice/Video call them over Skype, or a few of you band together and one of you call them. An honest developer won't mind, a crooked one will, as they wont have the time to think up lies for your questions, and listening to someones voice can give a lot of tell tale signals as to if they are lying. Video call is even better, as you'll have a visual and audio queue for any tell tale signs of lying.
4) Check into their background. Almost any developer that is skilled enough to develop a crypto-currency (even a BTC code clone with new features) will have done something in the past that has been released and they can prove they worked on. Ask about previous projects, papers, hell even activity on developer related forums will give you some idea if they know what they are on about.
5) Developers releasing a new currency should be dedicated, as creating and launching one successfully is akin to starting a business, its hard work and requires 100% dedication to the project. If they are always unavailable, or on holiday, or "ill", then they probably aren't that dedicated to the cause. Remember though, some of these real devs also have day jobs & families, so many can't be online daily 24/7...but if its weeks between updates, even on their own forums, leave.
6) Infrastructure. Any serious developer would have a website, forum, email etc etc setup for the project they are working on. No real developer, that was proud of what they were doing would run a project from here with a 1000 page thread. That is insane and shows either lack of commitment, or just pure disorganization. Real developers will want a home for that project, and will want to have a community..they will NOT run it from Bitcoin talk!
7) Finally, and this is my fun call out to our developers here. Any developer worth his salt, especially developing a P2P distributed system like a crypto currency will have gear, and probably quite a good stack of it. Someone developing a crypto on an solitary old laptop isn't going to cut it. Real developers will invest into hardware to get the job done before they even ask for any investment, and most likely will have collected plenty of gear over the years from previous projects they have done in the past. At the very least, they'll probably have a laptop & a desktop in their arsenal. If your developer is coding on a single Asus Netbook, I'd probably walk away.
So developers, please post your development setups for all to be awed at and prove your worth in regard to point 7 of my "don't get scammed tips". If you are so hardcore as to have so much stuff you need multiple pictures, please post it.
Whoever has a setup better than this from Swordfish gets a prize
I'm getting tired of all the scams on here of the so called "developers" of crypto-currencies, duping people into investing with fancy artwork and blurby (but ambiguous) text.
It gives ALL of the serious developers in this forum a bad rep, yet its a typical case of the few spoiling it for the many.....actually, it probably isn't, there are WAY more scammy developers that couldn't even put a "Hello World" together without a tutorial than real ones...hmmm.....anyway.
Of course, you investors are partly to blame as you seem to let the fear of missing the next big thing warp your logic to make it emotional. PLEASE do some due diligence into the developers that you are planning to invest into. Fake developers are easy to spot if you know what to look for, as are real ones.
Before I get to the topic heading subject matter, here are some tips for telling the difference between serious & fake developers:
1) Any developer that wants to stay anonymous, RUN! Gone are the days where this was acceptable, because back then, there was no money to be made ripping people off, so anonymous developers were not a threat
2) Verify the developers credentials, don't just take his word for it. A passport picture with the signature and numbers blurred out, and a 2nd/3rd or even 4th picture of that same person doing something crypto related should also be provided. If the developer is willing, other proof should be provided, it doesn't have to be addresses where they live (unless they are willing to go that far), but a Linked-In account that is aged, or Facebook, even Twitter...can all provide credence to that persons identity.
3) Voice/Video call them over Skype, or a few of you band together and one of you call them. An honest developer won't mind, a crooked one will, as they wont have the time to think up lies for your questions, and listening to someones voice can give a lot of tell tale signals as to if they are lying. Video call is even better, as you'll have a visual and audio queue for any tell tale signs of lying.
4) Check into their background. Almost any developer that is skilled enough to develop a crypto-currency (even a BTC code clone with new features) will have done something in the past that has been released and they can prove they worked on. Ask about previous projects, papers, hell even activity on developer related forums will give you some idea if they know what they are on about.
5) Developers releasing a new currency should be dedicated, as creating and launching one successfully is akin to starting a business, its hard work and requires 100% dedication to the project. If they are always unavailable, or on holiday, or "ill", then they probably aren't that dedicated to the cause. Remember though, some of these real devs also have day jobs & families, so many can't be online daily 24/7...but if its weeks between updates, even on their own forums, leave.
6) Infrastructure. Any serious developer would have a website, forum, email etc etc setup for the project they are working on. No real developer, that was proud of what they were doing would run a project from here with a 1000 page thread. That is insane and shows either lack of commitment, or just pure disorganization. Real developers will want a home for that project, and will want to have a community..they will NOT run it from Bitcoin talk!
7) Finally, and this is my fun call out to our developers here. Any developer worth his salt, especially developing a P2P distributed system like a crypto currency will have gear, and probably quite a good stack of it. Someone developing a crypto on an solitary old laptop isn't going to cut it. Real developers will invest into hardware to get the job done before they even ask for any investment, and most likely will have collected plenty of gear over the years from previous projects they have done in the past. At the very least, they'll probably have a laptop & a desktop in their arsenal. If your developer is coding on a single Asus Netbook, I'd probably walk away.
So developers, please post your development setups for all to be awed at and prove your worth in regard to point 7 of my "don't get scammed tips". If you are so hardcore as to have so much stuff you need multiple pictures, please post it.
Whoever has a setup better than this from Swordfish gets a prize
Jump to: