Well, seems like a lot has happened in the 26 hours I've spent miles away from any online device.
Many good points have been very well made by some wise & enlightened people.
-Leaves this ole Lion with much head-scratching & keyboard-bashing to do, I fear
For sure, there is much to discuss, much to be done, that I'd hoped for a somewhat longer & less turbulent period of grace to be brought to a mutually agreeable conclusion.
The 'harsh realities' of such a short-sighted, capitalistic & lawless cyberville as this one have denied us that possibility so we are all forced to confront a new reality.
Right now, I cannot 'speak for the coin' - I do not feel that I have 'The Authority' to do that.All I can do is speak as an ordinary human being who has found themselves in a position I neither expected nor sought.
I ended up here mostly because I happen to have the time to do it. 30 months ago I was 'thrown on the scrapheap' at the peak of the recession. Financially I've been slowly bleeding to death ever since. Mentally, the internet keeps me learning, keeps me thinking, keeps me sane - well 'ish' anyway
So when "Mr ZeitCoin" started what we believed at the time was a totally understandable & unquestionable absence, I had no problem in stepping up to the plate & giving of myself for the benefit of a coin which was standing up for some principles which I hold very dear. I felt it to be a minor role, just picking up a bit of the P.R. slack that he would be dealing with himself on his return. Stuff suited to my experience & personality.
As time has gone on, I've found myself in a somewhat more prominent role than I'm really comfortable with. I've dealt with it as best I can, balancing my time between: Mining & trading enough coin to help with the little indulgences that make life worth living; promoting the joys of the cryptosphere to places far, far away from BTC; and trying to represent the cheery, confident face of ZeitCom here & on the forum.
The hard, inescapable fact is that the person we think of as "The Dev" - although I think it's common knowledge now that he did not, in fact, develop the coin but paid someone to do it for him - has given up on this coin. He will not be returning. We are leaderless.
The "Keys of the Kingdom" are safe. The coin & its' wallet etc are "fit for purpose". PoS works correctly.
Yet we now find ourselves in times of challenge, in self-doubt. Even perhaps a 'whiff of mutiny'.
I DO have a dream for the future of the coin, the community. But it's not an official dream, not an agreed dream. It's not even a technical dream! It's not represented by a Mission Statement or a recognised organisation or movement. If I thought there were enough people for whom that dream was something they could adopt & work toward - Especially those few have 'done all the hard graft' behind the scenes since mid-March - then I would offer that dream to you all.
My greatest fear is that the voices of those who would sacrifice the 'soul' of this coin in order to turn a financial gain in the short term will drown out the voices of those good souls who are here because they too are willing to give of themselves not JUST for a real-world reward in the longer term but also because they recognise & wish to support the 'cause' of freeing humanity from the slavery of rampant global capitalism & the fascism of the fractional reserve private banking system.
I'll work with or for anyone who still cares about the 'soul' of why this coin exists. And vice versa.
Simples!