This is a response to Belemo’s Post asking for truth.
*All rewards will be burned
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Hey Guys, Since I posted my proposal the other day I have had a lot of questions. But more than that, I have heard a lot of accusations... some stranger than others. Including that I apparently am saying the community doesn’t matter, which is insane to me.
I’ve thought about writing something, to clarify more.. as clearly my words or description of work left additional questions. Or perhaps the additional, non factual, narratives being spread around are causing confusion.
So when I was tagged in Belemo’s post (with Covid no less), I had prepared myself for just more insanity. But his post was actually asking questions, not just throwing out a narrative, which I very much respect. (Thank you for not only asking the questions @belemo, but for being willing to have a discussion about it as well. Thanks for starting the conversation).
I tried to go through each question as well as take the opportunity to explain a few things or correct some things I had been hearing ... and felt perhaps others had some of the same questions as well, so I wanted to share them here.
His post can be see here: @belemo/covid-19-and-the-hive-proposal-what-is-the-truth
My response:
“Hey there Belemo, hope you’re well. I’ll try to answer these the best I can even though I’m a bit confused how anything about my proposal could cause hurt and outrage.
The first time I saw Justine was on Steem where I figured she was either some whale or big shot because her posts got a lot of upvotes and engagement. then I ran into her Twitter and noticed she was also getting a lot of attention there from people outside of the Steem community. I put two and two together and realised she was a big deal.
I actually know you from the comedy openmic group on Steem.. you may not remember, but that’s where we first met. I did a few submissions and helped judge a few times. And no, I’m not a big deal in the slightest. Just someone doing random stuff all over.. mostly just trying to have some fun.
As far as your questions, I’ll try to answer them one by one but first want to clarify that my proposal specially covers negotiations and closing of deals with exchanges, as well as a planned initial PR campaign I carried out, starting as early as this article dated February 24th, which I helped coordinate and write.
I don’t want to focus on too much of the PR aspect as my proposal focuses more on the exchange deals, but feel its important as the narrative is apparently that I’m being asked to be paid for things that individuals did for free.. and I’m not.
You see, that article was before any #steemhostiletakeover twitter storm was launched. That was the first article that was important to tell the community’s story. That article was planned a few day’s before the SF happened, as a type of security measure. You see I know how Justin Sun works, as I’ve watched him in the space for nearly two years. I know when he wants to take something over or bury his wrong doings he simply uses his stage to out perform his foe in the media and essentially drowned them out, as they are unknown. One example of this would be pop network - a project he kicked off Tron as it would compete with dlive. He didn’t even get criticized for these moves though, as no one knew about them.
So when I was told there was a part of the community that was going to fight back against his attempt to force migrate the community to Tron and was asked to help, I formulated a PR plan that ensured it would not go unnoticed. I knew all I had to do was get the community’s story out there, get people to see it and the community would do the rest. Why? Because this community is badass.
I worked with Brady from Coindesk, who I knew previously and had worked with him on Steem coverage before, to ensure the story was heard. We worked on a few on the initial articles together and I set up interviews for many etc from the moment of the soft fork, to the HF (hostile takeover) to the launch of Hive.. my goal was to help give the community the eyes they would need and the community would do the rest. My initial work on the communication/PR side lasted a few weeks, starting in February and then the community took over.
I’m saying this as at no time have I ever stated the community played no role or that somehow they didn’t matter. In fact that’s an outside narrative saying that and it’s getting old. As you can see my actions have never gone against this community and I’m sick of all of a sudden being accused of such.
After I had achieved what I set out to do - ensure the community was heard, I was done. I had no intention of doing anything else in the slightest in regards to behind the scenes launch for Hive.
Then I had an old contact pop up from Binance (I explain this in my post), and then decided that if I had the opportunity I needed to get them to stop their role in the takeover. I worked with them to stop voting witnesses and power down. This then started the conversation about participating in the airdrop and eventually trying to get them to list HIVE (this was in early March).
I was then asked to help with other exchange aspects, and immediately starting filling out applications, working on legal aspects, gathering relevant information to fill out multiple 20 page exchange listing applications and helping where I could.
We had a bump in the road with exchanges and that led to some issues between individuals involved and communication not being clear, individuals not working in the best interest of the community. At that point is when I took over negotiations. This was in mid/late March.
From there I spent every day in a multiple chat rooms with exchanges working through all aspects of listing - applications, code audits, legal memos, marketing planning and then of course, negotiations.
It’s common practice to pay for exchange listings in this space. They can range from 50k - 1M. The starting place for some we were involved with was 500K. Others 150K. The individual working on exchanges suggested this amount be paid from the DHF as it was normal practice and “we will return more value than that just by being listed”.
Many of us thought that was an outrageous amount and refused. They said “Well that’s what we charge.”
Some communication stopped after that and we continued to push the community story while pointing to the volume on Bittrex. I worked with many of these exchanges daily negotiating to try to get them to see the value. I worked them down to eventually a free listing and a giveaway to their customers/users. I did that. I was the one in the room negotiating and closing deals. At no point have I ever said the community didn’t play a role, but I was the one in that room and I was the one working day and night on that deal, me. Am I the only one who played any role in the listings, nope and never said I did.. but I closed the deals I mentioned in my proposal and that’s the reason for it. So I guess I’m a bit confused why the idea that somehow I’m taking credit for what the community did, and many comments of “well I did as much as her”.. I find that a bit insulting to be honest.
I never took away from the community’s role in anything, please stop trying to take away my role.
Now as far as your questions -
Without playing the modesty card, and with every single ounce of honesty in you, do you really think this proposal would go through if it were done by me or any other member of the community?
Sure let’s be real here, many people here don’t like me. I understand that I perhaps have some big votes behind me when I post, but if you look at who is supporting my proposal or vouching for my work, they don’t even like me and I’ve had bad history for many. Why does that matter? Because it’s about my work, which they witnessed, and not about fucking liking me.
So yes, without a doubt if someone was in that room busting their ass like I was since February, yes I think they could see a proposal for that work approved.
Would you vote for a proposal like this?
Yup, I am voting for other core team proposals and will vote for hopefully the future ones coming, as many people busted ass to build the core of Hive. And I think that’s something that should be paid from the community fund, as we don’t have a Steemit inc dumping 800k a month to pay their devs anymore, we have to pay our own. I think $100k a year is a damn good deal. Feel free to look up some average salaries for blockchain tech.
Would you be fine with everyone in the community wrote proposals for remuneration for their contribution during the hostile takeover?
Depends on their contributions. Were they also posting often and being voted by many stakeholders for their efforts spreading the word of Hive? As there was quite an effort to support those doing so, by many.
I support anyone making a proposal for contributions they did that improved the ecosystem, that’s what it’s there for. Then consensus decides if they agree with that value.
Would your $30k contribution matter if the community didn't react and take to tweeting and creating awareness?
I don’t believe tweeting alone would have gotten listings, no. I don’t think tweeting alone would have gotten Hive the news coverage it did, no. I do believe, 100% that our community is what gives us value and with the right tools and the right stage, they shine. My attempt, as I stated, was to try to set the stage on the Pr aspects. The community response was a huge part of the success of Hive.
But I think you are missing a major aspect of what getting an exchange listing entails, and as much as I think the community played a huge role.. someone also had to do the administrative work, legal work, and negotiating. That wasn’t done through tweets.
Also important to note that no part of the proposal payment is guaranteed, many fall out of funding and end up “partially funded”. I also am continuing to work on additional exchange listings whether funded or not.
Are you insinuating that all the exchanges we got listed on were exclusively as a result of your input because this is how it seems?
Nope, and I never implied as much. Do I think I am the reason that we eventually got free listings when others wanted to pay? Yes. Do I think some would have gave in eventually, maybe. All I know is where we started and the intense negotiations that took place. Do I think public pressure helped with that absolutely. That was the goal.
In your proposal, you used "we" regularly and I'll quote one instant above. Are you insinuating that the only reason Hive got listed and attention was because of this closed group of individuals(Three of you)?
I think I’ve answered this one a few times so I’ll clarify my quote you shared and what led to this question -
“ But with some ingenuity from the group as well as showcasing the power of the community and our story, we were able to satisfy legal requirements as well as show why no centralized company was needed.”
You see Hive is a fork with no entity or company behind it. It doesn’t have its own legal memo to show legal proof it’s not a security. It doesn’t have a CEO to take liability. It doesn’t have a code audit etc.. this was a huge hurdle to get listed. In fact it was a total roadblock. Luckily while working with Bittrex, Netuoso came up with an idea that helped us get through that roadblock and move forward. It was a way to use the Steem legal memos (since Hive was a fork) and a legal doc from another chain which Ruled that a forked token with the same economics (like our exact fork) fell under the same non security as the predecessor chain. The combination of these two docs is the only way we got listed on the big exchanges, as they legally require these things. I don’t think tweets could have done that.
So, I’ve never once said the community and it’s efforts did not play a role, I’ve said the work I did was completely different.
I understand that a certain individual has an X on my back and is spreading a narrative, and I guess I’ve had enough of the bullshit. My proposal outlines my contributions, that’s it. It’s not taking away from anyone else’s. Individuals can vote it or not, I’m not pushing anyone to.
But my proposal is not about “tweets” or “getting the word out” it’s about saving the community hundreds of thousands of dollars in listings and doing the intense labor needed to accomplish it.
If someone feels their contributions need compensation, they can make their own as well.
I will say the response is a bit interesting. We pay authors 20k, 30k etc which they pull out of the ecosystem and their contributions are their posts. When we have people working on core code or aspects that help the whole hive platform.. we think they should do it out of the kindness of their heart.
I’d much rather shit post and get paid.. you can see I didn’t do much of that the last few months, I was too busy doing the aspects I described above.
If people want to insult me, fine. My actions are what they are and I stand behind them. I’d love to be able to show “proof” by sharing all chat logs back to feb but that would probably lead to delisting and possibly ruin relationships with future exchanges, as they required me to sign a NDA and don’t take too kindly to corporate negotiations being made public.. which is sort of common practice everywhere else in the world.
I have witnesses to my work, I have a paper trial many stakeholders have seen and I’m standing behind my actions and will work harder to somehow find a way to be transparent and open in communication with the community about each task, without negatively affecting the relationship between Hive and exchanges. I’m currently attempting to find the best way to do that.
Sorry for my novel, but I guess when ones on trial they have the right to tell their story.
Thanks.”
A few additional responses for context
(Please see post for full conversation)
You can see a bit more of the convo on his post and hope it helps clarify some aspects for others.
I think we should question all things and push for transparency, but some of the attacks I’m hearing are not factual in the slightest and I guess I felt it was time to say so.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I don’t expect anything from anyone or feel I’m entitled. But I also won’t just allow a specific individual to lie about me anymore or twist my actions into something they aren’t to fit their narrative. I’ll use my stake if I need to, as misinformation being spread to “prove a point” is not even remotely beneficial for anyone.
If there are concerns about something I’ve asked for, that’s understandable. But I stand behind my actions and contributions and I believe the individuals vouching for that work should mean something.
As I said in the comments above, I will work on being more transparent and try to find a way to document the work more clearly for the community itself. I have some hurdles to overcome in that regard (due to what I explained above), but am working on it.
I hope perhaps this brings some clarity or at least sets the record straight on what I’m actually claiming my contributions are, and that in no way have I ever been against this community or stated they didn’t matter.
Thanks.