BitShares Enterprise Alliance - Part 12 - The Godfather ShruggedsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #bitshares7 years ago (edited)

“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." -- Jesus Christ

Early this year, I published the first in a twelve part series entitled BitShares Enterprise Alliance - Part 1 - Alice's Hero Hub. Those of you who are highly observant, may have noticed that I've skipped Parts 2 through 11.

Those were to be about my "pearls of great price". No point in tossing them out into the current environment to be trampled under foot. I'm giving up on interacting with the crypto industry forums and returning to private life at my beloved Half Mile High Meadows. Those pearls will still benefit the BitShares ecosystem -- I'm just not going to tell the blogosphere about them. It attracts too many flies.

This does not mean I'm leaving full-time work on promoting BitShares.
I just won't be casting pearls into the noxious stew of social media.

A few parting thoughts

On the need for compassionate regulation. As I said during my 4 hours Christmas Eve on Coast to Coast AM with Connie Willis, we really do need honest regulation in our industry. There are plenty of true scams out there. One of the big trends this year will be a flight to quality and we need high quality assets to replace those that are tarnishing the reputation of the whole digital currency industry. I welcome principled regulation that ensures a level playing field for consumers and entrepreneurs alike. Unfortunately, current regulations seem to be more about maintaining control, erecting barriers to entry and teaching brash young entrepreneurs a good hard lesson.

On that brave little team of entrepreneurs at Arise. I'm quite appalled at the treatment of them by the community and others. I'm shocked at the current feeding frenzy that was, and is, being so carefully engineered during the single month that I was trying to get to know them. No doubt, Arise made many mistakes, but I don't believe they were a scam. That word has become like the word "racist". You always know that the true scammers and racists are those who indiscriminately apply those terms to others.

From my limited perspective, it appeared that they had the resources, ability, and intent to deliver on everything they described in the Vision they painted on their web site. Like the Wright Brothers, their plans were ambitious. Maybe unrealistically ambitious. But that was for their supporters to decide.

Arise stakeholders were gravely and universally harmed by the authorities, not by Arise. Any harm by the Arise team remains a theoretical potential, permanently rendered unprovable at this point. It was a mere possibility, not even a probability. The probability of harm caused by the government, however, was 100%. Arise is dead. With no chance to demonstrate whether they could or could not deliver. Now supporters will have to sit out from participating in the industry for years waiting to get their money back. The opportunity cost for them is staggering! If the government had quietly investigated, maybe even asking for a briefing on what Arise was doing, supporters from around the world would have remained fully liquid, able to ask for refunds or sell their positions in the open market. Now they can't. Is that the kind of "protection" we want?

On Endorsements. Some have claimed that I endorsed Arise. This is false. I never endorse anybody. But, I did try to defend them from unfair attacks - mostly by rebuking and shaming the attackers. Having had heroes rescue me from bullies on the playground as a boy, I've gratefully felt the urge to pay it forward and come to the rescue of people I see being bullied by a lynch mob. You can look back over my four year track record and find many examples of me defending a newcomer to our ecosystem from unwarranted hostility that somehow has come to pervade our industry. An industry that supposedly champions the rights of individuals?

The following actions do not constitute endorsements:

  • Defending someone from unfair attacks.
  • Saying I like someone's Vision and that it sounds good for BitShares.
  • Opining that someone appears to have the resources, ability, and intent to deliver.
  • Investigating possible ways to work together for the benefit of all.

I explicitly stated that I was not in the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval endorsement business. I think it's fine that community watchdogs perform this function. But raising questions is very different from rabble rousing a massive, coordinated, call-in smear campaign to try (successfully, it seems) to get them in trouble with the authorities. I'm in the business of attracting new partners to the BitShares ecosystem so we can all prosper together. How can I do that if every newcomer is hounded and stoned before they can demonstrate their abilities and good will?

I remember when we first proposed the technology behind BitShares. Some said it was impossible. Some still call it a racist communist scam. But that technology is currently processing over half of the industry's transactions! Should it have been cut off at the knees in 2013 because it was "too ambitious"? Or because it was not completely finished when we first described it? Or perhaps just because it was a threat to the status quo?

On Partnerships. The word "partners" has many meanings. I use it all the time to talk about people building on top of the BitShares ecosystem. That was the context in which our publicity team excitedly told the world "We've got another one moving to BitShares." It did not mean that there was any formal relationship or signed contracts between us. Yet, that immediately caused hue and cry from the mob who insisted on using their definition of the word "partner" instead of mine. Even after I explained it in The Godfather of BitShares the mob continues to make that claim.

Bottom Line

Why should I have to post disclaimers like this anyway? "They're my friends, but not really good friends." "We're partners, but not that kind of partner." "I like their Vision, but this is not an endorsement." Wait, what?

I'm sounding like I live under the reign of Stalin or Mao or Sauron! Do none still live who remember them? In how many past societies have people had to meekly live in fear of being turned in by their neighbors and made to disappear with a kicked-in door in the middle of the night? How many still have to turn up the TV, put their phone in the microwave and go for a walk to avoid having their conversations bugged? I was taught, "never in America!"

"Much of what once was is lost, for none now live who remember it..." - Lady Galadriel

Anyhow, I've concluded this is not the environment in which I want to continue to practice open transparency and exercise free speech, sharing my hopes and dreams and visions and plans. I certainly don't want to toss my ten new pearls out on the ground to be mauled and trampled. They have a better chance fending for themselves.

No, the best thing I can do is simply disappear in a puff of smoke like Gandalf.

"A wizard is never late. He departs precisely when he means to."

Or perhaps, like Bilbo at his last birthday party,

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

This is Stan Larimer, signing off,
"from the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie."

Remember, Gandalf the White returned when least expected.

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Totally understand your decision Stan and I support you. I found out about BitShares because of you and Michael Taggart. I watched a video and immediately started to buy in when the price was .37. I was completely green and a total newbie. Over time I have actively worked as a volunteer in the groups. I have created many videos and done my best to serve the community based on the greatest good for the greatest number. In that time I have made my own observations and I agree with you 100% there are those in the BitShares community that are anti-social personalities and or psychotic.

You can easily spot them as they attack those that are productive and trying to help. These same types are also usually guilty of the very things they are accusing others of doing and could be easily verified if one was to dig in to the skeletons.

BitShares has been around now for quite some time. Its not really flourished and prospered like it should have. One wonders why. That is because of the anti-social personalities that have been hard at work doing what they could to prevent BitShares form expanding.

They appear to be a "friend" or valid community member. They may in fact seem intelligent. But at the same time they are calculating destroying the community and its most productive members. They use carping criticism and covert hostility to mention just a few.

If it were not true then why is BitShares not within the top 10 market cap, with 100’s of businesses already utilising it. How is it that the fastest block chain in the world is so little valued.

Want to know why BitShares has not succeeded as it should?

  1. Research who has been around the longest. They have “helped” more than most why BitShares is not where it should be.

Statistics are made to go up and are made to go down. So if BitShares had statistics of success, measured by market cap, popularity, number of traders, liquidity etc and if these stats were low or were not where they should be in comparison to time then understand someone or someones were using their position, influence, voting power to thwart the progress of BitShares and to keep those statistics down.

  1. Research who is more anit-social than social. Who is mostly antagonistic toward their fellow community members.
  2. Research who seems to attack, undermine, productive terminals within the community.
  3. Research who tends to stop or vote against projects / WP’s that are for the greatest good and that would actual help the community.

Start doing that and you will discover that it actually comes down to just a few people. By percentage 2.5%. Generally most people try and do the right thing. But there are those who specialise in doing bad things.

By their actions you will know them.

Thanks again Stan for all that you do and will do for the community. I support you 100%

What are your thoughts on the other DEX platforms that are rolling out one after one. Do you have any concerns that Bitshares will just be one among the others?

That's always been recognized, but with the stuff we've got in the pipeline, we are in an excellent position.

Blaming BitShares problems solely on anti-socialism sounds like total BS, tbh. Even if there are a few bad apples, which I am sure there are, that wouldn't hold back the strong community that alongside time build itself around it. The thing with the Blockchain industry is that it's still very new. Hype and promotion still play the greatest key beneficiaries when it comes to people investing, the one thing that BitShares lacks a great deal of. Due to it being totally decentralized, being far ahead of its time, the industry just needs time to catch up to it. I estimate this year to be the start of the turnaround, where people start to comprehend and realize what it's actually capable of, this astonishing piece of technology. EOS being a big play in all of this. In quietness businesses are already building around the BitShares blockchain, which (hopefully) will bring forth a chain reaction and move it forward...

...to the moon and beyond!

Blaming BitShares problems solely on anti-socialism sounds like total BS, tbh. Even if there are a few bad apples, which I am sure there are, that wouldn't hold back the strong community that alongside time build itself around it.

I agree, the issues with BitShares predate this latest turmoil. Lest I be labeled as one of those "anti-social personalities" please consider that much of the animosity concerning BitShares began long ago, and the community wasn't effective at countering the FUD and defending the BitShares name. That's on ALL of us in the BitShares community.

As I posted in Telegram, there have been poor decisions made over the course of this project that have infuriated previous BitShares "partners" (Stans looser definition of partner used here). I've heard a handful of people report they weren't paid for work agreed to, or were screwed over by a sudden shift without warning. Some issues were only discovered in the last quarter of 2017 related to the STEALTH effort Bytemaster was in charge of just before he left to work on steem.

I have been around since 2014, and although I can indeed be harsh at times in my criticism, I believe Graphene technology is the best there is in the crypto space right now. I am optimistic about EOS in that Bytemaster is now in a role he is excellent at, while others take the lead on UI/UX, PR, marketing and business development.

Spot on and thank you. Let's expose and weed out the traitors, one by one. I am going to post the steps again here because I believe it is so important if BitShares really wants to thrive. I myself and other organizations have used these very same steps to get rid of the scum that lies hidden, sabotaging while trying to appear "helpful".

  1. Research who is more anit-social than social. Who is mostly antagonistic toward their fellow community members.

  2. Research who seems to attack, undermine, productive terminals within the community.

  3. Research who tends to stop or vote against projects / WP’s that are for the greatest good and that would actual help the community.

I appreciate your word and deep thought about Bitshares. We must expose the ones who are not happy with the success of others. Thanks for your valuable vocal against the negative charactors.

I've been around Bitshares for a long time. I've never seen this level of negativity and aggressiveness towards the ecosystem, through good times and bad. It really feels like there is an organized effort to undermine, kneecap, sandbox, libel and assassinate everything that touches Bitshares. The tech is amazing, the community is amazing, the projects are amazing. But the response, both in the media and and in the markets, to everything Bitshares does or attempts is astounding. Bitshares should be in the top 5 cryptos by any metric, both absolute and relative, but for some reason the FUD and selling knows no end. I hold out hope that one day we will wake up to $10 BTS and wonder what happened - cause it would literally have to be that sneaky to break out of the seemingly impenetrable cage the crypto community has built around Bitshares. Centralized, corrupt, obsolete, unusable technology is lifted to the heights of CMC while decentralized, transparent, state of the art and highly adopted technology is ground into the gutter. This is crypto.

The attacks are based on hate of what is good.

Never ever go down to their level and just stay focused on doing good.

We need to get @stan to reconsider, not only for our own good, but for his too - I'm sure he's not going to be happy at all not being around to share his vision, optimism and courage with us all. He has a job to do and will never be content by abandoning. As you have done, he needs all of our encouragement and support, and we need to help get him back on his feet.

Agreed @johnsmith ! There is no one, and nothing that will stop bitshares for being in the top 5, even the top 3 of all crypto. They can create negative things to make it look not good or to try to make people think it is to good to be true, but they are only buying time with that. Sooner or later we'll see THIS YEAR, a BITSHARES on $5 and then $10 or maybe more. It will do. Because it is delivering.

And if it is not enough for all the ignorants, and all the central media, and all those who think they will be able to continue controlling us people and controlling everything and manipulating, let me tell them that they are WRONG. We are changing to decentralize everything, for the good of all, and the 3 blockchain technologies with the highest power, capabilities, background, team of best developers are BTS, STEEM, AND EOS . And people can say what they want, but this 3 will be on the top, and this is when manipulators will see no way to buy time or make people think this 3 are to good to be true.

And what is the main reason: TRANSPARENCY. This is what the 3 have, and Steem speaks for itself, and people are coming to steem in hords of thousands each day. The other day I read that 20,000 new subscribers in a single day. I think it was from @penguinpablo .
This is 600,000 if we put it in 30 days. Its a lot if this starts to exponentially grow and more people come here.

Thanks for this comment @jonhsmith

Regards, @gold84

Totally agree. Thanks Johnsmith :)

Yh so true but I think it’ll go boom soon I think future is here all we can do is wait and watch @johnsmith

I am told that Bilbo, before his
Adventures began, would walk, the
Shire to seek the queen of the fungi.
To search was the compulsion.
Driven by taste, for the mysterious
Fruit of the forest floor.
When asked, he would say,
To savour the wild delight has nothing to compare,
To the humble taste of a spud, or sprout,
Just an ecstasy of unparalleled delight.
Knowing you have found the woody nutty treasure.
Of the queen of the forest floor.
Tis the biggest adventure a hobbit needs
To test his might against the mighty mushroom.

But then he had yet to meet ...
A wizard and a dwarf.

@stan If you and @michaelx would like a little R & R after that nauseating display of witch-hunting, with even long time bitshares enthusiasts succumbing to a coordinated disinformation and smear campaign:

Please accept an all expenses paid vacation to come and visit us here in Loutraki, Greece. We will make you most welcome. I will supply air tickets and hotels as soon as I hear from you.

Other than extremely informative, the article was VERY entertaining and enjoyable as well. For a minute I thought it was a wacky fact! I think @onceuponatime is 100% right. It would be an absolute honour to have you @stan and @michaelx in our beautiful Loutraki. You will have the time of your life in our gorgeous little paradise! Nothing better than combining work with vacations! You should seriously consider the possibility to visit us here in Loutraki. The world needs to be enlighten about bitshares!

Loutraki.jpg

I never get tired of taking photos in Loutraki!!!

LoutrakiPhotoForRacePostIMG_20170619_1830244.jpg

How could you stop anyway? It's gorgeous, isn't it? Whoever visits confirms that!
23559451_10214811165648186_7208279077503253562_n.jpg

My wife is drooling. We loved Santorini and the canal at Corinth.

I suppose you know that the Canal of Corinth is just 5 minutes away from Loutraki ;)

Vvp6C.jpg

I don't think I can pass that offer up. Will be in touch soon.

Looking forward to it!

Wow. We just might take you up on that!

Please do!

Our theme:
Loutraki, the crypto friendliest place on earth

And Athens is friendly city...@tkappa and @onceuponatime know it..😀😀😀
I will be very happy if i will meet all steemit friends together..

@stan what is thi# crptonomex all about...

Monumental generosity and team work @onceuponatime!

Thank you for reaching out with such an offer. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)

Wow that would be some great posts. Live Bitshares from loutraki..

That's awesome. I have always heard that the greek were not too fond of visitors. Or that just may have been a crappy vice doc.

Just mark the words... I myt be the beginer.. But its goin to get a devastating start in indian market... This crypto is freak... Its not legal in india but nat claimed a illegal tho... Its soon goin to hit markets in hit... Indian market cany stop it from hitting the market very soon... And its goin to make life fukn hell here... After every minute an indian is goin to be a millionare n other minute he will find himself in come laying on a bed.. This is fukn truth abt it ...

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Comment spam.

I'm sounding like I live under the reign of Stalin or Mao or Sauron!

That's because you/we are.

Please don't withdraw, we need you.

"No man, when he has lighted a lamp, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a lampstand, that they who come in may see the light."

@cryptographic I definitely agree with you! We need @stan . Its very valuable to be inspired by his vision and experience, as well as knowledge!

I believe he will continue writing, but not the direct way he did, to avoid the negativity from media and people.

This is what I wrote above to @johnsmith :

**Agreed @johnsmith ! There is no one, and nothing that will stop bitshares for being in the top 5, even the top 3 of all crypto. They can create negative things to make it look not good or to try to make people think it is to good to be true, but they are only buying time with that. Sooner or later we'll see THIS YEAR, a BITSHARES on $5 and then $10 or maybe more. It will do. Because it is delivering.

And if it is not enough for all the ignorants, and all the central media, and all those who think they will be able to continue controlling us people and controlling everything and manipulating, let me tell them that they are WRONG. We are changing to decentralize everything, for the good of all, and the 3 blockchain technologies with the highest power, capabilities, background, team of best developers are BTS, STEEM, AND EOS . And people can say what they want, but this 3 will be on the top, and this is when manipulators will see no way to buy time or make people think this 3 are to good to be true.

And what is the main reason: TRANSPARENCY. This is what the 3 have, and Steem speaks for itself, and people are coming to steem in hords of thousands each day. The other day I read that 20,000 new subscribers in a single day. I think it was from @penguinpablo .
This is 600,000 if we put it in 30 days. Its a lot if this starts to exponentially grow and more people come here.

Thanks for this comment @jonhsmith

Regards, @gold84**

Great verse in response to @stan, @cryptographic! Thanks! :D

I am smiling....

😄😇😄

@creatr

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Since bible quotes seems to be the rage, here is one:

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

  • Matthew 7:3

It's not intended on anybody, not even you, @stan. BUT you tend to forget the thousands of partners that daily log on and make a free market place possible. And there are people of all walks of life, scammers, honest folks and you name it.

I can't forget all attempts to talk me into this and that and follow their intentions. Knowing full well the network does not discriminate, having an opinion and a plan of your own is more likely to succeed than blindly following the loudest voice.

And there is where I'm at. It's difficult enough to distinguish nuances in a brand new and wide open playing field. And some sort of gut feeling is required. I have dismissed a lot that I'm proud of staying out of and succeeded a lot where it felt right. Sure enough, I have missed a few too. All in all: still standing.

Regarding Jared Rice, it is beyond doubt that he lied on several accounts. And it is beyond doubt he had a attitude I don't support. So even if I liked the idea and would die for only half of the white paper, it was impossible to support. I even explained it to him that he is NOT fit to CEO anything. My gut feeling turned out to be dead on.

Labeling my stance as anything but a mature decision is wrong and a attempt to turn the back to one of the most loyal partners, which is me.

Is arise a scam? Could be. It also could be the greatest invention ever. How should I know when lawsuits were handed out by the bucket load? If Jared had been a smart CEO, he would have let the product speak for itself and worked silently around hurdles. He didn't. Instead he raised an army.

Partnering is necessary in many aspects of growing. And I fully support your stance to mature them in silence. Coming from the stock market, any drop of information about upcoming, strategic moves are considered insider information. And I like it that way. It levels the playing ground. I've seen it in other projects -hyped long before it's news. I can't take it seriously. So I sold, knowing full well how the hype machine works.

I have been labeled and backstabbed for my opinions. FUD this and FUD that. And I'm fed up with it.

Forgetting the thousands of partners, the agreeable and the less agreeable could very well be the beam in the eye.

As a courtesy to arises effort, I have kept a very low profile, at least till the fundraiser was over. But I documented steps on the way just because there was something not quite right.

I'd like to see people distinguish between probability of success and probability of scam. The two are orthogonal metrics.

Does it matter? Jared managed to engage all the lawyers in the world. And it might never be known what is what. He only has himself to blame for that accomplishment.

Can't agree with you more on this

One of the big trends this year will be a flight to quality and we need high quality assets to replace those that are tarnishing the reputation of the whole digital currency industry. I welcome principled regulation that ensures a level playing field for consumers and entrepreneurs alike.

I couldn't stop my laugh after reading this

Some still call it a racist communist scam

Fake happenings prevail the industry right now and people are rightly panicking. People like you are true guide for noobs like me. So, please keep posting of and on because it keeps is on track and saves us from these fake manipulators of the industry. Thanks for all your help till date.

By the way, this one is one of my most favorite sayings:

“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." -- Jesus Christ

Excellent post @stan. Time conquers all. Steem On!

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I always will appreciate what you have done man. Trusting people to be decent human beings is always difficult. Just look what happened to Jesus...
Killed by the bankers when it really comes down to it :/

Enjoy your innovations and dont stop doing what you believe in. Your dreams will come true :)

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."