Playing for Keeps on the Blockchain

First of all, Cryptogs.io is a cool new Dapp. For those of you who don't know, Cryptogs has put Pogs on the blockchain as ERC-721 tokens and allows anyone to play for keeps against an opponent that could be anywhere around the world.

I wrote about it last week [here] after I came across a bounty on Cent looking for original artwork to create more pogs posted by the sites creator, Austin Griffith. The bounty is still live [here].

Well yesterday, I was finally matched up with another player located somewhere on the other side of the globe, and got three matches in. I lost more Pogs than I won, but that's not the big story.

Rather, after nearly 22 years, I found myself playing Pogs for keeps, on the blockchain. Crazy, right?

The game play is simple and straight forward, but before you begin to play for keeps there are a few steps you need to make it through.

First, go to Cryptogs.io, click 'Play Togs', and then click 'Create Game'.

Next, select five Pogs that you will play for keeps with. Bear in mind you may lose all of these, so if you have any precious Pogs, think twice about playing with them. That said, in the future a rare Pog will be a great incentive to attract an opponent who is also willing to play with a rare Pog.

After you click 'Submit' you will need to wait for an opponent. Pro tip: join the Cryptog slack or discord and try to find an opponent there before trying to start a game on the site.

Success! An opponent has finally joined.

You're almost there, just click 'Transfer to Contract' and make sure your gas levels are where they should be before signing the transaction in MetaMask or on your mobile Web3 client (I'm on CipherBrowser which takes care of setting approriate gas levels for you).

Sometimes you will be asked to generate the game. Simply click 'Generate Game', and again sign the transaction in MetaMask or on your mobile Web3 browser. Now you're ready to slam. Super excited (I really want that top Pog!).

The game will proceed automatically from here until all the Pogs have been flipped over. Remember, you keep the Pogs that flip over on your slam.

You can see the final results of my match here:

So there you have it. I lost more Pogs than I won, but I scooped that coveted kitty Pog that was designed by fellow Centian @MTimeTraveller, so I am super stoked.

If you want to play me for keeps, hit me up on the Cryptogs slack, I'm Matthew.

Fred Wilson Hearts Cent

Having someone hearting your Tweets isn't that big of a deal. But it isn't nothing. And if Fred Wilson hearts your Tweet, well that's just pretty damn cool.

I'm in charge of Comms at Cent and outside of our user base on beta.cent.co, our biggest following is over on Twitter, so that is where I concentrate a good bulk of our messaging and signaling.

Cent has been doing what few Dapps have been able to, and not just in terms of finding and growing an actual audience. Our users are putting real money in the form of ETH onto our platform that is flowing through our smart contracts and into the wallets of our users.

In fact tens of thousands of dollars have been distributed to 1300+ users since the beta went live at the end of last summer. Not only is that demonstrating real value, it represents tens of thousands of transactions that would not have been possible but for ETH and the Ethereum network.

That is real value, the same kind of value that Fred Wilson talked about in his post on Sunday [here]. So I linked that article and him into our Tweet. And he hearted it.

Idea Clicks

Have you ever wrestled with an idea, repeatedly turning it over in your mind trying to work it out until it feels right? Sometimes it's a real struggle, but there's nothing as satisfying as when everything comes together and the idea finally clicks into place.

As many of you know I've been wrestling with figuring out how I will operate this blog when I move it over to Cent. The general direction has been clear for awhile now - I will publish daily on Cent instead of here - but specifics like how I'll use the bounty mechanism have been unclear to me, so the idea hasn't really clicked yet in my mind.

Well, that is until last night when I was enjoying some of the best lamb in the world with my wife. I was explaining how a tipping function will be introduced to Cent soon that will coincide with the introduction of the original content function when it hit me, and everything finally clicked into place: I will employ a combo of bounty-first posts and more directed tip-based posts.

I will use the bounty function as a way to make big announcements or simply to attract quick, on-demand responses.

For an example of when I will deploy bounties, I will set a bounty on my first post in order to broadcast my plan to move my blog to Cent as well as recruit anywhere from 1~3 Centurions (i.e. moderators) for my blog. These moderators will be in charge of stimulating discussion under each of my posts and creating an atmosphere that is attractive to readers almost independently of my daily posts. For their efforts, the Centurions will get a cut of the $5 I will allocate to each post.

For daily posts, instead of attaching a bounty, I will instead utilize tips. Centurions will get a majority of the daily $5 tip allotment, and top comments from other users will split the remaining cash.

My plan is to develop a couple of recurring, regular posts for the weekend that I will attach bounties to. Currently I feature my favorite podcast from the past week every Saturday. I will continue to do so on Cent, and will ask other Centians to submit their favorite podcasts from the past week. Additionally I will try to set up a weekly 'crowdsourced RSS feed of sorts' by asking Centians to submit the single best thing they came across on the internet over the past week. Observant Centians will have noticed that I've just tried out this latter idea on Cent [here].

Well, that's it. It feels good to me. How about you? It looks like this change will happen sometime this week, so get your applications ready if you want to get paid for starting and curating discusssions under my posts. My short-term plan is to collect $150 in tips from readers to break even, but if I get more tips, my Centurions will for sure get raises. So get ready for the beginnings of something super different.

Cheers everybody.

Podcast of the Week No.5

Patrick O'Shaughnessy is on a roll. Each episode of his 'Invest Like the Best' podcast is a must listen (for me).

His guests are all deep thinkers, analytical as hell, and making big moves in the most exciting sectors around.

Last week Patrick had Chris Douvos, a managing partner at Venture Investment Associates, on the show [link] and it was just a great episode.

The discussion that ensued when Chris was discussing why he hates when others talk about what it would take to "make" a second Silicon Valley triggered a deep insight in myself about how I think about Korea. I am spreading that insight out over a series of posts that I will begin posting soon (hopefully on Cent 🤸).

In the meantime, happy podcasting and enjoy your weekend.

Consistency is a Bar

A good bar is open when you need it, seat ready and waiting.

You can join into conversation around you just as easy as you can listen to what others are saying and doing.

Most of the faces you recognize, and they you, but there's always a new face or two.

Your drink is always on tap, as is true for each regular and their favorite brew.

A good bar is nothing but consistent in this regard.

Cool New Project - Cryptogs.io

Yesterday a really cool new project in the Ethereum space posted a $70 bounty on Cent. They're looking for more artists to upload unique artwork to mint new Pogs that'll live on the blockchain. Yep, you read that right.

The project is called Cryptogs.io and they have put Pogs on the blockchain as ERC-721 tokens. Their site lets anyone mint their very own ERC-721 Pogs by simply uploading original art and paying 0.02 ETH for a stack (5 Pogs) or 0.004 ETH for a single. When you do upload a design, just make sure to add the name and email of the artist of the design.

After you mint your Pogs you can play someone for keeps (i.e you gamble with another player by stacking a certain fixed number of your Pogs with theirs, slamming the stack, walking away with whatever Pogs land facing up after your slam and losing Pogs that land facing up after the other players slam), or trade/sell them on other open exchanges like Opensea.

It's a simple project that seems well designed. I just received my stack of Pogs that I minted last night. Of course they are Cent Pogs, and of course I attributed the art work to the original artist cum Cent CEO and co-founder, Max Brody. Check out Cryptogs, then check out Cent and get paid to sort the best Pog designs.

Consequences

With most of life - both personally and professionally - being lived and carried out by so many in the digital world, many may lose touch with the real world consequences of their actions. They always exist; but there's a real gap.

For me, however, although I have one foot firmly planted in the digital world, the other foot is still very much in the real world - working at a global E&C contractor building big things in the real world is kind of the whole point.

And construction is dangerous. There's no way to deny that aspect with a million and one ways to die on any given construction site. That's why safety is *the* number one focus - or at least it should be.

Unfortunately, there was a serious accident on one of our overseas projects the other day. A family had their lives changed in one single, irreversible instant.

The investigation is still on-going - and to be crystal clear I am in no way a part of or affiliated with the investigation - so everything that factored into the accident will be revealed imminently.

But from my vantage point located within the safe and comfortable confines of our corporate office in Seoul - a part of reality removed from reality, if you will - there are a few threads that are connected to this terrible accident that have been sticking out for some time.

These threads are the result of bureaucratic decisions made regarding processes that, at least in name, were put in place for safety's sake. They weren't though; they were set up as a way to consolidate decision making power within the corporate function that put the process in place. Safety wasn't first. And because of that, something bad happened.

Sometimes when a reality, whether that be a digital or corporate one, becomes too comfortable, the gap between that reality and the dirty, dangerous reality of the indifferent real world is so blinding that we forget about how out actions may impact the latter. But for everyone who has their boots on the ground in that latter reality - and everyone does, at least at some point or other - those actions and subsequent consequences are unforgettable.

So the next time do something, think about the potential existential impact that you  or the group will have.

Thoughts on Marshall McLuhan?

Yesterday I was privy to some pretty freaking awesome news about Cent and original content.

While I can't go into specifics, I can say that good things will be happening soon. Very soon.

So in preparation of these 'good things', I posted on Cent and attached a bounty of 0.03 ETH [link]. This isn't a normal Cent post though, it is a bit of a test-post of sorts.

I'm not sure if my writing style will change when I start blogging on Cent, but I know I'll be able to interact in several new ways that just haven't been possible before.

One of those new interactions is soliciting immediate suggestions or ideas people may have about something or someone.

I know I want to write about Marshall McLuhan and his book "Understanding Media" that I'm currently reading and make some connection with crypto, but I'm not sure what that connection is yet.

So I made a post to see if there's any Centian out there who has already formed that connection as well as to solicit any informed takes that may exist that aren't reflected in Wikipedia or dusty journals.

Anyways, check out my Cent post [here] and discuss.

100 in 100

Today marks the last day of a sweet, little four day weekend for me.

It also happens to be the hundredth straight day that I've posted on my humble blog.

I never intended to write like this, but obviously I was ready to, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

For me, writing is one of the best ways to remember. And there is so much good stuff to remember.

My regular readers know that much of what I've been focused on remembering centers around Cent. What you may not know is that *this very blog* and the writing I did about Cent actually got me a paying role in the Cent team - I started working as Centurion No.1 a little over a month back.

A blog is certainly more meaningful and impactful than a CV. There are a lot of people asking how they can get a role working on a crypto startup these days. For everyone - technical and otherwise - blogging about a new product or company that you're passionate about is probably one of the best 'hire me' signals you can send.

Blogging is really powerful stuff. I'm really looking forward to sharing more writing with my regular readers, but for now, it's time to enjoy the last day of this long weekend with my wife. Cheers everybody!

The Way

[The Cow and You are Forgotten]

The specific path that each individual needs to take to find the Way (i.e. a state wherein an individual is able to control their Ego and instincts) varies individual to individual, but the process has remained roughly the same for multiple millenia.

In Zen Buddhism this process is sometimes summarized in the ten-part Cow Searching Drawings (尋牛圖). It goes something like this:

1. You search for the Cow.
2. You spot the Cow's tracks.
3. You see the Cow.
4. You grab the Cow by its reins and mount it.
5. You rear the Cow.
6. You ride the Cow home.
7. Your Cow is forgotten and you remain.
8. The Cow and you are forgotten.
9. You return to your original self.
10. You become bodhi-sattva, head to the streets, and help others find the Way.

At first your Cow is black. White spots will begin to appear as you cultivate your Way. The spots will grow larger until eventually you are left with a Cow that is totally white. This is analogous to eliminating self-destructive impulses whilst growing constructive love. And it is the development of positive energy.

This is merely the super broad outline of a much deeper process. I have translated a significant portion of that deeper process and underlying logic in the writings contained [here].

Check them out, read them over, think and then ask questions, because questioning is the piety of thought. Peace.

Podcast of the Week No.4

Hands down my favorite new podcast this week was 'Caliphate', a new podcast produced by The New York Times.

Only one word can describe this podcast accurately: Powerful.

Rukmini Callimachi has written about terrorism for years as a journalist for the Times, and this podcast brings listeners into her trips inside the active war zones, and along to meetings with former and current terrorists that form the basis of her journalistic work.

Nick Quah of the Hotpod Newsletter, an email newsletter that covers the business and development of the bourgeoning Podcast sector, emphasized the power and effect of the shows heavy reliance on diegetic recordings (i.e. from real life), as opposed to the typical NPR voice over narration that way too many documentary-style podcasts rely on.

The production is top notch, and for people who believe in any God, the stories you hear will make you question those beliefs hard. There are so many more layers to dig into and threads to pull on as well.

Episodes will drop weekly, and so far two episodes have been released. I can't wait to listen to next weeks episode.

Links:
Episode 1
Episode 2

Over the Hill

Over the past few months I have really fallen into writing. 

I want to say thank you to everyone who has fallen into reading what I've written.

On average, more than 30 people are landing on my page daily. That's crazy.

I remember when I had 2 people visit my blog over the course of three days and thinking what it'd be like to have just 2 people visit my blog daily.

There are a few of you who I know are regular readers. You will be rewarded soon. As soon as I can move my blog to Cent, I will place a bounty on each daily blog post. I will make sure that my regular readers get paid, you all will just need to help moderate and/or start discussions below what I write.

If people subscribe and pay me for my writing, the bounties will increase. 

That's the plan. Anyways, thank you all for helping me pass the 10,000 view mark for this humble blog. 

I think it's safe to say that I am now over the hill.

CoinJournal Article on Cent

It's been a busy morning.

Overnight, the wonderful Ian Demartino wrote a stellar article [link] on the goodness that's been going on over at Cent.

Cent's Twitter blew up, of course. Followers have (finally) crossed the 1,000 person threshold, and a whole bunch of noteworthy names like Liad Shababo (@L1AD), Dr. Corey Petty from The Bitcoin Podcast and Jake Brukhman have been showing love.

Being Centurion No.1 and a bleeding heart supporter of Cent for a while now, it is awesome to finally see others who get Cent like the whole team and I have.

Validation: It's so important to the future success of anything. Here's to much validation and greater success than any of us can even imagine.

Fantasy & Reality

I am a huge fan of Netflix documentaries

Their food documentaries in particular are like visual and creative crack to me. David Chang's Ugly Delicious being the equivalent of Heisenberg Blue Crystal.

Chef's Table, now in it's fourth season, is high up on my list as well.

I just finished up the last episode of the season that covered Chef Will Goldfarb. He is a famous dessert chef who essentially absconded to Indonesia and is living what many view to be a dream - he is running a world-class restaurant in paradise, and he is happy AF.

There's a quote from a food critic about Will's situation that just kind of perfectly summarizes his new situation:

"When somebody shows that they can be successful living what seems like a fantasy, people start to re-evaluate what they want their reality to be."

At no point in time was it more possible to *really* live your fantasy. So, are you living your fantasy yet?

Economically Active Users

Old metrics and terms are often applied to new sectors and industries at their outset since the language to properly describe the 'newness' of those sectors and industries simply doesn't exist yet.

Over time, however, as a new sector unfolds and people find their footing in it, new, more accurate terms and language develop to better describe the many new things that occur and take place within it.

For crypto, and Dapps in particular, I think that I might have stumbled upon the beginnings of a new engagement metric to describe the unique economic contributions and gains that Dapp users experience: Economically Active Users or EAUs for short.

Obviously the term is derivative of the commonly used DAU, WAU, and MAU metrics that attempts to analyze Active Users (i.e. those users that engage in some particularly meaningful action within a site or app) on daily, weekly, and monthly intervals that, in lieu of revenue, acts as a proxy for growth.

For Dapps like CryptoKitties or Cent, real live users are either contributing ETH, gaining ETH, or some combination of the two from day one. Even if revenue is being captured by this cohort of users, the contribution and gaining of value is a super significant metric to track on it's own, at least to me. Breaking this group of users out from traditional Active Users would provide a useful basis for many different comparisons.

One could track the percentage/conversion rate of Active Users to EAUs. Additionally, a standalone EAU metric would also help determine and track the average gains and contributions of users as well as the percentage growth of those gains and contributions of users on the Dapp.

Having such a clear view would make imbalances more apparent. For example, a ton of questions would start to flow if growth in EAU gains are outpacing EAU contributions relative to AU:EAU conversion on a Dapp, or if the contribution per EAU ratio remains small compared to the gains per EAU ratio.

From a product perspective, tracking Active Users, or those users who visit and engage in some meaningful action but gain zero economic value, against EAUs would be useful to see if previous assumptions placed on thresholds that limit reward payouts or subsidy distribution are too restrictive or not.

There is a lot more that needs to be fleshed out from this, and obviously Dapps that are able to track this metric should feel good that there is something that sets them apart from a traditional app, but I will leave this thought here, open ended, for now. Any feedback or criticism is more than welcome.

All Time Highs

At Cent we just hit two major all time highs.

Firstly, we now have our very first user to be paid over $100 in a 30 day period. And all they did to get paid was respond sincerely to posts and help curate the best responses by sorting them.

Secondly, an all time high bounty of $250 is now live on beta.cent.co right now [link]. That is huge, *and* it's for a good cause. The bounty was set as a way to crowdsource action and attention to a proposed mining project in Alaska that could potentially threaten bears that inhabit the region around the proposed mining site.

There is no time to rest or revel in these achievements, however, since we are trying to fine tune the ICA (Iterative Comparison Algorithm) behind sorting as well as develop our next new feature set to launch sometime in May: original content publishing.

So keep your eyes on our project, because it's only a matter of time until we have our first Centian who brings in $1000 in a month.

Improvement

Cent has been on the daily road to improvement ever since the beta went live late in the Summer of 2017.

Everyday was a constant push for the team to tick the dial of progress forward one mark, but the pace of improvement kicked into high gear last Wednesday when the new sorting system, officially named ICA or the Iterative Comparison Algorithm, was pushed out.

It's crucial to mention that the new sorting system was combined with another new decision to limit the allocation of 80% of every bounty to the top 10 responses - previously every response was eligible to receive a portion of the bounty if it received any up-vote.

A very simple and basic metric - yet supremely important to the overall user experience - is the Leaderboard of the top 100 users based on their take home rewards over the last 30 days. Before the two changes mentioned above were introduced, the highest earners were bringing in $10~15, at most - it was typically lower for months.

In less than a week since ICA went live, the top ranked user @hint is just a few dollars shy of $100! And at the bottom end, only 6 users remain below the $1 threshold - but the 100th ranked user is at 92 cents, so that will change after the next bounty closes and pays out.

Make no mistake, this is just the beginning. There is a lot of room to improve and fine tune the ICA, let alone conceptualize, build out, and iterate the next new features (beginning with original content) that will be introduced into Cent over the next few months.

That said, improvements will continue to roll out at a quicker and quicker pace. They have to in order to get the fly wheel spinning quick enough to attract and entertain new users while keeping existing users delighted and engaged.

Podcast of the Week No. 3

Last week there wasn't a single podcast that stood out as my favorite, as much as there was a specific type of podcast that I really dug: post-mortems to the almost-conversation between Sam Harris and Ezra Klein.

There were two post-mortems (that I came across), both with Sam himself:

- one on his own show, Waking Up with Sam Harris [here]

- and one on the Joe Rogan Experience [here]

The post-mortem on his own show occurs at the very beginning of the episode, or what Sam calls the "housekeeping" portion on the show. The entire JRE episode was a meta discussion around the factors that prevented a conversation from unfolding between Sam and Ezra, but there were a few times where the podcast with Sam and Ezra was explicitly discussed and analyzed.

Apparently Ezra wrote about it as well, but I have yet to check that out. If there were more that I missed, please let me know.

Happy weekend yall.

Authentically on Message

Authenticity: You know it when you see it.

I think that's how most people would describe how they judge whether something is or feels authentic.

It's hard to automate authenticity. Therefore, creating and sustaining authenticity requires a significant time investment.

Many may say authenticity doesn't scale. But Paul Graham advises new startups to do things that don't scale.

Sending bespoke thank you replies to new followers or users probably won't scale, but it will make users feel good.

Going back and forth, editing, tweaking, then re-writing a Tweet to make sure it only sends the message that you want it to probably isn't a scalable process per se, but when you finally find your authentic, digital voice, the clarity and impact with which you will be able to reliably communicate your message while sounding authentic will pay serious dividends on that major upfront investment.

Or at least I think so. Smarter people than I say so. So, let's hope so.

A Culture of High Standards

Since yesterday afternoon I have read and re-read the latest Amazon Shareholder Letter from Jeff Bezos a couple times.

As always it is a must read for the clear value it provides to anyone (read: any current or potential Amazon customer) who takes the time to read it over.

I have already tweeted a bunch of the more apparent points, particularly regarding the emphasis Bezos places on high standards - because, clarity shines on Tweeter - so I wanted to highlight one of the subtler aspects here.

I'll quote Bezos in full:

"[The] more subtle [benefits of high standards]: a culture of high standards is protective of all the “invisible” but crucial work that goes on in every company. I’m talking about the work that no one sees. The work that gets done when no one is watching. In a high standards culture, doing that work well is its own reward – it’s part of what it means to be a professional."

Doing invisible work. And being ok with doing invisible work.

I have come across too many people who simply can't be bothered to do anything if they aren't sure others will notice.

This is directly linked to what I have written about a few times [here & here] regarding signaling, a topic that Robin Hanson has discussed endlessly.

The fact of the matter is that, according to the statistics that I think I remember, at least 95% of people "need" the signal from whatever they do to be public, and it is from the gap between this 'need' and the imperative for work to be done, for the success of a project or company, that failures or delays arise. Or at least I think that is a major factor.

[Side note: As I write this, the irony is not lost to me that I am about to post this to a public blog ;)]

So for everyone who is already doing that invisible work: Respect.

And for those of my readers who may not be doing invisible work yet: Baby steps.

The next time you get an email without a million folks CC'd asking for a quick favor for something very important, or if you happen to read over a report that you weren't involved in and catch a major mistake, take care of it, because even if the light of success doesn't directly fall on you, you will still be able to bask in its warmth.

Bounties & Posts

One of the great things about bounties on Cent is that they are a tool that gets attached to posts.

I think it is super important to view the bounty as something separate from each post.

Until Cent came around, bounties were just advertisements for one-off tasks. And they were mostly always technical in nature, winner take all, and encouraged low-bidding to win. The name bounty defined the content.

On Cent, however, the bounty is a simple tool that you can attach to a post that incentivizes people to both read what you wrote and give a response, in return for a piece of the bounty.

What you can post is really unlimited. Those thoughts or posts that would get lost on other social networks will attract an immediate buzz on Cent. Any question always makes for a good post to bounty. Want feedback on something? Looking for followers? The list is endless.

Anyways, if you're curious for more, head over to beta.cent.co and check out the Help section for more on specific use cases as well as how to use Cent.

If you're a regular reader of this blog and/or a fellow Centian, go respond to this live bounty about this same topic. [link: https://beta.cent.co/+2hwcfw ]

A Revolution in Global Intercourse

Actions cost a bit of money when carried out on blockchains. This is so that not just you, but the entire network of today and everyday after can remember.

That is huge. The costs, well, they pale in comparison.

Beyond the costs though, lie rewards, but not the cheap plastic kind nor the shitty user rewards from x, y, or z big bix mega-chain retailor. No.

The rewards are money, because blockchain is the ultimate money medium. And it is already a part of everyone's life, wherever they live and regardless of whether they use it, like it, or not.

Part in parcel with the money medium is the new money economy.

When the money medium was introduced to seventeenth century Japan and the money economy pierced the lives of its citizens, a revolution erupted and lasted over two centuries. Have you been to Tokyo today? Have you seen drawings of Edo period Japan? Think about how absolutely different the two are.

This was a slow, but irresistible revolution of the mind first and foremost based on a reorganization of the sense life of each individual by money, because, as Marshall McLuhan stated, money is an *extension* of human sense lives.

A key change, again according to McLuhan, wrought by the money medium in Japan was a resumption of intercourse with the rest of the world. Unfortunately he glosses over the voracity, scale and volume in which that "intercourse" resumed and expanded.

The screenshot above is of a dialogue that took place on Peepeth, a decentralized Twitter.

As you can see, the original Peep is focused on cost, and Joern seems to be as well, but he also points towards the potential rewards.

@irv also mentions his all-time tweet volume and seems to imply that the number of Peeps he can make for $5 will last a long time (since it appears that he believes he will Peep just like he Tweeted).

But, thinking a bit further in regard to those rewards, what will the impact on @irv and their sense life be when they realize they can earn a non-trivial portion of their income from anywhere through dapps like Cent, Peepeth and whatever comes next?

Imagine if @irv earns enough by liking a response (referred to as 'sorting' on Cent - [link: here]) or by getting tipped for their Peeps that encourage them to Peep more that in turn earn them even more tips that allow them to go anywhere they think is better than where they are.

Do you think @irv will only hit Peep no. 2,400 in the year 2026? Will they only like a few responses on Cent?

I don't think so - just as money cracked open Edo era Japan, I believe we are about to see an *explosion* in global intercourse on a scale heretofore unimaginable.

I don't know if this is the question to close on, but I have to crack on for the day so I will leave this here for you to think about:

If money is power, what will happen when everyone finally feels as powerful as they already are?

Last Minute Push

A few of the big changes I have talked about here over the past few weeks are about to go live on beta.cent.co in less than a day.

The team is heads down doing what they need to do in a last minute push.

Stay tuned and get ready to earn more ETH.

Talking And Testing

Over at Cent, we are in the last phase of testing our brand new Iterative Comparison Algorithm (or ICA for short) that has been developed to support an innovative new sorting mechanism that'll supplant the current voting system.

Currently, there is a group of around 5~6 Centurions (myself included) who have been testing it and providing feedback over the past few days before we push it out to every Centian.

What is super amazing about this (aside from simply being a part of this) is that we're testing what only a few weeks ago was a shell of an idea.

It was an idea that was talked about. A lot. And then some more.

But at a certain point during those talks, the basic elements of the idea took root. From that point any additional talking would've been superfluous - talking would've only served to distract and delay necessary subsequent actions.

Of course the next necessary actions I am referring to are buidling and testing.

So Max and Cam buidled and now we're testing. But the thing is, we're talking even more now than during the ideation stage, because, of course.

Talk and discussion help direct and propel action and then help fortify the results of whatever action is taken. It is a brilliantly simple process that seems obvious, but requires constant minding to know when talking needs to take a backseat.

Podcast of the Week No.2

Since I already wrote a post earlier in the week [here] about my favorite podcast, I will share the podcast that was an incredibly close runner-up.

Nikhil Kalghatgi, CEO of CoVenture crypto and beautiful mind, was on Patrick O'Shaughnessy's 'Invest like the Best' last week [here] completing a holy trinity of podcasts for the three mega genius partners of CoVenture. The previous two podcasts with Ali Hamed [here], and Savneet Singh [here] are each worth listening to more than once as well.

Although his partners are also incredibly into crypto, Nikhil spent way more time discussing his views and hopes for crypto on Patrick's podcast. And he is *prolifically* passionate.

I really enjoyed how he clarified that his passion for crytpo is categorically different than past passions for other things. Whereas previous passions focused on incredibly specific investment opportunities - or 'notches' as he calls them - within sectors, crypto is an entire world full of notches.

Crypto is a sector that presents a completely new way to create financial firms quicker and more efficient than ever before. It has Nikhil ecstatically excited, and me too.

Porn Nerd

I've thought very hard about porn.

Everyone knows and understands what porn is, but very seldom is it talked about, let alone discussed at length.

A short while ago though, I discussed the logic behind my porn viewing and curation habits with someone else who has also thought long and hard about porn.

This discussion was triggered in the middle of a conversation about the FAQ for Cent that I have been working on for the past few weeks.

One of the many unique use cases of Cent is that it can be used to promote new sites, like CryptoTitties. That's a site that was actually promoted by Sir McKie a few months ago.

Anyways, a short debate ensued about whether or not to include CryptoTitties as an example or replace it with the infinitely more PG CryptoKitties (which was also previously promoted on Cent). We probably will.

After that I think I mentioned how surprised I was that no one has posted anything about porn on Cent up until now to which one of my interlocutors asked what I meant.

From that question perhaps the best side-bar in the history of side-bars was born.

Following a super specific 15 minute talk led basically by myself discussing the logic behind how I index my favorite porn (which I download and definitely don't stream) it was decided that I am indeed a porn nerd.

I am the porn nerd.

#BUIDL

It's been an exciting morning already. I've been up since 4:40 am checking out a major, major UI change that Cent is testing: response sorting.

This will replace the current voting system where users up or down-vote responses. So far there have been over 170,000 votes cast, which is a super impressive number, but the old voting system has always felt like a stop-gap solution.

With sorting, Cent is taking the first steps in buidling[sic] out from first principles a key function that fits and works in the UI so much better. Sorting magnifies what Cent has been about from day one: incentivizing, showcasing and making sure those who contribute *the best* of human creativity get paid.

I'm going to cut this post short, so I can get back to sorting. It's surprisingly sticky. Currently sorting is being rolled out in phases: now only Centurions are able to use this feature, so for Centians not in this test group, hold tight - it should go live for all users soon.

The Podcast of Our Generation

I have just finished re-listening to what will probably go down as the defining podcast of our generation: the show down between Sam Harris and Ezra Klein about Sam's controversial podcast with Charles Murray.

Although I am a fan of both and listen to nearly every podcast that pops up on their respective podcast feeds, I want to make it clear that I listened to this particular podcast on Sam's feed.

I'm sure many listeners were disappointed with what turned out to be a stillborn debate that didn't really make it past the opening gates of discussion, but I was fucking riveted from start to finish.

What was most interesting to me was Ezra's refusal to separately consider the scientific study an individual has carried out (that is by now commonly accepted in mainstream science) from their social policy views.

Ezra believes the two sides are interminably connected to one another and cannot be separated.

It was this fundamental difference in thinking that prevented a deeper discussion with Sam from unfolding. It should be noted that Sam, like Ezra, stated multiple times he is not in agreement with Charles on his social policies.

That said, Sam repeatedly pleaded with Ezra to get him to see that the scientific issue and the social issue at hand should be discussed as two entirely distinct, separate matters.

Sam was doing so because it's the only way one can hope to have a rational, dispassionate debate of the facts at hand without having worry about running into the wall of your interlocutor's personal politics regarding a particular social matter.

This reminds me of the furor that erupts whenever anyone broaches the name or thoughts of Martin Heidegger.

As with Murray, most seem to accept that Heidegger's private, personal views (as well as his membership, however short and tenuous, with the Nazi party) have fundamentally polluted the man's entire philosophical thought and writing and therefore believe that the latter should be shunned and avoided and anyone who says otherwise is at best a Nazi sympathizer.

The ability to see that two thoughts aren't one and the same and to deal with each as such - this is the defining trait of a thinker. Unfortunately, there was only one person truly thinking in this podcast.

Habits: Future Actions

Habits are the result of decisions about how to do something made long ago that have dissolved into all subsequent actions in the future.

You don't think about how you will tie your shoes or brush your teeth anymore (usually) - it's already been decided in advance, by you.

For simple actions, like attaching a roll of toilet paper next to the toilet, there are only two possible actions: right and wrong.

I attach toilet paper the right way.

[The Right Way]

My wife on the other hand does it the wrong way.

[The Wrong Way]

Joking aside, thinking deeply about what habits guide our actions throughout the day can be enlightening. Becoming deeply, fundamentally aware of everything is a good look for life.

Beyond that, becoming aware of our habits opens up the possibility of improving exisiting habits or developing even better habits. So there is still hope that my wife will make the right choice the next time the toilet paper runs out for her.

Cent Writing Contest - Key Takeaway

The first ever (as far as I can tell) writing contest has just ended over on beta.cent.co and I have to say, it was interesting. [Contest link]

@magpie and their story based on the memory of a lost traveling soul was the clear winner for me personally.

I have listed the five runner ups below, but I am still waiting for @raxan1987 to send me their ETH address. They submitted works written by their father, so they were unsure if they should be able to accept any kind of award - (if you are reading this) yes you can!

That said, I find it super interesting how only one (@hint) of my top selections actually received enough up-votes to make it into the top ten responses that got a cut of my original bounty. Of the top ten maybe three responded properly.

Hopefully the sorting mechanism that will introduced imminently will help improve the outcomes of bounties and make gaming (i.e. multi-account holders up-voting their own shitty posts to get a large piece of the bounty) harder to carry out.

The last takeaway is on the actual bounty amount - I think it's safe to say that (for some reason) lower bounties seem to elicit higher response rates. Need to see if that can be verified.

All in all a solid effort that resulted in some terrific stories and blogs being shared.

Check out the list of handles that submitted my favorite writing below. Aside from @magpie, everyone else is in no particular order.

1. @magpie - 0x4d99D5C7698D69F02f2CAC5532258cd80485B29f

2. @rhyzom - 0xf4829f0406dce300c84ffd626bcc47a4b61227c0

3. @jeanrobert70 - 0xB597538E595aFecd6a44d76D739E9B8cBBC2125e

4. @connecteconomy - 0x9c959c86ee1d3ab60a876bb07ebd5469ab8d33a7

5. @raxan1987 - awaiting address

6. @hint - 0x7Ff5A8FFD8d4694BE5A37777F461e8D98038Cc3E

Clarifying Confrontations

Whenever you try to do something new a confrontation is inevitable.

This inevitability is literally baked into the daily reality of start-up life, but exists just the same in any other established business whenever anything without a defined process is attempted.

In start-ups you begin with zero processes - every action literally creates a new process. If you are a company of one, these confrontations are just with yourself, but when you add even one or two other employees the confrontations are never ending.

While most people assume confrontations occur when it's time to make some big, difficult, important decision, in reality - and in start-ups in particular - they arise more often when it comes time to decide or take action on some mundane issue.

Take today for example.

Last week it was decided that Cent should Tweet more to help start spreading its unique brand and message.

Great. Of course everyone agreed, but no one defined how that should happen (note: in hindsight this 'how to proceed in excruciating detail' probably should have happened - lesson learned).

So that takes us to today where I came up with a little Tweet based on an article another employee shared the other day. I sent him a draft, he made some edits, I suggested a slight modification, and he pulled the trigger (since I don't have admin privileges).

As soon as that happened a third colleague jumped into the Slack and asked why they weren't consulted about the Tweet first.

Short answer: there was no process.

This individual had a few suggestions and wasn't super thrilled about the tone we used in the Tweet. It's important to note that this person has been the voice of Cent until now, and his demand to be included in the process heading forward was totally on point.

So what happened?

We set a new process for Tweeting: in the 'Tweet Bucket' tab I had set up earlier in Airtable, we applied a 3-gate system. Now anyone can suggest a 'Draft' that can either get 'Discarded' if it isn't right or 'Reviewed' and polished before getting 'Tweeted'.

One of the qualities I admire the most about Cent is the high level of quality and simple yet solid nature of the product. This has been achieved by a relentless focus on small details.

If we want to convey this quality in our Tweets, we need a process that will help us craft quality Tweets in a consistent voice and tone.

I am so happy that I was able to be a part of a minor confrontation that clarified a new key process in the Cent Slack today. In fact, I hope that we get into many, many more in the days, weeks, and months ahead;)

Podcast of the Week No.1

Heading forward I plan on sharing my favorite podcast from the past week every Sunday.

This week my favorite podcast came from the *prolific* Software Engineering Daily podcast. Host, editor and (I think) creator Jeff Meyerson has been on a bit of a streak for the past two or three weeks covering all things crypto.

As the name implies, this podcast focuses more on the technical components of projects from a software engineer's perspective. This has not changed during their coverage of a ton of crypto projects which is a breath of fresh air from most (but definitely not all) podcasts covering crypto today.

Every episode is worth a listen, but I want to recommend this episode featuring Gitcoin [link]. Gitcoin is a network of distributed smart contracts, based upon Ethereum, that provides tools for Github repo maintainers to push their repos forward by easily allowing *bounties* to be set on issues by staking ETH or ERC20 tokens against any github issue.

I think you can tell why this project is interesting to me;)

Happy podcasting.

Encouraging Something Really Different

In Fred's post yesterday he introduced one of USV's new investments. This is nothing new and he included back-links to previous USV investment announcements of products like Twitter, from all the way back in 2007, as proof.

I encourage everyone to read the Twitter write up in full, but I want to highlight the following excerpt because - surprise, surprise - it reminds me of Cent:

"...blogging lacks the banter that characterizes most forms of live conversation.

Twittering[sic] is an emerging new form of communication on the Internet that changes the expectations associated with other forms of communication and yet it's fundamentally different than blogging. Twitter provides a platform for banter that blogging doesn't and it's available in so many places via IM, mobile text messaging, or the Web that it induces a different sort of behavior. Twitter encourages people to adapt and invent behavior to suit their needs."

Actually what surprised me most was Fred's comment re: the lack of a platform for banter on blogs, since Fred's personal blog has been a source of extensive banter for so long (comments were always there even before he switched to Disqus after USV invested in it). But I get that the comment section on personal blogs is a super limited platform, no matter how many people leave comments.

That's where Twitter and it's platform of instantly available global communication really stood out. And atop that platform a myriad of uses and novel behavior emerged as more and more users signed up.

In the case of Cent, the incorporation of a non-trivial bounty that can be attached to posts has created a powerful platform for incentivizing anything, potentially.

Users are already adapting and inventing new behaviors. In it's current form, Cent appears to resemble a Quora-like Q&A site, but it's actually something much more fundamental than that. It's really a platform for anyone to post something with guaranteed responses - users are able to incentivize dialogue.

As the UI/UX expands to provide a place for original content creators to post and make their digital home, I am certain that the power and potential of this platform for guaranteed dialogue will not only become more apparent, but it will grow in power by multiple orders of magnitude.

Happy weekend everybody.

Paul Graham & Cent

As long as I've been interested in tech I have heard the name Paul Graham.

Legendary LISP coder, OG startup founder, investor, yinzer, Y Combinator - the list goes on and on.

He is also a serious freaking writer. His essays are polished diamonds of piercingly clear thought.

But for as much as I read, I hadn't really read much of his corpus. That changed yesterday.

I am in the middle of reading all of the essays he has available on his site. There will definitely by a bunch that I re-read multiple times.

The following quote from an article of his I read yesterday has been turning over in my mind since I read it:

"Any startup that could be described as a marketplace usually has to start in a subset of the market, but this can work for other startups as well. It's always worth asking if there's a subset of the market in which you can get a critical mass of users quickly."

Since becoming a super user of Cent and then Centurion No.1 I have been thinking about who the other users are. Are they like me at all? In which way? Is that even a good thing?

I'm not sure if I am close to an answer; but if I had to say what I think a common similarity between users is today I would say: Most users seem to have a preference for the written word and probably have a very cerebral, privately extrovert/publicly introvert personality.

Otherwise it really seems like a global motley crew, which I think is a good thing.

Cent is still building out its toolkit, and I really think the smart contract for original content creators will end up driving significant growth amongst this user base. It for sure will increase my engagement even more.

I just hope there will be more people like me who want to take their writing, singing, talking or whatever talents over to this new, but still tiny corner of the future internet.

Emerging Digital Morals

A *single* digital moral has emerged on Cent in response to a specific post. Essentially Centians (Cent users) are not down with posts *and* users that simply request Centians provide a specific rating or leave a positive review about some product sight more or less unseen.

In and of itself it's nothing special, and this is probably why my observation hasn't elicited any reaction.

But it is damn interesting to me, for a few reasons.

First of all since there is a bounty attached to the post – around $10 so not nothing – and Centians are all basically anonymous, just a few days ago it wouldn’t have been inconceivable to think that this sort of request could have been pretty effective.

But, I think I can now say with a reasonable degree of certainty that such posts and requests will end up being a waste of money for anyone who tries to post these kinds of things.

The second reason why the emergence of a digital moral amongst a band of loosely tied, anonymous, decentralized users is interesting is because it emerged on a site that offers very little in the way of direction or instruction to users on how to use the site. There are no real explicit warnings against certain actions. There isn't even a way for users to follow one another.

But all of that doesn't really matter since the site design is hella fleek. It is clean, simple, and straight-forward. And as I wrote on Twitter, I really think that the Centian morality that has begun to manifest itself can be directly attributed to the good design of the site.

As I've written about before though [here], the design needs to continue to allow for new ideas and use cases to manifest out of the original culture and associated infrastructure. Otherwise there will be a breakdown, or in Mumfordian terms 'de-materialization' will occur. For a project like Cent this would look like users defecting to other networks that better incorporate the urges and impulses behind new ideas seeking expression.

Here's hoping for continued timely as well as thoughtful expansion a top good design.

How to Change Culture

Buried in yesterdays Stratechery Daily Update on Microsoft's recent re-org, Ben Thompson highlighted a masterful bit of organizational management for one way to change culture within a company.

Whilst you could always drop the axe on day one to rid yourself of a problem, that method tends to waste a significant amount of political capital.

For a company like Microsoft, if that problem has to do with a multi-decade long symbol of pride and identity, like Windows, the trunk of the problem let alone the root structure is simply too big to cut down in a single swoop.

So Nadel simply re-org'd Windows into a separate division with other non-strategic assets and instructed the division leadership to do their jobs (i.e. make money). As Windows simply hasn't been a money maker for a number of years, the leadership (since they aren't dumb) had no choice but to reach the conclusion that Windows is simply no longer able to support its own division.

So the Windows Division is no more at Microsoft. A major part and symbol of their culture is gone.

The key is that the leadership of that division reached this conclusion by themselves. It took a little longer to reach, but it allowed for a cathartic break to occur in the hearts and minds of most staff who finally accepted that it was time to excise a significant vestigial product of the olde culture.

Scoping Your Work

Boundaries, when defined, provide clarity of possible action.

Starting out too broad and working on separate items at once can be confusing for others.

When beginning a new job - particularly at a place that is confused or busy - it is best to scope your work down and focus on one thing. 

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Hardboiled Easter Eggs

Although Korea has been a traditionally Buddhist country for centuries, since at least the mid-1980's, Christianity (i.e. Catholicism and Protestantism) has actually been the more popular religion. And it's popularity versus Buddhism continues to grow.

So it is not incorrect to say that Korea is a Christian country.

That said, unlike other Christian countries - or even non-Christian countries such as India - that observe Good Friday or give long holidays during Christmas, Korea, surprisingly but unsurprisingly, has continued to opt out of observing major traditional Christian holidays.

The lack of observed holidays hasn't stopped believers from observing the holy days in their own special way though.

In an odd twist, Korean Christians have for some reason adopted the commercialized, divorced-from-religion Easter Egg that are popular at Easter in America but combined it with Korean's love for hardboiled eggs.

As I was walking back home after a run and workout along the Han River with my wife this morning, we received no less than five hardboiled Easter eggs from church-going children, their parents and other adults.

I laughed at the oddity of receiving a hardboiled egg instead of a shiny plastic egg filled with some candy, but then I felt a sudden pang in my heart.

You see, dear readers, Cadbury Easter Eggs are my favorite treat in the whole fucking world, but they are impossible to get in Korea. Amazon can't even ship them. I have been Cadbury Easter Egg-less for nine years now in Korea.

So President Moon if you are reading this, I don't care if Korea never adds any Christian holiday to the calendar, but please, for the love of God and all things holy, lift whatever ban or embargo is in place that's preventing Cadbury Easter Eggs from entering Korea.

Please. And thank you. Amen.

Why People Like Podcasts

Last night I was listening to a great new episode of The Wolf Den, my favorite podcast about podcasting, with guest Sarah Mosel.

For those of you unfamiliar with the podcast industry, Sarah is one of the heavy hitters in the sector. After ascending to a VP position in New York Public Radio (basically *the* beating heart for all of public radio and the birthplace of nearly every big talk-driven media name you know) she made waves by joining the C-suite at Acast for a short stint before ending up at Market Engenuity as their Chief Podcasts Sales & Strategy officer.

You should check out this episode for a great look into the incredibly innovative and fast changing world of podcast ad sales. Podcast ads are ads that hosts (mostly) read themselves because they believe that what they are pitching is good and listeners actually (mostly) enjoy listening to - I cannot overstate how important the popularity of podcast ads has been to the growth and development of this new on-demand, decentralized media.

Anyways, I just wanted to share a little nugget that co-host and EVP of sales and development for podcast advertising at Midroll Lex Friedman dropped around the 17:39 mark:

"I think that people are jumping into podcasting...for three reasons: 1) for the on-demandness, 2) the actual quality of their content, and 3) the fact that it doesn't sound like radio, and the ads don't sound like radio ads."

It's hard to argue with that.

Podcasts are a digitally-native medium of communication. They are fundamentally differentiated from the centrally owned, operated and broadcast media that came before it. We are just at the beginning of figuring out what is possible with podcasting. And it is pretty damn exciting to watch, er, listen to.

Chase What "Adults" Hate

I'm half hungover here, so I'll keep this brief.

Whenever you come across something - anything really, from a concept, to an individual person, or product - that elicits immediate reactions in others (who more often than not happen to be adults), pursue the hell out of it.

Why?

Because there is usually somerthing around there that, if extracted and processed right, could be super valuable.

A value that I have written about before [here] that is so new no one really knows how important it is yet, is that we will eventually be paying for everything - including paying to be paid.

Adults hate that idea. They feel dirty paying for things that aren't inanimate objects.

But paying for something - or specifically appearing to be open to paying (i.e. bountying) - works so damn well in drawing eye as as well as earballs.

Cent is at the forefront of extracting this hitherto unmined value. And let me tell you, this vein runs *deep* af.

Dream Fast, Write Slowly

Make haste slowly

There is something just so perfectly zen about this saying. It's derived from the Latinate motto 'festina lente' which in turn came from a Greek saying.

This saying literally carries wisdom through the ages, not too fast and not too slowly.

It also pretty much encapsulates this blog, and more specifically my writings and musings on the future of the internet, beta.cent.co.

Since first reading about Cent back in early November, my day dreams and fantasies about the site have always raced ahead of my writings, whose frequency have never really broken more than a brisk stroll.

The imaginative energy and stimulation from my fantastic thoughts have provided the perfect amount of inspiration and clarity to write simple, deep and thoughtful pieces.

I have achieved the ultimate equilibrium whereby I have managed to balance the fantastical with the repetitively subdued resulting in a constantly replenishing pool of daily creativity.

Now it's time to work towards those dreams, and get paid.

Not too fast, but not too slowly. That's how I'll keep on keeping on.

Bounty Basics Part 2 - Just Cent It

*This is the fourth post in a series of how-to guides introducing and explaining some of the foundational features and functions of beta.cent.co*

What should I Cent?

Anything. Yep, anything you can think of.

If you've ever posted anything on one of those old, stale, staid social networks and gotten no love back or are craving something more than lazy 'likes', hollow 'hearts', or condescending claps, try Centing those thoughts next time - it'll change everything.

After you click on the '+' symbol in the top-right corner of beta.cent.co, jot your thought down in the title space and color in a bit of context in the description space so that Centians can know if you are looking for a conversation, a specific answer, action or something else and respond accordingly.

Since a bounty is attached to your Cent, many may understandably think they need to ask for something - which also happens to be an amazingly powerful use case for Centing - but that is not necessary.

You can say anything on Cent, and in return Centians give their two cents.

The power of the Cent network is the ability to activate unique insights and harness a staggering spread of sensibilities - the *Centience* of the network - that each Centian has to offer.

It may be a little too early to be so punny, if so I apologize.

So if you have a need or have anything to say - from crowd sourcing active responses, or figuring out what book you should read next, or what the best philosophical mode of living is, to getting your thesis or paper edited and reviewed, or simply want to crowd source ways to improve the Cent site that you are so passionate about - just Cent it.

Now go, stay Centient, and keep Centing.

Sometimes People are Liars

Today, over the course of a series of interactions with one particular individual, I re-learned one of those regrettable but inevitable life truths - some people are just liars.

But before getting into that particular string of interactions, I want to give some context.

For the past two days straight, from the moment I arrive at the office until the second before I dash out to catch the last company shuttle home, I have been in non-stop contact with 12 staff (including myself) that need to sign their new Employment Agreements so they can extend their employment with our company.

By now I have carried out contract extensions for over 50 separate individuals over the past two years, so contract extensions are a bit old hat for me now, but there is a distinct wrinkle in the re-contract work I am now tasked with.

After assuming my Corporate HR position just three weeks back, one of my expanded responsibilities is to handle contract extensions for all global staff with direct HQ contracts - from those working in the various corporate functions and product divisions at our Seoul Office to staff working on overseas projects.

Up until 3 weeks ago each corporate function and division had maintained their own GHR Manager or global HR manager to manage any global staff working for their respective function or division.

Luckily, only roughly 25% of the global staff I am now responsible for need to renew their contracts by Friday. Contract extensions for the remaining bunch are spread comfortably throughout the rest of the year.

Anyways, when I started working in this position I was told the terms and conditions for the global staff outside of the division I came from (since I had already handled and settled those T&C negotiations personally) were settled and agreed upon already.

It'll just be a rubber stamping exercise I was told. But, I was also told to wait for final Corporate HR approval before engaging these employees - in case any of their conditions were changed, which sometimes happens.

Well, the digital approval arrived in my inbox this past Friday evening as I was about to head out the door for the weekend - about 1.5 weeks later than originally expected - without a single change.

At least I had drafted up all the new Employment Agreements ahead of time based on the planned terms and conditions, so I immediately sent out draft copies to everyone before beginning my weekend, asking them to simply review the drafts and let me know if anything was missing, or included when it shouldn't be.

That's when things got interesting.

It turns out that nearly 3/4 of the group (i.e. everyone who was not in the division I came from) had not been informed of the final T&C for their contract extensions. Two individuals hadn't even been presented with initial T&C! Their former GHR managers had simply delayed and delayed before they were re-org'd elsewhere.

So, I come into work Monday morning (yesterday) with an inbox full of WTF emails from 9 staff who I somehow need to reach agreement on new T&C *and* sign new contracts with, all by the end of the week.

Luckily I have seen and been through something like this before. It's mainly about listing up each individual and the specific issues they raise before methodically addressing each and every issue in a series of interactions with the right number of touches, in a sufficiently empathetic tone.

Aside from a few minor clarifications here and there and explaining the standard used to determine new T&C more than a few times, I was able to get final agreement and dotted line signatures for 7 of the 9 global staff.

And then there were two: one located at our Seoul Office and the other on a project site in the Middle East. The one located with me in our Seoul Office requested to meet in person. They had actually settled on a to-be-confirmed 25% salary increase with their HR a month back, so I thought they wanted to discuss something else.

Turns out, they wanted to negotiate an even higher salary! They seemed quite butt-hurt though when he asked for a higher number; it wasn't a cheeky attempt at pulling the wool over the new HR manager's eyes. Long-story short, a series of understandable events had led them to believe they were being significantly underpaid compared to the average salary for an employee with equal years of experience. They weren't, and aren't, and putting that in writing was enough for him to say ok and sign.

Now for the series of increasingly infuriating interactions with our friend based in the Middle East. Instead of boring you with details, let me summarize what happened: I was lied to over the course of 3~4 separate, 30 minute plus phone calls where an absolute work related necessity morphed into a personal demand.

It was infuriating, and all along the way I had been trying to find the easiest win-win solution to for this individual. Anyways, finally, with a voice that apparently was slightly raised, I explained again how our friend could simply use their company supported flight to carry out their personal demand.

After another round of bullshit, I offered to write a simple email to the administrative team leader on their project stating that if it were within the bounds of their site regulations to provide a separate trip to our friend gratis, Corporate HR has neither opinion nor objection on the matter - a totally meaningless empty platitude.

Well that meaningless gesture ended up resolving the situation so I could get back to the rest of my work that had been piling up.

It had been awhile since I have had to deal with a bold faced liar. But I'm glad I got to flex my HR muscle and not just shut it down, but resolve it in a way where our company wasn't damaged but on the other hand (at least to our friend I guess) it appears that I went out of my way to try accommodate an employee's demand in the end.

There are liars everywhere, here's hoping you all don't need to deal with one anytime soon;)

Bounty Basics Part 1 - Prices & Periods

*This is the third post in a series of how-to guides introducing and explaining some of the foundational features and functions of beta.cent.co*

How much should you set your bounty for?

Good news: There is a wide range and over the last 8 months there doesn't appear to be a bounty amount that is too low. 

Although I originally assumed that a high bounty would be the only way to attract a high quality or high number of responses, I can say with absolute certainty that that simply isn't the case.

I think the main reason you can set a bounty for a trivial amount of money (e.g. USD 1.50) and still attract a sufficient amount of decent quality responses has to do with the social network aspect of Cent and the bonds that Centians are forming with one another.

So go ahead and Cent something and don't worry if your bounty is too low, because it isn't.


How long should I leave my bounty open for?

Short answer: Anything over 3~4 days is way too long. 

Unless you are asking for a review of something of significant length or detail (e.g. thesis review), a typical bounty will be able to accumulate between 30~100 responses within 3~4 days before it closes.

Probably because Cent pays out in Ethereum, but an attractive quality of of the site (from a responder's perspective) is the potential immediacy of payout.

If new users end up having to wait weeks for their first payout, do you think Cent is likely to attract a consistently large number of diverse responders? This is something to keep mind the next time you are setting a bounty for your cent.

*****************

Next time I will bring up the most important issue currently facing Cent, how we can increase the number of people who actually set bounties to cent something.

My Personal Voting Calculus

*This is the second in a series of how-to guides introducing and explaining some of the foundational features and functions of beta.cent.co*

Up Voting 

Although there really is no *one* way to vote, it may be useful to some if I share my own way of voting on Cent.

My voting is quite simple and is based on a 3-tiered quality based distribution schedule. Since there are a maximum of +3 up votes that can be given to any single response, my 3-tiers are: Excellent (+3), great (+2), and good (+1).

Only one post per bounty will receive +3 up votes from me. To ensure I have seen all responses, including late ones, I will usually wait to the last day of a bounty to give +3 votes - but sometimes the best answer is just obvious when you see it.

For great responses I try to keep a *soft cap* of 2 per bounty - but I will give +2 up votes to more than one response if they deserve it.

For *any* responses where the responder gave an original effort, they will receive a +1 up vote from me. Good jokes usually fall into this category for me.

Down Voting

Down voting consists of only two-levels for me: Bad (-1) and Copy/Paste (-3).

Responses that are simply responses for the sake of responses or that miss the point of the bounty are 'bad' to me.

Pure copy/paste jobs take zero effort and actually diminish the legitimacy of a site like Cent. As such they should be voted down to the fullest extent possible.

Conclusion

There is no 'right' way to vote. In fact I am sure there are other Centians who employ their own unique voting strategy when it comes to evaluating responses. I am super curious to hear what those strategies are.

I also know that many Centians seem to not understand the voting process and the important role it plays. Hopefully my posts from today and yesterday help clarify that.

Over the next few days I will be addressing various aspects related to bounty setting.

How to Understand Voting on Cent

*This will be the first in a series of how-to guides introducing and explaining some of the foundational features and functions of beta.cent.co*

The Basics of Voting

Voting on Cent is a deceptively simple, but incredibly powerful function that every registered Cent user (a.k.a. Centian) has the right to engage in. It is also the only way - currently - to ensure that quality responses make it to the top and receive their just compensation and that poor responses are pushed out of sight to the bottom.

After you log in to Cent and click on any bounty, you will see a cascading stream of responses. For bounties that have been live for a while, responses will appear in order of up votes received - so responses at the top have received the most up votes. Responses that haven't received votes will appear in descending chronological order with the most recent responses appearing last, but above responses that have received down-votes.

In the top-right corner of every response you will see two light gray triangles: the right-side up triangle on the left is the up-vote button, and the inverted triangle on the right is the down-vote button. You can give a maximum of three (3) up-votes and three (3) down-votes to *each* response. [Refer to the above picture of my beautiful wife @monica up-voting @nickb +3 times using Cipher Browser]

Voting is the primary factor that determines 1) placement of responses (i.e. the more votes your response receives the closer to the top it will appear) and 2) how much of the bounty each response receives.

The Cent team is currently in the process of iterating an innovative "Centurion" algorithm. In it's first iteration this algorithm used the reputation of responders to pump up the proportion of the bounty it could receive.

Currently the algorithm has incorporated quadratic scoring and has limited payouts to the top ten responses. So a payout to any given response in the top ten is based on the square of the number of votes it receives and is proportional to the percentage of the total sum of the square number of votes of each top ten response.

For you and any other Centian who contributes their time and consideration up-voting and down-voting responses, 10% of each bounty will be distributed based on a user's most recent 30 day "reputation."

So each vote you cast on an answer (up or down) results in you increasing your proportion of the 10% bounty reserved for users who vote on responses in that specific bounty. Voting +1 or +3 makes no difference. The degree to which your proportion increases is based off of your reputation.

Reputation is a weighted sum of your performance over the past 30 days. Earnings that are more recent are weighted heavier than older earnings. And earnings from more than 30 days ago do not count at all. A high reputation user earns more per vote compared to a low reputation user. The leaderboard on Cent shows the top users sorted by reputation.

Well, that covers the basics of voting. Tomorrow I will share my own personal voting calculus.

Product Evolution

Last night on Telegram I had an interesting little chat with Cameron (aka Cam) from Cent.

At one point the conversation turned to an unassuming bounty that user @tote posted as a simple way to chat with a few other like minded Centians.

Viewed by an outsider - an Un-Centian or someone with no Cents - the post looks and sounds no different than the random thoughts people post on Facebook or Twitter.

Those random posts on social media don't normally get 23 immediate replies though. But by attaching a trivial bounty - just $1.68 in this case - everything changes.

And everyone wins: @tote gets to have some side chats and responders get a few cents for their time and efforts.

Cam said he thought this was like what happens in sub-reddits, only with incentives. It kind of is, but Reddit is super specific, whereas Cent is (potentially) everything - just like Facebook.

To that Cam said:

"True. Facebook is everything related to your friends, and isn't bound to a particular topic. Cent today is like a group of Facebook friends."

These groups are only going to grow as will the possible modes of interaction between Centians. For me personally, I can't wait until I can have this kind of conversation over on Cent. But that's coming soon.

Trust & Truth

Trust is about saying the things that need to be said, and no more.

I am responsible for the sourcing, recruiting, contract negotiation, and overall management of numerous global employees from senior vice president down to assistant manager-level at our corporate office and across our overseas project sites.

Each of those stages is its own page, and if you want to turn a page over and progress to the next one, you need every stakeholder to be on the same page.

Since every position and employee requires their own unique touch, trust needs to be at the core of each relationship and every interaction if you hope to keep everyone aligned on a specific issue.

For example, every recruitment or any issue brought up by a global staff is a balance of sharing enough information with each relevant party and identifying key facts.

If I try to completely avoid talking about something with a candidate or employee, that is evidence of a lack of trust. It also means I am not saying something to my team leader or a supporting function or the department the position will be recruited into or works for.

Anything left unsaid is a potenial surprise. Surprises are violent, like page tears.

Establishing trust is acting in truth - in the Greek sense of the word, in unconcealment - since it exposes whatever *needs* to be laid bare. Sometimes it isn't pretty. Sometimes it isn't clear. But if it's out in the open, it can be handled.

If things are carried out in the open it is easier to spot insurmountable rifts or gaps. When these are spotted goodbyes can quickly be exchanged and no one is the worse for it; in fact it's at those times when the departing party is most appreciative.

They're almost as appreciative as candidates that both end up being a perfect fit for the role and like the package on offer.

In both cases they're happy that you trusted them enough to be truthful with them and didn't waste their time. The other stakeholders typically see things the same too.

Every potential recruit and every employee deserves to be told the truth. You get to the truth through trust. And it's not just good for you and them though. Since it saves time and money, trusting new recruits and employees is simply good business.