Proposal “grassroots-crowdfunding-system“ (Closed)Back

Title:Grassroots Crowdfunding System
Owner:martinrue
One-time payment: 85 DASH (2558 USD)
Completed payments: no payments occurred yet (1 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2017-06-19 / 2017-07-19 (added on 2017-06-03)
Final voting deadline: in passed
Votes: 273 Yes / 272 No / 70 Abstain

Proposal description

UPDATE

As this proposal is shortly coming to an end, I wanted to leave a quick update to let folks know the good news: we have found a way to self-fund the initial version of this project, and work has started already. Please head over to https://blog.dashroots.fund for all the details, and info about how to follow the project and get early access.Thanks for all the support so far!

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Hello! My name is Martin and I’m a software developer from Manchester, UK. I’ve been a big advocate of Dash since I was introduced to the project by a close friend. Over the last few months, I’ve moved all of my savings into Dash, and now I’d like to contribute in a more meaningful way to the Dash ecosystem. 

I want to build a community crowdfunding platform for Dash, aimed at smaller projects and individuals – think Kickstarter, but for Dash. It will focus on projects that are small enough that they would never become Dash Central proposals, because the amount of money involved doesn’t justify masternode operators’ time to make good decisions about them. 

THE PROBLEM 

As the value of Dash increases, the cost of making a proposal becomes more expensive. This is both good and bad. On the one hand, we don't want to overwhelm masternode operators with lots of smaller projects to consider, and instead focus their attention on the bigger, more far-reaching ideas. On the other hand, smaller grassroots projects are very unlikely to receive (or apply for) funding because the proposal fee doesn't warrant the risk. This leaves many smaller projects and individuals, that would otherwise contribute to the Dash ecosystem, doing it on their own, or not at all. 

Often, little things turn into big things. Dash is itself an example of organic growth from a patchset to Bitcoin into a self-funding DAO. This proposal is in the spirit of supporting smaller projects, making it easier for everyone to get involved and contribute to the Dash ecosystem. 

What sorts of “smaller project" might the system help? Perhaps… 

  • you're running an event and want to buy pizza to attract more attendees.
  • you want to build a small information website about how to buy Dash, or how to use it, etc.
  • you need sponsorship for a crypto conference, so you can go along and tell everyone how awesome Dash is.
  • you want to take a week off work and man the support channels to help people with their questions.
  • you want to create a series of YouTube tutorials in your native language showing people how to use Dash.
In other words, projects where one would typically require somewhere between 0 and 5 DASH to help them achieve their goal. 

THE SOLUTION: GRASSROOTS CROWDFUNDING SYSTEM 

This project will result in a complete web-based system that allows users to sign up, fund their account, and either create new or back existing proposals. Users will have public profiles, showing how involved they are in supporting grassroots projects. Each proposal will have its own page, where potential backers can discuss details of the proposal, and where the owner can leave supporting evidence of the completed project, which will then be confirmed by the people who funded it. 

The purpose of this project is to test demand for grassroots and small-scale funding. This first version will be built in the simplest possible way that delivers all the necessary functionality, so we can see as soon as possible how much people use it, what sort of projects are funded, and how it might evolve.  

SCOPE OF THIS FIRST VERSION

From the perspective of backers:

  1. You sign-up to the site and create an account. You must fund your account with a minimum of 0.1 DASH, and more if you like.
  2. The 0.1 DASH is held by the system. It is returned in full if you close your account. The purpose of the 0.1 DASH is to activate your account as a participating member. You can then back any project(s) you like. The 0.1 DASH demonstrates that you are invested in Dash (it is a small proof of stake) and helps fight spam. It also makes it very easy from that point onwards to back a proposal by simply clicking a button. If you have already backed a project for 0.1 DASH or more, you no longer need to maintain a balance to comment on proposals.
  3. You can browse and search the site, checking out current proposals. As an active member of the site (having funded your account), you may engage in discussion on current proposals, choose to back a proposal, or check up on the proposals you have backed in the past.

From the perspective of proposers:

  1. A proposal can be created much like Dash Central. The proposal itself costs the creator 0.1 DASH, which is essentially them backing their own project, and should help with reducing spam and opportunistic proposals.
  2. Proposals must have a target funding amount and a deadline (3 days to 3 months).
  3. Proposals that don't reach the target amount by the deadline return the pledges to the backers, and the 0.1 DASH to the proposer.
  4. Proposals may receive over-funding, if backers wish to pledge more than was asked for by the original proposal.
  5. Successful proposals can withdraw the total funding once the deadline is reached.
  6. Completed projects must be updated with evidence (for example, photographs for a local Dash meetup). Consequently, the proposal receives a follow-on vote from backers to determine whether the project was adequately completed.
  7. Backers of proposals and creators of successful, verified proposals are awarded participation points for their contribution.
A valid question is: why would I spend my own money to fund proposals? Here's what participating members get in return:

  1. You support grassroots projects, helping spread Dash in those small or local communities where real support grows.
  2. You increase the value of however much DASH you hold by supporting projects that have a positive impact on the Dash ecosystem.
  3. You build a social reputation from your participation score (both for supporting proposals, and for creating them).

HOW FUNDS WILL BE STORED 

All funding addresses will be generated from a BIP32 HD cold wallet, securely stored offline. In a worst-case scenario of a full server compromise, no access to funds would be possible.  

An offline tool will inform a trusted human operator of successful proposals and payment dates, so payments can be made both securely and offline. This is the safest way to run the site until funds are to be managed on the blockchain in a decentralised manner (see below). 

In the pre-proposal, we considered whether and how this system could be designed in a fully decentralised way. The ideal scenario would be that funds are held in smart contracts, on-chain, and implemented in such a way that payments occur automatically based on time and funding conditions, with funds being automatically returned for failed proposals. However, the exact mechanics of how this could work reliably are complex, and would involve the user running additional software to create non-broadcast transactions that would be uploaded to the server and merged later. 

In the pre-proposal, it was explained that: 

“It would require an app that can construct such [transactions] step by step, this shouldn't be [necessarily] a wallet. Or you can even create this by hand but that is going to be not an easy task for normal users with lots of cumbersome steps.” 

This would have real implications both in terms of making the user experience more complex, and this would take longer to build. Users would no longer be able to simply click a button to support a project, and instead would have to operate another tool to create non-broadcast transactions and upload them to the server. Bitcoin has shown us that a difficult user interface slows adoption, this is why Dash Evolution is being built. We don’t know in what way and how much this system will be used, so for the initial period where only small amounts of money are involved, I am proposing to build this first version in the centralised way described above. When the system has grown and is starting to manage non-trivial amounts of money, I will submit a follow-up proposal to make this work in a decentralised way. 

Another consideration is the demand on Dash Core’s time. Dash Core are busy working on Evolution, and should not be distracted from this. With the release of Evolution, and the opportunity to begin work on the second phase of this project, decentralisation of funds will become a key focus. By that time, the site will have had time to demonstrate growth, and we can then consider how to decentralise the funding system in ways that won't impede people from proposing or backing projects. By that time we will have a friendly web user interface which can then talk to the Evolution DAPI.

IDEAS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

Many other ideas have been discussed which are not essential for the first version, but which show interesting ways the system might develop:

  • Communication between backers of a failed proposal, allowing the proposer and those backers to come to alternate arrangements to potentially support the project.
  • Staged projects where funding is released in batches with continued approval from backers.
  • “Request For Help” proposals to find collaborators to work with on ideas you can't get off the ground alone.
  • “Vouching” for users, where users with a high reputation can help de-risk proposals made by new users.
  • Integration with the Dash Treasury, so that each month the grassroots system could make a single proposal to request funds for many small projects, but only those run by people with a proven track record and reputation score.

TIMEFRAMES AND COSTS 

The system will be built as a web application, deployed and hosted on cloud infrastructure. A new functional part of the system will be released each month until completion, which I estimate to take 4-5 months.  

Cost breakdown

Development: 5 months at 12 Dash/month = 60 DASH
Hosting: 12 months hosting costs = 10 DASH (required from month 1 of development in order to share progress).
Other: domain name, graphic design work, external services, etc = 10 DASH
Proposal fee = 5 DASH
Total = 85 DASH 

I am not charging my usual contracting rate for software development, and instead I am only asking for enough to cover my living expenses for the duration of the project. This keeps the proposal as cheap as possible for the Dash community while I build a reputation as a Dash DAO employee. 

The software will be completely open source, and licensed under the permissive MIT license. The software and assets will be available on GitHub, where updates can be monitored during development. 

WHO AM I? 

I've been writing code and building things since I was around 13. Programming has always been my passion, but more than that, I enjoy building things that help other people. This proposal will directly help people at the grassroots level contribute to the Dash ecosystem, just as I’m trying to do myself. 

My most recent projects are: 

https://yakkapp.com
A mobile app to help people learn foreign languages by using conversation as a vehicle for learning. Recently launched and growing, with over 200 users. I have spent a lot of time making the user interface as intuitive as possible. 

https://esperantujo.directory
A community site for Esperanto speakers to indicate where they live, and help them meet fellow speakers. It has grown to over 1,700 users since release mid-last year. I would like to bring my experience designing a social network to Dash grassroots funding.

https://coinrat.es
A mini 2-day project I completed recently to make it super easy for people to track the value of their coins in fiat currencies (USD, EUR, GBP). My main focus with this project was to make it visually appealing and lightweight, so people could use it easily on their mobile devices.

If you would like to know more about me, my blog and Twitter are linked below: 

My blog: https://martinrue.com
Twitter: @martinrue 

Please ask if you have any questions that have not been raised during the pre-proposal phase and I will do my best to answer them.

UPDATE:

Note, due to a bug in the proposal editor, I cannot edit the links to coinrat.es and martinrue.com to use non-https URLs. You will need to remove the 's' from the 'https' in the links for now, until support can resolve it. Thanks :)

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Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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1 point,6 years ago
¡Congratulations Martin!
Reply
1 point,6 years ago
Found the thread, thanks, martintrue
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0 points,6 years ago
Regarding that this is the ending day for this prop, I'd like to ask to MN community if you please can answer a simple survey here:

https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/survey-about-grassroots-crowdfunding-system.15589/

in order to fix the path in future proposals like this. Tank you!
Reply
0 points,6 years ago
As this proposal is shortly coming to an end, I wanted to leave a quick update to let folks know the good news: we have found a way to self-fund the initial version of this project, and work has started already.

Please head over to https://blog.dashroots.fund for all the details, and info about how to follow the project and get early access.

Thanks for all the support so far!
Reply
0 points,6 years ago
Proposal Evaluation Committee
Link to Categorized and Prioritized List of Proposals here: https://goo.gl/qu2JsP
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0 points,6 years ago
am also carrying out some awareness campaign here in Nigeria, Obafemi awolowo university, ife , osun state. Students here are quite unaware of crypto and i have been doing some individual and min seminars about DASH but alittle support could help. So yes i support this proposal as it helps especially at the grass root level .
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1 point,6 years ago
I was hesitant, and reading your comment I decided to vote yes.
There are many people who work for Dash, not for profit. (They invest the most valuable: their time)
And it would be nice if they have some kind of small funding.

Martin, I hope the project is legitimate and not a fraud.
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1 point,6 years ago
It absolutely is legitimate. I've already started working on the project and will continue even if this proposal fails. I believe in the idea, and this needs to exist in order to provide a good solution at the grassroots level for people to get involved and contribute to Dash in smaller ways.

I want Dash to succeed, and this project will widen the spectrum of ways in which people can get involved in Dash in more ways than simply speculating about it.

I'll update the proposal in a few days with details of how people can track progress of the project after the proposal, and get early access to the system as the pieces come together.
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1 point,6 years ago
Dash Force is already doing a lot of these things and/or are willing to help if someone presents us a good idea.

you're running an event and want to buy pizza to attract more attendees.
you want to build a small information website about how to buy Dash, or how to use it, etc.
you need sponsorship for a crypto conference, so you can go along and tell everyone how awesome Dash is.
you want to take a week off work and man the support channels to help people with their questions.
you want to create a series of YouTube tutorials in your native language showing people how to use Dash.
Reply
1 point,6 years ago
I really am bewildered why this isn't getting more support. This is an elegant solution to the the 5 Dash fee to still keep small projects viable.
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1 point,6 years ago
voted yes. I like the idea!
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1 point,6 years ago
This is an interesting idea. Kind of like kickstarter. I suspect that's what will happen to it, rather than actually helping the Dash ecosystem. It's interesting enough for me to vote yes, because it's an awful month on proposals, and I would rather see people try something than just let the month go by with no projects.... so I'll vote yes.
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0 points,6 years ago
I appreciate your support. Kickstarter is a good metaphor for the general idea, and I think there's plenty of scope to incorporate things very specific to the Dash ecosystem in this sort of work, and ultimately create something that really does help grow it. GCleveland makes a good point below regarding this.
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1 point,6 years ago
I like this idea and you seem more responsible/level headed than the dashtreasury.org proposal. The 'gofundme' angle is alright but I think you should go a step further and also implement MN funded projects and have MNs vote on your site(see below).

Here's an idea:
Have the site funded by MN monthly budget. Then have masternode owners sign up on your website and sign a message using their private key(that holds the 1k dash), to prove they own a MN. Then MNs can vote on which small projects get paid out from the budget pool on your site, without the project owners needing to put up the 5 Dash proposal fee. That way, money will still come from the dash budget, MNs will still have voting power over its allocation, but smaller projects won't be priced out by the 5 Dash proposal fee.

Voting yes.
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0 points,6 years ago
This is a nice idea. After the first version is out, I'd very much like to take it that direction and have the site leverage some of the treasury funds in some reasonable way.

Including MNOs in the decision process (those who have the time/desire to look at these smaller projects) makes a lot of sense. I'll think about this in more detail for future work for sure.

Thanks for the support.
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0 points,6 years ago
I thought grassroots was supposed to mean cheap.
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1 point,6 years ago
Hi,

I just wrote the following message (below) to the VW Dash Bus proposal, and as with other MN owners comments to you on this page the message is clear.

Please note I have voted YES for you as the proposal stands, however, the environment we are now in has been tarnished by some previous scammers....

<Dash Bus message follows...>

"Hi,

Even if you don't get funded up front, please do your best to carry out your plan, make as many PR videos as possible, and then you can return with evidence of your work and ask for future funding (and the costs of what you've already done.) I have voted YES for you, but there is a sense amongst the MN owners that we a liable to get scammed here. Fortunately there are ideas are being developed to help improve oversight and follow up of funding future proposals.

In the light of this environment you may have to be willing to provide evidence of your work upfront.

I hope you can do something for Dash even if you don't reach your target on this funding round.

If I had a cool VW van, I would 'Dash it up' anyway.

Good luck my friend."
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0 points,6 years ago
Hi DashRedWhale, thanks for the encouragement!

While it's disappointing that my proposal has been determined to be too risky to get votes, I'll begin work on this system regardless.

I think the idea is good, and that a separate means of funding smaller Dash projects extends the value of Dash in such an important way for the future of Dash.

Thanks again for this comment. It's nice to get this support and it convinces me even more to keep working at away to get this project built and delivering value.
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1 point,6 years ago
Great, good to hear. I think you will get the payback you deserve in the end. It's clear you're going to provide value to the Dash community, and if so, you will be rewarded.
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0 points,6 years ago
I really like this idea still but with the dashtreasureary proposol, up as well, it seems to me that these to should be integrated together.I would like a sub section where this posted.

Maybe you guys can contact each-other
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0 points,6 years ago
UPDATE

A few folks have voiced their concerns in the comments regarding paying upfront for the entire cost of the first iteration of the proposed system. Thanks to those that took the time to do that – I fully understand your concern, and I want to address it in the best way possible. So the question now is: what should be done?

I had reduced my market rate as a software engineer from ~50 DASH to 12 DASH per month. I'd be perfectly happy creating a new 5-month proposal, paying 50 DASH per month, if this resolves the risk issue for people.

Of course, that costs more in the end, but keeps the MNOs in control of whether the project should continue based on monthly progress and mitigates risk.

So, if you intend to vote no because you're not happy paying a discounted amount upfront for 5 months work, but you would support a 5-month proposal paying market rate each month instead, could you please leave a +1 or comment. If this is the consensus among no voters (as apposed to not believing in the idea itself), I'll happily resolve it with another proposal.

Thanks everyone.
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1 point,6 years ago
Seems like a GoFundMe for Dash proposals. A good idea. But, why do you ask for all payment up front? That's not reasonable.
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0 points,6 years ago
You are right that there's a higher risk paying upfront. I can absolutely see how that is considered unreasonable, but I want to point out a few things that may help at this point:

I've kept the fee low enough just to survive through this project. In that sense, I started with the intention of trying to to be as reasonable as I can.

However, in hindsight, perhaps breaking it up over a few separate payments would have been a better way to mitigate the risk. On the other hand, it would have cost the community much more to offer my normal rate, and I thought that was worse.

I treated this as a proposal for investment in the project, which is typically upfront and gives me a lot more flexibility in terms of how the budget is used. I could bring on someone to help month 1 and 2, for example. Or pay for design services immediately so completion aligns with the project's schedule. Having the money for pay for things immediately is helpful, especially given design and infrastructure work I need to do.

My hope was that folks would be lenient because I was prepared to work on a complex project for the lowest cost I could. This was my answer for not having a reputation in this community yet. But admittedly, I hadn't realised how important the perception of risk is (because, of course, I trust myself).

I really value work I care about, and I care about this. Working for a low rate, with the flexibility to use the budget how I need to in order to get this done, is obviously my preference here.

My hope is still that people take a risk on me. I have a track record of building large and complex projects, and I *will* complete this one. If people decide it's too risky, I would fully understand that.
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1 point,6 years ago
Please understand where I'm coming from. In the past we have had people simply take the money and disappear. It doesn't matter if you're giving us a discount if we get nothing, and simply saying that you won't do that is not enough. Times are changing, lessons have been and continue to be learnt. If you want my vote, you need to respect this concern. I'm surprised this wasn't caught during your pre-proposal.
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1 point,6 years ago
Early stage investors will generally not put capital into a project unless it has already gotten past prototype stage. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is to make sure that both sides of the investment are properly staked.

The Dash treasury certainly appreciates your discounted rate, but a more successful model is that you would first make your own investment by getting your prototype website as far as possible, then come to the board once you are in need of funding to continue. Without that first required step, the risk level for success of this proposal exceeds what is reasonable.

The Dash treasury is a new form of governance, and making sure that proposal owners come to the table with more than an outline is essential to success.
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0 points,6 years ago
In the context of a large raise, where proven traction is the most important thing, you're absolutely right.

Saying that, it's very common that early stage investment (typically 15-30k USD from accelerator programmes, for example) is made in the team, over a prototype or idea.

Finding the right people to lead a project is essential. Systems must grow and evolve, and they require good leadership and determination to succeed. A prototype is often a tool for testing the market and learning. The right people are much more valuable over the long run.

I would very much like to build this project anyway. However, the reason I made the proposal originally is to afford me to the time to do it, as doing it on the weekends is going to be slow work.
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1 point,6 years ago
I feel the proposal is good, not working on weekends is good, finding the right people is good. What's your point? I'm only objecting to the fee structure. Nobody pays 100% up-front. Nobody.
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2 points,6 years ago
Agreed. It's an unfortunate precedent that the treasury has the opportunity to evolve from.

I think the board is simply asking the proposal owners to put in a bit more legwork first in order to meet the MNs half way.
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1 point,6 years ago
I appreciate you guys taking the time to explain your positions.

I'd like to be clear on what a successful future proposal would look like, according to your concerns here. The last thing I want to do is make a second proposal that won't pass. (I wish I could edit this one!)

Do you want this system to exist (in part) before a proposal is made (i.e. some kind of prototype)? Do you want the original proposal to be broken into a multi-month one? If so, at competitive market rate over the 5 months ( ~60 DASH per month)? Do you need both things to happen?

I just want to clarify exactly what you mean by "half way" here. Thanks guys.
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1 point,6 years ago
Martin, those are all good ideas, and I think you may have in part answered your own question. The further you go in adding in a system of checks, the more valuable the proposal. By increasing the probability of success and decreasing the potential loss of treasury funds by segmentation, you've raised the expected value of the entire proposal.

For example, if you had presented a semi-functioning system, along with monthly payments broken up, you, too, could have benefited by being able to solicit a higher marginal rate on your labor.
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1 point,6 years ago
How about you and abob54 get together and collaborate since you propose similar things.
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0 points,6 years ago
Good idea, thanks!

I'll reach out and discuss if there's an opportunity to collaborate between both projects. This proposal aims to build a self-funding community of people who will support micro proposals, and a platform for them to do so. Meanwhile, abob54's idea mentions helping people create such things, so I can certainly see how both projects could work together, while delivering their own value.

abob54: if you read this comment, please feel free to drop me an email: hello@martinrue.com
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2 points,6 years ago
These high proposal fees are definitely distorting the risk/reward ratio for new proposals. It's certainly killing off all the little ones we'll never see, and it's also probably leading to higher than reasonable costs for the ones that do get posted. (It would have to in order to offset the increased risk/investment.)

This sounds like a good workaround to what will probably be a further stifling of new proposals if the exchange rate continues to rise and the proposal fee remains high. Even if the exact method you describe doesn't work as anticipated, I imagine it could be adapted later based on actual usage metrics.

Your time line seems reasonable for this amount of work, and the amount of money you're asking for actually seems pretty low given the scope of this task. However, there is no possible way the masternode owners should be willing to pay for the entire project up front. Spread the cost over 5 months and give us weekly progress updates for the duration of the contract. Then you'll have my vote.

Pre-paying for a 5 month independent contract isn't done in the outside world, and it shouldn't be done here. The budget system has a mechanism for multi-month proposals, so let's use it.
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1 point,6 years ago
Thanks for the comment Jack. I totally understand your reservation, but let me try my best to rationalise my approach.

I've lowered my rate to literally the minimum amount required to live on for 5 months, and it therefore would introduce too much risk to not be sure I'll be able to make rent while building this thing.

During the project, I have plenty of contingency in order to ensure the project is delivered – from alternative solutions to some of the more complex parts of the system, to people I can draft in help (pro-bono) who are already excited to contribute to the idea.

Similarly, it also commits me to the project until completion. I think that's important. I don't want to feel as though I'm potentially working month-by-month here, and rather that my goal is to make this happen at all costs (which I will).

I've tried to give folks some background on me, and previous projects to show a track record of building things, in order to help with that too.

I'll also be turning down a 3-month contract here in Manchester for £300 GBP/day to do this work. This kind of work is regular here, and in places like London, and represents near double the rate I'm asking for in this proposal.

Lastly, please keep in mind that this is not the complete project. This is the first functional iteration of a crowd funding system. Once the site begins growing, additional work will be made up of future proposals, and isn't included here.

Your reservation is valid nonetheless Jack, but I wanted to at least respond with the reasons behind the approach.
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2 points,6 years ago
Thanks for the response. My main concern is that the Dash budget is not being treated like a serious employer and it hasn't been getting good performance from its contractors as a result. My advice is to treat this offer exactly as you would treat it with any other employer.

1. Don't sell yourself short. Charge a fair market rate for your services. If you can make twice as much working elsewhere, you should be asking for more from the budget. A good worker shouldn't have to worry about how he'll make rent or buy food. A competitive rate should keep you happy, motivated, and well fed.

2. Don't expect 5 months' advance payment from an employer, especially one with whom you have no prior working relationship. Is that 3-month contract in Manchester paying you all the money up front? It sounds like they're paying you daily. The same basic business expectations should apply here.

3. Do expect to show us at least weekly updates of your progress once your contract is approved, just like your Manchester employer most likely expects. If you're doing good work and providing regular updates, there should be no reason why your contract would be canceled prematurely.

There's nothing wrong with the fundamentals of your proposal, but these terms are unacceptable. My suggestion is that you cancel this proposal and post a new multi-month that pays a competitive rate over the course of the site's development.
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0 points,6 years ago
It's possible this could be done w/ Wings... I need to do me research before voting... https://alpha.wings.ai/#!/home/index
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0 points,6 years ago
I think this is a good solution to the problem of ever increasing DGBB fees. Whether or not people will use it remains to be seen, but there is no way to know without trying.

I think this could really take off once we have Evolution out. People can use this system to request funding to help sign up businesses within their towns and cities.

Yes for me.
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1 point,6 years ago
If we can't lower the proposal fee, this is the next best thing. You have my vote.
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1 point,6 years ago
I was thinking myself, that Dash needs something like this when the proposal fee stays at 5 Dash.
And here it is! Happy to vote "yes"!
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0 points,6 years ago
This comes very close to what I had in mind ! In time this could grow out as a sub DAO of sorts with its own team, it will all depend on a great many things. Even for bigger projects this a good idea (pilot funding sort a speak). If it will work well enough).

I have 2 question do before I give my yes votes:

1) who will become the owner of the site ?
2) and who will manage the funds ?
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0 points,6 years ago
Firstly let me point out that the source code and assets will all be open source from the start, so in fact anybody could run their own version easily. Nothing stops anybody forking the project at any time and taking it in a different direction.

For this first stage of the project, I will build and run the site with the goal of getting it out there and seeing how it grows and is adopted by the community. If it grows as expected, I'll follow up with a proposal to grow the scope of the project, and of course the team beyond just me. At this stage, nothing more is required to get this off the ground.
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1 point,6 years ago
You have my votes

I am happy that you will not keep the code to yourself. But at the same time I would like you to keep it to yourself or to a select few, copy pasting of coins especially from dash as it's probably the coin which receives the most flak of all the crypto out there (certainly the most flak of the legit coins). Is a very effective way to earn a free lunch.

Please hold onto the code for as long as possible until we establish a firm first mover advantage. (your code does not have little to no impact in the trust-less nature of dash or crypto in general.

In a latter stage if this all works out well. I would very much like to take on the roll of project manager, or adviser to the project managers. I have a bachelor degree in business&IT and have been in crypto since may 2013 in full time capacity. I could help set up plan's of action and than keep track if milestones are reached, Create standard procedures how to apply to funds, create templates, setup quality controls and so forth.
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1 point,6 years ago
okay, i'm willing to back you up for this and see where this first stage of your project leads.
So you have my support for now.
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1 point,6 years ago
Let me try to understand in short;

Backers help funding the proposal fee. If proposal gets funded, the fee + intrest returns to investor.

If there is no accountable ROI (besides karma points) for the backer, I'm out!

I voted for keeping the 5 Dash proposal fee because this will higher the bar for the quality of submitted proposals. I do not like to vote NO (and spent time reading /writing about it).

This idea can certainly help obtain that target.
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0 points,6 years ago
I think you should read again, this is a system of crowdfunding small projects instead submit them to Budget Proposals. The "investors gain a score for their support, That score could be useful in the future to participate in future budgets.

I disagree with you about 5 Dash fee will higher the bar for quality proposals. It is not about "how much you risk", It´s more about "how much you have to pay the fee". No every good idea´s owner has enough wealth, In some places 5 Dash is much more that monthly incomes in a family.

That is the reason why I´m making this pre-proposal: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/preproposal-dash-fund.15153/#post-128882
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1 point,6 years ago
I like the proposal in principle, and I am voting yes, but I wonder whether people will really be willing to put their valuable dash into the system after it is built. It looks like they will simply be donating money to a good cause. I am wondering whether the dash donated by the funder could be doubled by an equal donation from the blockstream? (The multiplier to be discussed - but I suggest 1:1). This would reduce the amount the donator needs to give, and increase the benefit created, making it a more attractive proposition.
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1 point,6 years ago
This is a great idea, and exactly what was meant by the point under "Ideas for future development":

"Integration with the Dash Treasury, so that each month the grassroots system could make a single proposal to request funds for many small projects, but only those run by people with a proven track record and reputation score."

Once the site has shown some adoption, this could become a very natural next step to take. Thanks for the input!
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1 point,6 years ago
Yes, the proven track record and reputation is very important if the block stream is going to payout any individual party or entity.
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1 point,6 years ago
I hope this succeeds. I will be happy to donate to small kickstarter type projects and indeed become a proposer of small marketing efforts myself. I'm not up to making a 'full on' big proposal to the Treasury, but I've got lots of smaller grass roots type of ideas that would be much more suited to this type of small scale funding mechanism.
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1 point,6 years ago
What a nice proposal! If this is a good example of the work you do, this has a strong chance of succeeding and meeting its goals.
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0 points,6 years ago
I cant seem to connect to your blog website ? Could you please look into that.
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0 points,6 years ago
Unfortunately I can't edit the link due to a bug in the proposal editor. I've left an email with support to fix it. In the mean time, please just remove the 's' from the 'https' link. Or follow this one: http://martinrue.com
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0 points,6 years ago
thanks
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