Quote from: barabbas on June 23, 2014, 11:53:03 PM

THE DEV TEAM: THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Yesterday, in a gesture that deserves praise and, hopefully, will set the standards for the rest of crypto world, the devs of Vericoin came forward, took down their anon masks (not so much in the case of Nokster, for he was already identified prior) and released not only their real names but also a professional bio and photo of each. As it should, the reaction has been extremely positive and the reaction of the market, equally clear: This is the way to go and from now on anon from devs is going to be a hard sell in Crypto. Again, as it should.

THE GOOD

It is, indeed, very good, to know who are the people behind the development of Vericoin. Mind you, even before they came out, the only barrier they did not pass to be included in my WALL OF HONOR was the fact that their thread, this one, is self-moderated. So I was quite partial in favor of VRC even before the three of them, instead of just Patrick, decided to assume, publicly, the responsibility as developers here. It is also comforting to know that David Boehm is a software developer good enough to be working for Microsoft and that both Patrick Nosker and Douglas Pike are technologically adept individuals. Besides this, it is evident that the trio has a brain. Good enough to recognize, admit and put a tamper on their limitations?

THE BAD

It is bad, on the other hand, that these three are what is commonly known as "techies", which means that while the technical aspects of the development of the coin could be in relatively good hands, the other, vital, aspects of the process sorely miss. It is comforting -again- to know that not only they recognize this shortcoming but that they are taking decisive steps to fill the holes (they are actively looking for a "guru" to promote the coin and, presumably, to set a strategy and budget for such). The guru -or just somebody with knowledge, reputation and expertise- hopefully will cover the many shortcomings in that regard, not the least of which is the PR-impairment of both Patrick and Douglas, amply evidenced, unfortunately, in some posts in this very thread.

On similar level of importance, there's another huge shortcoming in VRC: Financial knowledge. Another -or perhaps the same- "guru" would be badly needed for this coin to have the solid progress that the community expects and is willing to finance.

Also on that regard, although the three are tech-adept, perhaps a unified goal-setter and designer of tech strategy would be advisable to decide which are the features worth the investment of time and resources for it is only human inclination to go on the direction we find easier to achieve results and that most interests us, creatively and personality-wise, rather than facing the music of the challenges presented by the competition or, much worse, venturing on unexplored innovation territory, both of which are way more important than putting out the new cute "gadget". As a couple of examples I will submit the VeriBit feature that maybe a side-necessity at some point but, at this state of the race, brings absolutely nothing of substance to VRC. Likewise the "innovation" of the "dynamic interest" a), serves no real practical purpose -produces insignificant results AND encourages hoarding, which is and should be against the strategy of the coin and b), has not been explained in its potential "convenience" in any way that anyone can really understand, even people quite knowledgeable and experience in crypto.

THE UGLY

Here's where the greed/delusion of a part of the community plays such and absurd -and ultimately negative- part. The bios posted by David, Patrick and Douglas clearly show who they are: A young engineer working for the One Drive program of Microsoft (David) and two students of Molecular Biology and advanced teach aficionados that started mining a few years back among their many teach hobbies, one of which has been the creation of a very obscure website dedicated to review tech gadgets. It is so obscure, in fact, and so unsuccessful, that it was last updated on April of this year, more than 2 months ago... peculiarly enough, just about the time when Patrick and Douglas must have decided that creating their own altcoin would indeed be much more profitable than mining and, perhaps, even less demanding in some ways. That website may have granted them both credentials to CES four years in a row, but nothing else, really, was achieved after many years of dedication.

Let's take a look as some details: the trio are alumni and presumably met at Rutgers. Rutgers University is not precisely and icon of the US -or the world- high education, precisely. As a matter of fact it barely ranks as the 69-70th in the US among American universities. Ah but what about their tech specs? Not much better. As a matter of fact it doesn't even appear among the 50 top institution of tech education in the world and, likewise, not among the 22 top such institutions in the United States. So "greatest" honors from Rutgers, per se, doesn't buy you a ticket to the big leagues. Besides that, only David actually completed a Master's Degree in Computer Sciences, while Patrick and Douglas are pursuing, as full time students, other endeavors going much more toward other sciences, most particularly Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering... not exactly anything even remotely linked to alt currencies development.

Of most significance, though, is the fact that Vericoin is, obviously, just a hobby for these three. A hobby to which they can only dedicate a very limited number of hours/day/week, to boot. As full time employee of Microsoft, David is more than busy, I assure you, trying to keep up with the much more successful advancements of rival Google Drive division. He may not have a social life to speak of -I don't know- but reasonably, considering his age, he should eventually have one... and plenty of money to enjoy it fully (especially if VRC is ever really successful). Either way, his hours of dedication are severely limited by obvious reasons, let alone the fact that there will not be any schedule pressure on him for this is, after all, his coin and he knows, tech-wise, more than any other individual in the team about the real challenges that is faces and what achievements are just inefficient gitzmos he creates practically while sleeping.

As for both Patrick and Douglas, I'm sure the readers can easily related to the time dedication and huge effort one must come to terms with to achieve even barely decent results when trying to achieve graduation in careers as complex as the ones these two are embarked on -Patrick two at the same time, to boot-. Yes in the beginning, and for weeks or even a couple of months, adrenaline alone powers the engines to seemingly unlimited hours or tedious -most of the time- work and dedication. It is, obviously, not sustainable. Come September it's back to REAL work and scheduled papers and evaluations. Rest, no matter how young you are, is eventually a bodily function need.

The conclusion of this evaluation, if I can be redundant, is pretty much the same than the markets have evidenced, from the initial enthusiasm to the sobering reflection: If it is to go forward, this coin needs much more than the very positive step of voluntarily unmask its trio of young and inexperienced, main developers. It needs qualified individuals, along those three, who can make of Vericoin the leading enterprise -worth millions of dollars- that it could potentially be.

I would say the entire community is over-reacted when the devs revealed their identities.

Pursuing a PhD degree doesn't mean anything. Would the community follows me if i intend to launch a coin with my friends? (i am actually a PhD student in top 20 uni and have few years exp in computational biology too!)

Yes i totally agree that a PhD student would not have much time to focus on cryptoworld as he/she needs to spend most of the time to do research in order to graduate.

I am not spreading FUD. Myself is also a holder and believes Vericoin will have a bright future.

Just want to remind the community: Do not be too optimistic and be careful of the whales.