I'm gonna say this again up front - I am a huuuge fan of steem, it's philosophy, and its dev team and I'm doing what I can to promote the platform wherever I can because I'm here for the long term.
In my opinon, Steem is revolutionary - I haven't felt this way about an idea since I found Bitcoin. The incentives and disincentives built into the system make for a fascinating experiment in economics, psychology and game theory.
However just like with bitcoin, once the concept is validated - everyone developer suddenly wants to make their own version. And again, just like bitcoin - the first mover advantage and network effects are very powerful.
I've been completely obsessed with steemit for over 2 months already , so I thought I should take some time to get some first hand experience with the other platforms.
I plan to do a series of posts tagged #ausbitundercover where I investigate some of our competitors, give my first impressions and try to find their best features - so we can adapt them for steemit.
This series is intended to discover other real world examples of interesting features we could add into steemits current system.
I'm prepared to go undercover for Steemit .
Along the way I'll also see how the systems handle minor abuse and dodgy tactics to get a better idea of the community in each. I have my own fairly complex moral and ethical code that I won't get into now, but it gives me room to find some pretty creative ways to mess with the competition along the way ;)
One of my last posts discussed How steemit can shut down its "competition" with some small modifications.
I showed an example of using json_metadata to enable a bittorrent layer for large media distribution, curation and discovery.
Mask Network Overview
Announced: 01/12/2015Total Coin Cap: 21 Million MASK
Developers Holding: 1 Million MASK
Logo: Eyes-wide-shut mask with freemasonry symbols for eyes.. Subtle
The sales pitch:
Sounds familiar so far .. Except they can't spell decentralized
The backend software
This comment from the lead developer stood out when asked if it was new software:
It's 100% new software. The web interface is written in PHP. The java web kernel is....java The web interface and the java kernel communicate each other through mysql. But Oracle or other relational databases can be also used. Java kernel is permanently connected to the p2p network and writes all changes to mysql. The web interface reads the data directly from db.
Eww. I've used PHP in the past, a lot - but it wouldn't be my first choice for a modern cryptocurrency wallet..
The scripting language
Users can also use the integrated MaskNetwork Scripting Language (MSL) to develop decentralized applications, also known as smart contracts, but the best way to learn more about MaskNetwork is to use one of the available web wallets
Here is a dice gambling apps MSL source code exfiltrated to cryptbin. The paste will autodelete itself in 3 months. It's a pretty basic language , nobody's making the next DAO with this.
The bugs and constant typos
After exploring the site for a while, I made a new account and clicked "edit profile" :
and was immediately filled with confidence..
A little more exploring found another path to a working profile editor, I'm trying to be fair especially since it advertises itself as beta software (but isn't everything these days ?)
Beta software: Close , or Close ?
Everything has a cost
Unfortunately while I was able to set my "address tag" to the super mature "mctesticleface" , it seems like every operation has a cost on this network, including renting "address names" and even editing your profile:
To make a profile you have to "rent" it for 0.0001 MSK per day
These transaction costs apply to EVERYTHING. I can't vote, comment, follow users or make a new post or try any of the features without buying a bit of MSK.
By comparison in steem costs are almost non-existant , new users get initial funding from a sort of faucet instead of being forced to buy in.
Bare minimum buy in attempt
All of the currently available "web-nodes" (blockchain viewers like steemit.com) prominently shows the current cost of MSK and link to the same exchange "maskexchange".
$0.7653 per MSK right now..
So I pushed on and figured with these tiny fractional costs I'll put in a dollar and see what happens - maybe I'll make it back on a steemit post ..
Nope - the minimum transaction on maskexchange is 0.01 btc or about $8 Aussie dollars. Far less appealing .. I ignored my gut feeling and all of the red flags I'd seen so far and threw 8 bucks at them to see what happened. For science.
~6 hrs later, nothings happened
Exchange failure and lack of support
Support over "live chat" was contacted almost immediately, then again by email after 2 hours.. The transaction shows on the front page of the site, but nothing has happened since. Epic fail.
Digging further within masknetwork I found someone complaining about the same issue, and massive delays from support. Awesome.
If only I'd seen this post sooner.
Current Conclusion: SCAM
So I guess that little investigation was a failure so far, until I hear back from support or my payment gets processed I will be assuming that
masknetwork is a complete scam
If this gets processed and I didn't just throw 8 bucks into the ether , I'll give an update and continue the investigation I had originally planned. Without any credit on the site, it's pretty much useless.
At this stage even if its legit I have serious doubts that their business model will work when better free options are available.
Heres a bonus comment I spotted that may look familiar to those paying attention back when steemit got hacked ;)
PS: Please see these other recent posts from myself and my partner @krystle
- How steemit can shut down its "competition" with some small modifications
- Meet Katana ❤ Unique Autistic Quirks Part 1 - My daughter, and some of my favourite photos
- The time my town flooded, the fragility of the food supply and lessons learned (Original photos)
- The Kingdom of Valcanne's Guide to Keltorin - World Map, Histories and People. - payout in 7 days at $0.62..
Written by @ausbitbank - If you found it interesting please see these!
@steemleak ~ steemface ~ steemviz ~ steemcap ~ steemUSD/sbdUSD indicator
So the owner went straight from replying here, to pushing through my single payment the exchange manually (and not others), and then posted about it on the site. Takes quotes completely out of context and shows a complete lack of reading comprehension, and the echo chamber votes him up.
This whole thing is a fascinating look at psychology and group-think.
Sounds about like how the major countries are ran at the moment. :)
Wonderful write up! Thank you for taking the time, and the money, to check out the other sites around our community. Its a great asset to know first hand which sites are excelling at what it is that they do. It sucks that you lost $8, but this post here surely makes up for it!
Your article is clearly written with a wonderful format that allows readers to easily take in the information you have presented. Thank you sharing this pertinent information with our community.
Weird, I was expecting that from Yours Network since they use bitcoin.. why so many fees with a new currency?
What gets me is the ongoing rental fees for basic things. Seems like basic fundraising tactics to have users constantly burning their coin on features that have no ongoing processing cost (like making a new address).
Nice write up, glad to see your using the status tool!
Thanks Kurt , although seeing it in action is kinda triggering my ocd with the blue link thats not a link.
I would much prefer if it could be balanced a little better like:
Powered by steempixel.com | Vests 1337 | Created etc timestamp etc
Sort that minor annoyance out and I'll make the signature a link to steempixel.com wherever I use it ;)
haha glad I'm not the only one thinking that about the blue non-link ;)
The Steemit Spy Net has been established. SteemSpyNet
Oo I like it
Ok Mr. Bond )))
You are doing a good job there
Thanks @serejandmyself :D
Hmm... Where to begin. Ok well some of what you say has no meaning. No crypto currency is written in php.... facepalm The reason everything costs mask is so ot shows up on the blockchain that is how it works. Every actio. Is recorded on the block chain so obviously to appear there , there must be a charge made. Im not very impressed with mask network either. Most of their stuff soesnt work and glitches. I cant even change my address name like you could. I also bought some mask and they were wuick to get back to me like 6 hours. Then i waited 4 days !!! 4 @#$%ing days !! The onpg reason they got back to me was because i sent 6 tweets on their wall asking wtf is going on amd i pm the dev twice on bitcointalk as well as post on each of their forums. Finally the next day i fet a message saging i got my money. They never even opologised. So yes masknetwork is crap. Dunno about a scam but certainly it is shit. I was very pissed off. Best thong to do is blow up their spcial media pages ehich i will do again of they mess me around more. Good article. Will follow and keep up with you.
Where to begin indeed.
If you read the words around PHP in the post you'll see the lead developer saying he used php . Or the screenshot of the PHP error I encountered that would confirm that reality.
Every action is recorded on the blockchain in steem too, without constantly asking the user for money or requiring the user to buy-in . The added element of repeated costs over time makes the masknetwork user have to actually budget over time for even simple things like following somebody.
Sorry to hear you got burned too, did they actually send you the mask coin or refund your btc ? (Or just message about it)
"more" - are you still using masknetwork ?
Your feedback is inconsistent , and you facepalmed me because you got confused again. Will you turn randomly hostile on me too if you can't understand how replies work ?
A web node has 3 components.
A java module that maintain the connectivity to the network and does all the "ugly stuff" like encryption, message signing and so on.
The database (it can be mysql, oracle ...). The database stores all the blockchain data and acts as link between the java node and the web interface.
The web interface written in PHP. The interface uses the db to communicate with java node. It's just the frontend.
In cocnclussion masknetwork is written in java but uses php for the frontend. It's a very flexible architecture. We made tests where the web interface was hosted on a server, the db on another and the java node on yet another server.
Yes thank you. Someone who knows what is going on.
You seem to think i didnt already understand this, reread my responses were saying the same thing, except your being a condescending dickhead.
Php is for websites not wallets. That error has nothong to do with how the wallet is programs. Omg.
No i face palmed you because you think a currency is written in php. I did read amd he clearly says java. Php is for the output. Obviously you cant wrote a fork and node in php. Most use c++ I think you can use java bit he is talking about a java kernal. This display error just means the target can ot be found in the specific directory. You see thst error alot when you stsrt making website interfaces. For a normal page you will just use .html not .php so if you want to use an api you have to have a .php
He uses php, java and mysql together - and the website IS the wallet.
Its also far from the first currency written in php, see neoscoin for a 2014 php-only coin.
Ive been coding since I was a kid and have read the source code of at least dozens if not hundreds of shitcoins.
I have more trouble decyphering your responses, then the php error. If this isnt a language barrier could you try reading your own responses first because this is painful to read, and after looking at your comment history it doesnt get better..
The best bit about Steem WP is the part about how they got around to charging processing fees for any interaction with the blockchain. That part in itself is pretty revolutionary!
Fortunately your scam arguments are so weak, you did masknetwork a service writing this article. You have spotted some bugs in a beta stage product. Scam and bugs are 2 different things.
I have never dreamed that a 2 weeks project will attract the attention of a huge community like steemit and making a lot of money. Anyway, thanks for this article. It's a boost for masknetwork. You have presented step by step how easy is to use the interface and some really cool concepts like MaskNetwork Scripting Language (MSL).
Every article involving MSL mentioned that is an assembly-like low level language. But it allows you to do a lot of interesting stuff like a dice game in 110 lines of code.
And if an app is upvoted, the owner is rewarded.
I will write a series of articles in the future presenting masknetwork step by step. Right now it's the only true contender for steem.
So are you the lead/only developer or just someone here to shill masknetwork ?
Its a little hard to make a detailed argument for or against it being a scam when its so buggy I can't test any of the features. But straight stealing my money and refusing to respond across multiple channels seems like a pretty scammy thing to do.
If you are the owner, you look even worse for coming here and trying to defend your tactics instead of FIXING THE PROBLEM being complained about by multiple people on your own site.
Also, you're delusional to think this is even remotely close to a serious contender for steem.
I actually chose to feature masknetwork first because its the LEAST likely contender by far, and would be "easy" to make it look pathetic for my first post in this series.
Masknetwork and its developers have been completely unprofessional in every aspect that I've investigated so far.
Thanks for dropping by! Now ..
If its a scam its a pretty crappy one. Also you should be the last person talking about shilling.....
I agree its pretty crap, and what .. Im a shill because?
So far your comments have been completely useless lets see if you have a point ..
Upped and followed!
Hmm. Consensus is pretty much that steemit is a scam, with 100% inflation per year, and doesn't let you cash out quickly. Those are what I call solid arguments. Your arguments however are weak. I bought mask coin and it processed just fine. And it has dapps. I think both claims are BS, just different models.
Everything is a remix.. But I kinda made a point of not linking to the competition and now you've spammed this link 3 times. Its interesting, but could you remove the other spam comments ?