Mark Price for NEM Council

My name is Mark Price and I am running for NEM council and I want to provide some elucidation concerning why I am running as well as to why I think I could be useful to the NEM foundation.

Mark Price

What would you do on the NEM Council?

My focuses would be surrounding initiatives related to the technology itself and developer adoption.

Some things I will heavily advocate:

Catapult Roadmap
Bringing forth the Catapult Roadmap and provide understanding and transparency around the launch of Catapult as well as its inner workings including governance.

This includes having public dialogs surrounding Super Nodes, PoI, and how Catapult node on-boarding will occur.

This also includes having dialogs and documentation around how the Catapult data migration will occur.

Catapult Technology
I will advocate focusing on Catapult and stopping all efforts and spending around NIS1. We need to have intense focus on this upcoming release of Catapult so it can be a big deal to the world. When Catapult officially launches, press releases, documentation, developer guides, and many more things should be ready to ship in the launch.

I also want to focus on synchronizing technology efforts among all regions. Get everyone on the same page in regards to what technology is being used, and what exactly is being pitched and sold to 3rd parties.

Training
I would like to sprint to train the world on Catapult. I have recently been brought on to NEM North America and I am already spearheading this effort. This initiative includes:

  • Creating beginner blockchain video course with use cases
  • Creating Catapult architecture course
  • Creating intro to Catapult development course
  • Creating advanced Catapult development course
  • Ensuring that documentation is accurate and launched
  • Creating example code projects for: Supply chain, IoT, Fintech, Wallets, and more
  • Creating training material for bootcamps, universities, and institutions that want to train on Catapult
  • Creating NEM certifications and exams for: Certified NEM Architect, Certified NEM Developer
  • Launching NEM Developer Youtube channel with development tutorial videos
  • Creating presentations that properly articulate platform technology so wrong information is not spread at conferences/etc

Open Source & Developer Advocacy
We really need to drive community and an open-source mindset to NEM Foundation and its associated technologies. I would like to drive thousands of developers to participate in the development of NEM technology. This process involves:

  • Having an developer actively manage all open source repositories
  • Have issues, features and bugs ready for beginner contributors to take on (similar to Bitcoin)
  • Ensuring active discussions on Github and discussions about future features
  • Eventually having organized Catapult meetings where discussions can take place about next big features
  • Send the message to the world that you can get involved in blockchain with Catapult, because we are all about education, helping, and changing the world through technology.
  • Hosting webinars and youtube videos on contributing to NEM open source
  • Have easy-to-read getting started guides for contributing to open source
  • Maintain a list of open-source NEM-related projects
  • Building open source example projects so companies and developers can find their use case and get started
  • Attending developer meetups and recruiting developers to contribute to NEM open source

Foundation Revenue

The foundation needs a consistent revenue stream to become self-maintained and to grow. I would like to advocate a few areas of monetization.

  1. Training - Similar to R3’s model with Corda or Consensys, I would like to have NEM train businesses on Catapult development and get paid to do so. There would be standardized and localized pricing for these services throughout the world
  2. Blockchain as a Service - I would like to see NEM have a development department that helps companies integrate Catapult. The reality is enterprise businesses do not want a public chain. NEM needs the ability to monetize on private-chain solutions complete with privacy and deployment features. This would include support packages and associated training if desired

USA
One of my biggest focuses will be the growth of NEM in USA. NEM is virtually unheard of in the United States. So much more can be done. I have officially started some efforts as part of NEM North America in this regard, but it is important to state that all of the things I have mentioned above will be amplified in the United States.

Why are you qualified to be on the NEM Council?

I have been a programmer since 2007 and have owned multiple companies over the last 11 years. Most recently I have owned and operated Devslopes, a learn to code company that has trained over 350,000 developers. I understand what developers need to succeed in learning and adopting technology.

Having experience in technology consulting, I also understand what businesses need to adopt technology. I can talk the tech and bring understanding to decision makers. I know how to build developer communities and properly teach and communicate important things.

I have also personally invested over $50,000 to the NEM ecosystem. Here are some of the things my team and I have done (and received nothing in return from NEM):

I think NEM Council needs a strong leader in technology who can be on camera and present important information to the world. I think I can be that person.

Why do you want to be on the NEM Council?

I love the NEM technology. I also think NEM has a great community. My team, my students, my clients, and myself have had more success building on NEM than any other blockchain. This is because NEM is built the right way. I want to push this technology further. I want to show the world that blockchain can be easy. NEM isn’t without its problems and I have suffered from some of those problems. I would like to fix them. Move things forward. Make everything and everyone better. I think I have the ability to do this. And since I can and am willing to help, that is what I am going to try and do.

FAQ

Q: You own Devslopes, could this be a conflict of interest?
A: I don’t personally think so. Devslopes hasn’t received anything from NEM thus far. Devslopes is a learn to code company that teaches technology. Any trainings I am working on for NEM will be owned by NEM. Being the CEO of Devslopes gives me an advantage in my service to NEM - adding value in training and technology.

Q: You ran an ICO on NEM and one of your products is a Catapult side chain. Shouldn’t this disqualify you?
A: I have no idea. I don’t think so. We raised nearly $500,000 in funding and then the bear market hit and all those funds have virtually become useless. We never thought of using the open-source Catapult as a bad thing, but the community thought differently. We thought it would only help NEM. In any case, that platform wasn’t funded and therefore we are building the other products that were part of our campaign including https://cacheout.io

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Hi mate, with absolutely no bias - I don’t know you from a bar of soap really…

I’m wondering a few things, but chiefly - this is a competitor of NEM - https://cosmos.network/roadmap - which is Tendermint - and you are involved with that project. On what planet is someone ever involved in 2 opposition projects in any company in the history of the world ever?? It’s like a guy being on the board of Ford and GM at the same time, McDonald’s and Burger King - whatever.

I believe each and every council member should sign a non-compete clause, pres, vice pres, EVERYONE WORKING FOR NEM should sign a non-compete, as we have in Europe. Including yourself, if elected, punishable under the full penalty of local law for everyone.

If someone is paid by NEM, they should work for NEM, and NEM only. That is how companies work.

I’d love to hear your logic and reasons why you working for a competitor (at least one) is acceptable - like, on earth?

Haha have you seen pretty much every board of directors of any major public company?

Apple Board of Directors

Concerning Cosmos - I have no affiliation with them. I am a contributor to LotionJS which is built on Tendermint (a proof of stake blockchain).

I am happy to contribute code to a blockchain. I’d like to do that for NEM right now, but NEM isn’t set up for that. We have many problems to conquer before I or the community can make contributions.

Also it is important to note that NEM is not the solution to every blockchain need. This is an important thing for people who are a part of NEM to understand – especially when it comes to making promises to potential NEM adopters. If a company is looking specifically for customized on-chain smart contracts, they should know that NEM isn’t the right choice for them.

Right now it is not about competing blockchains, it is about spreading blockchain throughout the world. We should be friends with other chains.

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It was an example, you know what I mean, no need to try and “word” me around.

It’s a great philosophy, I’m the same - blockchain for all as far as I’m concerned :slight_smile:

You would be privy to highly sensitive information that could be an advantage. Are you willing to sign a non-compete? Just a yes or no will be fine, thanks :slight_smile:

Sorry, wasn’t trying to belittle you. If I am able to operate Devslopes and the projects I am committed to I will sign a non-compete. If a non-compete was presented that prevented me from working on Cacheout or Devslopes I would have to decline the council appointment.

Thanks god, finally someone presentable.

Understood - thanks for your reply :slight_smile:

Can you list here, what kind of problems do you have in mind?

somehow aleix, roger, istvan, greg, david, kodty and martin (sorry if i missed someone!) are successfully contributing to catapult right now

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I can’t speak to how these particular individuals became involved or claim to have any knowledge on what they have contributed. I can explain how NEM open source development compares to other platforms and open-source projects. And this is all through my own perspective - I could be completely misguided.

There are no issues/features listed on any of the Github projects for developers to grab and work on

Notice how someone can get started developing on Bitcoin right away. Finding a place to start is critical for those interested in contributing.

Bitcoin also has a guide for contributing: https://bitcoincore.org/en/faq/contributing-code/

The best contribution guide I can find for NEM tech is a boilerplate template:
Boilerplate Contributor’s Guide

The catapult-server README does not include enough information to compile the source code. There are critical pieces of information missing which I had to figure out on my own to build the code (such as which version of C++ is used as well as which version of Cmake is used by the team - among other things). My point here is not to complain, but it is something that will prevent people from contributing.

Thankfully, due to you (gimer) and Jag I was able to obtain needed information through forums as well as Slack (Catapult Critical Development Information)
But it was not easy information to find.

I’ve raised multiple issues hoping to contribute or at least receive discussion, but never received responses or was left without ongoing dialog:

I’ve advocated the notion of making a list of features for devs to work on but was left without response:

I’m not angry or anything, but I wanted to give you my personal experiences in wanting to contribute to NEM’s code.

Here is my take (it could be wrong, but it is my take):

  • Core devs are very busy and can’t promote open source
  • There is no person who is driving community developer involvement
  • It is very difficult to have technical discussions with core devs

I think there are probably reasons why contributing is not as easy as Bitcoin, or the Lotion framework I have been contributing to. NEM roadmap not released and can’t be shown to the public. Devs are busy developing and not getting support from the foundation. In the NEM developer Slack channel, all public conversations are typically around issues with developers trying to use the SDKs. I’m not privy to any channel where discussions of features or bugs or issues takes place where I can participate ie “Oh Yeah I’m going to work on this bug”.

I think Aleix provides the most interaction with contributors on the NEM2 TypeScript SDK. I have been personally interested in contributing to Catapult and I think developers that are brought in the community will want the chance to contribute to the core blockchain.

My comments above in this thread are about creating a better open-source community. I’m not saying people have not contributed to NEM open source.

At the end of the day I do not personally believe that if I contribute, it will be valued or even considered/taken seriously. I feel confident that if today, I grabbed a Bitcoin issue and submitted a PR, someone would at least look at it and give feedback. This is the problem I am referring to at its whole (that I would like to fix).

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Well formulated and well stated Mark.

We don’t have any active issues in our catapult-server repo because none have been opened, and we don’t have any known issues in the publicly released code. Our other repos do have issues, which you can feel free to work on, e.g.: https://github.com/nemtech/catapult-rest/issues. Additionally, you can always open issues for bugs, enhancements or feature requests.

The best contribution guide I can find for NEM tech is a boilerplate template:

It is in the repo: https://github.com/nemtech/catapult-server/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md.

The catapult-server README does not include enough information to compile the source code. There are critical pieces of information missing which I had to figure out on my own to build the code (such as which version of C++ is used as well as which version of Cmake is used by the team - among other things).

Minimum cmake version is specified in the cmake files: https://github.com/nemtech/catapult-server/blob/master/src/CMakeLists.txt#L1 as is cpp version: https://github.com/nemtech/catapult-server/blob/master/CMakeGlobalSettings.cmake#L188. This is fairly standard for cmake projects.

We regularly build with all supported compilers (gcc/clang/msvc).

I’ve raised multiple issues hoping to contribute or at least receive discussion

These both been closed by you. You never replied to @gimre on issue #5.

I’ve advocated the notion of making a list of features for devs to work on but was left without response:

SDK and REST projects have github issues already.

At the end of the day I do not personally believe that if I contribute, it will be valued or even considered/taken seriously.

We are open to accepting PRs if they are discussed beforehand and meet code quality standards. However, I don’t see any changes in your fork: https://github.com/spentak/catapult-server/commits/master.

Other people (e.g. proximax) have successfully forked catapult-server and have made significant changes to it. They do not seem to have encountered the problems you mention.

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So basically do everything that’s important from the tech and adption side of things, previous council members have (pathetically) failed to do, got it.

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Personally, I recommend Mark Price for NEM Council member. I don’t know him personally but I got a free training via Devslopes!

Technical skills? Yeah he has it. We need a council member that can walk the talk, that can read codes so that where ever he is, we can sit down and help a NEM would-be adaption project. We don’t need talker, its time to upgrade the council membership to:

Skill sets:

  1. Can talk the technology;
  2. Can code the NEM coding language;
  3. Professional and good customer relations;
  4. Can determine a client or customer;
  5. Can listen to the community;
  6. A leader and not a bossy-playing person;
  7. A person who can look into dissatisfaction of clients and not telling “If you don’t want NEM, don’t”
  8. A person who is not a “pointing-finger” to get away from problem;
  9. A well informed leader and not a “I have no clue” leader.

Mark Price, I hope you are more than what I enumerated!

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Thanks! Im eager to help out and be a part of something big like NEM. Contribute to something bigger than myself.

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I have some basic questions I’m asking all candidates:

  1. What is your position on the current election process and using PoI for elections like this?

  2. What is your position on making processes, decisions and information more transparent for the community? (Council decisions, who voted on what, Foundation Charter, roadmaps, etc.)

  3. What is your position on the foundation’s outside communication?

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Yes - you have nailed it!

There isnt a single source of truth for NEM development on Github and that is something that needs to change

There needs to be much more than this, I feel the same as Mark on this, but it isn’t anyone’s fault, it just needs to change if things plan to move forward. Code should be under a single “Organisation” on Github, it is time to culture NEM’s official “products”, the fact that NanoWallet is under a completely separate account doesn’t help as its the main wallet that NEM push, it should be under whatever NEM’s main Github is.

That might mean giving up some control on the code via PR’s but if it is managed properly with a proper code quality definition, automated tests, lint, coverage and CS ops built in then it shouldn’t really affect anyone. A release manager would help here.

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I’m not really sure to be honest. At the end of the day I’m excited the elections are taking place. They almost didn’t happen at all. I’ll take what I can get.

This one is easy. Everything should be transparent. Voting history, budget reports, roadmap, charter, bylaws, etc. The entire community should be able to read the laws and clearly know what NEM council can and can not do, then also that lets those who break the laws be put in the spotlight.

I"m not completely sure what you mean. If we are talking about NEM Foundation communication - it is currently fairly non-existent. Every branch of NEM should work within bounds and rules and have scheduled meetings and reports.

If you are talking about NEM Council members taking part in outside projects I think it should work like any company. If you are an employee such as President, VP, Treasurer, etc you should do your job and not actively run a business.

If you are a council member (which is not employment) it is like you are on a board of directors. You take your experience in your own companies, work, history/etc and use that to benefit the foundation.

I think what we DON’T need is people on the council who don’t have a very specific skill. People should vote for council members who can add value to a specific area.

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Yeah. I wasn’t trying to attack any of the team or developers. Running Devslopes the last few years and training beginner to intermediate developers we learn interesting things from our analytics. If a developer can’t solve a problem within a couple of hours, and can’t find a place to get help, they will abandon the technology.

We heard it all the time, “Oh I don’t use AWS because their tutorials are awful”.

My point is, this is the world we live in now - people learning through videos and documentation (instead of universities) - we just have to do some proper handholding in the beginning.

It is also important that developers in a community feel welcomed and valued. I don’t think this is the job of the developers as much as a technical community manager or someone who can foster good conversation, competitions, challenges, etc.

Good insight Dan.

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I really like your vision. I see we can have a good understanding with each other about needs and ways of supporting the growth of NEM. :muscle: