Community Spotlight — December 2018 Edition
December is a wrap! We at ARK are proud of our determined and bright community, and our monthly Community Spotlight newsletter will keep you apprised on some notable community activities. Let’s dive into just some of the ways the ARK community shined in December 2018.
FEATURED COMMITS
As they say, the best things happen with help. That’s why ARK runs monthly bounty programs for coders who contribute to our codebase on the ARK Ecosystem GitHub. Independent programmers can work side by side with our international team and make the ARK toolkit even more powerful and stable. Earn ARK tokens for ‘commits’ (completed tasks) and win larger monthly ARK prizes as well. This 2018 GitHub Bounty structure has recently changed for 2019 and can be followed here.
Here are some featured commits for December. Features may not be live until the next update:
- GitHub member ‘ItsANameToo’ crushed it in December, completing numerous tasks including making the time show consistently in the wallet, so users keen on 12h time formats can see transactions in that vein. ItsANameToo also fixed a bug relating to AIP13 URI scheme (AIP13 helps make the new Ark Pay module super intuitive).
- GitHub member ‘dated’ also sports a very long list of tasks and accomplishments in December, including one of my favorites — remembering the transaction row count in the desktop wallet on next launch. You no longer have to reset the number of visible rows each time you launch the wallet. Dated also performed numerous UI improvements.
- GitHub member ‘highjacker’ went crazy on ARK Docs, helping to keep them up-to-date and deprecate ARKv1 content.
- GitHub member ‘kalgoop’ implemented a duplicate address verification check on wallet import, smoothing the user experience if they accidentally try to import twice.
- GitHub member ‘JeremiGendron’ improved the “create profile” workflow so the user can more easily follow along and know what to do.
- GitHub member ‘ciband’ went to work, improving the C++ client and crypto APKs on multiple fronts.
- GitHub member ‘paroxsym’ performed tasks on the new ARK Core.
- GitHub member ‘Pedro-Souza’ had their fingers in numerous repos performing fixes and improvements.
- GitHub members ‘vmunich,’ ‘zillionn,’ ‘vulet,’ ‘alessiodf,’ ‘KaiserKarel,’ ‘mufaka,’ ‘Nigui,’ ‘ckhatri,’ and ‘Z-a-r-a-k-i’ handled numerous tasks, fixes, chores, and features across multiple repos.
Multiple coders are contributing to the ARK toolkit 24/7, and you can too — it’s fun, rewarding, and you can earn ARK tokens as well!
This guide will show you how to get started.
NOTABLE REDDIT POSTS
The Ark Ecosystem Subreddit is a great place to seek ARK knowledge, and you can always find new and engaging content there. New to ARK? Check out my Welcome to ARK Reddit Post with simple instructions to follow.
Here are some notable December posts:
- We saw an uptick in “Hello World” posts this month. That means more new users were choosing to use Reddit to say hello to the ARK community. This month we saw hello world posts from ‘platf0rm2,’ ‘dead4586,’ ‘platf0rm2’ again, ‘fakoshi,’ ‘Irunlikepre44,’ ‘ledgerdary,’ ‘yahtzee_NL,’ ‘xBetrayer99,’
- ‘nedeollandeusaram’ wondered how newcomers found ARK.
- If you are new and wonder where to start to get involved with the ARK community, check out this post by ‘yahtzee_NL.’ Lots of helpful info and links.
- ‘broadcastjunkie’ provided some thoughtful words of encouragement for the ARK community and wished everyone a happy new year.
- With the successful deployment of ARKv2 on the mainnet, a ceremonial “ARK Boogie” occurred on the ARK Slack, as many community members were very pleased with the results. ARK Co-Found Scott McPherson took it one step further with a megaboogie GIF.
- Ark Pay’s recent release spawned some discussions, questions, and highlights from numerous users, including ‘moroccomoccasins,’ ‘adman9000,’ ‘wallajr,’
- ‘xdig2000’ asked some introductory questions about ARK, with ACC member ‘rhakht’ providing some great answers.
- ‘michaelthecryptoguy’ made a Merry Christmas video, and wrote an ARK DPoS article.
- ‘mattybv3’ baked up some ARK Christmas cookies!
- ‘KingRippleXRP’ handed out some ARK paper wallets as gifts.
- ACC member ‘Azure-Infinity’ ran an end-of-the-year contest, featuring community comment submissions.
- Delegate ‘Jarunik’ brought to light an Ark-Arisan microfinancing program running in Indonesia.
- ‘lambomooon’ wondered about ARK vs LSK. A discussion ensued. Elsewhere, ‘Tifuro’ wondered about the best way to trade LSK for ARK.
- ‘wdnboss’ posited a question regarding ARK vs EOS.
- ‘lordofARKquaad’ wrote up a very nice breakdown of voluntary payout mechanics.
- ‘twerkinggorilla’ discovered some research listing projects based on number of users.
- ‘Bitcoin_Bender’ posted a really nice deepdive article into ARK.
- ‘froxxmoxx’ asked about the reasoning behind private delegates.
- ‘CanadianCryptoGuy’ asked about the French crypto tax, and ‘Jaxonsdog’ asked about the future of ARK and the French government.
- ‘dead4586’ put out a call to acquire some ARK Stickers. Anyone can get some at ArkStickers.com!
- ‘pablox43’ wondered why ARK will be successful in the long term. Some great answers appeared.
- ‘animo69’ found an amazing POW vs DPoS comparison article. Great read, I highly recommend.
- ‘ka-ant’ made a very interesting technical proposition for ARK technology.
- ‘nathaniel751’ wondered about dapps on ARK. Also, nathaniel751 wondered if voting is possible in the web lite wallet. Spoiler alert, it isn’t, but on a side note, the web lite wallet development is currently lagging behind ARKv2 and isn’t active at the moment. A third query nathaniel had was whether ARK token use should be required on bridgechains.
- ‘pes_planus’ wondered if there was an “ARK Gas Station” service that existed, similar to Ethereum, now that ARK has dynamic fees. Delegate ARKland appears to be working on deploying the service.
- ‘stevieyongieg’ linked to an informative 3rd-party ARK summary article.
- ‘mpulgarinh’ reported that ARK trading data and charts are now available on Chainsage.com, similar to CoinMarketCap.
- ‘mysteelersrock82’ asked about ARK team financials.
- ‘SadAerie’ had comments about the new ARK Desktop Wallet. If you have suggestions to improve the ARK Desktop Wallet or other products, go here and submit a Github issue, where developers will see and react to it.
- ‘pekienet’ had concerns regarding the future of quantum computing.
- ‘ka-ant’ wondered about the “State of the Union” with ARK.
You can browse more content and contribute your own voice to the ARK Subreddit- who knows, you may even receive an ARK tip from a community member using Delegate Cryptology’s intuitive ArkTippr Reddit tipbot.
DECEMBER 2018 PODCASTS
COMMUNITY SERVICE SPOTLIGHT
Some members mentioned in the community newsletter are ARK delegates, who secure the ARK network and provide community services. Their inclusion in the newsletter is in no way an endorsement from ARK.io to vote for specific delegates, and you should always do your own research and consider all the options when choosing a delegate for whom to vote. ARK.io does not run the ARK network.
Here’s the December 2018 Community Service Spotlight:
- Delegate ‘The_Golden_Horde’ expressed intent to relaunch the ARK Community Digest series from within the upcoming ARK Herald news destination.
- Delegate ‘Rising_Sun’ ran general bounties in December and posted submissions. Any community member can earn and win ARK for their creative expressions each month. Here’s how it works. They also generously agreed to provide some ARK each month to the ARK Community Committee for various project maintenance. Due to a recent structure change, Rising_Sun is now doing bounty awards every two months with double amounts, I believe.
- ‘Msdhere’ updated ARK Trend Statistics for December.
- Delegate ‘Jarunik’ continued his ARK recap video series, subscribe here (redditor ‘krenjPu’ made a silly tribute video viewable here). Jarunik also runs a continuous coding and non-coding general bounty service, with opportunities for both smaller and larger projects. Get involved here. In December, Jarunik released an article detailing reasons for supporting his new concept, and gave bounty updates here, here, here, and here.
- Delegate ‘fun’ continued to run ARK games online with daily ARK prizes. Play them here.
- Several delegates are organizing an ARK meetup in Utrecht, Netherlands on January 25th, 2019. Be there!
- A group of delegates launched the DelegateCompetition.Fund with an application idea contest and posted results. Winners are chosen by a group of community developers and node runners with close ties to the network. Subscribe to reddit.ark.io to receive updates on future competitions. Not all competitions will require technical skill.
- Delegate ‘Deadlock’ released a new service, a Twitter account that alerts when delegates rise and fall out of the top 51 positions. Deadlock also runs arkdelegates.io for proposal listings and other delegate details.
- Delegate ‘Cryptology’ implemented autovoting into his delegate service ArkTippr. Storing tips in your on-chain tipping wallet will no longer deny you voluntary voting rewards. Store larger ARK quantities there with caution, however. ArkTippr experienced a smooth transition to ARKv2, and now, due to dynamic fees, tipping someone has gone from a 0.1 ARK fee down to around 0.003 ARK in most cases, as of posting time.
- Delegate ‘ARKland’ ran a New Year’s Raffle. ARKland is known for great raffles that the community enjoys, among other services.
- ‘cambo666’ of Delegate Cam’s Yellow Jacket posted ARK Fantasy Football results. The campaign started before the delegate launched.
- Delegate ‘Cam’s Yellow Jacket’ released a new online web presence. If you missed their latest video release, check it out below.
- Delegate ‘The Golden Horde’ auctioned off a beautiful piece of ARK art. They also released plans to launch a news website, the ARK Herald.
- ACC member ‘Azure-Infinity’ held a ‘Compliment Contest’ throughout December on this thread.
ARK COMMUNITY COMMITTEE
The ARK Community Committee creates and deploys community resources through anonymous and sponsored ARK donations. The ACC’s first completed project is ArkTimeline.com. ArkTimeline now supports URL query string, to create links leading to custom views! During November, preparations took place for codename Project ‘LAUDE’, and the first phase of the project is launched and ran throughout December on Reddit.ARK.io.
Dubbed ’30 Days of ARK,’ this month long campaign ran on the ARK Subreddit and asked everyone to provide their thoughts and opinions on 30 ARK concepts. Delegate ‘Jarunik’ has graciously provided ONE THOUSAND ARK you will earn proportionally by word count. Anyone can learn about ARK straight from the mouth of the community, as well as earn ARK by contributing content.
There is still time to submit your comments and earn ARK!
Threads will be locked on January 15th.
First, read details, rules, and submissions here.
Then, contribute comments on any of the posts here, until January 15th:
- Day 01 — The ARK Vision
- Day 02 — The ARK Team
- Day 03 — The ARK Community
- Day 04 — Marketing/Hackathons/Conferences/Outreach
- Day 05 — Delegates & DPoS
- Day 06 — Delegate Services
- Day 07 — ARK Desktop Wallet
- Day 08 — ARK Mobile Wallet
- Day 09 — ARK Paper & Web Lite Wallets
- Day 10 — ARK Explorer
- Day 11 — ARK Core v2
- Day 12 — Smartbridge Technology & ACES
- Day 13 — Push Button Blockchains
- Day 14 — Programming Languages
- Day 15 — Smart Contracts & IPFS
- Day 16 — ARK Improvement Proposal System
- Day 17 — ARK Partnerships
- Day 18 — ARK Business Entity
- Day 19 — ARK Pay
- Day 20 — ARK Community Fund
- Day 21 — ARK Community Committee
- Day 22 — Contests, Bounties, and Earning ARK
- Day 23 — ARK Crypto Podcast
- Day 24 — ARK Documentation Portal
- Day 25 — ARK Subreddit
- Day 26 — ARK Slack & Discord
- Day 27 — ARK Blog
- Day 28 — ARK Youtube Channel
- Day 29 — ARK.io Website
- Day 30 — ARK Github
After the threads are locked on January 15th, the ACC will come together to design a community website resource that immortalizes these submissions, making it even easier for future newcomers to catch up on ARK.
To join the ACC, locate me on Discord.ARK.io which by the way, just increased its powers significantly with new bots, features, and feeds, courtesy of CMO Travis Walker’s oversight. ACC Projects are funded after the fact and pay is not guaranteed (fun is, though).
ARK COMMUNITY FUND
If you have an idea for an ARK project, small or large, and you are looking for funding, consider submitting a proposal to the ARK Community Fund for review. The ARK Community Fund started as a community initiative, and the elected board reviews ideas and projects that enhance ARK. Their website is ArkCommunity.Fund.
