Theory: decentralized protocols are preceded by informal human networks doing same work Pre-Napster, websites linked to free mp3s hosted by others, updating links when those hosts were taken down.
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Post-Napster, people shared lists of 3rd party “OpenNap” servers which played the role Napster’s central server used to. This curation of independently run search indexes was the manual equivalent of the hybrid network topology backing Limewire, Kazaa, and eDonkey.
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For warez Topsite FTP servers, users would race to copy files from one server to another in order to improve their share ratio. Humans were taking centralized servers and creating informal replication and redundancy.
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Before decentralized protocols emerge, legal opposition suppresses centralized approaches If informal processes are essential for the system, you have a good fit for a protocol Doesn’t always happen. Many recommend VPN for file sharing, but not enough to justify formalizing
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Even in 2013, privacy advocates recommended using Bitcoin fog to tumble coins for the sake of anonymity. Very clear informal process signaling demand for Zcash and other privacy coins.
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Informal human processes signaling “market fit” for a decentralized protocol: • Link-only mp3 blogs → metadata-only file sharing search (Napster) • Manually maintained OpenNap server lists → Kazaa-style network topology • Manual bitcoin tumbling → privacy coins
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Looking for crucial informal human processes is mainly valuable for answering what shouldn’t protocolized. Tons of people tried to layer I2P onto file sharing protocols (see iMule), but most didn’t actually want slower speeds for greater anonymity.
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IMO, BitTorrent would be 10x better if a token incentivized seeding. The fact that private trackers enforce ratio requirements (upload as much as you download) doesn’t invalidate the value of a token, it validates it!https://medium.com/@jbackus/what-if-bittorrent-had-a-token-13d62a590aa7 …
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Replying to @backus
How much work would it take to implement just that?
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A lot of work. It’s a several year business, easily.
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