Community Spotlight — March 2019 Edition
March 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 March 2019.
March marks the anniversary of the ARK chain launch — the ARK mainnet is now two
years old as of March 21!
https://twitter.com/ArkEcosystem/status/1108656921924567041
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. ARK is awarded to GitHub participants by way of the ARK GitHub
Bounty Program. Learn more about the bounty program
here.
The community Spotlight Newsletter only includes three featured commits, but
you can see all the hard work of our GitHub participants at
blog.ark.io!
- GitHub member ‘dated’ implemented the vote weights for forging delegates to
show on the delegate monitor of the ARK Explorer. This makes it very easy to see
at-a-glance all the delegate vote weights. This also finally deprecates
votereport.txt as now that information is all available in the official
delegate monitor. - Delegate ‘alessio’ reported an API issue prompted optimization of some of
the mechanics of Core. Also, a memory leak issue in the forger process was
reported and patched, and will become live as of Core v2.3. - Delegate ‘Civseed’ identified an issue that once repaired, improved the way
dynamic fees work on ARK and prevented some user errors as well. ARK’s dynamic
fee implementation benefits both developers and end users.
Multiple coders are contributing to the ARK toolkit 24/7, and you can too — it’s
fun, rewarding, and you can earn ARK as well!
This guide will show you how to get started with coding for
ARK.
If you don’t know how to code, but you have ideas to improve ARK open source
projects, use this video to help you let developers know.
You can also now push issues onto ARK GitHub repos without a Github account
using the Ark.Party Discord
Bot.
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 March posts:
- ‘Lisk-Central-America’ started a
discussion
about how the 1 ARK = 1 Vote mechanism is working out. Spoiler alert: quite
well. - ‘Qrizee’ asked how hackathons help
ARK
and how they work. - ‘cambo666’ and **‘yozivey’ **highlighted Q1 deliverables
here
and
here.
We are releasing them in stages starting with the all-new
whitepaper. - ‘Theantman1111’
asked
if ark.dpos.tax was legit for gaining fiat stats from
ARK addresses. It is, and here’s a video on how to use
it. - ‘ElvenFlame’ asked about a possible future economic
recession. - ‘Malouw’ had some entry-level ARK
questions. - ‘Buycoin_ATM’ started a discussion about voluntary voting
rewards. - ‘Rekted1’ asked about ARK vs
ETH. - ‘ngecoin’ asked about what some of the potential
drawbacks of ARK
might be, and got some honest answers. - ‘devlin1982’ asked was the problem
was
that ARK is solving. Whitepaper - ‘Azlans’ asked about an ERP blockchain potentially using
ARK. - ‘Buycoin_ATM’ asked about ARK and NFC
technology. - ‘Jarunik’ published a Slack
conversation. - ‘ka-ant’ started up a discussion on ARK vs
Tendermint.
Tendermint-style integrations into ARK consensus are currently in discussion
among the delegates and team. - ‘twerkinggorilla’ highlighted a
study
about user anxiety when using crypto, complimenting ARK’s ease of use. - ‘GreatTraderOnizuka’
asked
about a certain delegate and its status. - ‘justaminerthing’ had some entry-level
questions
about ARK DPoS, voting, etc. Great answers followed. - ‘Zzzoem’ asked about delegate
history. - ‘cambo666’ showed off some newly acquired ARK poker
chips. - ‘quitcensoring’ posted a link to a media
article
showing ARK with high development activity. - ‘Buycoin_ATM’ asked a question about Coin Payments
integration. - ‘myusername1000’ asked if there was anyone out
there.
Yes, we are out here!
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.
MARCH 2019 PODCASTS
https://soundcloud.com/thearkcryptopodcast/ark-crypto-podcast-028-aip-60-the-unvotening
https://soundcloud.com/thearkcryptopodcast/029-aip-60-the-unvotening-part-2-breakdown
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 March 2019 Community Service Spotlight:
- ArkTrends has returned, with new community stats this
month.
ArkTrends is now managed by ‘Jorma,’ who also maintains the ARK.dog Roadmap
Tracker. - Delegate ‘Biz_Classic’ continued running their ARK
faucet, which awards free ARK to its
visitors. - Delegate ‘Del’ also continued operations of their ARK
faucet. - Delegate ‘Fun’ continued to run ARK games
online with daily ARK prizes. - Delegate ‘Alessio’ continued combing through ARK
code
to locate and repair vulnerabilities. Delegate ‘Alessio’ runs under a
Forging for Security model, similar to ‘Jarunik’s Forging for Contributions
model. - Delegate ‘Rising_Sun’ ran general bounties in
March.
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. - Delegates ‘Goose’ and ‘ArkMoon’ continue their service, ARK CSV
Generator and Income
Estimator,
to aid in trading and income reporting. You can input public keys to ARK
addresses and get a report including fiat values. The resource does not
constitute formal tax advice. - Delegate ‘Civseed’ has a repo for ARK
Dandelion,
a decentralized messaging application for the ARK mainnet and bridgechains.
Expect additional functionality and more usage guides soon! - Delegate ‘Jarunik’ launched a new web
presence
and continued his ARK recap video series, subscribe
here. Jarunik also
runs a continuous coding and non-coding general bounty service, with
opportunities for both smaller and larger projects. Get involved
here. - Delegate ‘Jarunik’ also published an ARK delegate rating
report
as a way to compare the properties of different delegates. - Delegate ‘Deadlock’ enhanced
arkdelegates.io,
the community-managed delegate campaign directory of the ARK mainnet. Now,
‘latest delegates’ and ‘latest contributions’ can be found on the homepage.
Nice! - Delegate ‘The Golden Horde’ provided a new update with plans for
2019. - ‘Arktoshi’ created a
screenvideo
showing how easy it is to spin up a node! - ‘Delegate Echo’ continued publishing
articles
about crypto and blockchain law, launched an ARK legal research
team,
created an ARK
card
for outreach initiatives, and appeared on the ARK Crypto
Podcast.
- Delegate ‘Calidelegate’ also appeared on the ARK Crypto
Podcast,
detailing their stance on being an ARK mainnet delegate. - Delegate ‘Del’ created and released a short
film
about being a delegate.
- Delegate** ‘Arkmoon’** in collaboration with Delegate ‘Jarunik’ awarded me
with free commemorative physical ARK
coins
to give away at conferences and meetups. Outstanding move!
- Delegate** ‘ItsANameToo’** created an ARK node cheat
sheet
to perform routine node-related tasks. - Delegate ‘Cam’s Yellow Jacket’ posted an
update
with a call for community feedback. Stay tuned for their next video release,
coming along with the release of the ARK Deployer GUI.
TEAM IN THE COMMUNITY
The ARK team has been sighted in the crypto community in March. Here are just
some of the activities:
- I attended the launch party for the ‘Crypto Blockchain Plug’ crypto community
center that took place on Saturday March 9th in Inglewood, CA. The event
went really well, there were a lot of smiling faces and I was able to speak on
ARK, hand out free sticker packs, and award ARK paper wallets courtesy of
delegate **‘Jarunik.’ I also used the opportunity to launch a new media format
for ARK called ARK Adventures, where I tour the globe and spread the good
word on ARK. **Here’s the video and
presentation!
- ARK CEO FX Thoorens continued efforts in
France,
where he presented on to the French collective ‘Les Hackeuses’ for a hackathon
organized at Hub BPIFrance. BPIFrance is a platform for connection between the
traditional economy and the best of French innovation. BPIFrance is a public
investment bank, a French organization for financing and business development.
For more updates, follow ARK’s Instagram.
GET INVOLVED
Watch this video on how to get involved with ARK, all skills welcome.
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!
Delegate ‘Rising Sun’ assists ArkTimeline maintenance by providing some ARK
each month to the maintenance team. - The ACC also completed and released ArkThoughts.com!
This new ARK resource has day/night mode, information on 30 ARK concepts, and
over 60,000 words from community members like you. It is the result of the 30
Days of ARK Campaign that ran in December 2018, sponsored by Delegate
**‘Jarunik.’ **Here’s the launch
article. - March was relatively static for the ACC, as I was working hand in hand with the
rest of the ARK Team to release our all-new
whitepaper. However, a project headed up by new
member ‘MotionFactory’ made progress- a video explaining what the ARK
Community Committee is all about. Expect release during April. - I am also working with the ACC dev team on a new project, details yet
unreleased, codename ‘Project VISCOSI.’ - The entire ACC will also soon act as participants alongside the entire community
in two upcoming contests/bounties, with details coming soon.
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, large or small, 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.
The opportunities that ARK Ecosystem provides are ever growing, and there are
many ways you can get in on the action. To reach me, you can contact me on the
ARK Slack or
Discord: @ Justin (doubled1c3).
Looking forward to April!
**Read our new 2019 whitepaper, Follow us on
social media ( Twitter |
Facebook |
Reddit ), join our community (
Slack | Discord ) and
stay tuned to our blog on Medium