UPDATE#1 APE Social Network - “OverWrite” - Decentralized Social Media

Withdrawn AIPs
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Abstract
A social network of creators that can all equally contribute to any sort of content creation that takes the form of text – such as a novel, a script for a film, or lyrics to a song. A free to join decentralized ecosystem that governs and maintains itself through community decision making and voting. Built off a blockchain for decentralized record keeping, legitimacy, and to prevent manipulation from scammers, trolls, and bots.

Motivation
Cryptocurrencies and NFTs have been facing quite some concern with all of the scams, hacks, and rug-pulls lately. All of these short term issues can cause long lasting PR problems, leaving newcomers hesitant, delaying the blockchain revolution. Even Vitalik Buterin, the inventor of Ethereum recently expressed his concerns about the crypto/NFT space.

It’s time to start thinking outside the box. Decentralization and immutable ledgers thanks to blockchain
helps create infinite opportunities for web3.0 applications other than Cryptocurrencies. This project will focus on creating social networks of content creators. The communities in this network work to cleanse itself of anyone who tries to manipulate their ecosystem. The way that’s done is by creating(and enforcing) community guidelines MADE BY THE COMMUNITY and not by a central authority with biased motives. Everyone who joins this network is equal to one another and there is no way of buying your way into power. Most importantly, this network is free to join. Exploiters and hackers have nothing to gain from messing with this ecosystem. This will hopefully give people a more comfortable and reliable hands on experience with blockchain technology - allowing the world to learn more about it and how to better protect themselves with cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Rationale
This project would create an entirely new culture within the blockchain/crypto space for art and entertainment. It is incentivizing people to work on open-source projects with one another, everyone having the same exact chance to contribute something. Anyone can start an idea and anyone else in the world can contribute and build to that idea. With Web2.0 social media, it was all about individual content creators pushing out their own content for their own viewers. In Web3.0 social media (Decentralized Social Media), it’s all about working together on community content in a decentralized manner.

The User Interface
This is something definitely worth mentioning to help clear up some confusion on how OverWrite would be accessed. DApps or Centralized applications with a friendly UI would be used to read and write to the OverWrite blockchain. Think of this application as a “portal” that allows any ordinary person to access the network in a easy and familiar way (just like how OpenSea works). On this “portal” someone can create their profile, view all the different types of creative networks in the chain, and contribute as a content creator.

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NOTE: The followings Specs, steps, timeline, and costs are mostly TBD at this point in time. This is a very ambitious idea with a very small team. A lot of feedback and market research needs to be collected before a decision can be made on all of these requirements. I will try to provide as much info as I can

Specifications
A brand new blockchain coded from the ground up and/or an Ethereum based blockchain. If it’s Ethereum based, NFT holders can display their collections in their profiles. If not, interoperability would come into play.

Steps to Implement
Will begin hiring software, network, and blockchain developers once more feedback is collected and the project idea comes closer to being finalized

Timeline
TBD

Overall Cost
TBD

Update #1

A note for the APE community
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to consider this proposal. I am really looking forward to hearing the feedback for this project. If this proposal goes through, I want to prioritize a version of this project just for APE/BAYC/MAYC holders for making this idea possible. Let’s discuss some more benefits to stack on top of that. Anyway, I’m glad to have the opportunity to present this idea to most influential community leading the crypto and NFT revolution! Let’s make a difference

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To be clear: You’re proposing the DAO to invest in this?

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That’s the plan down the line. The funding would be used to hire software devs to bring this idea to life.

However, right now I’m looking for feedback. I need to get a general understanding of how this community feels about the idea. If I get a lot of negative feedback, I will withdraw this proposal and maybe give it another try in the future after some tweaks. If I get good feedback and a lot of support from the community, then I can move forward and determine the costs, roadmap, etc…

I’m considering this a community project, I want to hear everyone’s thoughts. I won’t be satisfied until all of you are. Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions, voice concerns, or poke holes.

Thank you

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Hey! I read through what you wrote and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for social media. I’m not sure if DAO should invest into it, but I see ways we can work together immediately.

So my recommendation is to find ways to reward your users with tokens. Then together we can find ways to trade those tokens for $APE tokens. I believe this will get you ahead of the markets.

Essentially if you can create a $SMTHING, a token that users perform an action to earn, ultimately it could be traded for $APE. This would put you ahead of curve and competitive with larger social media platforms. Eventually they’ll all likely have earning and rewards for their users. That’s my input on this!

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Where would the data layer sit, onchain or offchain?

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The data for all up-to-date contributions for a timeline are part of an array. For anyone that doesn’t know programming, an array is a data structure that contains elements. An element in this array contains a contribution along with it’s timeline location. This array technically is not part of the chain but it’s part of the same code that the blockchain is in. It calls variables from the blockchain.

In the example below, there is a blockchain where each block contains only one contribution at a time. The block will state whether it is ADDING or REPLACING an event. If it is adding, it takes a new element in the array. If it is replacing, it is replacing an element in the array.

Now, the timeline that organizes all of these contributions in a readable way would have to be off chain. This is where an application would read from that public array which is part of the same code that the blockchain is in. I know that’s a mouth full. I hope that makes sense.

There also doesn’t have to be an array in this code. I guess someone could just make the blockchain and have an offchain application do all of the fetching work, but I don’t think that would be as efficient.

calling example
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Thanks Andrew. A few of my thoughts:

  • Storing data onChain can get expensive, every time a user posts a new contribution, they will incur a transaction fee. This could be a good thing as it may disincentive spam while incentive quality content (maybe?).
  • Does the community think storing this data in an open format on a public ledger could pose any privacy concerns (GDPR?).
  • Data stored on chain could be processed by any number of frontends, so there should be no expectation of control, if we provide an “update” ability, there should be no expectation of state
  • Might be best to separate the protocol from the FrontEnd or UI in terms of funding

In terms of business model:

  • do we think advertising or subscription?
  • How do we integrate ApeCoin into this? Is ApeCoin the official token for this new network?
  • do we want to talk about a go to market strategy? or is this too early?

Sorry for all the questions (I have many more but will stop here), I really like thinking through all these things.

PS. there is BitClout / Deso if we want to analyse what they did right / wrong and adjust accordingly

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UPDATE#1
4.1.22

Hey everyone, I have received some feedback lately regarding how this would tie in with ApeCoin. Below I created an example of an APE network using OverWrite. Ape/BAYC/MAYC holders would have the benefit of automatically being adding to this network and having the ability to add anyone they want while non-Ape/BAYC/MAYC do not have that luxury. Ape/BAYC/MAYC can also be granted PROMO tokens which they can sell or lend to someone else. Please check out everything I’ve added below

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I appreciate all of the questions. By asking them, you are helping me.

Please check out my recent update on this project (the post I just made to this thread).
That should answer the first 2 business model questions you had. Regarding market strategy, if we make it an APE/BAYC/MAYC network, we would first have to figure out how to add all of those members. From then, we can discuss how to reach wider audiences

  • Check out update 1 and let me know if that answers or changes your question
  • It’s up to the community. I would hope no one puts anything too personal on it. It’s not meant to hold sensitive information like that. I’d have to think about how to prevent that some more
  • We would have to go into further discussion for those last 2 points you made. Please join my discord and we can talk about it. Anything we change, I will reflect in the proposal

Discord: Discord

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I mostly don’t understand how this aligns with the motivations of the DAO as outlined in AIP-1.

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Hi Papasito!

Thanks for your response and I understand your concern/confusion. I know this proposal is unusual but let me try to clarify some things.

We have people like Elon Musk concerned about web 2.0 social media “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy”. We also have someone like Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, voicing his concern about there not being enough blockchain applications outside of cryptocurrency/NFTs which can make a big difference in the world.

Now lets look at the motivation from AIP-1: “the most exciting and promising ideas, and make them real.”, “aims to be the heart of art, gaming, entertainment, and events on the blockchain.”, and “We don’t shy away from the weird, the hard, or the new.”

The reason I chose APECOIN to introduce this idea is because everyone here seems dedicated to the web3.0 revolution. I trust that everyone here can help provide useful and relevant feedback for OverWrite. BAYC is the biggest NFT collection out there containing the most dedicated web3.0 pioneers out there. I highly respect all of your feedback and suggestions because of that. I can’t just suggest this idea to any venture capitalist because web3.0 and blockchain is still relatively misunderstood… but I know that’s not the case with this community.

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Hello @mrAlderson !

A couple of days ago you asked me a few questions about my project and I just wanted to follow up and see if you looked at the new update (link below)

I also wanted to follow up with the questions you asked. (make sure to read up on update 1 first)

  • Storing data onChain can get expensive, every time a user posts a new contribution, they will incur a transaction fee. This could be a good thing as it may disincentive spam while incentive quality content (maybe?).

In the new update, I provided an example of the “contribution pool” where unofficial contributions sit until they are either approved or expired. Instead of transaction fees, I implemented a new method of incentivization for blockchain validators. Basically, people will pay to get their contributions promoted/featured so that more voters can see theirs. It’s all explained in the new update

  • Does the community think storing this data in an open format on a public ledger could pose any privacy concerns (GDPR?).

I’m still figuring this one out. This is supposed to be a public open-source project. No one should post anything personal on it. However, I believe it’s best to prepare incase someone does accidentally post their social security number on a public ledger that everyone in the world can have access to… whoops. Maybe instead of storing the contribution data in the blockchain, store it somewhere else non permanent and the blockchain just points to it. (The blockchain’s biggest role is to keep track of the people joining the network if you’re wondering what’s the point of even using a blockchain)

  • Data stored on chain could be processed by any number of frontends, so there should be no expectation of control, if we provide an “update” ability, there should be no expectation of state

I’m not sure I fully understand what you mean by an update ability. Would this be for the frontend application(s) or for the protocol?

  • Might be best to separate the protocol from the FrontEnd or UI in terms of funding

Yes, but I don’t think the community would be statisfied with this web3.0 application if they have to access it through a command prompt. They need to have a user friendly FrontEnd with a UI that’s easy to navigate. On the other hand, the protocol which contains the blockchain (and whatever else we decide to put in it) is the core of this proposal. I’m hoping maybe we can fund the protocol and fund a frontend application that exclusively runs APE/BAYC/MAYC networks (like the one in my Update#1 example) I will definitely need to hear some more community feedback about this question.

In terms of business model:

  • do we think advertising or subscription?

Maybe we can make another token for advertisers to post something. So you would have a PROMO token and maybe a SPONSO token?

  • How do we integrate ApeCoin into this? Is ApeCoin the official token for this new network?

We can make any token from this project tradable with apecoin.

  • do we want to talk about a go to market strategy? or is this too early?

Too early for now. In terms of audience, let’s just focus on APE/BAYC/MAYC holders for now

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Building off the SPONSO token, they would be used by big brands/sponsors to post ads. Their ads can be put somewhere on the frontend application or maybe in the contribution pool (1 ad for every 10 contributions).

If the APE/BAYC/MAYC community decides to make our own frontend application, sponsors could buy SPONSO tokens using only ApeCoin. Same with people trying to promote themselves with PROMO tokens. Maybe SPONSO tokens are given to everyone in the APE Community network(s) and sponsors can buy those tokens off of them.

That would be possible but it’s important to keep in mind what’s incentivizing blockchain validators. Right now it’s just PROMO tokens, but maybe that’s enough to keep things running. Still trying to figure out the consensus mechanism (who get’s to be a validator and ultimately receives promo tokens)

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Hey everyone! Only a few more hours until the community feedback phase of this proposal is over. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and helped me with OverWrite.

For anyone new to this proposal, here is what you need to know about it:

  • Decentralized Social Media and Decentralized Community Content Creation
  • Build networks of people that share common interests, ideas, and niches
  • Contribute to publicly shared-upon ideas or pieces of content like a book, screenplay, decentralized forum, or community event planning
  • Everyone can equally vote on implementing or rejecting contributions/changes to public content
  • Community guidelines created and enforced by the community, no unfair censorship from central authorities
  • Networks self cleanse for the removal of bots, scammers, and trolls
  • $$$ Everyone in a network receives free SPONSO tokens that can be sold to sponsors for advertisements in the network.
  • $$$ Everyone has an equal opportunity to be a blockchain validator who receives PROMO tokens which can be sold to people who want to promote themselves on the network

How in the world will this benefit ApeCoin??? I’m glad you asked

Imagine how the price of $APE would be impacted by all of the following:

  1. The first network to come out of this blockchain would be an Ape Social Network. Anyone holding $APE, BAYC, or MAYC will be automatically added to this network. No one else is allowed to join unless they are invited by someone who holds $APE/BAYC/MAYC.

  2. $APE will be the currency that creators, sponsors, promoters will use as a means of exchange. Not USD, not any other cryptocurrency, just $APE. That means if a brand like Nike would like to post an ad on the APE Network, they would pay all creators with $APE in exchange for their SPONSO tokens

  3. The consensus mechanism for this blockchain can lean more towards choosing only $APE holders as validators for the sake of extra return on investment

  4. This would be great publicity for ApeCoin, BAYC, and MAYC. We would be among the first few communities on the forefront of the social web3.0 revolution. It would let the world know that we are way more than just a crypto and NFT community. We don’t hesitate to take that leap of faith towards innovation.

What’s the next step?

As I am going through the next phases of the AIP-1 proposal process, I will be talking with devs regarding quotes and possible early developement prototypes. I want to keep everyone as updated as possible and my best way of communication is through discord. I’m usually most active during mornings and evenings (US) so if I don’t respond right away, I’m probably busy or asleep.

As of now, the discord server is completely empty because this is the first community I have publicly reached out to. It would mean the world to me if anyone interested joins it and provides more feedback and/or support. Love you all

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Thank you for keeping us updated on this.

You set a great precedence for how AIP presenters should continuously update and expand on their initial project proposal.

I’m excited to see where this goes next and your journey to get there. And whether it’s through the DAO assisting or otherwise, you’ve done a good job.

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This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.

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Thank you @AndrewCraw for your ideas and the ApeCoin DAO community for the thoughtful discussions. A moderator will get in touch with the author to draft the AIP in the appropriate template. Once the AIP is drafted and meets all the DAO-approved guidelines, the proposal will be posted on Snapshot for live official voting at: Snapshot

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. @AndrewCraw please see your messages for the next steps.

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