[MihaiAlisie]

We are aware of zapchain and their issues. I'd like to point that zapchain is not completely decentralized - it is rather a hybrid application using servers for content distribution and blockchain for payments.

Regarding security/spam - Proof of Work is not the only way you can secure networks; one of the interesting potential solutions we explored is a sort of Proof of Stake mechanism.

Basically this would allow a sort of "deposit" scheme where you would deposit an X amount of tokens for an Y amount of time and depending on the feedback received such as votes for example you would either get the deposit back or lose it. That would make it expensive to spam while not affecting the people generating good content as they would get back their tokens.

Things get a bit tricky when we're talking about controversial topics and how that would be treated but that's a different thing.

That being said, this is an open and complex discussion that probably will take a while to figure out.

In the meantime we're happy with proving that it is possible to have a completely decentralized publishing system that doesn't need any servers, creating in the process a product that empowers people with unfettered freedom of expression. One step at a time :)

[bglusman]

Ooh, good solution and good problem to point out on controversial stuff! Why not, while allowing upvoting, also allow independent assessment of risk/controversy/value, and these somehow weight things to reward such gambits, as long as a substantial minority of users vote them up or something? Maybe a sliding percentage, so that if even people who downvote it mark it as controversial or whatnot, the more people thing it's controversial/provocative, the smaller the percentage who have to agree with it/up vote it? Just a quick reaction, I'm sure with some iteration and/or thought you could develop a better similar (or different) idea with some models to support it as optimal, or pareto optimal given some constraints.

[kang]

Firstly, I really want such project to exist and will start working on it next year if nothing successful exists by then.

I am not advocating PoW for security (yes sure PoS & other federated schemes can do it) but for spam. Your solution is a pre-deposit. Nothing is impossible but good luck having creators to pay to blog. [Try brainstorming a PoW akashacoin & you will see the secret sauce that solves this pre-deposit problem]

Being decentralized certainly makes the geek in us happy but is only relevant to user if it brings some advantage, here it being censorship-resistant which takes you to the controversial topic problem.

[mr_sturd]

Good luck with this, I'm really excited to give it a go.

You say that Akasha "doesn't need any servers". If a user is to run a "node" on their PC, how will the network react if a friend/follower is offline when data is requested from them. Also, will a node be runnable on a home server system, allowing for higher-availability and easier backups of personal data?

[MihaiAlisie]

First of all thanks for the encouraging words!

> If a user is to run a "node" on their PC, how will the network react if a friend/follower is offline when data is requested from them.

There are some things currently in development such as IPFS clusters that can tackle this issue. There's also the IPFS filecoin token (not yet live) which would provide an incentive for people to keep the hash "alive". This is similar to how Ethereum's Swarm will work.

In the meantime the gateways mentioned in a comment bellow would act as a sort of "seed" even if the OP goes offline.

> will a node be runnable on a home server system, allowing for higher-availability and easier backups of personal data?

I don't see why not. Remains to be tested though :)

[hosh]

@mr_stud the functionality you are asking about is addressed by IPFS. I worked on the project briefly about a year ago -- exciting stuff. IPFS's content distribution is similar to that of a torrent. So the content gets stored across the network, with certain concentrations where people can pin it. It leaves room for giving an economic incentive for pinning it. Cost of storage shifts over to the people who care about the content rather than the people who care about it's distribution.

There still would be a case where a friend's content is unavailable because it is offline. If the friend is offline too much, one way is to have an intermediary willing to pin the content when that friend comes briefly online. It may be possible if the friend is within a large enough group, there will always be some sort of coverage.

Check out the IPFS website sometime. There is a white paper and demo videos.

[mr_sturd]

IPFS is largely the reason for me battering F5, on this thread, this afternoon.

I've only briefly looked into it, on its website, upon originally reading about it. I will definitely give it more attention, have a deeper read, and have a go at running an instance to see what can be done.