Community Spotlight — February 2019 Edition
February 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 February 2019.
10,000 ARK VIDEO CONTEST
The 10,000 ARK Video Contest concluded in February. Details about the contest
can be found in the January 2019 Community
Spotlight.
The contest was created and conducted by long-time community member
‘Gongrabber,’ and anyone who likes ARK was allowed to participate. After a
voting period, the winning video emerged!
Here’s the wrap-up article with thanks, entries, and more ways to earn
ARK
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, and
you can see all the hard work of our GitHub participants at
blog.ark.io!
- GitHub member ‘dated’ implemented an important function in the ARK desktop
wallet- searching delegates by name. This prevents any lengthy browsing that was
needed to locate delegates to vote for out of the many choices available. Voting
for a specific named delegate is now easier than ever. - GitHub member ‘dated’ also implemented a user experience improvement that
now shows which wallet addresses are in voting status within the wallet
addresses table. This means it will be easy to tell which wallet addresses are
voting for a delegate, and which aren’t. - GitHub member ‘kalgoop’ squashed a small nuisance bug in the mobile wallet.
When specifying ARK amounts to send, the interface was allowing more than eight
digits of precision, causing an error when it came time to execute the send
function. Now, the user is alerted right away of the issue. This has made the
user experience in the wallet all the more smooth.
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 February posts:
- ‘Skallzbucket’ wondered if Push Button Blockchains were done
yet. - ‘myusername1000’ asked about
Smartbridges. - ‘Massive-Lunch’ launched a discussion about ARK’s
future. - ‘debotsauto’ suggested we improve ARK’s Reddit
description.
Success! - Apparently, ‘Rekted1’ loves
ARK. So do we! - ‘Buycoin_ATM’ made observations about the ARK delegate
landscape. - ‘yozivey’ wondered about ARK paying a Binance listing
fee. - ‘Zzzoem’ wondered about the average ARK block
time.
The short answer is each block is designed for a block time of eight seconds.
Fast! - ‘yozivey’ noticed an odd change in ARK circulating
supply
on Coinmarketcap. Looks like CMC had to do some API tweaks due to a recent
protocol upgrade, and it was quickly resolved. - ‘Polskihammer’ asked for the voting mechanics to be
explained.
Many community members jumped in to help. - ‘BitAGift’ asked how the nodes of a newly launched chain are
managed. - ‘Lama_43’ posted an
article
on interoperability where ARK is mentioned. - ‘Neralm’ asked about the
importance
of Push Button Blockchains. - ‘velopic’ asked for a
list
of ARK-based chains. Delegate Jarunik
provided. - ‘Zzzoem’ asked about
ARKVM
and smart contracts with ARK. Keep an eye out for the new ARK whitepaper coming
soon, which will clarify. - ‘doktergreen’ wrote an article about
ARK,
which was well received. - ‘SmallAI’ noticed an ARK photo from Consensus 2018 was randomly used as
media
for news that had nothing to do with ARK, vexing everyone. - ‘cambo666’ as a previous ACF board member
provided some closing
thoughts
and some suggestions for the new recently elected board. - ‘ARKjd,’ a sitting board member,
reported
that the ACF recently approved a new project, ‘ARKPlace.’
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.
FEBRUARY 2019 PODCASTS
ARK CTO Kristjan Košič On The Cast Talking Utrecht Meetup, Dev Meeting, AIPs,
And
More
ArkCommunity.Fund Board Members Ray Alva (ACC) And Marc (Delegate Cryptology)
On The
Cast
Contest Wrap-Ups & DecentralizedSummit.com Presentation Jan 29,
2019
A Brief History Of Ark With Commentary Using
ArkTimeline.com
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 February 2019 Community Service Spotlight:
- 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 ‘Rising_Sun’ ran general bounties in
February.
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.
- ARK Trend Statistics service is getting tweaked and resuming 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.
In February, Jarunik gave an update on the
program,
sponsored SteemMonsters tournaments
here
and
here,
and even ran a Twitter
giveaway. - Delegate ‘Jarunik’ is also assisting Indonesian community members in ramping
up ARK awareness. This includes ARK School
Indonesia,
educating people on ARK and crypto. Updates
here,
here,
here,
and
here.
- Delegate ‘Alessio’ continued combing through ARK
code
to locate and repair vulnerabilities, with
update.
Delegate ‘Alessio’ runs under a Forging for Security model, similar to
‘Jarunik’s Forging for Contributions model. - ‘Arkstickers.com’ completed a sticker photo
contest,
with 200 ARK prize provided by Delegate Jarunik, and winner announced
(BroadcastJunkie).
See more community-sourced photos by following ARK on
Instagram.
- ‘AllThingsDecentral.com’ has physical ARK poker chips still
available. - ‘DGameShop’ now accepts ARK for online video game
purchases. - ‘Kezchenko’ created an amusing ARK
image. - Delegate ‘ItsANameToo’ released a
service
for ARK delegates to utilize called Hermod. This brings more powers when using
ARK’s Core Snapshot System. That same month, Vanir was
released
as an additional service for ARK delegates, allowing them to forge their own
transactions in various ways in a no-hassle environment. - ‘PaulBermon’ mentioned that physical ARK keychains are still
available. - ‘cambo666’ showed off the recent arrival of his physical ARK cold storage
wallet
created by Lynx Art Collection. - ‘NickTheBubble29’ posted a video about
Persona,
an ARK-based chain focused on identity management.
TEAM IN THE COMMUNITY
The ARK team has been sighted in the crypto community in February. Here are just
some of the activities:
- I will be attending the launch party for the ‘Crypto Blockchain Plug’ crypto
community center taking place this Saturday March 9th, 12–7 PM in
Inglewood, CA. There will be food, drinks, fun, and special talks about
various crypto projects, ARK included! I will gather media at the event to share
afterwards. Register FREE
here.
Check out ARK Ecosystem on instagram for videos, pictures and more:
https://www.instagram.com/arkecosystem/
- ARK CMO Travis Walker put together and released a very well received
article
on how startups will choose to build their blockchains using customizable DPoS
interoperable solutions. It’s a good read that sheds some light on how future
startups may shift their thinking. - ARK CEO FX Thoorens continued efforts in
France,
where he sits on the Blockchain Commission of the French Digital Asset
Association. The first missions will focus on mapping the existing blockchains
and their uses according to business contexts. Fix was also spotted at the
French National Assembly, where he was seen asking questions to French MP Pierre
Person, known as a ‘crypto deputy.’ For more updates, follow ARK’s
Instagram.
- Members of the ARK team attended a community-run meetup event in Utrecht,
Netherlands on January 25th. The team members in attendance were ARK CEO FX
Thoorens, ARK CSO Matthew DC, ARK CTO Kristjan Košič, ARK CFO Lars
Rensing, ARK Finance and Compliance Manager Gerard Blezer, ARK Core
Developer Joshua Noack, and ARK Community Engagement Manager Sam
Harper-Pittam. This meetup was organized by Delegate TheFoundry. In February,
after a teaser on Instagram, ARK.io
released a
video
summing up the activities that took place there, with the editing help of
Delegate ‘Cam’s Yellow Jacket.’
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 is now pleased to release the second project (Codename: Project LAUDE),
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.’
- Delegate ‘Jarunik’ sponsored the 30 Days of ARK campaign with a generous
allocation of 1000 ARK that was proportionately distributed to participants
based on word
count.
Jarunik then provided an additional 1000 ARK to the ACC for processing of
comments and website construction. Here’s the launch
article.
Jarunik helps the ACC continue to do the great work!
I’m giving a special thanks to all the participants who earned ARK for their
efforts on this project. I manage projects, but I don’t keep any ARK for myself.
- ArkThoughts Task Team@ itsrayecho#7199, @ carlyewicklund#6141,
@ Azzurrii-08#3982, @Patrick#4631, @ AeonC88#8302, @ Saltas#5914 - ArkThoughts Dev Team@ MisterH#4641, @ Moe B#5512
- ArkThoughts HostDelegate ‘Deadlock’
- ArkThoughts Outreach Team
@ Saltas#5914
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 March!
Follow us on social media ( Twitter | Facebook | Reddit | YouTube), join our community ( Slack | Discord ) and stay tuned to our blog on Medium.