Interview with @rehrar on Telegram
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 10:52 AM]
Hello Diego! Thanks for nominating yourself to be part of the FIRO Community Fund Committee!
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 10:53 AM]
You’ve been involved in several privacy projects in the past and have really been a key supporter of Firo in the past few years. Could you share a bit about what you like about Firo and what has kept your support over the years ?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 10:55 AM]
Of course. Believe it or not, what drew me to Firo to begin with was its failures. I was running a Monero village at Defcon several years back, and Reuben was one of the people who came out to speak. The topic of his presentation was how Zcoin dealt with being exploited, and the humility of the project, coupled with its commitment to privacy technology really turned me onto it.
I started contributing in small ways not long after, and ended up striking up a friendship with the project leadership. The qualities that first attracted me to the project have kept me here over the years. Firo is really one of the few projects in the space doing real research into privacy technology, and ultimately that’s where my passions lie.
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 10:56 AM]
There was a comment that mentioned that your independence might be affected due to you being a contractor and friends with me. The CFC rules does explicitly disallow for interested parties to vote on proposals that benefit you or your company. That being said, how would you respond to this and how do you think your independence might be affected ?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:01 AM]
Ecosystems are not built on any one thing. You need users, you need businesses, you need acceptance, you need developers, and you need other projects. I’m applying as a user, a business, and a person that accepts Firo for goods and services.
Of course any proposals that Cypher Stack puts up, I will recuse myself from the vote, but that doesn’t mean aligned intersts always mean conflicting ones. If anything, when a project and business have aligned interests, they spur each other onward in greater capacities.
And if there is another group or business that wants to build something, I won’t even think of being selfish and trying to hog all of that stuff. The more other businesses and groups we can get to work with us, the stronger the ecosystem as a whole will be. It’s just good long term strategy, even from a monetarily selfish perspective.
In regards to my relationship with Reuben, it’s true we’re good friends. But make no mistake, we’re actual friends. Meaning I’m not a yes man, and I’m not afraid to disagree with him when he’s wrong, which has happened often these past years. I’m not afraid to give him my contradicting opinion, or tell him when he’s being dense. My position on the CFC won’t be compromised by our friendship because I generally think I’m right most of the time anyways if we have a disagreement. 
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:03 AM]
While not a CFC responsibility, what are your thoughts on how the election for the CFC positions are being run especially in regards to eligibility (trust level requirement or donation requirement)? Also what are your thoughts and views on the creation of the Community Fund?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:08 AM]
I think we do what we can with the tools we have. Anyone critical of the means with which we try to solve the sybil attack problem should come forward with good ideas (that aren’t completely braindead) about how to overcome sybil attacks in online voting mechanisms.
I don’t think the way they’re run is perfect. If you’re a newcomer, and you don’t meet the trust requirement, you’ll feel unheard. If you don’t have the cash to spare and can’t donate, you’ll feel unheard. These are definite cons. But again, please come forward with an alternative that cannot be sybil’d (spoiler, you probably can’t). This is kind of a downer answer, I know. I’m not singing the praises of the methodology here, but that’s just because I’m aware there are definite cons. But at present, it’s what we have. And we have to move forward with the tools we have at our disposal. And hey, it just helps the noobies build up their reputation so they can have a say in the next one.
In regards to the community fund, it’s been needed for a long time. Not to say the core team isn’t doing a good job. I think they are. But the same set of minds can often overlook things, even despite best intentions. Who’s to say that the next revolution in tech or usability won’t come from a dark horse funded by the community fund? The core team doesn’t have all of the answers, and ultimately, Firo is a coin that needs to be built by all of us.
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:09 AM]
Nice answer. I like that. Once the CFC is formed, what immediate things would you like to see funded?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:11 AM]
Oh man. Am I allowed to dream big? Maybe a rust implementation of Firo. Maybe a full scale audit? Maybe another community manager? How about prize pools for contests, like the animation contest that was run a few months back. Any of those. Mostly Rust. Let’s be rid of C++. Ugh.
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:12 AM]
Haha these are immediate concerns ?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:13 AM]
Maybe not immediate, but that’s kind of the point. the core team should have other priorities, but if there is a capable team willing to do these ancillary things, then why not?
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:14 AM]
Any thoughts on the Community Fund eventually going down the quadratic voting with donations route ?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:15 AM]
Hmmmmmmmmmm…this is a toughie, and I don’t think I’m ready to comment on it. I know interesting developments are being made in this field, but it’s too early to see if it’s just a meme. But that’s just my opinion.
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:17 AM]
Fair enough. There’s also been some talk on our forums on building a voting system for governance with some discussing masternode voting. Again this isn’t a CFC responsibility but interested to hear your thoughts.
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:19 AM]
I’ll be honest, I don’t think it’s that simple. The thing with game theory is it often needs to be thought through, from the ground up, at the beginning. Just adding different voting mechanisms, community powers, etc as you go along is nowhere as easy at it sounds. Like sure, you CAN do it, but how many actually understand the game theoretical aspects of what they’re proposing. To do something like this, distribution needs to be taken into account, whereas if Firo was built with this in mind from the ground up then the distribution could have been done in such a way to take into account the eventual powers that masternodes would have. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea. I’m just saying people have no idea just how hard decentralized governance really is (like privacy!)
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:20 AM]
Sorry for bringing all the non-hype, “real” answers. It sucks to be one of the people that actually has a clue.
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:21 AM]
Rofl. That’s cool. Last question, what are you most excited about in Firo’s roadmap?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:23 AM]
I’m a privacy guy. I like me some Spark. Let’s get it out. And let’s make it mandatory with no opt-out option. Spark all the way. Privacy for the world. Freedom. Woo!
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:23 AM]
Cool anything else you would like to share ?
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:24 AM]
A vote for me is a vote for Firo.
Diego Salazar, [24/5/2022 11:24 AM]
(This message brought to you by the Rehrar for CFC Foundation)
Firo-chan Yap, [24/5/2022 11:24 AM]
Lolll…thanks for your time !