Should I take a step back?

Hey Firofam

I am considering taking a step back and relinquishing my position as Project Steward. I am not disappearing from the project, I’ll be helping the core team but won’t be public facing anymore except for the interviews I’ve already committed to.

The past few years, despite pretty amazing technical achievements that is literally moving the privacy coin space such as Lelantus and Lelantus Spark, in terms of market cap, we haven’t shown much results under my watch. I am extremely proud of the achievements the core team have made and I cannot fault them, as they were following my lead.

However, with the recent community poll and price declines, I have received quite a few DMs that I have been imposing my will on the project and that it is handicapping the growth of the project. These DMs made me do some serious soul searching and I realize that my beliefs and ideals of my version of fairness, honesty and decentralization have been posing a liability despite the very clear fundamental improvements in technology. My position as Project Steward has also made the project highly reliant on my efforts as I am seen as a leader to move things resulting in many in the community adopting a much more passive stance.

Perhaps what Firo needs is to have no central figure and to have the community take charge. This is also why I am a strong advocate of the creation of the community fund in the first place and I’m excited to see this pass. The direction of the core team in this whole year already has been set in any case with the launch of Lelantus Spark and completion of Elysium.

The position of Project Steward has taken a really heavy toll on me mentally and emotionally. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought of doing this as some of our community members know and I have tried taking temporary breaks in the past. Doing your best, making the most of our modest resources and being at the mercy to the whims and fancies of whales using the project as a play thing (such as today’s PnD) are very bitter pills to swallow. The past few months I’ve been going without pay to ensure everyone else gets paid and to retain talent has also been tough. As Firo holds a very very dear place in my heart, its success and failures weigh very heavily on me and it isn’t easy to put up a brave front all the time.

I’ll still be coordinating the core team in the background but I think it is best for myself and perhaps for the project that I do not speak on behalf of the project nor get involved in any of our community interactions. There are many passionate community members that I hope can step up and own this project and I will gladly always be available to share my resources, connections or experience to any community member who reaches out to me to do something for Firo.

I apologise for any missteps I have made and am grateful for being given the chance to steward Firo for the past few years. I am not selling any of my Firo and it remains the largest coin in my portfolio and I have belief that Firo remains extremely undervalued and the importance of our work. Please know that whatever I did, I always had the best of intentions to do right by everyone.

Firo belongs to the community and for it to thrive, it needs to be allowed opportunities to grow and govern and having a vocal project steward doesn’t really encourage that. I’m not going anywhere, I’m still part of the core team to ensure all our development promises are kept but Firo’s vision belongs to all #firofam.

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Don’t blame yourself for anything, Reuben. Maybe you need a vacation, not a step back. Anyways, thank you very much for your support, clear mind and eloquent. You was and will be a part of FIRO family.

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Great leadership shown here.
Personally I don’t think you should step back.
Perhaps you can take a break , to reflect and find inspiration?
You’re an inspiring guy with great knowledge and a great personality.

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Devwarrior - I don’t think your kneejerk response is productive and I expect more of you based on how long you’ve been around. As the first post, look at how weak that looks to others.

Reuben - I admire your care for this community and Firo. I believe there are a couple of core issues at hand here and will share a few thoughts about each.

  1. Firo’s value/technology dissonance - Firo’s technology has improved dramatically - this is the team’s core strength. Including your technical leadership. Value vs. expected appreciation/use has underperformed. The primary issue coming up here is adoption growth has stagnated, Firo has not found its demand use case yet.

  2. Market manipulation - Firo seems to be pumped and dumped monthly fairly regularly. This hurts prospective investment. No idea why this happens but it’s a real pita. Maybe exchanges can help us understand what’s going on?

  3. You’re a different type of leader - Your leadership styles strength is in blockchain and privacy technical expertise and educating others. Markets, partnerships, growth, and community management all require different kinds of leadership. This is why leading the community is draining for you, you’re flexing yourself and trying to do it all. The community DOES NOT have all the answers, most consumers don’t know what they want before they want it. Steve Jobs didn’t ever ask what kind of ipod consumers wanted. I mean, you’re even asking the community if you should take a step back in this thread. No, most of us do not want you to step back… many of us are here because we’ve learned from you and you’ve inspired us. But it’s your life, think about why you asking the community to decide that for you?

At the end of the day Firo needs many leaders with different talents in different areas. You’ve been doing it all alone, of course you’re going to be burned out after so many years. I think you should focus on your strength in leading privacy technology, educating others, and keeping the tech/team going, and look for help with the other stuff. Make a volunteer Firo ambassador program to help with leadership responsibilities and take candidates on and interview them. Give them small things to do and work the way up as trust increases, put them on payroll in the future if possible if they’re making a difference. Until then, be really picky about what other initiatives you invest your time with outside of that, unless you’re confident they’ll be price positive.

Keep your head high Reuben, you’re a super talented dude and care a lot. You’ll get criticized by some people no matter what you do. Learn, grow, and do your best to shake it off.

Those are my 2 firoshis on it…

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Keep pushing forward! Thanks for everything you have done for the project. It will all pay off in the long run!

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Take a break first. Sometimes the best is step back and reevaluate. Markets do what markets do. You can only buy a fairly valued company/token and be patient for the market to realize it. In the meantime keep building.

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这是退居幕后 ? 社区dao 自治? 隐私dao

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Don’t leave. Reuben.

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This is a great idea on this. I think my public presence stifles additional community leaders from being identified.

Over the next few months, we can organise ambassador and leadership programs to fill these roles in their own specialties and I’ll be there along with other core team members and long term community members to guide this process and then we can reassess.

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Hey Man, it’s an emotional time. Just so you know, your contributions are also valued.

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鲁本老大别走,你做得很好,要为你点个赞。
我是firo的忠诚粉丝,通过这些年的观察和了解,大家都有一个共识是这个币的市值必须要推上去,我们一定要做到,你不能推卸责任,现在有很多主流币都做得很好,相信我们的团队和团队领导们也知道应该去走别人已成功的足迹,相信这样我们也一定能够成功的,而不能按照以往固定的思维继续走下去,去中心化,让资本市场来接受认可我们的飞熔,只有这样才能让我们的市值有可能突破,否则我们还是会向原来一样停滞不前的,希望这个建议对你们有帮助,期待。。。

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I am deep confident in the project because of Reuben, I fell good watching your videos
But I understand your situation and I prefer you stay healthy and on peace of mind

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飞熔FIRO(小零币XZC)亲,这边建议您销毁700万币

飞熔币firo(xzc小零币)为啥从一出生的万众瞩目到最后的备受歧视,饱受煎熬,终日惶恐不安,大家都不愿意长期持币,都是抱着炒一把就跑的心态,归根结底根本原因就是飞熔币一出生就输在了起跑线上,和它同时期出生的大零币zec也是同样悲惨命运。当时号称最新匿名技术的大小零币技术上是没问题的,大家都一致看好这两个币,最终为什么价格四年了不见起色?问题就出在了飞熔币通胀水平比比特币,莱特币高的不是一点半点,事实证明区块链世界里光讲情怀是要饿死人的!四年来大小零币第一年2017通胀100%+,第二年2018通胀50%,第三年2019通胀33%,第四年2020通胀25%,同期其它币通胀率只有1%到5%左右,5%都要被骂死。2021年的今天,比特币通胀只有1.8%左右,大小零币还有10%左右。这就是差距啊!十倍的差距!!!

这不是输在了起跑线上,这是直接输在了脚底板上了。

从开发组改名这个事情可以看出,开发组还是急于求变的,但是光改名字,不改内在是不行的。firo最致命的缺点就是比比特币和莱特币出生晚了好几年,两者剩余未开采数量不一样,firo通胀预期高于比特币,莱特币,持币人长期持币积极性大大降低,拋压严重,同等条件下去几家银行存钱,你会选高利息银行还是低利息银行?在日新月异的区块链世界,你一出生就直接落后了人家几年,而且这落后的几年是对币圈和持币人没有任何贡献的落后。为什么我们要从零开始?为什么人类知识可以传承,财产可以继承,区块链不可以传承?firo一出生为什么不能直接按比特币未开采数量制定firo总量,然后按比特币四年一次减半,开采数量一样,减半数量一样。在同一起跑线上竞争,这样才是公平的竞争,而且这个销毁过程中没有任何受害人,未开采数量减少,通胀降低到比特币同等水平,币价升值预期增加,增加矿工挖矿屯币积极性,减少拋压。现在通胀高,矿工打死也不敢屯币。同理,也增加飞熔持币人持币升值积极性。​​​

区块链世界不用循规蹈矩,按部就班,畏首畏尾,代码及法律,我们需要根据最优方案制定并且通过共识修改自己的法律来维护社区利益。

这边对firo社区和firo开发组提出建议

参考比特币未开采数量剩余300万,firo未开采数量1000万,firo直接销毁700万,把剩余数量对标比特币数量,产量参考比特币四年减半或者直接田忌赛马,大胆点,未开采数量剩余300万,firo产量每4年减半改成2年减半,出块时间改成1到2分钟,最终目的是加快出块确认时间的同时剩余币数量和比特币同样在一百多年后开采完。大家在同一起跑线上竞争。

这次小零币XZC改名利用了投票功能,充分征求了社区意见,这是小零币XZC社区的开放,自治的开始,建议乘胜追击,充分学习参考dcr的去中心化投票社区治理功能对firo做出改进。

大家集思广益,好好给开发组提提意见,这区块链行业,去中心化治理,共识统一,说改就改,firo长期目标是成为匿名储备货币,短期目标是,为拉盘而生。拉盘才是真的匿名储备货币。我们的目标是,销毁多余数量firo,和比特币在同一起跑线上竞争,平分天下,比特币,可查储备货币,firo,匿名储备货币。​​​

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I am sad to read your message.

I don’t know what the DMs you refer to contain, but I feel through your words the hurt they caused.

Sometimes, even on the public forum, certain messages are hurtful, unfair or even calm or insulting: it is difficult not to give in to anger and/or discouragement.
In these moments, I try to temporize and to trust in the capacity of discernment of the community. You and I are honest, driven by a real desire to build on FIRO for the long term and loyal to ZCoin/FIRO for a long time.
Even honest and with the best intentions, we can sometimes make mistakes: this should not discourage us. Acknowledging your mistake is the best way to not make it again and to progress.

We both don’t always agree and the forum is a great way to confront our differences of point of view: it in no way affects the respect I have for you and your work.

The current period is crucial for FIRO: what reassures me is that you stay around and continue to offer your help to the project.

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I can understand how you feel, I was scolded yesterday too, and I have been scolded many times in the past. My trick is to see more of the people and things I love, to empty myself for a while and to stay away from people who make me unhappy.

Think about what you have to accomplish, which is to make Firo a true top cryptocurrency, which is what we all vowed to achieve. Think about the people you have to protect, we have to be strong in order to protect our beloved ones, all the attacks just make us stronger.

We may be inexperienced, but we can learn and not give up. We’ll leave eventually, so it’s okay to leave once in a while. If Firo is going to be strong, we must all become unimportant, do what you can do, go for it :muscle:

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I think I just caught a small glimpse of what you’ve been dealing with via DM. Guy comes into the forums, proclaims to know almost nothing about the team, the project, or it’s inner workings; and then proceeds to blame Reuben for everything he perceives to be wrong with it. Pissed me off to no end. Sorry you’ve been having to deal with that. I’m glad to hear that you’ll be remaining in the background to continue offering your expertise.

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Word salad, you said nothing in favor of Ruben staying. He needs to stay as lead and face untill the project is of the ground.

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I respect Reuben enough not to tell him what to do and not scratch his name.
This is apparently not your case.

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Ruben,
I and the FiroFam want you to stay as face and lead on this project until at the vey least the project has legs (available on more exchanges) and growth of at min 2.1Bil market cap which should not be difficult for a great project such as your baby, Firo.

Ignore all the messages and comments that most assuredly come from greedy, selfish, and childish people. Now is the time to grab the bull by the horns and give it all you got… It maybe now or never for this project, but I can assure you from what I’ve read from some of these members and the attitude which is visible through the words they choose I for one am not confident in the members who appear to be more vocal than most. It’s a shame that some community members might be causing you grief and contributing to your mental and emotional distress.

To the community:
Do not allow this brilliant man to take a step back, for if he does the project may not recover. Vote this UP to show Ruben the community wants him to remain in driver seat. He needs motivation not acceptance of resignation from lead/face.

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Sure thing Zen(More Vocal). What’s the Zen referring to btw?

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