I have been doing a lot of preaching of the Zcash gospel lately to Bitcoiners who know basically nothing about Zcash. They eventually google it and get to z.cash site.
They typically read for about 2 minutes.
Then they almost always come back to me with these “facts”…
These are falsehoods though.
People look at the official website, z.cash for 2 minutes… and these are their takeaways…
“Zcash is owned by and run by a Corporation.”
“Zcash has a CEO.”
“20% of the miners’ money lines their pockets.”
“The website even says so.”
“Zcash is just a Corporate shitcoin.”
This is clearly a problem of perception. We need to look at why these are their takeaways. What is it about the website that screams, “Zcash is a Corporation.” ?
Then there are all the other myths and misperceptions that we’ve all heard over and over again… which come from most of the other sources on a google search…
We need to also address these issues immediately when people visit z.cash
“Zcash uses a tusted setup and nobody should trust that!”
“Zcash is transparent by default, and the number of people using shielded addresses is insignificant.”
I understand that these things are fixed as of NU5… but the masses don’t know that.
I host an ongoing chat/discussion about this on telegram. Everyone is welcome to join and participate there in a more live and interactive way.
This one is about Zcash Privacy versus Bitcoin being a very Public Ledger:
Privacy vs the Public Ledger
This is where the debates and discussions happen with people new to Zcash.
Those are things you don’t see on Bitcoin or Ethereum websites, but they are valid for Zcash.
Perhaps more can be done to emphasize that ECC is controlled by a 501c nonprofit?
But if you are hoping to change those people’s minds by just changing a website, you will be disappointed. If they come into it looking for things to criticize then a fancy website won’t change thier mind.
Is it necessary to emphasize the Company so much, and the Trademark and Copyright issues so much… on the main page…?
Also on the Governance page, it literally says that 20% of the miner rewards are given to other entities. They should not refer the 100% as “miner rewards”… which are given to other entities. They should call them “block rewards”, not “miner rewards”. The 80% is the miner rewards.
Also, the Non-profit status of these entities needs to be emphasized. The Community needs to be emphasized.
Hey Chris, at the top of my head I’d say it should have:
Wallets
Exchanges and vendors/payment merchants that support ZEC
Updates/Milestones from Core ZEC devs
Zcash Community Grants Program should be very visibly highlighted, as well as its successful projects,
There should be a community element to it as well to encourage more community activity.
Media features
ZEC stats: i.e total supply, circ supply, market cap, trade vol etc, shielded vs transparent etc,
Somehow we should also highlight that the trusted setup is no more, since this is one of the strongest arguments against ZEC.
And most importantly, it should somehow normalize financial privacy. Right now, we’re fighting an uphill battle trying to tell people that hey, it’s totally normal to have financial privacy. This website should be so visually and content-wise compelling, in such a way that it destigmatizes financial privacy!
I’d be more than happy to brainstorm more with you at some point!
Put the code on GitHub. While I’m okay with ECC controlling the “z.cash” domain it’d be cool if at any point in the future ZCG could fund work on the site or Zcash Media could update (pull request) with links/embeds with their latest video. I’m okay with ECC owning/gatekeeping the repo for now but we probably want more community input on an ongoing basis.
OSAs (aka ZSAs) will be approaching release in about a year. Make sure we are ready to filter and inform these developers/users appropriately.
Maybe a news ticker at the top can help filter off people visit due to recent events (e.g. new node release, new exchange supporting shielded transaction, etc).
It’d be nice if we could collect some metrics to pinpoint which users we are successfully serving with useful information and if they able to find it quickly.
Hi Frank, I don’t run the z.cash website you will need to contact ECC to see if they would like help redesigning it.
I’m already in the process of rebuilding the zcash community website and have several people helping already, so I think I’m good to get the relaunch on time. I don’t have a Telegram, but feel free to drop by the zcash community Discord if you have other questions. username: mineZcash
Headless WordPress with React.js could be a good compromise between CMS functionality and having a custom-made design.
Maybe Elemental Zcash could be used to build a custom React.js website on top of the headless WordPress REST API? Would need a specification for the site and some design mockups. Depends on the timeframe needed, and would ideally be good to have a React dev familiar with React Native/styled-components and WordPress API.
I kinda think ECC needs to open the doors on this one. Clear community interest to contribute. How can everyone work together to build the next iteration of the z.cash website? It may be messier, take longer, or be more expensive than having a small team be responsible, but I think we all need to build together something that is representative of the entire Zcash ecosystem.
I don’t mean to spoil any announcements here, but I would like to point out that @Souptacular mentioned in the TG that ZCG is going to post an RFP related to this idea. But it sounds like they are interested in a separate website. I kind of think newcomers would be served much better by a central website maintained by decentralized contributors. I think sometimes people don’t like having a “centralized” outlet for a decentralized cryptocurrency. But after all, there is an important aspect of decentralization that makes the whole thing work - “consensus.”
I think a consensus website like z.cash where people can start and learn about the entire ecosystem before being pointed to specific areas like ZCG website, ECC website, ZF website, zcashcommunity website would be better than adding another stand alone website.
So here I’m hoping to loop in all people interested in making the industry’s best website. There’s the will; there’s the funding; but we need the organization and we need the spearheaders!
The Zcash community website is really excellent, I just looked over the new design. It touches a lot of elements I was thinking we would need. You can tell it comes from someone really passionate about Zcash.
I would be interested still in knowing if z.cash maintainers, Hudson’s idea for an RFP, and @Shawn could combine forces to make a single comprehensive and highly aesthetic website. Additional assets and copy writing could be funded by ZCG and could come from community contributors, artists the Zcash Media might know, etc. Governance of the website could be more decentralized than z.cash too.
I strongly support this idea. I think the z.cash website is the consensus website and believe it should be run and operated by community contributors. ECC could effectively “donate” it to the community and establish standards, controls, and approvals to ensure it is not misused.
I haven’t thought out the specifics of how it would work, but I’m hopeful that we can work with ECC and put together a realistic plan. Also, ZCG plans to issue RFPs for the creation of new website materials and the translation of existing materials, which will incentivize contribution.
I’m happy to work together with you and anyone else who’s interested in making this happen.
