because Zcash needs to rebuild trust, to show that its trustworthy.
bad decisions in the beginning, led to lack of it,
and then there were failed attempts to rebuild and repair damage.
have to say we are in a good direction now
more and more people starting to realize
Ambassadors should do videos about how to mine, explanations about miners and stuff like that.
if its just cheerleading, its useless
did you see a video of how to mine Zcash on ECC or Zcash Foundation or any other account?
Mining Zcash should be a cool thing
anonymous hacker wannabeâs in highschools should do it
(just brainstorming with myself, not putting on you the responsibility for this lol)
referring to the work ambassadors did as some sort of astroturfing, clearly shows a complete lack of understanding
Maybe reread what I said?
What am I talking about?
When I spoke out about Zcash Media on Twitter, echoing the opinions of many in the community, the backlash and the attempts to silence opposing voices from you and your ex-husband, the âfreedom maximalistâ Zooko Wilcox, were quite extreme. Hereâs a very brief rundown of the events that unfolded following my public criticism of Zcash Media:
After my tweet criticizing ZM, you, Amber sent me a message on Signal. What I didnât know at the time is that you were also in talks with Zooko behind the scenes. Please let me know if you want me to share screenshots, but hereâs a part of your message: âI am going to say this privately because I understand that people sometimes get emotional. ⌠I think you should take a step back and think about the bridges youâre burning hereâŚâ Of course, when you didnât like my private response back to you (âI appreciate you reaching out. We are not going to agree on this subjectâŚâ), you then posted that âprivateâ message on twitter, minus any veiled threats.
Your Twitter post was subsequently shared by Zooko (check retweets), amplifying the intimidation.
Behind the scenes, there was a concerted effort to pressure me, and I received multiple DMs exerting that pressure in various forms. Notably, at least three Wilcoxes took part, including you Amber. Whatâs most troubling is Zooko went as far as to personally contact Josh, the CEO of the company I work for, issuing veiled threats towards Josh and the ECC, attempting to influence my professional standing. And for what?
There was more happening, but I think this covers the highlights.
Some of the most involved Zcash community members have long held their opinions of ZCGâs performance back, largely due to fear of retaliationâconcerns that my experience only serves to validate. While confidence in ZCGâs ability to allocate funds well and support community initiatives is low, active community members are not able to speak out publicly. They feel that they have no choice but to accept ZCG membersâ decisions in silence as the risk of losing their source of income is high. Your behavior, Amber, showed that those fears are not baseless. It appears thereâs a significant problem with power being misused to quash dissent and control narrative within the community. Criticism of ZCG decisions is met with hidden efforts to suppress and discredit the critic.
You and Zooko tried to cancel me for speaking out against a bad grant that you both supported and protected. The ironic focus on my tone rather than the substance of my criticisms or your own unethical collusion speaks volumes about your priorities as a leader.
An ethical leader would step down. Yet, you are not only unaware of how problematic your collusion and pressure were, but are also seeking re-election. This cycle of unethical behavior and retaliation must be addressed for the health and future of the Zcash community. We need leaders who foster transparency and accountability, not those who wield their power to stifle constructive critique in the shadows. You do not deserve communityâs trust.
Thank you, @peacemonger for your explicit reply and for the opportunity to respond.
I think the way this situation unfolded makes my character very clear, as Iâll explain briefly:
First, I was very troubled to see personal attacks within the community. Not being sure what to do in a delicate situation, I consulted a confidant to get a second opinion before taking action.
Second, because I held you in high regard, I initially used the rule of thumb to praise publicly and criticise privately. If my own actions are ever cause for concern among my peers, I know I would deeply appreciate a private note to give me opportunity to reflect on my behaviour. So I gave you that courtesy.
As you made it immediately clear that you had no intention to reflect on this feedback, I made the decision to publicly state that in my Zcash leadership role I do not condone personal attacks.
In the course of that public statement I made an error of judgment by imputing uncharitable motivations to you. When this was pointed out to me by my peers in the community, I thought about it, agreed with the feedback, and responded by taking responsibility and issuing public apologies here and on Twitter.
In a recently released interview clip from Zcash Media, Josh Swihart tells us that he chose between Zcash and Monero in part because of the contrast in community.
Monero vs. Zcash: The Community That Won Me Over
I am proud to be part of this collaborative community, and I am committed to demonstrating thoughtfulness and integrity in my interactions, including questioning myself, giving people benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, standing up for my principles, and acknowledging and apologising for my mistakes. If this is the kind of behaviour you would like more of in a leadership position, please consider re-electing me.
I appreciate your perspective but Iâm not sure if this is the correct characterization. Ground up initiatives take time and serious effort, but donât underestimate them.
Iâve publicly supported ZM as you can read in the forums but as more time passed it seemed clear to me, and perhaps others, their setup wasnât optimal. I think for me, and maybe others, the amount spent on ZM vs other grants was a big issue, especially considering the Ambassador program was officially paused. The other issue was the huge delays and changes to the grant â some of which were suggested by ZCG.
I think ZM has a huge role to play and I hope their work is fully appreciated in time.
I think its important you and @peacemonger hash out your differences with the goal to improve ZCG and ultimately Zcash as a whole.
To the community, the current ZCG elections are YOUR way to effective change, Iâm hoping for the best turn out ever.
I agree on all of that!
My point about the community initiatives was about a potential perception problem, not my perception. I didnât make that clear enough at all. My bad.
The ZM grant definitely went badly in some ways, but I donât think it was because of poor initial decisions, and like you, I still think itâs going to pay off.
I am not the type to hold grudges. I stand by my opinion that personal attacks are unprofessional and reflect badly on the community and the person making them, but I am happy to drop the topic and move forward. I already had.
To sum it up, you had good reasons. They are good reasons because your tone is the right one and your intentions are pure.
You keep misusing the term âpersonal attack.â It doesnât apply. The criticism was always directed at ZMâs work and role as grant recipients. Feel free to use my direct quotes with links to back up your claims.
Say what you want about my tone, but a week later the community got the change itâs been asking for ânicelyâ for months: ZM withdrew their grant freeing up $400K of ZCG funds. Perhaps to avoid further scrutiny?
Thatâs one way to massively downplay what happened.
Surprisingly, I had no intention to reflect on the unsolicited lecture from a hostile stranger with an obvious bias, a bad ZCG voting record, and a well-documented inability to reflect on community feedback.
Thatâs a good clip. Wrong context for it, but good clip. I wish Zcash Media didnât sit on it for 2 years. I also wish entitled individuals would stop taking advantage of our communityâs good nature so blatantly, weaponizing it when it suits them.
No reason to think that, but regardless of their future performance (which hundreds of thousands of $$$$$$ later is still a huge question mark given the astronomical cost/view), those videos were shamelessly overpriced and couldâve been made for a fraction of what was paid out. They also shouldâve contained clear Zcash-focused CTAs with at least a decent click-through rate. Marketing 101. Video views alone are not a significant marketing metric.
The only reason weâre still talking about this is because you continue to bring up ZM as an example of âtop notchâ work while running for re-election. Your candidacy is open to discussion.
In my opinion as Mod this discussion between @peacemonger and @ambimorph has moved beyond discussing ZCG candidates decisions and is now breaking the forums Code of Conduct regarding personal attacks against other forum users and it has derailed this thread way off of its original topic.
The CoC clearly states:
Examples of unacceptable behavior include:
- Personal attacks.
- Trolling and insulting or derogatory comments.
Please do not:
- Go Off-Topic: Derailing topics to a different subject other than the intent of the threads original post (OP)
This is a first warning per the forums moderation policy to please keep the discussion civil, non-personal and on topic.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Moderation feedback
Wow. OP will be missed 
This is a big red flag to anyone looking at this community from the outside. What a grossly disappointing thing to read at the top of the Zcash public channels.
The title is fitting for the discourse. Poetic irony FTW.
What are you even talking about?