docs/_data/appFAQ.json

{
   "faqs":[
     {
        "question":"What is App Mining?",
        "answer":"<p>Traditionally the term mining in cryptocurrency refers to the process of
       contributing compute resources to the network and earning a reward. In the
       Blockstack Ecosystem, instead of just mining through computation, developers
       mine by building apps and the Blockstack community funds them simply for being
       pioneers in the emerging Blockchain software market. </p> <p>We believe app
       mining represents a revolution in app funding, allowing small teams to bootstrap
       without advertising or venture capital. Each month, qualifying apps compete for
       funding. Qualified apps are evaluated and ranked by expert app reviewers. The
       better your app, the higher payout you earn. </p> <p>The pilot run begins
       December 1st 2018, with 34 Blockstack Apps enrolled. A previous alpha run in Oct
       2018 included 17 Blockstack apps. App mining is a new mining model that we
       expect will evolve and improve over time. We look forward to feedback from our
       community regarding the App Mining process and program. </p>"
     },
      {
        "question": "What is the App Mining timeline?",
        "answer": "<h5>On the first of every month (or as listed on the calendar): </h5> <ul> <li>Registration is closed for that months ranking.</li> <li>Blockstack team sends the complete list of apps to our app reviewer partners. App miners do not need to reach out to Product Hunt, Democracy Earth, or TryMyUI. </li> <li>Blockstack <strong>emails</strong> app miners are emailed about Product Hunt Hunting process. App miners can choose to hunt their app independently or can request to be featured by the Product Hunt the team. <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/mining_intro.html' target='_blank'>Read more</a>.</li> <li>App miners <strong>debate</strong> on their app in Democracy Earth. <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/vote-blockstack.html' target='_blank'>Read more</a>.</li><li>Registered stack holders <strong>are alerted</strong> about new apps and prompted to vote. <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/vote-blockstack.html' target='_blank'>Read more</a>.</li></ul><h5>Over the next two weeks:</h5> <ul> <li>TryMyUI Tests are happening. Please don’t perform upgrades that might break the app.</li> <li>Voters participate on <a href='https://vote.blockstack.org' target='_blank'>vote.blockstack.org</a>. </li> <li>Products are launched on Product Hunt. Product Hunt team performs internal review.</li> </ul> <h5>On the last day of ranking at 11:59pm ET: </h5> <p>App mining results are sent to Blockstack by app reviewer partners.</p> <h5>On the 15th (or as listed on the calendar):</h5> <p>Blockstack team performs App Mining algorithm as referenced <a href=`https://blog.blockstack.org/app-mining-game-theory-algorithm-design/` target='_blank'>here</a>.</p> <h5>On the following weekday:</h5> <ul> <li>App miners are emailed login info to access their TryMyUI tests</li> <li>Full App Mining results are published</li> </ul>"
        },
        {
        "question": "Where can I find a calendar of App Mining events?",
        "answer": "<p>The following calendar shows events each month related to App Mining:</p><p><iframe src='https://calendar.google.com/calendar/b/1/embed?showCalendars=0&amp;height=400&amp;wkst=1&amp;bgcolor=%23ffffff&amp;src=blockstack.com_u71ao2dalkd88b493k3671233s%40group.calendar.google.com&amp;color=%235229A3&amp;ctz=America%2FNew_York' style='border-width:0' width='600' height='400' frameborder='0' scrolling='no'></iframe></p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How much can I earn and how are rewards distributed? ",
        "answer":"<p>Payouts for the pilot run are $100k in total each month (the original alpha
        run paid out $25K. In the pilot run, the highest-ranked app receives 20% of the
        100K, the next highest-ranked app receives 20% of the remaining 80%, and so on
        (this distribution is subject to change). </p><p>Rewards are paid in Bitcoin.
        The payouts are administered by Blockstack PBC and facilitated by App.co.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How is App Mining different from cryptocurrency mining?",
        "answer":"<p>Traditionally the term mining in cryptocurrency refers to the process of
        contributing compute resources to the network and earning a distributed of new
        tokens as a reward. On the Stacks blockchain, developers can “mine” by
        contributing apps to the ecosystem and making applications the community wants.
        </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"What qualifies my app to compete in App Mining?",
        "answer": "<p>Your app should integrate Blockstack authentication for logging into your app.
        Your finished app should be available to the public for use. In the future, App
        Mining may reward apps that have taken steps to further decentralize, such as
        utilizing Gaia storage or the publishing your app to the Blockstack Naming
        System. Test flight apps, hello-world apps and apps created through blockstack tutorials
        (e.g. animal kingdom apps) do not qualify.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Does my app have to be listed on App.co to enter App Mining?",
        "answer": "<p>Yes, it does.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How do I submit my application for App Mining?",
        "answer": "<p>Complete <a href='https://app.co/submit#'>the submission form on App.co</a>. Blockstack suggests registering several days before the ranking deadline — our team needs to verify your details to ensure your app qualifies. Full enrollment details can be found <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/mining_enroll.html' target='_blank'>here</a>. When you have met all the requirements, you should see your app listed <a href='https://app.co/mining/apps'>on this page</a>.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"When are my submission materials due?",
        "answer": "<p>Your submission materials are due at 11:59 PM Eastern Time US on the last day of each month. For example, if you are making a submission for March, your materials must be submitted on or before Feb 28 at 11:59 EST.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How often can I submit my application for App Mining?",
        "answer": "<p>You need only to submit your application once.  Each month after your
        submission, your app is competing in App Mining.  </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How do I launch my app on Product Hunt as an app reviewer?",
        "answer": "<p>Part of the ranking process includes an assessment by the Product Hunt app reviewer via their community vote and their internal team vote. You can find <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/mining_intro.html' target='_blank'>information on the algorithm in this documentation</a>.</p>
        <p>Your product's launch on Product Hunt has an impact on your final App Mining ranking as stated in the algorithm information. If your app has not been “hunted” yet on Product Hunt, you have the option to hunt the app independently or to ask Product Hunt to hunt it for you. Make sure you understand the hunting process. Only hunted products can be featured by Product Hunt. More information on successful product hunt launches <a href='https://blog.producthunt.com/how-to-launch-on-product-hunt-7c1843e06399' target='_blank'>can be found on the Product Hunt blog</a>.</p> <p>Blockstack will email each miner about the hunt process at the start of each App Mining review cycle. You should feel free to let us know your preference, hunt yourself or by Product Hunt, before the review cycle.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Does my code repository need to be public?",
        "answer": "<p>Your application code can be public or private.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Is Blockstack Auth difficult to integrate?",
        "answer": "<p>If you’re already building your app with JavaScript, adding Blockstack
        authentication is easy! We have docs, tutorials, and thorough API references for
        you to learn from. Vist the <a
        href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/zero_to_dapp_1.html'> Zero-to-Dapp
        tutorial</a> for end-to-end training. Or <a
        href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/auth_provider.html'>use this short
        example</a>.</p> <p>If you’re developing a traditional server-side application,
        you can still take advantage of Blockstack authentication. For an example, check
        out <a href='https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack-ruby'>our Ruby on Rails gem</a>.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Who are the app reviewers?",
        "answer": "<p>App reviewers are currently selected by Blockstack PBC. Reviewers are
        entities that have a proprietary methodology that helps them make objective
        judgements for why a certain app might be better than others.  We strive to
        engage a diverse coalition of app reviewers with the goal of making application
        ranking objective and resilient to abuse.  </p> <p>As of January 2019, the reviewers were:
	Product Hunt, Try My UI and Democracy Earth (who
        uses software to collect votes by Stacks token holders). See <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/mining_intro.html#how-apps-are-reviewed'>here</a>
	for more details about each reviewer. Future reviewers could
        expand to community election. Please see our <a href='https://github.com/blockstack/app-mining'>github
	repository</a> to raise issues or make suggestions for App Mining. </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How are apps ranked?",
        "answer": "<p>App reviewers have a proprietary methodology that helps them make
         objective judgments for why one app might be better than another. Each
         app reviewers determines the data, formula, and personnel they wish to
         utilize. For example, Product Hunt can tap into their community data to
         determine relative app popularity. Reviewers must publish
         their methodology periodically to ensure transparency. </p> <p>To learn more see <a
         href='https://blog.app.co/how-app-minings-ranking-algorithm-works'>the detailed
         explanation of our ranking algorithm on our blog</a> and in <a
         href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/mining_intro.html'>our
         documentation</a>.</p><p>Apps may have unique circumstances such that the app cannot be ranked by all the reviewers, for example, apps that require specific hardware. In these cases, reviewers that can review and rank the app will. An app’s final ranking is determined by the average of those reviewers that can fully review the app.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Do I have to Hunt my app on Product Hunt?",
        "answer": "<p>As part of the ranking process, there is an assessment by App Reviewer
        Product Hunt via their community vote and their internal team vote. More info on
        the algorithm, <a
        href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/mining_intro.html'>here</a>. The Hunt
        launch will have an impact on your final ranking, as you can see in the
        algorithm breakdown. Here is <a
        href='https://blog.producthunt.com/how-to-launch-on-product-hunt-7c1843e06399'>more
        info</a> on Product Hunt launch best practices. In general, sharing and
        responsiveness to questions are encouraged and it might help your community
        reception if you choose to hunt the app yourself. If not, Product Hunt can hunt
        your App as well.</p><p>Apps will be hunted every 6 months, so if you hunted
        your app in a past month, as long as you are in the 6 month time window you will
        not have to Hunt the app. </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Can developers engage with voters on Democracy Earth?",
        "answer": "<p>Yes, they can. App miners can and should create an account on Democracy Earth. From this account they can engage with voters through the debate feature. Learn more <a href='https://docs.blockstack.org/develop/vote-blockstack.html' target='_blank'>in the documentation</a>.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"When are the winning payments made?",
        "answer": "<p>Payouts are made on the 15th of every month.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"What’s the incentive for user voting? ",
        "answer": "<p>Voters in the App Mining ecosystem are currently Stacks token holders with
        incentive to strategically allocate resources in the ecosystem to apps they
        consider highly valuable.  </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"What are examples of any quantitative metrics that may be shared with app reviewers?",
        "answer": "<p>Qualitative metrics are metrics
        that evaluate elements such as engagement, DAU/MAU ratios
        etc from the reviewed apps. Blockstack plans to incorporate metrics based
        ranking. However, before we do, any mechanism must thoughtfully incorporate the
        digital privacy rights of Blockstack users, and provide information in a way
        that cannot be gamed.</p> "
      },
      {
        "question":"Is App Mining Decentralized?",
        "answer": "<p>Given the pioneering nature of the program, we are being careful and starting
        in a centralized fashion that allows for necessary diligence. We don’t want to
        bake in assumptions that have not been validated. The downside of this
        protection is some level of centralization, which we are taking steps to reduce
        over time. The pilot is the just the first step in creating a fair system that
        can be relied upon by founders and contribute to the growth of the Blockstack
        ecosystem. </p> <p>Blockstack plans to move along a path to decentralization and
        App Mining will too. It is important to highlight that initially App Mining will
        purposely have a few points of centralization highlighted below, which can
        become decentralized over time (all plans are subject to change, legal approval,
        and applicable law). </p> <h5>Electing app reviewers:</h5> <p>Currently,
        Blockstack PBC elects app reviewers. In the future, we anticipate gradually
        transitioning to community elections of App Reviewers. </p> <h5>Registering
        apps:</h5> <p>Currently, registering apps is regulated by Blockstack PBC through
        app.co/mining. In the future, we anticipate transitioning to publishing on
        designated Blockstack namespaces via our public blockchain. </p> <h5>Collecting
        votes:</h5> <p>Currently, votes are aggregated by Blockstack PBC and
        administered via App.co. In the future, we expect that votes will be collected
        through the protocol itself. </p> <h5>Issuing money:</h5> <p>Currently, payouts
        are issued by Blockstack PBC. In the future, we expect that payouts will over
        time be generated and deployed on an automated basis. </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"How is App Mining protected against bribery, collusion, or gaming?",
        "answer": "<p>We are taking potential threats very seriously and hope to create a fair
        system that continuously reinforces trust within our community for the long
        term. </p> <p>We are currently consulting with a team of 3 Ph.D. Game Theorist
        professors from Princeton University and New York University to determine
        thoughtful methods to protect App Mining from being attacked and/or abused. Our
        goal is to be as transparent as possible, but App Reviewers may reserve the
        right to keep some secrets in their formula to avoid bribes and gaming, and the
        algorithm that combines all of these score may be tuned in the future to account
        for new learnings. </p> <p>The Game Theorists are working with us to create a
        technical paper and broader documents like blogs explaining the overall
        mechanism </p>"
      },
      {
         "question":"What is the Blockstack Ecosystem?",
         "answer":"<p>The Blockstack Ecosystem has a mission to bring a new internet where users
				 control the access to, and use of, their own identity and data. With this
				 mission in mind, three independent entities were formed: </p> <ul><li>Blockstack
				 Public Benefit Corp (PBC)</li> <li>Blockstack Signature Fund</li> <li>Blockstack
				 Token LLC</li></ul> <p>These three affiliated entities drive the advancement of
				 the Blockstack mission. All three entities are committed to building a new
				 internet where users fundamental digital rights, such as security, privacy,
				 anti-censorship, are always respected.</p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"What is Blockstack PBC and the Blockstack Platform?",
        "answer": "<p>Blockstack Public Benefit Corp. (PBC) started development of the Blockstack
        Platform in 2014 and launched an alpha of the platform in early 2017. The
        Blockstack Platform is the easiest way to start building decentralized,
        blockchain-based apps. It provides a complete decentralized application stack,
        powered by the Stacks blockchain, and maintained by a community of 7000
        developers. </p>"
      },
      {
        "question":"Disclaimer",
        "answer":"<p><i>This FAQ contains forward-looking statements, including statements
        regarding Blockstack PBC’s plans for its App Mining program. Forward-looking
        statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
        results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as
        an indication of future performance. Potential risks and uncertainties that
        could change our actual results include, but are not limited to, risks
        associated with: the failure of App Mining Program to successfully incentivize
        the development of applications for the Blockstack network; risks associated
        with attacks designed to influence the App Reviewers or game their
        methodologies; technical difficulties in the transition from a centralized to a
        decentralized administration of the program. These forward-looking statements
        speak only as of the date hereof. Blockstack PBC disclaims any obligation to
        update these forward-looking statements. </i></p> <p><i>Any decisions that may
        be made through the App Mining Program regarding rewards provided to app
        developers are not recommendations as to the quality of any investments that
        individuals may make in a company that receives rewards. If you are considering
        an investment in any of these companies, you should make your own decision
        regarding that investment and not rely in any way on the results of the App
        Mining program. </i></p>"
      }
   ]
}