One of the challenges with a project that has such an extensive history and huge ambition like the SAFE Network is providing newcomers with an easy-to-digest introduction to the project. This Forum is a treasure chest of information - but some people will have neither the time nor inclination to search the content and ask questions when starting out.
So we were delighted to receive this document a couple of weeks ago from two of the members of the community, @jpl and @polpolrene. The SAFE Primer document is a comprehensive introduction to both the story and the technology and intended to be shared widely. Itās a fantastic piece of work and from this point forwards, weād suggest that you all use this document freely whenever explaining what the SAFE Network is and how it works.
Of course, we canāt expect everyone to be up for reading a 28-page document. In the near future, weāll be launching the SAFE Academy which will break down many of these concepts and also dig into each in a little more depth across a range of mediums. But in the meantime, the Primer gives us opportunities to explain more effectively why this technology is both so ground-breaking, inspirational and essential to us all.
Once again, massive thanks go to @jpl and @polpolrene who have done amazing work here - we truly appreciate the significant effort thatās gone into bringing this together. In addition, thanks also go to @fergish for his work in proof-reading the document.
Another great example of why this community is so special!
Looking forward to reading this, well done team and thank you for the hours of hard work you each put into this. I know how much time it takes to write this kind of stuff.
@dugcampbell Iāve been wondering about this para from the website under that download link, I donāt think it reads as well as it could:
Blockchain based storage solutions that store a data identifier (e.g. hash) in a blockchain, but store the data āsomewhere elseā do not improve the security of our data.
How about:
Decentralised storage which is based on blockchain is not really securing data, which is what SAFEnetwork achieves. A blockchain can only store a data identifier (e.g. hash), and must store the data āsomewhere elseā, and so does not improve the security of our data.
Maybe itās just me, but I havenāt got used to the original phrasing so thought Iād suggest an alternative.
Very nice, clean, professional presentation. Itās a great centralized information store that will definitely be a good way to help focus some of the conversations on the forum and bring newcomers up to speed more quickly. Which of us is going to distil this into a similarly themed one or two page summary for the timid readers?
Fantastic work! I just finished reading it and it pulls together many, many strings and presents a beautifully readable document. This was long overdue and it will be a great, inspiring, introduction to both technical and non-technical people who find their way here.
Reading it made me reflect on just how far maidsafe have brought us on this journey. There have been twists and turns, but the technical prowess and vision has always been evident.
2018 has the potential to be a really interesting year for the SAFENetwork. The top of the crypto hype bubble may continue to blow off leaving the sector ripe for the slow burners to return to centre stage. I think alpha 3 will start to release some of that pent up potential, daring us all to dream a little more!
Yes, you can. And you should. Many have lost the desire to handle long form, myself included, and we need to recover from our addiction to someone elseās 160-character summaries. Plus, 28 pages is shorter than an AA handbook. Ask anyone who has changed or has the ability to change the world what is the number one thing they recommend for aspiring change-agents: read.
Ladies and Gentlemen, weāve got work to do. Plus, if no one can read a 28-page summary document, then thereās no way in hell anyone would ever read my dissertation on decentralized networks! Speaking ofā¦I better get on that and stop catching up on these postsā¦
Great work! Looks great! Iāll get to it soon, but forwarding it to the incubator now. Hopefully, it will get the devs off their current EOS fixationā¦
Can someone post this to https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoTechnology/? I think you need to have a certain amount of post karma which I donāt have. Also paste the link to your post here so we can upvote it and get it some traction
Great read, this is a superb document packed with a lot of information explained in an accessible way.
I may be mistaken but I have not seen a portion explaining self-authentication(cf. whitepaper).
And yet this is an extremely new and exciting way of joining the service: one can create an ID and log to the safe network without any third-party control, and without any information being disclosed about the connection. Completely private, completely safe. With self-encryption, it is one of @dirvineās ideas that got me the most excited when discovering the project a few years ago.
Do you not think it would be relevant to add a small paragraph explaining the concept ?
There is a section on authentication, but it assumes authentication, rather than explaining it too - good spot!
Authorization
Applications need to be authorized before they can access data on the network.
In a similar way to the familiar OAuth process, the application sends a request using the library
for authorization. When the authorization is approved by the user, the application receives a token
which is used to connect to the SAFE Network. Authorization is achieved via an application call to
the Authenticator, which is currently bundled with the SAFE Network browser Peruse.
Iām reading it right now. Great work, wow! Thanks for this!
All this information in one place, combined with the green āWhat does that meanā sections is just brilliant. I feel more and more educated with every page.
One small question though. I might be missing something, but shouldnāt the graph op page 20 say āFarmersā instead of āMinersā?
Good spots @dewild and @nowfeelsafer . If anyone else sees anything just note it down in this thread. Changes wonāt be made immediately as that would incur a cost, but we plan to update this document a few months down the line as new developments arise so we will be able to make them then. The hope is that people will reproduce this material in articles and resources elsewhere, such as in the SAFE Academy, so these things are good to know.
Iām a bit of a grumpy old man who tends to see faults everywhere. The document is just great, but does it really have to be in PDF? I think sharing a link to a simple HTML page would be easier. Also updating such a page should be easier than re-uploading a pdf-file.
Well content is content and it can be reproduced in whatever format people like. I donāt possess any web design skills myself but if anyone wants to take the content and create a web version they are more than welcome to do so. In fact I hope someone does just that.
