Disclaimer: This article was written purely to poke fun at the ridiculous questions that some people have directed towards ICON. We did not consult anyone in the ICON team for their opinions, nor can we confirm that they do actually find these questions annoying. We also know that there are many silent ICON investors out there that realize how silly these questions are. But by the Dunning–Kruger effect, the ICON community (like all others) has uneducated people who overestimate their abilities and knowledge, and thus, have the loudest voices. Our purpose for compiling this list is three-fold:
- To answer some of these questions, if possible
- To encourage better, more thoughtful discussions within the community
- To explain why some of these questions are ridiculous
“When staking?”
Staking will be an officially supported feature, but the ICON team probably won’t say exactly WHEN to stake. The closest to an ICON official answer we have right now is their recently released Yellow Paper Part III, which doesn’t provide any details on the timeframe. If you want a simplified version of their IISS paper, you can take a look at this.
“When moon?/When ATH?”
The market holds the power in determining prices. When ICON acquires a crystal ball, we’ll be the first to report it. Stay tuned.
“How will this partnership, this project, etc. affect the price?”
Because of how the market works, you cannot predict how certain events will affect the price. Have you ever heard a Fortune 500 company say a certain partnership will raise their stock prices? No, because they cannot guarantee that and the partnership will most likely have long term value but is in need of development. As Min said through Twitter, “No central bank/company/blockchain project would(or should) claim that [insert action] would add value to its currency/shares/tokens.”
“What has Ricky Dodds done?”
In the middle of November, ICON announced the hiring of Ricky Dodds as the Head of Institutional Markets and Contributor Relations. This was, in some part, a reaction to the criticism that ICON was not providing clear communication to the community. It only took a week after the announcement for users on Reddit to ask “What has Ricky done?” At the time of writing, It has been a little over a month since he joined the project, he probably just finished his HR orientation. On a more serious note, the man is ultimately tasked with changing the sentiment surrounding ICON; that is not something that you can do overnight. However, we do want to add that Dodds did have a hand in creating the IISS Overview, a simplified version of the Yellow Paper Part III.
“What does this article have to do with ICON?”
OK, so this is a question directed to us, not the ICON team, but we get it so often that it deserves its place in this article. The Iconist has six sections: ICON Insider, Korea Insider, Events, Opinion, Announcements and Interviews. Korea Insider is where we bring our readers the recent news of the blockchain industry in Korea, and the news may not be related to ICON. You may find it hard to believe, but ICON is not the only blockchain company in the country. The biggest, yes, but not the only one.
We have seen a selected few (we want to emphasize that this is a very small portion of the community) have also decided to “contribute” by writing homophobic and racist comments. There’s a way to provide constructive criticism, slinging offensive slurs is not it.
On the other hand, we understand that some questions are completely valid and hold the ICON team accountable. For example, at the end of this year, we saw repeated calls for Yellow Paper: Part 3, as the team delayed its release and never gave a concrete updated publication day. Another fair inquiry was the exact relationship between ICON and ICONLOOP. With ICONLOOP’s rebranding, we knew that it was related to ICON but weren’t sure of the exact nature of their relation. After clamors for explanations, the ICON team provided a clearer picture of how ICONLOOP’s developments affect ICON, and we were able to see a part of their long term plans.
Q4 2018 saw a lot of communication issues from both the ICON team and ICX holders. We can only hope that the new year ushers in better, clearer, more thoughtful discussions within the ICON community.
