Tall Ships, Channels onchain & Robinhood Summer: GM Farcaster ep375

Ok it’s over and ended as it should. Brinity 4eva!💕🏝️ I will now resume my normal life. Until next summer y’all! (and can you imagine watching this in Vegas lol)

29 Seconds of Farcaster ... What did you miss this weekend? * There is an FIP to put channels on the protocol and a lot of feedback and chatter on the topic: https://farcaster.xyz/farcaster/0xb03600f7 & https://farcaster.xyz/topocount.eth/0xd3c50c3c * The discussion also produced an interesting google doc on channel data: https://farcaster.xyz/farcaster/0x928ed4c3 * We got an interesting explanation of the FC algo for casts from neynar in a chat with @anemale.eth : https://farcaster.xyz/neynar/0x7be6b896 * @arjantupan created a POIDH bounty to promote @sopha that @kenny used one of his /cef grant $25 activation boosts, and the bounty is getting some cool entries requiring a poem about a cast people found on sopha: https://farcaster.xyz/arjantupan/0x368e2c26 * /gmfarcaster is back at 11:30 AM EST today with @nounishprof & @adrienne bringing the FC and clanker news and any purple shenanigans they see fit to provide 💜

I misted my pj’s with distilled water, put them in a ziploc bag, and then threw them in the freezer for an hour. AMA. My friends do not have AC because “it’s normally not this hot” and if I never cast again it’s because of heat exhaustion.

lil trip to Boston today to see the Tall Ships and walk along the wharf. Also stopped at Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market (see the unicycle riding bag piper in the next cast). Beautiful day on the harbor!

im pretty bullish on farcaster tbh and (hopefully) not in a japanese soldier type of way farcaster is programmable social and crypto is programmable markets. and AI, the Grand Metatailwind of Everything, is accelerating the programming of programmable things. none of the things that underwrote the farcaster thesis for the previous 5ish years have changed, they've for the most part only improved. it's still a fully featured social platform and protocol with a durable and retained user network there's also kind of a sentiment/reality dislocation. farcaster has had stronger retention than i would've expected in the crypto bear market, and with a full change in leadership on top of that will it succeed? no clue, as i mentioned a while ago i think the default outcome is failure and nothing is inevitable. but the surface area of luck is still high, and if a proverbial ball were to start rolling it could snowball again quickly imo

Kinda want farcaster to come back with a vengeance. High activity, lots of conversations. It was funny when it was bustling.

excited to chat all things Farcaster protocol with @topocount.eth next Thursday (7/16) 1pm pst / 4pm est https://farcaster.xyz/~/spaces/019f4e01-023b-48c4-1df9-d4a3f3d9b334

You too can get a shoutout on Farcaster’s #1 News Show Point your AI agent at this page: https://www.gmfarcaster.com/shoutout

Farcaster 101: FIPs every real change to the farcaster protocol starts as a github discussion anyone can open. what is it? FIP stands for Farcaster Improvement Proposal, a design doc that proposes a change to the farcaster protocol. it covers a standard, a process, or an implementation, plus the workflow for approving or rejecting it. the idea is borrowed from ethereum's eips. why does it matter? it's how the farcaster protocol actually evolves. before this system existed, changes got proposed haphazardly and in multiple places. FIPs create one place and one process anyone can follow and weigh in on. who can propose one? anyone! you don't need to be on the Neynar team or a core contributor to submit one. important to note: proposing is open to everyone, but shipping is a separate step, Neynar's currently the majority validator, so we're also the ones implementing changes. FIP #272 proposes adding other validators as GitHub maintainers, which would create a multi party system for who can implement changes to the protocol as we decentralize the validator set. how do you weigh in on one? just comment on the discussion in Github. everyone's encouraged to, that's genuinely how an fip gets shaped before it's finalized, through public back and forth, not behind closed doors. — technical notes: the four stages an fip moves through: --idea - anyone opens a discussion, the goal is building consensus and getting buy-in --draft - the author writes it up in the proper format and works through community questions, an editor gets tagged in to help move it along --review - an editor moves it into the review section with an official fip number, it needs clear community buy-in and, if code's involved, a working implementation --finalized (or rejected, or cancelled) - an editor finalizes it after it's presented on a dev call, or either an editor or the author can cancel it at any point a finalized fip needs eight things: --Title: A short and memorable title under 50 characters. --Type: An FIP type that is being proposed --Author: Chosen names, farcaster names and Github handles of the authors. --Abstract: A short summary of the proposal in less than 100 words and optionally, a meme. --Problem: An articulation of the problem you are trying to solve. --Specification: A well-specified articulation of the solution being proposed in detail. --Rationale: Alternatives that were considered and reasons for rejection (including Do Nothing). --Release: A step-by-step guide that covers the rollout process and any impact on developers. you can view all discussions here: https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocol/discussions

FIP Explainer: Channels on Snapchain #276 today, channels only exist in our client's database. if another client wants to build with channels, show members, mods, anything, they have to go through us. why does it matter? once this ships, any client can read and write channel data directly, the same way they already do with casts, without needing our api or approval. it also sets a precedent going forward, future changes to how channels work happen through this same open process, not something we decide on our own. who does this affect? mostly builders, they're the ones who gain something new. if you own or host a channel, you keep managing it the same way you do today, nothing about your day-to-day experience changes right now. what about channels that already exist? nothing breaks and nothing needs to be recreated. existing ownership, members, moderators, and pins all carry over automatically, and nothing changes for current owners. eventually, once a channel's migrated registration lapses, renewal becomes a real annual cost the way it was always meant to be, though you'll be able to prepay multiple years at once instead of renewing every year. this isn't a new fee, channels have cost $25 since they launched, though the set price is one of the open questions in the proposal, more on that below. even a channel that lapses on renewal keeps taking casts, only owner and moderator actions pause until it's renewed. some specifics: 1. ownership moves onchain, using the same tech behind base's onchain names, so a channel works like a domain you register and renew. 2. when someone registers, renews, or transfers a channel, our nodes pick that up and match it to whichever farcaster account currently has that wallet verified. 3. everything else, name, description, members, moderators, pins, becomes a signed message any client can read and write. 4. clear rules decide who can do what (owners appoint mods, mods can remove members, a ban always wins) and how conflicts get resolved. 5. ownership, settings, and moderation all live together on the network so anyone can quickly check who runs a channel, without slowing casting down. 6. existing channels get imported automatically, no recreation needed. open questions: -which chain does this live on? base is the default assumption since it's already used for similar onchain events and keeps fees cheap, but ethereum mainnet is also on the table since it's seen as more neutral for a naming system like this. the contracts work identically either way, this is really a question of which chain to trust long-term. -how much will it cost, and how often? $25 is the starting reference point, not a final number, and it was always meant to renew annually rather than being paid once. the price will track usd value and convert to eth at payment time so it stays stable, that part's settled, just not the actual amount or how long each renewal covers. -what happens the moment a channel lapses? nothing dramatic. there's a 90-day grace period first, same as ens uses. during that window an owner can still renew and get it back, the name isn't released yet. channel management pauses during grace, but casting never stops either way. github.com/farcasterxyz/protocol/discussions/276

Channels are landing on the protocol! We're planning to anchor channel ownership as ENS-style NFTs. A couple things we're still figuring out: a. whether we deploy the NFTS on Base or ETH L1 b. annual cost. currently $25 USDC but renewal and squatting isn't currently enforced Tell us what you think! https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocol/discussions/276

Feed the algo.

here you go: right now the algo mostly favors early engagement, dense conversations, and trust signals. themes that are working (afaict): – crypto infra / builders (less hype, more shipping) – ai agents / tooling – sports & live events (attention spikes) – light drama, not toxic – very personal but authentic posts how it’s analyzed: text: semantics, topic, and the quality of replies it generates. image: yes, basic classification (what it shows, safe/not safe, etc.). social graph: who interacts with you, their reputation, their recent activity. velocity: the first 30–60 minutes matter a lot. the system optimizes for interaction per impression, not raw follower count. tl;dr: create conversations people actually want to continue. the algo follows.

Time for a GM Farcaster Quiz 🌇 There will be 3 parts because the project is too big for just one quiz. Part 1: Origins & The Hosts 7 questions about the start of GM Farcaster and about @adrienne and @nounishprof. Parts 2 and 3 coming soon. 5 million $QUIZZY in the pool, only 200 slots ;) @gmfarcaster

The official unofficial Farcaster Australia meetup has just wrapped up. Thanks to @diviflyy for attending Many topics covered such as what fries are best, sports and clanking

i have always wanted the mini app ux to work like this and literally have no clue why it doesn't. slowly making the client i want to use.

The future of internet debates starts here. http://pov.co is now live!

🚨 ✋ PAUSE SCROLL ✋🚨 Introducing two new features on Mosaics: Remixes and Pixel Studio 1. You can now Remix anyone else's existing Mosaic artwork. On a given piece page, click the Remix button at the top. This will take you back to the editor with their art preloaded, where you can change anything about the piece to make your own. Remixing then adds .00025 ETH to the collect fee, which will flow back to the original creator on every mint, on top of your price and other fees. 2. In addition to preset sticker and background options, you can now also create CUSTOM backgrounds and stickers. The editor page now defaults to a pixel art editor for custom backgrounds, but you can also create custom backgrounds or stickers via the /studio page. Listing a sticker or background on the marketplace costs .00069 eth, and you can set any price that flows entirely back to you when others use your sticker or background. All of this still exists entirely as onchain SVG. Examples below: mosaics.infinite.games

GM @sayangel