Here is few major changes we want to tell you about.
1. Giving back apps accounts
If you have an application running on SteemConnect you been through the process of creating a Steem account for your app. We call this Steem account the proxy app account, this account is currently owner and managed by SteemConnect and has delegated posting authorities of your users. In the process of making SteemConnect more decentralized we’ve decided to give you ownership of this account. We want each application to be responsible for their users delegated posting authority instead of having a single entity (SteemConnect) managing all the apps.
If you are an user of SteemConnect we recommend you to review the apps that you authorize to post on your behalf here: https://steemconnect.com/apps/authorized and revoke the app(s) that you believe are not trustworthy to manage this responsibility without SteemConnect consentment.
On 15 February we will start the process of giving back app accounts and will temporary disable app account creation and edition on steemconnnect.com. The app accounts keys will be changed with the current app owner keys. By default the app account will delegate posting authority to the account @steemconnect thus making your application still working as usual without breaking changes.
After that if you wish you could build and run your posting API server without going through SteemConnect posting API. We will release along with SteemConnect 3 a code open source to setup your own posting API server.
2. Open standard for apps on-chain
Currently SteemConnect use a private database to store all the applications settings, this is also a part of centralization that we want to tackle. Instead of using a private database we want to store the apps settings on-chain. The apps settings will be stored directly on the Steem app account using json_metadata field, similar than how users set their public profile on Steem. With this change, it will be possible to create or edit an app without going through steemconnect.com and anyone will be able to gather the apps data from Steem chain and create their own store or app directory.
Here is more details on the format that we want to use: https://github.com/steemscript/steemscript/wiki/Proposal:-open-standard-for-apps
This does not require any action from you, we will automatically populate the apps settings in the apps accounts json_metadata in the same time that we give you back the apps proxy accounts.
3. Introducing fees and looking for sponsors
Starting from this month we will add some fees on the comments and posts operations broadcasted by SteemConnect posting API using beneficiaries rewards. The fee will be from 0 up to 2.5% of the total rewards. If you are an user and don’t want to pay this fee i recommend you to use Steem Keychain (or wait that we release the SteemConnect 3 signer apps). If you manage an app on SteemConnect and don’t want your users to pay a fee i recommend you to setup your own posting API server.
If we introduce these fees it’s because we didn’t get any funding unfortunately and we need a way to sustain the project. The fee generated will help pay for the infrastructure and the continuous development of SteemConnect 3.
We are also looking for sponsors and partnerships, if you are willing to help SteemConnect or see some opportunities for your business to partner with SteemConnect please share your ideas with us.
Need help? Come talk with us on SteemDevs Discord https://discord.gg/NCZMVev
Best!
So signing in to a dapp with SteemConnect will now incur a 2.5% beneficiary cut from all content created on that dapp by the user?
Dapps can post in SteemConnect user's names? Is there no way to avoid this authority delegation?
Thanks!
Hey yes there will be a fee for the comment and posts broadcasted by SteemConnect API server. Posting authority delegation is not necessary if you use SteemConnect just for login or if you use Chrome extension to sign transaction like Steem Keychain.
Chrome extension is not available for my browser(s) choices, as I avoid Goolag products, and Chrome is a Goolag product. So, until Steem Keychain is ported to other platforms, it remains unavailable to me, a humble non-coder.
So I can safely revoke those dapps that SteemConnect lists as having my posting authority without losing my ability to login to them with SteemConnect? SteemPeak and Busy are listed as having that authority, and I am unaware of granting that authority other than by using SteemConnect to login.
Not a coder. Need a simple yes or no answer to 'Will all my content be providing 2.5% to SteemConnect when logged in using SteemConnect?', and 'How does SteemConnect gain authority to set beneficiary on my content?' if SteemConnect does not use my key to do so, or the dapps delegated posting authority? Does not revoking dapps posting authority break this ability for SteemConnect, or does SteemConnect separately have this authority if I use it to login to dapps?
Thanks!
Edit: please note that I am simply seeking understanding of this mechanism(s), and not commenting as to it's desirability. Only after satisfactorily understanding do I feel competent to make such determination.
Have you tried brave browser?
I have. I miss certain functionality my present browser choice provides, so I currently maintain my use of Opera. The variety of browsers today is a bit daunting, but that's a good price for having plentiful options. I keep several on hand, for developing exigencies such as this. 2.5% of my rewards isn't nominal to cause my migration in favor of the functionality I enjoy, as I don't spend rewards as money yet.
Thanks!
Yep, same reason i use chrome,...
Hi fabien, I'm unable to login to steemconnect through blocktrades I don't understand why as i can login everywhere else using it just not block trades, it says the passwords or key is incorrect when it is not incorrect it is the right owner key and password I am trying??? Can you please help, tried you before with no response hoping you'll see this and reply please help.
I yet would appreciate an answer to my comment, if you can afford the time and attention to do so. I'd appreciate it, as I expect further development to continue and increase my need to grapple with these issues.
Thanks!
Hi @fabien
I see Steemit Inc sent 8716.549 SBD to @steemscript 5 days ago memo'd as 'steemconnect donation'.
That was then sent to Bittrex.
The Steemit Inc donation was a day after this post.
Was that to cover your costs?
Has this changed the need for charging fees and taking the beneficiary rewards?
Thank you.
Hope this is enough :) Steemit Inc should support Steemconnect. Thanks @pennsif and @fabien!
That silence says something, eh?
@fabien, You've done an excellent work here.
What is the target date of releasing the steemconnect3?
We want to release a beta in February
I'm looking forward to see it in action.
Fabien, is it possible to access the memo key with this version or the next of SC?
I'm experimenting encrypting messages and storing them as custom_json on the blockchain.
Thanks.
You mean if its possible to see your memo private key as an user on the next version of SC? If yes then yes it will be possible.
That is great. My app is going to be open source and if you want I can test it in alpha mode. It will make a good example of accessing the memo private key.
Anyway I will start with a custom_json scope on SC and a dummy memo private key.
Do you know where to get the encryption function? I had a look at SteemJS and now looking at dSteem, which looks more suited for that but a bit stuck at the moment...
Steem.js has methods to encode / decode message see https://steemit.com/esteem/@good-karma/how-to-encrypt-message-or-memo-on-steem-df860f4d8e3ec
Thanks, appreciate the help!
Kudos for taking these steps towards decentralisation and sustainability!
It's a pity a cornerstone of this ecosystem doesn't get any funding and has to resort to fees... but in the long run that's probably a more economically reasonable approach anyway.
SteemConnect is very elegant. I'm happy you're finding ways to improve the project.
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A beneficiary fees feature should be integrated into all Steemit accounts IMO. It is a great concept that is being under utilized by the community.
So with this update, does it mean that Steem apps like @magicdice won't ask us to input our keys on each dice roll?
Thank you.
Hey if you are doing some payments using steemconnect on @magicdice this update will not change anything. But later on we will release a new version of SteemConnect which will integrate a "keychain" and where you will not be asked to type your key everytime you do a payment.
Thank you @fabien!
Wait... What?
FEE?
OMG
host your own API server to avoid it
😂
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How will you charge these fees? Does this mean devs can no longer set their own benefactor rewards?
App can still set their own beneficiaries rewards, we would just add SteemConnect fee on top of it within the same "comment_options" operation.
What if apps use max number of beneficiaries (as I know you can set like 8 beneficiaries at max) or 100% of reward values set as beneficiaries already?
I think the limit was increased to a larger number.
In this corner case we may not take fee.
So it basically means you alter the transactions send to your server before broadcasted?
Yes
Fully support adding a fee. SteemConnect is great and the changes sounds good. If you create good stuff you should with no worries be able to charge something for it.
Thank you information update #steemconnect,#steemdev @fabien
Sorry for any negativity but reading "SteemConnect" I automatically thought of BitConnect. Not such a great association :-O
It is a useful tool and brings value to Steem.
We would be worse off without it.
Charging a fee sounds reasonable - especially on a platform where everything is monetised.
Posted using Partiko Android
Thanks for the update, I hope the security of Steem Connect is still the highest priority, and thanks for suggesting Steem keychain to avoid some of these fees. I hope you get the funding you need so that it can still be used without fees in the future.
Congratulations @fabien!
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I think the point of using Steemconnect is the security of account!
I mean, app owners cannot use accounts to post/upvote/... in offline mode (unless you allow them by Steemconnect)
In SC we can select which permission we want to grant to the app owner and this option will not be available if you give back the accounts
Also, I hope you don't remove the Login option which authorizes user without giving posting authority
Thanks for your great services ;)
Hey thanks @mahdiyari. At the end of the day we want app owners to be responsible for their app account to remove centralisation on SteemConnect server. But i understand this is a change users may not be so much aware yet, we are now considering to make it an option so app owner can opt-it to get back app account or let it with SC and display that information for the users on the SC interface. And i can confirm that will not remove the login option :)
We are not sure about this, but Partiko is likely one of the biggest users of SteemConnect. We would like to talk about opportunities we can build partnership and collaborate, to make the user experience of Partiko and all Steem apps better.
A paid service definitely makes more sense than a free public service. Good job on this!
Or switch to Steem Keychain?
Posted using Partiko Android
Thank you for your support! We will introduce soon some solutions to avoid fee for your users if you are interested.
Hi @fabien, here's my post about steemconnect: https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@blockchainstudio/security-misuse-of-steemconnect-login-shouldn-t-ask-active-key-for-every-login I also left it on GH. Thanks!
ps. Wow seems many things may change. Hope it can be provided free :)
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