Bearshares FAQ

Table of Contents

General

Accounts

Community

Site Navigation

Posting

Comments

Economics

Voting and Curating

Plagiarism, Spam, and Abuse

Reputation

Followers, Feeds, and Rebears

Blockchain

Bearshares, Inc.

Security

Developers

Witnesses

Miscellaneous

Disclaimer

General

What is bearshares.com?

Bearshares has redefined social media by building a living, breathing, and growing social economy - a community where users are rewarded for sharing their voice. It's a new kind of attention economy.

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How does Bearshares work?

Bearshares.com is the only website that is powered by the Bears blockchain and BEARS cryptocurrency. It read and write content to the Bears blockchain, which stores the content in an immutable blockchain ledger, and rewards users for their contributions with digital tokens called BEARS.

Every day, the Bears blockchain mints new BEARS tokens and adds them to a community's "rewards pool". You can see how much BEARS in reward pool by visiting properties tab on Explorer. These tokens are then awarded to users for their contributions, based on the votes that their content receives. Users who hold more tokens in their account as "Bears Power" will get to decide where a larger portion of the rewards pool is distributed.

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How does Bearshares differ from other social media websites?

While most social media sites extract this value for the benefit of their shareholders, Bearshares believes that the users of the platform should receive the benefits and rewards for their attention and the contributions they make to the platform.

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What do I need to do in order to secure my account?

Unlike most social media websites, there is no way to recover your account if you lose your password / owner key! This is why it is extremely important that you save and backup your password somewhere safe. It is strongly recommended that you store an offline copy in case of a hard drive failure or other calamity. Consider digital offline storage, such as an external disk or flash drive, as well as printed paper stored in a fireproof safe. Use a safe deposit box for best redundancy.

If you leak your private key to another user or a third-party website, that user or website will have full access to your account. This means they can steal it, as well as the funds inside of it. It is therefore not recommended to enter your private key information with any other user or third-party website. If you believe your account has been compromised, you should change your password/keys right away.

Each account has multiple keys, which each have different levels of authority: owner, active, posting, and memo. The information on the different types of keys and their purposes, as well as more information on password and key security, can be found in the section on Security.

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Does it cost anything to post, comment, or vote?

No. It is free to post, comment, and vote on content on bearshares.com. You might even get paid for it!

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Can I earn digital tokens on Bearshares? How?

You can earn digital tokens on Bearshares by:

JoiningBonus - By joining bearshares we welcome you with 10 SP for free, which you get just by creating an account with bearshares. Additional 1000 SP bonus is granted, when you make a purchase of at least 1000 SP from bearshares and verify your identiy by making an introduce post.

Posting - By sharing your posts, you can earn upvotes from community members. Depending on the upvotes you receive, you may get a portion of the "rewards pool".

Voting and curating - If you discover a post and upvote it before it becomes popular, you can earn a curation reward. The reward amount will depend on the amount of Bears Power you have.

Purchasing - Users can purchase BEARS or Bears Dollar tokens directly through their Bearshares wallet using bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin or STEEM if you want to purchase contact us via email [email protected] or join us at discord following with link https://discord.gg/N4n2WZs and contact one of Leaders

Bounty - Every now and then we release bounties, that may require you to do some work, promoting, programming etc and you can earn a reward in BEARS by completing them.

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Where do the tokens come from?

The Bears network continually creates new digital tokens to reward content creators and curators. Some of the newly-created tokens are transferred to users who add value to Bears by posting, commenting, and voting on other people's posts. The remainder is distributed to holders of Bears Power and the witnesses that power the blockchain.

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Where does the value come from?

At its root, Bears is simply a points system. However, because this points system is blockchain-based, the points can be traded on markets as tokens. People buy and sell these tokens, and many hold in anticipation of increased purchasing power for various Bears-related services.

By analogy, Bears is a game system where users compete for attention and rewards by bringing content and adding value to the platform. The rewards people earn are tokens that have market value and are readily tradable. It is similar to how someone playing a video game could obtain a limited item or currency by playing the game. If the currency or items are transferable between users, then they can sell or buy them on game item markets.

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Why are people getting vastly different rewards?

Bearshares is not a "get rich quick" scheme. While it is possible to post content that goes viral quickly and earn a lot of rewards on a single post, this is not typical for most users.

Most of the authors that you see earning high rewards are users that have spent a lot of time in the network building followings, making connections with others, and developing a reputation for bringing high quality content.

It is best to have realistic expectations, without focusing on rewards when you are first starting out. Work on building a following, making connections, and developing a good reputation. Consistency will pay off in the long run.

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Is there a desktop wallet available for BEARS?

No. Currently it is not available.

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What are Smart Media Tokens (SMTs)?

A Smart Media Token (SMT) is a native digital asset on the Bears blockchain that can be quickly launched by anyone to help monetize online content and create incentives to encourage desired user behavior.

They're like Ethereum's ERC-20 tokens, but with certain built-in ‘Proof-of-Brain’ properties and a token distribution reward system designed specifically for digital content businesses.

SMTs are planned to be launched in 2020!

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Accounts

How do I create an account?

Click on the "Sign Up" link at the top of bearshares.com to get started.

You will be asked to fill a form, After your information has been received and verified, you will be added to the waiting list to receive an account. You will be notified via email once your account is approved. It normally takes 24 hours but can take upto 10 days depending upon the volume of requests.

After you receive notification that your account is approved, Make sure to follow instructions carefully written in the email.

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What information do I need to provide in order to create an account?

You will need to provide your email address only, we don't ask for phone numbers or Identity card or passport.

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How long does the account approval process take?

Some accounts are approved faster than others. Most accounts are approved within 24 hours. Some may take a week or two to review.

If your account has not been approved after more than two weeks, you can ask for help in the #help channel on Bearshares Discord Group.

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Can I speed up the account approval process?

Yes, If you can pay 25$ for an account, you can get it approved faster, talk to a leader at our Bearshares Discord Group

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Why do I need to provide my email?

To create an account on the blockchain, it costs BEARS tokens. When you create an account through bearshares.com, Bearshares is supplying the tokens to pay the account creation fee. In order to prevent users from abusing the paid-for signup and creating multiple accounts, we need to be able to verify that each user is only signing up for one account.

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Can I create a Bears account without an email?

The only way to have an account created via bearshares.com is to supply your email, that's because it's the only way we can deliver your account's access information over to you.

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What are other ways to create an account on the blockchain besides using bearshares.com?

If you are willing to pay your own signup fee, then there is only one way contact us at Bearshares Discord Group

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It is not letting me create an account with my phone number. What should I do?

We don't create accounts with phone numbers, Only way is to submit the request form and wait for approval. Or get a paid account by contacting us at Discord group.

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What happens if my email changes?

Nothing happens, because we don't link your account with your email.

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Am I allowed to create more than one account?

Each user is allowed only one paid-for account created via bearshares.com, however users are allowed to create as many accounts as they want on the blockchain. Creating additional accounts on the blockchain requires users to pay their own account creation fee.

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Can I change my username?

Account names can not be changed. If you would like a new account name, you must pay to create a new account.

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Can I delete or deactivate my account?

Accounts can not be deactivated or deleted. The account along with all of its activity is permanently stored in the blockchain.

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Community

Is there an Etiquette Guide for Bearshares?

Be friendly and supportive to everyone, and vote for @bilalhaider for witness ;)

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Am I required to verify my identity?

Verification is a process where users give evidence to show that they are the person that they claim to be. This is to reduce fraud and people impersonating known figures. If you would like to remain anonymous, that is perfectly fine. However if you claim to be someone specific, the community may expect that you verify you are who you say you are.

There are a number of ways to do this. The most common way to verify your identity is by posting a link to your Bearshares profile on a website or social media account which you are already known for having such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, a blog, or photography site.

Many users also like to post a photo or a video which shows them holding up a sheet of paper with the current date and their Bears account name handwritten on it. This is a great way to add a personal touch to verifying.

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Site Navigation

How do I upvote a post or comment?

To upvote a post or comment, click on the "upvote" icon at the bottom of the post/comment.

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What do the Home, New, Hot, Trending, and Promoted links show?

These are various ways to sort Bears posts.

Home - The most recent posts of the accounts you follow (your feed).

New - Posts are sorted by the time posted, with newest first.

Hot - Popular posts at the moment.

Trending - Posts with the most amount of votes, stake-weighted, recently.

Promoted - Listings that are boosted by Bears Dollar payments get promoted for greater visibility.

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What information is available in my account menu?

You can get to your account menu by clicking on the avatar icon in the top-right corner of a bearshares.com page.

Feed - Here is where you go to see the most recent posts from the people you follow.

Blog - Here is where you go to see all of your posts and rebearss. It is also where you go to see your profile page that is viewable by other users.

Comments - Here is where you go to see all of the comments and replies you have made.

Replies - Here is where you go to see all replies other users have made to your posts and comments.

Wallet - Here is where you go to see your wallet balances, make transfers, exchange BEARS or Bears Dollars, and Power Up.

Change Password - Here is where you go to change your password.

Settings - Here is where you go to update your settings.

Logout - If you'd like to logout.

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How do I see my recent rewards?

The Rewards drop-down menu is available on your profile/blog page. Click it and there are two links:

Curation rewards - Shows the rewards earned for upvoting posts and comments.

Author rewards - Shows the rewards earned by your own posts and comments.

You can also view the same information for other users by visiting their profile.

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What information is shown in my wallet?

Your wallet shows how many BEARS and Bears Dollar tokens you have in your account. It shows how much Bears Power it has, and how much SP is delegated. It also shows how many of your BEARS and Bears Dollar tokens are being held in the savings account, which is a balance that is subject to 3 day withdraw waiting period. The wallet page shows any the progress of any Bears Dollar to BEARS conversions as well as the status of a power down. It also shows an estimated value of all the tokens in your account, based on the recent market price of BEARS.

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How do I transfer my BEARS or Bears Dollars into savings?

Your savings balance is BEARS and BSD tokens that are subject to 3 day withdraw waiting period. This is an extra security measure in case your account credentials are compromised. To transfer BEARS or BSD tokens into savings, click on the drop-down arrow next to BEARS or BEARS DOLLARS in your wallet, and select "Transfer to Savings".

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How do I send money to another user?

  • From your wallet page, click the BEARS or Bears Dollar balances with the down arrow next to them.
  • In the drop-down menu, click 'Transfer'.
  • Type the username of the account you want to send the BEARS or Bears Dollars to. Double and triple check the spelling.
  • Enter the amount of BEARS or Bears Dollars to send.
  • Enter a memo to go along with the transaction (optional).
  • Click Submit.
  • You will be prompted for your password. You will need to enter your master password or active key.

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Will I receive notifications when there is activity with my account?

When there is new activity in your feed, you receive a reply from another user, or there is a new transfer in your wallet, you will receive a notification in your account menu. It will show a little red number showing the number of new notifications.

Bearshares also allows you to subscribe to receive additional notifications when users mention you in a comment or post. Currently, there are no options to receive notifications for votes directly on bearshares.com.

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What is shown in my profile?

At the top of your profile is your display name and reputation score. Below your display name is the number of followers you have, the number of posts and comments you have written, and the number of people you are following. It also shows the month and year when your account was created.

You have the option to change your avatar and display name on the Settings page. There, you can set additional information such as "about" information, your location, and add a link to a website of your choosing. You also have the option to set a cover image for your profile.

You can view your own profile by clicking on the link to your Blog in your account menu.

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How do I change my avatar image and other profile information?

Your profile info, avatar image, and cover image are set in your Settings page. In order to update your avatar picture and cover image, you will need to host the images somewhere. This can be done by uploading it to a Bearshares comment or post, or using a third-party image hosting site such as Postimage. Once your image is uploaded, copy its URL and paste it into the "Profile Picture URL" box for the avatar, or the "Cover Image URL" box for the cover image. Then click the Update button and enter your password or active key.

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What is the recommend size for the cover image?

The cover image will be resized/scaled depending on the device being used. Therefore it is recommend to use an image that will still look good when cropped or resized. A 2048x512 image is the optimal size to work for most devices.

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How can I control whether I see "Not Safe For Work" (NSFW) content?

By default, content that users have tagged as "NSFW" will be hidden, but a link will be shown to reveal the content.

You can update your display preference with the Settings page so that NSFW content is always shown by default, remains hidden until clicked, or is completely hidden with no option to reveal.

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How do I search for content?

In the upper right corner of Bearshares, there is a magnifying glass search link where you can find posts using a keyword search.

There is also an Explore link in the main menu, where you can browse through posts based on tags.

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Can I see which users I have muted?

Yes. This can be seen under the Settings page.

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Can I see which users have muted me?

No. This information is not presented on bearshares.com.

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Can I see the list of users I am following, and who is following me?

Yes. You can see the list of followers or people you are following by clicking on the links on your profile page.

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What languages are supported?

Currently bearshares.com supports English, Spanish, Russian, French, Italian, Korean, Polish, and Chinese. There are also many communities using the platform that speak other languages. If you are interested in joining our translation team to add additional languages or help support the ones we have, please email us at [email protected].

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Posting

What can users post to Bearshares?

Bears is an open platform meant to host and welcome any legal content. Users can post anything they want, whether it be phrases, quotes, blogs, anecdotes, photos, videos, memes, songs, and more. Be creative!

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What are the different choices for post rewards (50%/50%, Power Up 100%, Decline Payout)?

  • 50%/50% - This rewards in half Bears Power, and half liquid BEARS / Bears Dollars. The ratio of liquid BEARS to Bears Dollars rewarded is based on network conditions at the time of payout. This is the default payout option.

  • Power Up 100% - This option rewards the post in 100% Bears Power.

  • Decline Payout - Use this option to receive no post rewards. Votes will affect the post's position on the trending ranking but no rewards are paid from Bears's reward pool. Replies made to the post are still eligible for rewards.

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How do I add images and photos to my posts?

Follow this tutorial by our friend @halo https://bearshares.com/halo/@halo/tutorial-how-to-post-images-to-bearshares

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How do I set the thumbnail image for my post?

The first image in the post will automatically be set as the thumbnail image.

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What is the recommend aspect ratio for thumbnail images?

The recommend aspect ratio for thumbnail images is 16x9.

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How do I add videos to my posts?

To add a YouTube, or Vimeo video to your blog post, simply paste the URL link to the video into the post.

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Is there a way I can make my images smaller?

Yes, but the picture must be resized before it is uploaded into the bearshares.com editor. This can be done in your favorite photo editing software, or online by uploading to a third-party website that features editing such as imgur.com.

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What are tags?

Tags are a way to categorize your content, so that others can find it. The more relevant the tags are to the post, the more like-minded people will come across it.

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What tags should I use?

Try to use tags that are relevant to your post, and that will be popular for other people to browse. For example, "mytriptoalaska" may be relevant to your post, but readers are probably not going to go searching for that. Using "travel" would be a better choice for a tag in this case.

You can browse through commonly used tags using the "Explore" link, in the main menu.

Be mindful when choosing tags. If your tags aren’t related to your post, your post may get downvotes for mistagging.

All tags must be lowercase letters. Spaces aren't allowed, but hyphenated words with a single dash are.

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How many tags can I use?

You can use up to 5 tags per post.

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Why is the "Post" button grayed out?

A post must have a title, body, and at least one valid tag. If any of these are missing, then the "Post" button will be disabled.

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How do I format text in Markdown?

Some common markdown syntax is:

  • **bold** bold
  • _italics_ italics
  • ~~cross out~~ cross out

Text can be sized using headers:

# H1
## H2
### H3
#### H4

H1

H2

H3

H4

For more advanced formatting, a guide describing the common markdown formatting syntax can be found here: Markdown Cheatsheet.

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How often can I post?

You are allowed to post almost as often as you like. Currently, posts must be spaced 5 minutes apart. However, the community may not find value in users that are posting too frequently. Keep in mind what your audience will be interested in viewing, so that you do not overwhelm your followers with too much content.

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How long can my post be?

Post sizes are limited to about 64,000 characters including formatting. This is ample for most posts. If writing blogs, consider how much people are willing to read at one time. If you make your posts too long, readers may lose interest which may affect the amount of upvotes and rewards you receive.

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If posting in a language other than English, how will I get recognized?

You can use language-specific tags to help you to reach the audience that speaks your language.

Language-specific groups include:

  • Chinese = cn
  • German = deutsch
  • Spanish = spanish
  • Korean = kr
  • Russian = ru
  • French = fr
  • Portuguese = pt

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Can I delete something I posted?

The blockchain will always contain the full edit history of posts and comments, so it can never be completely deleted. If you would like to update a post so that users cannot see the content via bearshares.com, you can edit the post and replace it with blank content for as long as the post is active. After seven days, the post can no longer be edited.

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What does "Promoting" a post do?

When you make a post, there is the option to promote it with Bears Dollars. It will then show up in the “Promoted” tab. The order that it appears in the list depends on how much the post was promoted for. Posts with a higher promoted amount will be higher than posts with less.

Bears Dollars spent to promote a post are paid to the account @null, which nobody owns or controls. Once a user transfers BSD to @null, the Bears blockchain removes them from the currency supply. You can promote your own posts, or posts that you like from other users.

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How do I promote a post?

At the bottom of each post is a button to "Promote". After clicking the button, type the number of Bears Dollars that you want to spend and click “PROMOTE”. The operation will require your master password or active key.

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Comments

Can I earn digital tokens for commenting?

Yes, comments that are upvoted can earn rewards just like posts!

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How often can I comment?

There is a 20 second wait time in between comments to limit spam.

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Economics

Where do the new BEARS tokens come from?

Blockchains like Bears and Bitcoin produce new tokens each time a block is produced. Unlike Bitcoin, where all of the new coins go to the block producers (called miners), the Bears blockchain allocates a majority of the new tokens to a reward fund called the "rewards pool". The rewards pool gives users tokens for participating in the platform based on the value they add.

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How many tokens were generated by the blockchain?

About 900 Million Tokens were generated when blockchain started.

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Bearshares has an explorer?

Yes we have, You can visit it by following this link https://explorer.bearshares.com

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Which exchanges are BEARS and BSD listed on?

It isn't listed on any exchanges just yet, people trade their coins, through us.

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What is the reward pool?

Every day, a fixed amount of BEARS tokens are allocated to the network reward fund, commonly called the "reward pool." These get distributed to authors and curators for posting and voting on content.

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How is the reward pool split between authors and curators?

Reward pool is split between authors and curators

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Will the reward pool pay out more or less depending on who votes?

There is a fixed amount of BEARS coins that gets added to the rewards pool each day. In the short term, the amount of coins that get paid out may be higher or lower depending on the amount of voting activity, but over time it will pay out the full amount of rewards regardless of who votes.

Votes in Bears are stake-weighted. Therefore voters with more Bears Power have a greater influence over the allocation than voters with less SP, but their votes do not increase the amount of rewards in the rewards pool.

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Why do the earnings for my post go up or down?

The amount that is shown next to a post is a "Potential Payout". This is an estimated value of how much money the post will make based on the votes that have occurred so far. Depending on various factors, this value can go up or down until the payout window closes:

  • If a post receives more upvotes, the potential payout of the post can go up.
  • If a post receives more downvotes, the potential payout of the post can go down.
  • If other posts receive more upvotes, the potential payout of the post can go down.
  • If other posts receive more downvotes, the potential payout of the post can go up.
  • If upvotes are removed from a post, the potential payout of the post can go down.
  • If downvotes are removed from a post, the potential payout of the post can go up.
  • If the price of BEARS goes up, the potential payout of all posts can go up.
  • If the price of BEARS goes down, the potential payout of all posts can go down.

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When can I claim my rewards?

Posts and comments remain active for 5 days. When the period is over, you are able to claim their earned rewards. In your Wallet, click the Claim Rewards button to add the tokens to your account.

Second Payment comes in 30 days after first payment is received. So in total you have about 35 days to collect rewards on your posts.

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What is the difference between BEARS, Bears Power, and Bears Dollars?

BEARS - BEARS is the base liquid currency token in the platform. BEARS can be powered up into Bears Power, traded for Bears Dollars, or transferred to other accounts. It is a cryptocurrency token, similar to bitcoin. Bears are readily available token. more than 900 Million.

Bear Power or Share Power - Share Power (abbreviated SP) is a measurement of how much influence a user has in the Bears network. The more Bears Power a user holds, the more they can influence the value of posts and comments. Bears Power is less liquid. If a user wishes to “Power Down” SP, they will receive equal distributions of the BEARS weekly, over a 104 week period.

Bears Dollars - Bears Dollars (commonly abbreviated BSD) is second token which bearshares provides, We started with just 10 BSD supply, so it's not readily available token. Bears Dollars can be traded with BEARS via internal Market, and transferred to other accounts for commerce or exchange.

For businesses who want to accept our token for payments. We suggest to use Bear Dollars(BSD or BSDS) intead of bears.

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What is delegated Bears Power?

Users have the option to delegate Share Power to other users. When a user is delegated Share Power - their bandwidth, content votes, and curation rewards are calculated as if it were their own Share Power. Users are not able to power down or cash out delegated Share Power however, as it still belongs to the original owner.

Most users will have a small amount of Share Power delegated to them by the Bearshares account after creating an account via bearshares.com.

Delegated Share Power shows up in a user's wallet below their actual Share Power balance in parentheses.

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What determines the price of BEARS?

The price of BEARS is based on the supply and demand of the token, as determined by buyers and sellers on the exchanges. It is similar to how the price of a commodity like gold is determined.

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How do I get more Bears Power?

With BEARS tokens in your wallet, click "Power Up" to turn them into Bears Power. If you have Bears Dollars, you can convert them to BEARS from your wallet, and then power up the BEARS.

If you don’t already have BEARS or Bears Dollars in your wallet, you can purchase them using bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC).

To buy:

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How long does it take BEARS or Bears Power that I purchased to show up in my account?

Transactions on the Bears blockchain typically only take about three seconds to process, but when you are purchasing the BEARS tokens using bitcoin or some other token, then the transaction must wait for the transaction to be confirmed on the other network. This can take several hours, and sometimes even days.

If you paid using bitcoin, the third party website bitcoinfees.21.co can estimate the approximate wait time of the transaction based on the fees that were paid. The third party website blockchain.info will lookup the fees that were paid on a specific blockchain transaction.

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What is powering up and down?

Powering up - If you have BEARS tokens, you can Power Up to Bears Power to get more voting influence on posts and comments. Having more Bears Power also increases the amount of curation rewards and new coined tokens that you can earn. More SP also grants more influence on approving Bears witnesses.

Powering down - If you have Bears Power, you can power down to turn it into liquid BEARS over a period of time. The system will transfer 1/104 of your Bears Power to BEARS each week for about 26 months (104 weeks), starting 1 week from the time it is started. However, you will lose your influence in the network proportionally to how much is powered down, so think about it carefully. Power downs can be stopped at any time.

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What do the dollar amounts for pending payouts represent?

The dollar amounts next to posts and comments are estimates of the potential payout that will occur when the payout period ends, based on the current voting activity and price of BEARS. These potential payout amounts may fluctuate up or down until the payout period ends.

Payouts occur as a combination of Bears Power and Bears Dollars. Sometimes the blockchain may substitute BEARS in place of the Bears Dollars based on market conditions.

The blockchain estimates the dollar value of BEARS and Bears Power based on the 3.5 day average price of BEARS reported by the witnesses. The blockchain assumes Bears Dollars are worth approximately one USD.

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Will 1 Bears Dollar always be worth $1.00 USD?

The market value of a Bears Dollar is dictated by the supply and demand of the token. Therefore it is possible for 1 BSD to be worth more or less than 1 USD depending on market conditions.

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How do Bears Dollar to BEARS conversions work?

We do not support conversion, but you can exchange your BSD for BEARS via internal market.

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Is there a way for me to convert my Bears Dollars to BEARS ?

You can exchange them. Visit the internal Market, found in the main menu. There you can exchange your BSD for BEARS in real-time at whatever the current market price is.

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What can I do with my BEARS tokens?

  • "Power Up" to Bears Power
  • Exchange for BSD in the internal market
  • Withdraw to an exchange, and trade for BTC or other digital tokens
  • Purchase items through third-party stores that accept BEARS tokens

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What can I do with my BSD tokens?

  • Exchange for BEARS in the internal market
  • Withdraw to an exchange, and trade for BTC or other digital tokens
  • Purchase items through third-party stores that accept BSD tokens

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What is a MCOIN?

A COIN is a unit of measurement for Bears Power. A MCOIN is one million COINS.

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Can I sell goods and services on Bearshares?

Other than making a post and making sales manually, there is no interface for selling items directly on bearshares.com. You can list goods and services on the third-party websites and accept payment in Bears Dollars or BEARS. You also have the option to advertise your items through Bearshares posts.

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How can I withdraw my BEARS or BSD coins?

You need to find buyers on exchange markets. At the time of creating this documentation we are in contact with easydex cryptoexchange.

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Will I get a 1099 from Bearshares?

No, you are not being paid by Bearshares. The Bears network rewards you. It is your responsibility to determine what, if any, taxes apply to the transactions you make. Further, it is your responsibility to report and remit the correct tax to the appropriate tax authority. By creating an account, you agree that Bearshares is not responsible for determining whether taxes apply to your Bears transactions, or for collecting, reporting, withholding, or remitting any taxes arising from any Bears transactions.

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How much are the transaction fees for sending tokens to other users?

There are never any fees for transfers within the Bears network. However, if you transfer Bears to an exchange and convert it to another currency, you may incur a small fee from the exchange.

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Are there fees for Powering Up, Powering Down, trading on the internal market, or converting BSD to BEARS?

No. None of these actions incur any fees.

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How long does it take to transfer BEARS or BSD tokens between users?

A transfer of tokens between accounts typically takes 3 seconds. This is far faster than most blockchain tokens.

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Voting and Curating

What is my voting power?

Voting power is like an "energy bar" in a computer game that goes down a little bit every time you vote. You start out with 100% voting power. Every time you vote, you will use a small amount of your voting power.

As you use more of your voting power, your votes will carry less influence. A vote with 50% voting power left will be worth 1/2 as much as a vote cast with 100% voting power. Not to worry, the network recharges your voting power every day.

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How many times can I vote without depleting my voting power?

Every 100% vote you cast will use 1% of your remaining voting power. . You can vote more than 20 times per day, but each vote will be worth less, and it will take longer to reach full voting power again.

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Can I vote with less than 100% of my voting strength?

New users can only upvote and downvote with 100% voting strength.

Once you reach about 500 Bears Power, you will see a vote slider appear when you vote. You can use the slider to adjust the weight of your vote, between 1% and 100% voting strength. Voting with less than 100% voting weight will use up less voting power, but it will also have less of an influence on the post or comment's rewards.

Upvotes and downvotes use the same amount of voting power.

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Where can I check my voting power?

You can view your current voting power using third party tools such as https://explorer.bearshares.com/@youraccount.

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What determines how much of the curation reward goes to the author versus curators?

The rewards are allocated so that 75% of the payout goes to the author of the post/comment, and 25% goes to the curator.

Of the 25% that goes to the curator, that portion will be split between the author and the curator if the curator votes within the first 30 minutes. The split of the 25% between the author and curator during the first 30 minutes is calculated linearly based on the time the vote is cast.

  • If a post is upvoted the moment of posting, 100% of the curation reward goes to the author.
  • At 3 minutes, 90% goes to the author and 10% to the curator.
  • At 15 minutes it's a 50/50 split.
  • At 27 minutes, 10% goes to the author and 90% to the curator.
  • If a post is upvoted 30 min after posting, 100% of the curation reward goes to the curator.

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Can I get curation rewards for upvoting comments?

Yes. You can earn curation rewards from upvoting both posts and comments!

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Do I get curation rewards for downvoting posts or comments?

No. Since downvoting reduces the rewards on a post/comment, it does not earn curation rewards.

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What are curation trails?

No such thing exist here at bearshares by the time writing this documentation.

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Why don't my upvotes have an effect on a post's rewards?

A user with more SP is going to have a larger influence on the rewards than users with less SP. One vote from a user with a lot of SP can often have more of an effect than 100 votes from users with a small amount of SP.

Even though your vote may not have an immediate effect, when it gets added in along with all the other votes at the end of the payout period, it can still affect the payout. It may also cause more users to vote on the post too, because they saw that you upvoted it - so your votes can have an indirect effect on the payout this way.

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Is there a way to make my votes count for more?

Yes. The more Bears Power you have, the more influence your votes will have.

The platform does not require that anybody purchase SP in order to participate, and there are many users who have earned a lot of Bears Power without spending any of their own money. You have the option of purchasing more Bears Power through your Bearshares wallet.

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What are the valid reasons for downvoting?

Users are allowed to downvote for any reason that they want. There are many users in the community who recommend only using the downvote on posts that are abusive. It is up to you if you want to follow this etiquette.

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Does a downvote mean that I did something wrong?

Just because you received a downvote does not mean that you did something wrong. The downvoting person may have just been voting to reallocate the rewards in a way that they felt was more beneficial to the other active posts in the platform. Often users will leave a comment explaining why they downvoted, but sometimes they might not. If they left a reason, it is up to you to determine if you did anything wrong, and if there is anything you want to change.

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Will a downvote hurt my reputation?

Not necessarily. See: What causes my reputation score to go down?

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What is the difference between a downvote and a flag?

With the current implementation, there is no difference between a downvote and a flag. They are treated the same at the blockchain level.

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Plagiarism, Spam, and Abuse

What is considered spam or abuse?

  • Asking for money, views, upvotes, follows, or rebearss.
  • Leaving nearly identical or materially similar comments on multiple posts.
  • Comments that are unrelated to the topic of discussion.
  • Sending unsolicited links or requests to users via wallet memos.
  • Posts that require upvotes to enter or play in a contest or game.
  • Sending users a link to your blog or a post if it is not relevant to the conversation.
  • Posts or comments that include little or nothing more than an offer to trade follows or upvotes.
  • Using tags that are unrelated to the post.
  • Threatening users with any type of physical violence.
  • Not citing sources when using someone else’s material.
  • Posting ‘not safe for work’ content without using the “nsfw” tag.
  • Selling or offering to buy votes/rebearss/follows, or schemes that facilitate this.
  • Scams or Fraudulent offers.

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What are Bearshares’s policies on plagiarism?

If you are posting plagiarized or copied content, you can get in legal trouble for violating copyright laws. Plagiarized posts and spam are seen as abuse and will be downvoted by community members. If you are posting or using someone else’s content, you must ensure that you have the rights to use the content, and properly reference the sources where you got the material from.

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Is it okay to use random pictures from the internet?

If you are using an image that is not your own, make sure you are allowed to use the image, and cite the source of the image.

Using random pictures from the internet without giving credit is discouraged. You may, however, use photos from “free image” websites such as Pexels.com or Pixabay.com. All photos on Pexels and Pixabay are free for personal and commercial use.

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What is Bearscleaners?

Bearscleaners are a group of Bearsians concerned with plagiarism, copy/paste, spam, scams and other forms of abuse on Bearshares.

They help make the platform clean :)

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What is @cheetah?

We don't have @cheetah :p

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Where do I report a post or comment that contains plagiarism, spam, or abuse?

You can report any abusive content to our Discord Group. or make a post about it and use #report_abuse Tag

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Reputation

What is Reputation?

Every user has a reputation score next to their name. The reputation score is one way Bearshares measures the amount of value you have brought to the community. It is also a mechanism that is designed to help reduce abuse of the Bearshares platform.

Your reputation goes up when accounts vote on your content. Getting downvoted by someone with a higher reputation can push your reputation down and make your posts less visible.

Users with a lower reputation score are unable to affect your reputation.

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How is the Reputation score measured?

Every new user starts off with a reputation score of 25.

The reputation score is based off of a log10 system, which means that a score of 40 is about 10x better than a score of 30.

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How do I improve my reputation score?

Every time another user upvotes one of your posts or comments, it increases your reputation score. The more Bears Power that the voter has, the larger the effect is. The best way to earn upvotes is by adding value to the Bearshares community.

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What causes my reputation score to go down?

The only way for your reputation score to go down is to be downvoted by another user. Not all downvotes will cause a reputation loss though.

  • Downvotes from users with a lower reputation score than you will not hurt your score.
  • If your post or comment that was downvoted still received more upvotes than downvotes (weighted by SP), then the net effect on your reputation score will still be positive.

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Why does my reputation score matter?

A reputation score is one way Bearshares measures the amount of value you have brought to the community. In real estate, they say there are three variables of the utmost importance: location, location, location. On Bearshares, those things are: reputation, reputation, reputation. It’s not to say other variables aren’t important, but reputation will be an enormous factor in your level of success.

Many Bearsians glance at users’ reputation scores when deciding which articles to read because they know higher reputation scores means it is much more likely quality content. Furthermore, the higher your rep, the more effect your vote will have on the reputation of others.

It is worth noting that if your reputation score goes below 0, Bearshares will hide your posts and comments making it very difficult to gain monetary rewards and followers. This incentivizes online etiquette and respect for your fellow Bearsians.

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Followers, Feeds, and Rebears

What is Rebearsing?

This is like reblogging or sharing posts on other platforms. Once you rebears a post it will appear in your feed and in your followers' feeds as if you had posted it yourself. Use it conservatively and with caution. It is great to want to share content you like and appreciate with people you follow, but you don't want to overwhelm your followers either.

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Can I share on other social media?

Yes you can use the share button to share on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. You are welcome to post your Bearshares links on other websites and social media sites.

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Blockchain

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain is a public ledger of all transactions ever executed. All of the transactions and data are stored in a distributed database. Each time the database is updated, all of updates are done together in a batch called a 'block'. Each time a new block is produced/added, it is appended on to all of the previous blocks - hence the name "blockchain".

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What is the Bears blockchain?

The Bears blockchain is the publicly accessible distributed database, which records all posts and votes, and distributes the rewards across the network. It is where all of the text content and voting data is stored, and it is where all of the reward calculations and payouts are performed.

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How does bandwidth work on the Bears blockchain?

Since transacting on the Bears blockchain has zero fees, bandwidth rate-limiting is employed to safeguard the blockchain from spam attacks. Everything action that you take on the blockchain will consume a small amount of bandwidth. This includes posting, commenting, voting, transferring tokens, etc. Viewing content does not consume bandwidth.

Every user has a limited amount of bandwidth to use each week. The more transactions a user does, the less bandwidth they will have left (until it recharges). Users with more Bears Power will have a higher bandwidth allowance.

Normally everyone's bandwidth allowance is quite high, and users are able to use the network freely without any interruptions. Sometimes when the blockchain becomes busy however (due to heavy use), everyone's individual allowances may go down until the network becomes less busy.

You can check how much bandwidth you currently have based on the current limit at: https://explorer.bearshares.com/@youraccount

If users are below their bandwidth limit, they will be unable to transact with the blockchain until their bandwidth recharges or their limit is raised.

If you get an error that you have exceeded your bandwidth allowance, it is normally best to just wait and try again later (when it is less busy). Usually if you wait and try again later, the transaction will likley go through.

If you are unable to transact for extended periods of time, or you are frequently running into bandwidth limits, then you will either need to reduce your usage to stay within your limit, or purchase more Bears Power for your account.

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What is the difference between Bears and Bearshares?

Bears is the name of the blockchain that stores all of the data and transactions, and processes all of the events that take place. BEARS is also a name for the system’s value token (currency).

Bearshares is a front end web interface to interact with the blockchain, and view the blockchain data. Bearshares is also the name of the company that owns and operates the website bearshares.com.

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How is Bears different from Bitcoin?

On a technical level, the two networks rely on the same model of a blockchain, but are built upon different technologies and codebase. Bears is based on a new state-of-the-art blockchain technology called Graphene, which uses "witnesses" instead of "miners" to produce blocks.

The "delegated proof of stake" model of using witnesses instead of miners allows for greater efficiency in block production. With BTC, 100% of the new coins that are created are allocated to block producers (miners). With the Bears blockchain, only 10% of the new coins are paid to block producers (witnesses). The other 90% of new BEARS coins are awarded to content producers, curators, and Bears Power holders.

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What is the difference between Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, and Delegated Proof of Stake?

Proof of work - Miners solve a complex mathematical problem. The miner that solves the problem first adds the block to the blockchain. The network rewards the miner for doing so.

Proof of stake - Requires ownership, or stake, in the cryptocurrency. The more tokens you own, the more block creation power you have. Benefits: eliminates the need for expensive mining rigs, runs on a tiny fraction of the power, and it requires block producers to have a stake in the network.

Delegated proof of stake - Block-creating accounts, called witnesses, are collectively approved by Bears stakeholders. Instead of relying on proof of work to find blocks, the Bears network actively schedules these accounts to improve the time between blocks to 3 seconds.

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How often does the Bears blockchain produce a new block?

The Bears blockchain schedules witnesses to produce a new block every 3 seconds. 21 witness nodes produce 21 blocks in each 63-second round.

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Is there a way to see the raw data that is stored in the blockchain?

No. Currently there isn't

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Where can I find the information for the official launch of the blockchain?

We are soon going to officially announce it. at bitcoin Talk

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Can I mine BEARS?

No. Proof of work mining has been removed from Bears.

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Bearshares

Who is the CEO of Bearshares?

Bilal Haider, @bilalhaider https://bearshares.com/@bilalhaider

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Can I incoin in Bearshares?

Bearshares is a privately held company and is not available for public incoinment.

Though not considered an incoinment, you can purchase BEARS tokens which can go up or down in value. You can power up these tokens into Bears Power, which grants more influence in the Bears platform.

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What does Bearshares’s development roadmap look like?

We haven't setup a roadmap just yet :p we are just wanderers.

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Am I allowed to use the Bears and Bearshares logos?

The Bearshares brand and logo are protected by intellectual property laws, including copyright and other proprietary rights of the United States and other countries. The purpose is to allow Bearshares to protect the brand and logo in ways that extend user safety. One may not make unauthorized commercial use of, reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display the Bearshares logo or brand, except as permitted by the doctrine of fair use, or as authorized in writing by us.

Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. Bearshares considers artistic variations of the Bearshares logo that are used for non-commercial purposes, and are not used to harm Bearshares users (i.e. through attraction to phishing sites), an instance of fair use.

The Bears logo is licensed under Creative Commons CC0, meaning you’re free to copy, modify, or distribute (even for commercial purposes) without needing to ask permission or give attribution.

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Did Bearshares "pre-mine" tokens?

Yes. 900 Million tokens were premined. @bearshare account holds them. These tokens are mostly used to fund new accounts, bounty programs, providing liquidity to market, payment to bearshares team. Every transaction that goes out of @bearshare account has a Memo part which tells what purpose it is used.

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What is the Bearshares Privacy Policy?

https://bearshares.com/privacy.html

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Security

How can I keep my Bears account secure?

Save your master password and keep it somewhere safe.

Only log into your account using the key with the appropriate permissions for what you are doing:

  • Posting key for every day logins
  • Active key when necessary for transfers, power ups, etc.
  • Master password or owner key when changing the password

Again, save your master password and keep it safe! If logging in with your post key, make sure you don't overwrite or misplace your original master password.

It is not recommended to share your password or keys with any third party site. Bearshares is developing a login application that can be used on third party Bears front ends.

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Why should I be careful with my master password?

The master password is used to derive all keys for your account, including the owner key. If someone has access to your master password, they can steal your account and all of the tokens in it.

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Why is the master password a long string of gibberish?

The password has to be long and random for maximum account security.

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What are my different keys for?

Posting key - The posting key allows accounts to post, comment, edit, vote, rebears, and follow or mute other accounts. Most users should be logging into Bearshares every day with the posting key. You are more likely to have your password or key compromised the more you use it so a limited posting key exists to restrict the damage that a compromised account key would cause.

Active key - The active key is meant for more sensitive tasks such as transferring funds, power up/down transactions, converting Bears Dollars, voting for witnesses, updating profile details and avatar, and placing a market order.

Memo key - Currently the memo key is not used.

Owner key - The owner key is only meant for use when necessary. It is the most powerful key because it can change any key of an account, including the owner key. Ideally it is meant to be stored offline, and only used to recover a compromised account.

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What do I do if I lost my password/keys?

There is no way to recover your account if you lose your password or owner key! Because your account has real value, it is very important that you save your master password somewhere safe where you will not lose it.

It is strongly recommended that you store an offline copy of your password somewhere safe in case of a hard drive failure or other calamity. Consider digital offline storage, such as an external disk or flash drive, as well as printed paper. Use a safe deposit box for best redundancy.

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Are my BEARS and Bears Dollar tokens insured in the event of a hack or if someone takes over my account?

No, liquid tokens can not be taken back if stolen or sent to the wrong account.

If your tokens are in Bears Power, it is impossible for a hacker to take out more than 1/104 per week. If your tokens are in savings, there is a three-day wait period for them to become transferable.

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What should I do if I discover that someone hacked my account?

We cannot do anything if your account is hacked. It's your responsibity to keep your passwords safe and secure.

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How does the stolen account recovery process work?

We cannot recover accounts.

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How do I report a security vulnerability?

If you find a security issue please report the details to [email protected].

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Developers

Are the Bears blockchain and bearshares.com code open-source?

Yes. Both the Bears blockchain and bearshares.com are open-source projects.

Developers should however avoid the use of the term "Bearshares" in their own products, and instead refer to the Bears Blockchain or Bears Platform. Bearshares refers to bearshares.com, which is owned by @bilalhaider.

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Is there a Github page for bearshares.com?

https://github.com/bearshares/condenser

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Is there a Github page for the Bears blockchain?

https://github.com/bearshares/bears

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What is available for developers interested in Bears and Bearshares?

Many software engineers are currently leveraging the open-source code to build their applications on Bears.

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Can I use cli_wallet?

Yes you can use it :)

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Witnesses

What are Bears witnesses?

The Bears blockchain requires a set of people to create blocks and uses a consensus mechanism called delegated proof of stake, or DPOS. The community elects 'witnesses' to act as the network's block producers and governance body. There are 20 full-time witnesses, producing a block every 63-second round. A 21st position is shared by the backup witnesses, who are scheduled proportionally to the amount of stake-weighted community approval they have. Witnesses are compensated with Bears Power for each block they create.

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How can I vote for witnesses?

Visit https://bearshares.com/~witnesses.

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How many witnesses can I vote for?

Each account can vote for up to 30 witnesses.

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Miscellaneous

What third-party tools are there for Bearshares?

Comming Soon...

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Is there an official Bearshares Facebook page?

https://www.facebook.com/bearshares.co/

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Is there an official Bearshares Twitter account?

No there isn't any.

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What is the Bears Whitepaper and what is its purpose?

The Bears Whitepaper was written to describe the mechanics of the token system that makes decentralized content incentives and distribution possible in a way that can improve web technologies across the board. It is also applicable to Bearshares, the first website to plug into the Bears blockchain. Users who have read the Bears Whitepaper will better understand how their interactions with Bearshares are interactions with Bears, the decentralized network.

We will release it soon..

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Where can I ask for help if my question was not answered here?

Join our Discord Group and talk to community.

You can also create a post on bearshares.com with the tag #help, and someone in the community may be able to answer it.

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Disclaimer

Third Party References and User Links

Any third party applications or websites that are listed in this documentation, does not constitute and endorsement or recommendation on behalf of Bearshares.

All links to user posts were created by our users and do not necessarily represent the views of Bearshares or its management. Their listing here does not constitute and endorsement or recommendation on behalf of Bearshares, Inc.

Please use the third party tools and content at your own risk.

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