This is part 2 of my interview with Scorum CEO Vlad Artemyev. Read part 1 here! Please comment below with your thoughts. Vlad and the Scorum team are always open to our suggestions and complaints.

Once again, I'd like to thank Vlad for his transparency and willingness to listen to the community. Vlad openly answered each question that I or another member of the community asked.

A question that came up several times after I published part 1 was along the lines of "When will other sports be introduced to betscorum.com?" These questions mainly came from other U.S. residents who want to bet on American sports (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, etc.). I reached out to Vlad with this question, and he responded, saying that they are in the process of researching, and that this is in their plans for the early stages of the Scorum roadmap for 2019.

Now for part 2 of my interview with Vlad:

We’ve seen a wide range of abusers, and the team has found ways to minimize damage to most of those problems. A recent example is a user who created well over 1,000 new accounts and used them to upvote old comments on a post few people would view. Are there some instances on Scorum now or in the future where abuse cannot be stopped due to the decentralized nature of the platform? How can the team continue to prevent these users from abusing the reward pool?

Vlad Artemyev: The net of bots in your example has already been stopped. We changed the way users receive their 5 Scorum Power when registering. Now, we delegate it, and after half a year, we will send it to real user’s accounts. If this type of situation is detected, we will remove the delegation of Scorum Power. Simple mechanisms such as this will prevent these types of bot attacks.

What have you learned from the issues other blockchain-based blog platforms like Steemit have experienced and how will that change Scorum’s approach?

Vlad: Don’t leave your community alone with your not user-friendly technology and unproven economic or social models. Systems have to be user-centered, not technology or founder-centered. We are always thinking about the community, hearing their feedback and advice, and trying to deliver the best compromised solutions taking everyone interests into account.

This is why the team and I often have conversations with members in the community to get their opinions before making major decisions. And when we’ve made a mistake, we will listen to the complaints and adjust in a way that better serves the community.

Do you expect bid bots to ever be something that’s common on Scorum?

We have had several situations where bid bots have appeared on Scorum. When those bid bots have a negative impact, we have tools available to stop them. We have solved the problems associated with these negative bid bots. In the scenarios where bid bots did not have a negative impact on the platform, there’s nothing that we need to do.

How important are witnesses to Scorum? Are there ways to ensure that witnesses are acting in the best interest of the platform and users?

Witnesses are very important for sure. The whole system doesn't work without them. You can ask them directly about their activities and make your own opinion about each one. I recommend that the community gets to know their witnesses and their involvement in the community.

Liquid SCR payouts are one of the most highly anticipated additions to the platform. I understand that they are tied to the advertising feature, which is still being tested but it is live on Scorum. Can we still expect to see SCR payouts, what percentage do you expect us to see on payouts (Example: 75% SP, 25% SCR), and if you can share, what does that timeline look like?

Vlad: Payouts with SCR are coming very soon, likely in about a week. SCR/SP proportion will change over time, with more SCR coming month by month. Ads on the platform have not received much attention from the community, earning less than $50 per month.

We plan to promote betscorum.com on the “Sponsors” placements. We will put SCR from the Scorum team into ads, giving bloggers more rewards. How successful this plan is all depends on the popularity of betscorum.

We are adapting quickly and working on other ways to increase the liquid amount of SCR and revenue paid out to bloggers.

Question from @Swolesome: We have seen a lot of change over the past year. One year from now, what do you personally hope to see out of the platform? What’s Vlad’s best-case scenario for Scorum in early December 2019?

Vlad: The whole ecosystem will be delivered with mobile apps, we will have one million happy users, and happy and successful tokenholders.

Question from @Talesfrmthecrypt: “If you had access to a time machine and could go back and speak to the Vlad of 18 months ago, what advice would you give him based on your experience of the project so far? Would there be anything about the roadmap that you'd have changed?”

Vlad: I would tell younger Vlad to host the Scorum crowdsale in the spring of 2017, and sell all of the crypto in late December 2017.

Any final words or thoughts for the Scorum community?

Vlad: The Scorum team really appreciates the community’s attitude and involvement in what we’re building. We are always here and observing what is going on. Next year we’re going to deliver new features, so stay on Scorum and have fun!

What questions do you still have for Vlad or the team? What do you think about his responses above? Please comment below!

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