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+Document: WM-051                                                 P. Webb
+Category: Handshake                                           2021.05.30
+
+                 Being Brave: a Handshake retrospective
+
+Abstract
+
+   What a mess
+
+Body
+
+   Earlier this week (2021.05.27), Michael Michelini of SkyInclude
+   published[1] a blog post where he laid claim that "Brave is asking
+   for 3 to 3.5 million USD for a 2 year of having Handshake names to
+   work on their browser…It seems we can 'bargain' it down to 3 million
+   US dollars from the 3.5 million."
+
+   This information is not first-hand from Brave but rather "from
+   multiple sources that are high in the Handshake community."
+
+   The Handshake community is rather flat by nature so I can only
+   surmise he means 1) a group of people and 2) this group has big
+   pockets. That only leaves us with dWeb Foundation[2] and HNS Fund[3]
+   as potential sources. I won't bury the lede here. Over the last
+   couple days, Michael has continuously refused to answer direct
+   questions. He has instead relied upon proxies in the form of a link
+   to a Twitter thread[4] that supports his actions and various
+   cheerleaders in the Namebase Discord that have "seen
+   the conversations."
+
+   Those direct questions?
+
+   - Where did you get your information from?
+   - Who put you up to this?
+
+   From my perspective, if some deal was being discussed between Brave
+   and some "high" members of the community, why was Michael made privy
+   to these details? What was the motive of the participants to make
+   details of the deal public?
+
+   For his part, Brendan Eich (CEO of Brave) has rebuked the story[5]
+   and asserts the amount claimed was fake news[6].
+
+   From the Handshake Community[7] page:
+
+   > Every single person is a genuine and authorized Director of The
+   > Handshake Project. If someone has given you a document or business
+   > card representing themselves as a Director of The Handshake
+   > Project, they have full authority to represent as Director of The
+   > Handshake Project with their own personal viewpoint, So Please
+   > Treat Them Right. You, the reader, are also a Director of The
+   > Handshake Project and have equal claim on authority, action,
+   > and viewpoints.
+   >
+   > Any claims made by anyone on what Handshake does (or will do) does
+   > not necessarily have the agreement of other participants in the
+   > community and should not be seen as a definite certainty.
+
+   **As a Director of Handshake, I do not condone the actions of Michael
+   Michelini and I, quite frankly, do not trust him.** In fact, I deem
+   anything he publishes in the future as tabloid-esque bait to further
+   his own idealized position in the greater Handshake community.
+
+   To his credit, Michael published an update to the debacle he started
+   and…well, he didn't take ownership or explain himself. He instead
+   recapped the situation along with what Brendan shared on Twitter.
+   I'll take that credit back.
+
+   From his update:
+
+   > But from all of this - Brendan, the co-founder and CEO of Brave has
+   > made an amazing way to help us all deal with this
+   > awkward situation.
+
+   I don't like the framing of this. He tried to absolve himself of
+   responsibility. The situation is awkward because he made it that way.
+
+   His update also had this:
+
+   > There are groups trying to HELP the community - and some are not
+   > sure when/if/how to communicate that information to the community
+   > at large.
+
+   More bullshit, IMHO. If I'm actively working to help a protocol gain
+   traction, what reason would I have to be secretive about it? This
+   entire situation is just about browser integration. Totally not high
+   stakes at ALL. *Especially* if I have "fuck you" amounts of money.
+
+   Yesterday he claimed[8] that "so many" have asked him "to step aside
+   from the HNS community" and that he'd step down if that's what it
+   took to resolve this situation. What's our favorite
+   word? **Bullshit**.
+
+   There are three sides to every story: your side, their side, and
+   the truth.
+
+   Brendan has already shared his side, amidst the digital shit thrown
+   his way. Michael has abused his goodwill with the community to get a
+   mini army to do his dirty work. Everyone involved should feel
+   disrespected. Micahel caused this situation and the community’s trust
+   in him made us all look like petulant children. What it takes to
+   resolve this situation is to take accountability but what does he do
+   instead? Try to garner sympathy, and it actually worked!
+
+   Last bit from Michael's update:
+
+   > Sorry if I divided the community on this. I love Handshake.
+
+   If? IF?! 🤡
+
+   The amount of sympathy/support Michael is getting in the Namebase
+   Discord is baffling. Truly, my mind is boggled. It is my belief that
+   ignoring such behavior only serves to legitimize it and encourage
+   further breaches of trust.
+
+   Did we get an explicit acknowledge of what needs to be done to get
+   native Handshake resolution within Brave browser? Sure[9]. Did we
+   have to harass a CEO to get there? I think not. It is shameful that
+   someone in our community decided to implement a surreptitious
+   marketing technique of the far right to get a desired outcome, when a
+   simple ask would've sufficed. Fake news? Really?
+
+   This post has mostly been a rant but I'm not a fan of complaining
+   without at least mentioning solutions, so here's where the productive
+   part of the post comes in. What can we (you) do moving forward?
+
+   - Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Not even this
+     post. *I* have good intentions but *you* don't know that. Luckily,
+     I have link sources below.
+   - Hold people accountable. This is tricky because the Namebase
+     Discord IS for Namebase, not Handshake directly but I dislike how
+     people have decided to give Michael a pass.
+   - Educate yourself. From the comments directed towards Brendan it's
+     clear to see that non-coders have a warped perspective on what it
+     takes to build software, much less a browser. Balking at the idea
+     that a browser maker would want, nay, EXPECT compensation for
+     ongoing work (and maintenance) to integrate a new protocol is
+     silly. Software has roadmaps and the one currency we all pay is
+     time. Be patient and while you're waiting, do some reading to gain
+     appreciation for the complexity involved.
+
+   Obviously, researching *everything* you read on the Internet is
+   impractical to do on a regular basis and hindsight is 20/20 but
+   boy…we'd have a lot less egg on our face. 🕸
+
+   P.S. Here's proof of various community members (along with myself)
+   looking for answers and finding nothing[10].
+
+   Update I: I just saw that after demanding details of the deal from
+   Brendan, Michael apologized to him and took ownership[11]. This was
+   my main sticking point. I only found this out by getting a link to
+   the Handshake DNS Discord. It would've been nice if Michael updated
+   his blog post with this information.
+
+   Update II: I responded to the apology tweet with a comment stating
+   Michael should update his blog post with that. In my view, it would
+   show closure. Apparently, that sent Michael over the deep end and he
+   refused to update his post for reasons I don't understand. The Imgur
+   link[10] has been updated with screenshots so you can see for
+   yourself without my flavor.
+
+References
+
+   [1]  <https://skyinclude.com/brave>
+   [2]  <https://www.decentralizedinter.net>
+   [3]  <https://hnsfund.titansofdata.org>
+   [4]  <https://twitter.com/R86185448/status/1398401126668464131>
+   [5]  <https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1398298668847943689>
+   [6]  <https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1398305355000541189>
+   [7]  <https://handshake.org/community>
+   [8]  <https://discord.com/channels/664247448469897267/664247448902041612/848384137613017139>
+   [9]  <https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1398420651023634434>
+   [10] <https://imgur.com/a/8uj4Qn1>
+   [11] <https://twitter.com/michelini/status/1398831662880804866>