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I think this comment highlighted the issue best (and it's not possible to address really): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632195 https://news.ycombinato

I think this comment highlighted the issue best (and it's not possible to address really): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632195 I was initially curious, then cautious, then a bit disappointed as I dug into how you're doing what you're doing. What would make this data truly decentralized and "DNS-based" is if the data was published to the companies' respective domains as extra standardized records (and even thinking about it for 30 seconds I can see the problems with that). As it stands, everything is hosted on num.net. It's literally just a JSON API with extra steps. Now don't get me wrong; you've opened my mind to the fact that yes, hosting certain things over DNS has use cases. I think you built something neat, but I too am concerned that you're directly contributing to a tragedy of the commons effect. You're piggy-backing off decentralized infrastructure that gets to be free because its costs are globally minimal. In other words, you're paying for your infrastructure by fishing for pennies in the Trevi fountain.

elliottinvent 5y ago
Thanks for the feedback. There's some replies on that comment that I won't repeat here. I find the disappointment fascinating and I guess it's maybe a network traffic purist view point? > What would make this data truly decentralized and "DNS-based" is if the data was published to the companies' respective domains as extra standardized records (and even thinking about it for 30 seconds I can see the problems with that). As it stands, everything is hosted on num.net. Surely you can see that there's zero chance of getting to this truly decentralised way of doing things without some kind of fallback (See Semantic Web vs Google). NUM enables organisations to do exactly what you want – publish this data to their own DNS and that overrides data in num.net We package it up as a JSON API-like library because that's what developers are used to, but under the hood it's nothing like an API – requests aren't tracked, rate limited or restricted. > In other words, you're paying for your infrastructure by fishing for pennies in the Trevi fountain. This is a colourful description!

elliottinvent 5y ago

Thanks for the feedback. There's some replies on that comment that I won't repeat here. I find the disappointment fascinating and I guess it's maybe a network traffic purist view point? > What would make this data truly decentralized and "DNS-based" is if the data was published to the companies' respective domains as extra standardized records (and even thinking about it for 30 seconds I can see the problems with that). As it stands, everything is hosted on num.net. Surely you can see that there's zero chance of getting to this truly decentralised way of doing things without some kind of fallback (See Semantic Web vs Google). NUM enables organisations to do exactly what you want – publish this data to their own DNS and that overrides data in num.net We package it up as a JSON API-like library because that's what developers are used to, but under the hood it's nothing like an API – requests aren't tracked, rate limited or restricted. > In other words, you're paying for your infrastructure by fishing for pennies in the Trevi fountain. This is a colourful description!