The Zeal Center

A place for the Zcash community to interact with each other, and with other communities.

The Idea

Crowdfund a Mastodon instance for the Zcash community to use as their home base in the Fediverse.

The founding principle of Zeal Center is respect for the freedom of each individual, therefore the server rules are:

1. We will treat others as each of us would like to be treated, or better.
2. We will disagree without being disagreeable.
3. We will keep the local timeline safe for work.
4. These behaviors will not be tolerated in our instance:
   • Scams
   • Harassment
   • Adult content that includes underage people
   • Racism
   • Misogyny
   • Xenophobia
   • Homophobia
   • Transphobia

When in doubt, remember what the wise Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hahn wrote:

Sometimes we speak clumsily and create internal knots in others. Then we say, “I was just telling the truth.” It may be the truth, but if our way of speaking causes unnecessary suffering, it is not Right Speech. The truth must be presented in ways that others can accept. Words that damage or destroy are not Right Speech. Before you speak, understand the person you are speaking to. Consider each word carefully before you say anything, so that your speech is “Right” in both form and content.

Why?

• Seeing the Twitter debacle unfold shows that it is time for people to come together and take ownership of how they interact with the digital world, furthering the cause of decentralization.
• The Zcash community needs to start making public displays of alignment, where the members of the community self-organize to achieve goals for the benefit of the community.
• Having a community service that is supported by ZEC and covers its costs with ZEC grows the Zcash economy.

How?

• The server is hosted on Njalla, paid for in shielded ZEC.
• All e-mail sent by the Zeal Center will be sent through ProtonMail.
• The Zeal Center will use the "pay what you can" model to cover the costs. At current exchange rates, we need about 7 ZEC to cover the first year. Donations will always be welcome and encouraged.
• Users that want to join the server request access via a shielded memo with their chosen donation to the Zcash address on this page by clicking the Donate button at the top of the page. Please include your desired username/handle (only letters, numbers or underscores), e-mail address for sign-up and your reply-to address to receive your temporary password. Please note that by requesting access, you confirm you are at least 16 years old and agree to follow the server rules.

When?

We have reached our initial fundraising goal of 1.75 ZEC.

The Zeal Center server is live! Community members that have requested access will receive their invite links shortly.