The Nuance decentralised blogging platform is designed with one goal in mind: To bring the benefits of Web 3 hosting to the blogging community. This north-star guides the tokenomic design as well. Our goal is to enable readers to support and compensate their favourite writers and facilitate governance.

Supporting Writers In keeping with our mission, Nuance has developed the simplest possible system for users to pay writers for content. These payments can be made in any IC-based token supported by Nuance. Writers will be able to select which tokens they are prepared to accept. Initially, only ICP, ckBTC and the native Nuance token will be available. However, new tokens will be added over time as they reach credibility milestones. This limitation is to avoid cluttering the writer interface with unnecessary token options.

Tipping

As a reader, if you like an article you can tip via an applause button. We anticipate tipping will be the most broadly used tool for supporting writers.

Premium Articles

If writers so desire, a paywall feature will be made available for them to use. Nuance will enable writers to mint articles as NFTs. These will be sold through Nuance initially and then traded on popular marketplaces. This provides a unique difference to the paywall approach: Imagine a project you follow makes a major transformative announcement. They may post this as a Premium article (NFT), enabling readers to both support the project and own a piece of news. We anticipate writers producing research papers and other high-outlay content to also take advantage of this mechanism.

Payments

Payments are split in several ways:

• 10% is taken as a development fee and placed in the Nuance DAO (more on this below). A proportion of the remaining 90% goes to the writer.

• If the writer is publishing through a third-party property that takes advantage of our publication feature, the publication may take a fee in return for the promotion they provide.

• NFT articles will have residual fees when traded on marketplaces.

NB: If the writer is publishing through their own handle and third-party property they receive 90%.

The Nuance DAO

In keeping with the ethos of decentralised governance, an SNS-based DAO will control Nuance via a utility token.

DAO tokens will be distributed as follows:

• 30% will be allocated directly to the Aikin Development team. These will vest on a 25 - 1 month schedule. That is to say that upon launch, 1/25th will be minted directly into Aikin’s wallet, with an additional 1/25th unlocking every month for the following 24 months. This will provide security for future development and a remuneration pathway for the seed investors. It also ensures that Aikin has a voice in governance without giving them total control of the DAO.

• 30% will be sold to the community as part of the SNS launch. This is to enable immediate participation in platform governance. These will be distributed immediately upon completion of the SNS sale, giving the community vastly more control over the Nuance DAO than the Aikin development team.

• The remaining 40% will be distributed via faucet to reader accounts. Each reader account can have its balance topped up to 50 tokens on a weekly basis. These tokens will not be fully featured - they will be restricted. They can only be used to tip writers or purchase premium content. Once a writer has been paid with a restricted token, the token can be freely transferred or used in governance. Exact volumes may be changed by the DAO based on the number of reader accounts, token price, etc.

The fee structure will be governed by the community through the DAO, and changes may occur over time via successful proposals.

In summary:

Nuance enables readers to pay writers. A small fee is charged by the Nuance DAO to pay for research and development. The faucet system gives readers tokens to play with and creates an early economic base to support writers.

Nuance stands out as an innovative platform tailored for the new era of the internet. Much like DeFi has revolutionized banking, Nuance is reshaping the world of content creation by allowing writers to establish a direct financial relationship with their readers, eliminating middleman. At its core, Nuance operates on the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) blockchain, ensuring tamper-proof security and placing the control of data back into the hands of its users.

Through community governance and ownership, Nuance minimizes platform risk, creating a space where the community is in control. This decentralized approach goes beyond traditional content creation platforms, providing writers with a direct avenue to share their ideas and perspectives globally, free from the constraints of established web 2 alternatives. In essence, Nuance is not just a platform; it's a community-driven movement that democratizes blogging and content creation, fostering a more diverse and inclusive online media landscape. Welcome to Nuance, where your voice matters, and the conversation never ends.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to sell a Premium Article:

1. Eligibility:

Premium Articles are currently available only for publications.

2. Contact Nuance:

If you wish to enable the NFT feature for a specific publication, reach out to Nuance through the provided communication channels.

3. Activation:

Once Nuance activates the NFT feature for your publication, you gain access to additional functionalities.

4. "Publish as Premium" Button:

Navigate to the article creation page for your publication. After activation, you'll notice a new option: "Publish as Premium."

5. Set Pricing and Quantity:

Click on the "Publish as Premium" button to reveal the pricing and quantity options.

Specify the number of copies you want to mint and sell, along with the desired price for each Premium Article.

By registering, logging in to, and/or using your personal account on the website https://nuance.xyz/ (the “Website”) and/or the Nuance mobile (smartphone) application ‘Nuance’ (the “App”), you hereby declare (i) that you agree to become a party to this agreement (the/this “Agreement”), and (ii) that your counterparty is AIKIN B.V., a private limited company (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid), having its statutory seat in Den Haag, the Netherlands, and its main place of establishment in (2513 EH) Den Haag, the Netherlands, at the address of Veenkade 58, registered in the trade register with the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) under number 83095322 (“Nuance”, “we” and/or “us”).

SCOPE

This Agreement applies to all your visits to and use of your account on the Website and the App. This Agreement also applies to all information, recommendations and services that Nuance provides through the Website and/or the App (the “Platform”). The Platform is (technically) made available to you by Nuance via its blockchain network, which is accessible via the Website and the App.

PLATFORM

On our Platform you can: publish articles for all registered users to read (“Free Content”); get access to and reed Free Content; publish articles for limited paying for all registered users to read (“Paid Content”); get access to and read Paid Content.

If you publish articles you are referred to as a “Publisher”, whereas if you get access to and read articles you are referred to as s “Reader”. Free Content and Paid Content are together referred to as “Content”.

By using the Website and/or the App, Nuance grants you access to the Content and the use of the Platform, which access will be sought exclusively through the Website and/or the App. Nuance grants such access and right of use solely to you and for your own use, on a customary basis that is in line with the applicable standards of reasonableness and fairness.

You acknowledge and warrant to Nuance that using the Content and/or the Platform via the Website and/or the App and (consequently) entering into this Agreement does not create any rights and/or obligations towards Nuance, other than the rights and obligations stated in this Agreement.

You represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract (or if not, that you’ve received your parent’s or guardian’s permission to use our Platform and that your parent or guardian agrees to the terms of this Agreement on your behalf).

THE CONTENT

You are solely responsible for all Content that you publish on our Platform. You must make sure that you use our Platform in a manner that complies with the law and is permitted by this Agreement. If your use of our Platform is prohibited by applicable laws, then you aren’t authorised to use our Platform. We can’t and won’t be responsible for you using our Platform in a way that breaks the law. While publishing content you must comply with our rules, which means that the Content must not: Threaten, glorify, insight, or encourage violence, suicide or self-harm; threaten or promote terrorism or violent extremism; contain or depict sexual violence, sexual assault, or child sexual exploitation; promote violence against, threaten, or harass people on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease; share adult image or live video content, or intimate photos or videos produced or distributed without consent; have an unlawful purpose or facilitate illegal activities (e.g. selling, buying, or facilitating transactions in illegal goods or services); contain (or threatens to expose) other people’s private information (such as home phone number and address) without their express authorisation and permission; manipulate or interfere in elections or other civic processes; impersonate individuals, groups, or organisations or share manipulated media intended to mislead, deceive, or harm others; and/or violate others’ intellectual property rights, including copyright and trademark.

You represent and warrant that you will not publish Content or otherwise use our Platform in a manner that is not compliant with the law or the rules stated above.

We reserve the right to remove any Content from our Platform at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, if someone alleges you contributed that Content in violation of this Agreement), in our sole discretion, and without notice.

OWNERSHIP OF THE CONTENT

As a Publisher, any original Content you publish on the Platform remains yours and is protected by copyright and any other applicable intellectual property laws. You do however grant Nuance a license to your Content in order to enable us to operate the Platform. This is license is a worldwide, nonexclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable right (a) to market your Content and to permit others to use, access, and download your Content through our Platform, and (b) to use your tradename(s), trademark(s), and logo(s) in connection with the distribution and marketing of your Content.

As a Reader, you can access and read Free Content. You can also purchase access to Paid Content, in which case we provide you with a limited license regarding that specific Paid Content, in order to allow you to access and use our Platform. This is license is a worldwide, nonexclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable right to access that Paid Content through our Platform. This access is managed through the Platform, which may involve a so-called non-fungible token. You may transfer the access to purchased Paid Content to another Reader, in which case you transfer the applicable license. Payment of this transfer is handled through our Platform, which includes a 10% revenue share for Nuance.

ACCESS TO THE CONTENT AND THE PLATFORM

By entering into this Agreement, you acknowledge and warrant to Nuance that you will only use and access the Content and the Platform via the Website and/or the App under the following conditions: only if you are 16 (sixteen) years old or older; solely for your own personal use and (therefore) not for or on behalf of any person or entity other than yourself or for investment or speculative purposes; at your own risk and expense; only if you are legally entitled and empowered to do so under the laws and regulations applicable to you and this Agreement; in a lawful and non-fraudulent manner - more specifically: you can and will only access the Content and the Platform through your personal account on the Website and/or the App. You may not circumvent (by technical means) your personal account, the Website and/or the App or use the Content and the Platform through screen scraping and/or through other irregular or fraudulent means; and not via an API, unless you have obtained prior written consent to do so from Nuance and/or unless you are using an API made publicly available by Nuance.

If and insofar as you infringe and/or act in violation of any of the acknowledgements or warranties mentioned in this Agreement that you have given to Nuance, Nuance is entitled, immediately and without further notice of default and/or notification, to temporarily block and/or permanently close your account and, as a result, temporarily deny you access to the Website, the App, the Content and the Platform.

LIABILITY

To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, Nuance, its directors, its staff and/or any third party involved in the development of the Content, the Platform, the Website and/or the App, as well as the implementation of this Agreement, are not liable for any damage, howsoever which results from improper, unauthorised, reckless and/or unlawful use by you of your personal account, the Content, the Platform, the Website and/or the App, whether using the Website and/or the App, or any of your actions that violate the provisions of this Agreement.

To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, Nuance, its directors, its staff and/or any third party involved in the development of the Content, the Platform, the Website and/or the App, as well as the implementation of this Agreement, are also not liable for any damage, however named, resulting from unforeseen circumstances, such as (but not exclusively or limited to): hacks, software and/or hardware failure, downtime of (hardware) systems, downtime of blockchain(s) and associated networks and/or other software and/or hardware (related) failures that directly affect the functioning of the Website, the App, the Content and/or the Platform.

To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold Nuance, its directors, its staff and/or any third party involved in the development of the Content, the Platform, the Website and/or the App, as well as the implementation of this Agreement harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages (actual and consequential), losses and expenses arising from or in any way related to any third party claims relating to (a) your use of our Platform (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of this Agreement. In the event of such a claim, suit, or action, we will attempt to provide notice to the contact information we have for your account (provided that failure to deliver such notice shall not eliminate or reduce your indemnification obligations hereunder).

NO WARRANTIES

Our Platform is provided to you on an “as-is” basis. This means we provide it to you without any express or implied warranties of any kind. That includes any implied warranties of merchantability, warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or any warranty that the use of our Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. Accordingly, we do not make any representations or warranties about any Content contained in or accessed through our Platform, and we will not be responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, or decency of Content contained in our Platform, whereas, all Content is provided “as-is” and without any warranty of any kind from Nuance.

LINKED SITES

The Website and the App facilitate and provide links to external web pages, such as social media web pages and advertisements. Nuance is not responsible or liable to you for the use or the content of these external websites that link to or from the Website and/or the App and any adverse consequences thereof. We therefore emphasise and stress to you that it is very important to carefully read and assess the terms and conditions of the relevant external party before engaging with that party and before you use their product(s), and that you comply and act in accordance with the (general) terms and conditions of said party at all times.

Nuance's privacy policy, which is available on the Website and the App, does not apply to the collection and processing of your personal data on or via external websites and third parties - Nuance's privacy policy only applies to the information you share directly with Nuance.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Unless otherwise indicated, Nuance is the owner of all rights of or relating to the Website, the App, and the Platform, including copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Therefore, nothing concerning (the execution of) this Agreement shall be construed as granting you any (intellectual property) right from Nuance.

Nuance respects your intellectual property rights and the rights of third parties, for that reason (and thus) you should also do so. By entering into this Agreement you expressly declare and guarantee to Nuance that you do not infringe or will not infringe any intellectual property rights of third parties. In that regard, you will not, among other things, add Content to the Platform or add comments and content (in the broadest sense of both words) that violate or infringe intellectual property rights of third parties.

CHANGES AND NULLITY

Unless the changes are required by law, Nuance will notify you (e.g. by email or via the Website and App) at least 30 days before any changes are made to any provisions of this Agreement and we will allow you to review the changes before their implementation. Once the updated terms are effective, you will be bound by the amended Agreement as you continue to use the Website, the App, the Content and/or the Platform.

If any provision in this Agreement is or becomes (partially) void, you and Nuance will remain bound by the remaining provisions of this Agreement. The invalid provisions will be deemed to have been replaced by provisions that are valid and that achieve the desired effect of the invalid provisions to the greatest extent possible, with due regard to the content and purpose of this Agreement.

FINAL PROVISIONS

If any provision of this Agreement turns out to be void, non-binding or unenforceable, the other provisions of this Agreement shall continue to be fully enforceable. If Nuance does not enforce any provision of this Agreement, Nuance does not thereby waive its rights. Any amendment or waiver to this Agreement must be in writing and signed by Nuance.

This Agreement and all non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, the Content, the Platform, the Website and/or the App are exclusively governed by the laws of the Netherlands and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the Netherlands.

Any dispute arising out of this Agreement, including regarding the existence or validity of this Agreement and any non-contractual obligations arising out of this Agreement, the Content, the Platform, the Website and/or the App, may be submitted exclusively to the competent court of Amsterdam (Rechtbank Amsterdam), the Netherlands.

Premium Articles allow writers within a Publication to create NFT-gated articles.

When a writer within a publication publishes an article, they can choose to publish it as a Premium Article. This creates an NFT-gated paywall for the article. To preserve the state of the NFT an article published as Premium cannot be edited.

When publishing as a Premium Article the volume and price of the NFT need to be specified.

When a reader navigates to the Premium Article they will encounter a paywall and can choose to buy the NFT to gain access to the article.

The NFT is free to be sold on the secondary market. Only wallets containing the NFT will be able to access the corresponding article.

When an article is published as a Premium Article, AKA an Article NFT, and sold for the first time the funds from the sale are split as follows (roughly):

• 1% to the marketplace (Toniq)

• 10% to Nuance

• 89% split between the Publication and writer - configured for the publication.

An example helps illustrate the split with a Publication fee of 5%. An Article NFT of 100 ICP would be split as follows:

• 1 ICP to Toniq Marketplace

• 9.9 ICP to Nuance

• 4.5 ICP to the Publication

• 84.6 ICP to the writer.

When an Article NFT is sold on the secondary market the funds from the sale with a Publication fee of 5% are split as follows:

• 1% to Toniq Marketplace

• 94% to the seller

• 4.5% to the publisher

• 0.5% to Nuance

Personal Articles panel allows you to browse through your published or drafted content. To reach this section, you can select "Personal Articles" after clicking on the profile icon, or click on "x articles published" under your profile picture and select personal articles from the left panel.

The tabs in the panel offer various options for you to easily access the articles you have published on your own profile or in a publication.

Tab titles can be explained as follows:

• All: Lists all your content that has been published, submitted for review, or saved as a draft.

• Drafts: Lists your drafted content

• Submitted for review: Lists your content you have written for publication and submitted for review.

• Published: Lists all your published articles.

To create a blog post you first need to be a registered user and logged in.

To create a post select the 'Create new article' button at the left-hand side of the screen (or click on the avatar icon top right and 'Create article'). This will take you to a page where you can add a title, an introduction, a body and add between 1 and 3 topics (tags).

The title is text only without formatting.

The introduction is text only without formatting.

The body is a standard editor with formatting capabilities in the formatting toolbar.

Topics (tags) are predefined coming from a list of 103 topics. You must add between one and three topics to an article.

When you make the necessary edits for your content, you can publish your article by clicking the "Publish this article under @UserName" option on the left panel and then clicking the publish button.

Alternatively, you can save your article as a draft without publishing it by using the "Save as draft under @UserName" option on the left panel. To access the content you drafted, simply click on your profile icon, click on "Personal Articles" from the dropdown menu, and select the "Drafts" tab.

From the article screen

Click on the left-side meatball menu [...] and select "Edit Article":

From the [Personal Articles] screen

On your personal articles screen you can edit articles by clicking on the pencil icon next to each article:

This screen can be reached by either clicking on the top-right profile icon and selecting [Personal articles], or by clicking on the [x Articles Published] link under your profile on the front page. The direct address to reach it is: http://nuance.xyz/my-profile/published

Deleting Articles

Articles cannot be deleted, but they can be unpublished. When editing an article, click on the meatball menu on the left side and select [Unpublish Article].

With the Applaud feature, you can tip and support the authors you like and follow. - just like on Medium. With Nuance, applause is not free (you have to "put your money where your mouth is"). When you applaud an article you transfer tokens from your wallet to the writer's wallet.

To applaud the article, you can click the applause button on the right of the page (at the bottom of the page if you are on mobile). This will open the tipping panel for you.

From this panel, you can see your NUA, ICP or ckBTC balances in your wallet and tip with these tokens. After selecting the token type and entering the amount, you can see how many applauses the amount you entered corresponds to in the "Your Applaud Amount" section on the panel. When you tick the "General Policy" box and click the "Applaud" button, the amount you enter will be transferred to the writer's wallet.

You can click the Profile Icon > My Profile > My Wallet to access your wallet and manage your token balances.

Commenting on articles is an effective and fun way to interact with the community and share your thoughts on the content. To comment, you can use the comment panel at the bottom of the page where the article is located.

You can respond not only to articles but also to other user comments. For this, you can use the "Reply" button below the user comment. You can also edit your previous comments from this panel and give "Thumbs up" and "Thumbs down" to other user responses.

You can register for Nuance using either:

• Internet Identity

• NFID

• Stoic Wallet

• Bitfinity Wallet

Step 1: On the Nuance home page (above) select either the Internet Identity (II), NFID, Stoic Wallet or Bitfinity Wallet register buttons on the left hand side of the screen. Once the flow is completed, you will be directed to the "registration" page (below).

Step 2: Create your @handle (which cannot be changed), and your display name (which can be changed). You can also add an avatar.

Step 3: Accept T&Cs and select "Next".

Step 4: Start blogging, reading and applauding.

NB: We have a known issue with Stoic Wallet registration which requires clearing cookies to register successfully.

NB: If using Brave you will need to ensure you enable cookies (shields down).

To share an article from the 'reading' screen:

1. Select "Share" and a deep link to the article will be copied to your clipboard.

2. Share the link anyway you like e.g. Twitter

When logged in, you have four tabs on your home page:

• Writers - Writers you follow

• Topics - Topics you follow

• Popular - The most popular articles (applause x views)

• New - The newest articles

To follow a writer you need to click on their handle @handle and then click the "Follow" button.

To follow a topic you need to click on the topic and then click on the "Follow" button.

Publications have two levels of contributors:

1. Editor (can write and publish)

2. Writer (can write and submit for approval to an editor)

As an editor you have two main activities:

1. Manage articles e.g. review and approve articles for publication

2. Manage contributors e.g. adding new writers to your publication

To manage articles you can:

• Click on the article link and review the article

• Click on the pencil icon to edit the article

• Categorise the article into one of your categories

• Select the toggle to publish and unpublish

To manage contributors you can:

• Add editors using their Nuance handle

• Add writers using their Nuance handle

Other information you should consider:

• You can have more than one publication

• Publication handle cannot be changed

• Publication title can be changed

Publications have two levels of contributors:

1. Editor (can write and publish)

2. Writer (can write and submit for approval to an editor)

To write an article as a writer within a publication you create an article as usual. On the left-hand side of the screen, you have a "Location" drop-down where you can select either your own handle or the handle of a publisher. You can then optionally select a category from the "Category" dropdown.

When you save (with a publication selected), the article is submitted to the editor and the article is no longer available for you to edit.

Steps to take:

1. Select Create article

2. Write your article

3. Save as draft as you wish

4. When you are ready to submit it to the editor of the publication

5. Select the publication from the drop-down

6. Select a category (optional)

7. Click publish

Publication Features

Nuance Publications redefine the content creation landscape, providing brands with a direct avenue to connect with their readers. Offering a personalized landing page, dedicated styling, and a groundbreaking Premium Article feature, Nuance Publications empower brands to curate a unique reader experience. This innovative approach, coupled with streamlined roles and permissions, positions Nuance Publications as a dynamic and user-friendly platform for content creators.

Setup Your Publication

First you need to request a publication to be created. Do this by asking us on our discord https://discord.gg/X3uy9VNSGW. You will need to provide:

1. Your preferred Publication handle (OneWord)

2. Your preferred Publication title

3. A Nuance handle for an existing user (to be the editor (admin) of the publication)

Once you have a publication created you will need to get to your "edit publication" page:

1. Click on your avatar icon top right of screen

2. Click on "My profile"

3. On the left-hand menu you will see "Publications"

4. Select your publication

5. Select "Edit publication"

Then you can customise your publication:

1. Upload header image (preferably landscape orientation). This will be displayed at the top of your landing (home) page. It will also display on each category page (with a reduced height)

2. Add title. This will be overlayed on your header image.

3. Add a sub-title. This will be overlayed on your header image.

4. Add a short description. This will be displayed on the left-hand side panel underneath your avatar.

5. Add an avatar. Crop it.

6. Add a logo for the breadcrumb menu (208px*66px)

7. Choose your color for the trim

8. Choose your font

9. Add categories

10. Add your editors

11. Add your writers

12. Add links to your other social platforms

We have three goals which have guided our feature prioritisation to date and we hope the community, the DAO, supports these goals:

• Fairest paid content creators on the internet

• Most trusted platform for long-form content

• Best UX for both writers and readers

The features that get us to these goals will be our roadmap. We have a backlog of potential features to support each of these goals and our plan is to propose a three-month micro-roadmap to the community every quarter. The contents of each micro-roadmap proposal will be determined after we have gathered the appropriate feedback from users and have had time to design and size the features ready for a proposal. It will be important for us to understand both the value (based on user feedback) and the effort (how much engineering capacity it will take to deliver) before we can confidently propose the optimal micro-roadmap to reach our goals. Of course, all community members are welcome to make proposals.

Our backlog currently has the following potential features grouped by goal:

Articles

We use to moderate content based on the following rules:

• This post threatens, glorifies, insights, or encourages violence, suicide or selfharm.

• This post threatens or promotes terrorism or violent extremism.

• This post contains or depicts sexual violence, sexual assault, or child sexual exploitation.

• This post promotes violence against, threatens, or harasses people on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.

• This post shares adult image or live video content, or intimate photos or video produced or distributed without consent.

• This post has an unlawful purpose or facilitates illegal activities (ex. selling, buying, or facilitating transactions in illegal goods or services).

• This post contains (or threatens to expose) other people’s private information (such as home phone number and address) without their express authorization and permission.

• This post manipulates or interferes in elections or other civic processes.

• This post impersonates individuals, groups, or organisations or shares manipulated media intended to mislead, deceive, or harm others.

• This post violates others’ intellectual property rights, including copyright and trademark.

Comments

• Civil discourse only. Disagreements and debates are allowed and encouraged, but must remain civil. Personal attacks, harassment, insults, name-calling, and other forms of disrespect are not allowed.