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Topic: . - page 4. (Read 22431 times)

legendary
Activity: 1008
Merit: 1000
Making money since I was in the womb! @emc2whale
February 20, 2014, 08:46:46 PM
I think all the money should be donated to different charities around the world. This forum is more then fine and will be more then fine for the foreseeable future.
hero member
Activity: 868
Merit: 1000
February 20, 2014, 08:31:21 PM
The $350k was paid in cash, wouldn't that mean Bitpay or similar handled the BTC?


this is pretty clearly a scam and maybe even a crime. i doubt theymos is going to give us any information that might force him into jail.

It's even more hilarious because "Bitcointalk" as an entity doesn't even really exist.  It's not a registered non-profit.  There appears to have been no attempt to establish it as even an LLC despite theymos holding more than enough funds to got through that step.  At the end of the day it's unlikely that the government would view "Bitcointalk" income (whether donations or ad revenue) as anything other than theymos' income and theymos alone as responsible for operating the "business" of Bitcointalk.

When the IRS comes knocking, the onus is going to be on theymos to prove that anyone other than him has any legal liability whatsoever in relation to Bitcointalk.  "I don't believe in regulations" isn't going to cut it as a defence to failing to comply with those regulations.

It's also rather amusing that when Bitcoin was worth fuck all nobody really cared all that much that their donations were in the hands of a young kid with no business or project management experience - now those donations are worth several million dollars, people suddenly care but there's no real way to wrest that control away from him and put it in more experienced hands or to ensure that he acts in good faith.
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1004
Keep it real
February 20, 2014, 03:52:42 PM
The $350k was paid in cash, wouldn't that mean Bitpay or similar handled the BTC?

...
also, did they take btc or fiat?

why did no one notice that many funds are now gone from the forums stash? is there no transparency here?

I paid in BTC, but they immediately converted most of this to USD.

I haven't adjusted the cold storage yet.
...

It should be pretty easy for both of them to show the transaction.
legendary
Activity: 2590
Merit: 2156
Welcome to the SaltySpitoon, how Tough are ya?
February 20, 2014, 03:02:10 PM
The $350k was paid in cash, wouldn't that mean Bitpay or similar handled the BTC?
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1004
Keep it real
February 20, 2014, 12:53:14 PM
AC brings up a really good point... we still haven't seen any proof of the payment.

theymos or wangbus,

Please show us the transaction(s) where the $350,000 payment was sent.

No they both should show, and both have to sign their respected addresses.

This would be best and should only take minutes to do... I guess transparency is overrated
sr. member
Activity: 560
Merit: 250
"Trading Platform of The Future!"
February 20, 2014, 01:44:37 AM

Update: This just leaked: theymos' first choice was Smartronix: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/07/18m-being-spent-to-redesign-recoverygov-web-site/  Grin Grin Grin

~Bruno Kucinskas
Wow it looks like theymos got a great deal!  Shocked He saved $17 million  Cheesy
legendary
Activity: 1918
Merit: 1570
Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending
February 20, 2014, 01:37:21 AM
Quote
I agree with gweedo and this is the first time, I saw a developer asking database of a live website to develop something, SMF 1.1.19 is available for download all over the internet.

@Wangbus are you not able to make that auction mod with help of demo forum and database?

Interesting! Isn't this akin to somebody paying a developer to redo his very large website based on it currently using Wordpress as its CMS? Simply download the latest version that the site is using and build from there. Once built, all the content is migrated to the new site, and probably only then would the developer need assess if/when troubleshooting is warranted.

I'm not that versed in such matters, so somebody please call me if I erred in my assessment, expanding upon the quoted text.

I've been known to give theymos shit every now and then, but overall I still kinda trust him, notwithstanding the TF episode.

Update: This just leaked: theymos' first choice was Smartronix: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/07/18m-being-spent-to-redesign-recoverygov-web-site/  Grin Grin Grin

~Bruno Kucinskas
administrator
Activity: 5222
Merit: 13032
February 19, 2014, 07:21:28 PM
Yesterday it happened due to a SMF bug triggered when too many people access the site at one time under certain conditions. I fixed that bug. A few days ago it happened when I added a feature that required me to keep the messages table locked for longer than I expected. (The change is that all edits are now logged, whereas previously they were only sometimes recorded in DB backups.)
hero member
Activity: 602
Merit: 500
February 19, 2014, 07:08:44 PM
Is that why the site went down the other day? it said it couldn't connect to database.

It does that from time to time with workload, but I think Theymos took it down briefly for an update or something the other day.

Is there any discussion on this then? I didn't hear of anything which was announced.
global moderator
Activity: 3990
Merit: 2717
Join the world-leading crypto sportsbook NOW!
February 19, 2014, 11:42:25 AM
Is that why the site went down the other day? it said it couldn't connect to database.

It does that from time to time with workload, but I think Theymos took it down briefly for an update or something the other day.
hero member
Activity: 602
Merit: 500
February 19, 2014, 10:46:39 AM
Is that why the site went down the other day? it said it couldn't connect to database.
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1004
February 19, 2014, 05:17:37 AM
Please show us the transaction(s) where the $350,000 payment was sent.

Not sure if he did exchange or what but theymos said this in his previous post.

This transaction doesn't significantly affect taxes AFAIK. By "selling" bitcoins in this way, a lot of USD income was made via capital gains, but it immediately became an expense. The net income is zero for this transaction. Appropriate taxes (determined by a professional) will be paid, of course.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't been given access to the database yet but will need it very soon.

Access to the database should be the very last thing just to transfer over the data. Why do you need access for the auction site? All you need to do is login people in, you can find that in the code, you don't need access to the database.

I agree with gweedo and this is the first time, I saw a developer asking database of a live website to develop something, SMF 1.1.19 is available for download all over the internet.

@Wangbus are you not able to make that auction mod with help of demo forum and database?
sr. member
Activity: 336
Merit: 250
Cuddling, censored, unicorn-shaped troll.
February 18, 2014, 06:36:30 PM
Theymos is free to make use of the funds as he best sees fit, in my view.

All depends on if you donated to theymos personally or to a community forum.
My guess is that most donators thought they were providing funds for a rising community, not giving it away to its current administrator.

Oh yeah... I'm not John K and I haven't been given access to the database yet but will need it very soon. We will follow standard ethics for private data and not transmit information to the public. This will indeed be the highest of priorities.

You mean a full, direct access to the whole database?
If so, I hope you are currently posting here through a vpn...


Please show us the transaction(s) where the $350,000 payment was sent.

If that was a scam (which I don't beleive it is at that point, to be honest, and I do have an easy trigger), I'm 99.99% sure that theymos would have sent a fake TX to cover up, that's really basic stuff. He can post a txID, I'll still be as dubious as before. Pretty useless, in my opinion.
legendary
Activity: 1918
Merit: 1570
Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending
February 18, 2014, 06:06:23 PM
A plug and play open source forum in Node.js might actually be worth $1 million dollars. Most of the widely used forums today are built in PHP so this could be just as big for Node.js as it is for the forum. Additionally, if this code is open source and integrates with BTC, it has wider applications.

*Puts on his tinfoil hat*

Since Augusto and Goat aren't directly saying it, I'll just be blunt so folks know why there is some flak about spending the money...

Federal (specifically DoD, but others as well) projects often come with an NDA for the developers to not share government work in their portfolios. Whenever I hear someone talk about NDAs, I assume government work. Given that this is going to be an open source forum that has some form of BTC and Trust integration, it would likely be highly valuable to various entities within Darknets as well. If designed intentionally with exploits in the open source version that are patched in the live version, an aspiring three-letter agency could use the success of a Node.js forum to promote adoption in some of these remoter areas of the web. Then, at a specified integration-point, they could exploit said software causing turmoil for hapless Darknet administrators.

*Takes tinfoil hat off*

Regardless of whoever is designing this software, security should be the primary focus or else you're going to get some really bad (and IMHO, quite-deserved) flak. I'd highly recommend keeping the existing security bounties and possibly even integrating or accounting for them during development of the project.

I feel the same about Node as well and I spent a long time a little over 2 years ago getting into Node and had great success with the technology in many situations. I'd like to add that I've never done NDA government work and security is very high priority in what we're doing.

Oh yeah... I'm not John K and I haven't been given access to the database yet but will need it very soon. We will follow standard ethics for private data and not transmit information to the public. This will indeed be the highest of priorities.

AH HA! Caught you! You forgot the period after the K, thus you could still be John K..  Grin

Seriously, thanks for taking the time in addressing my concern. BTW, get yourself a bigger pad, for I've seen bedrooms larger than where you live.

Later, bud.

~Bruno Kucinskas
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1004
Keep it real
February 18, 2014, 11:15:12 AM
AC brings up a really good point... we still haven't seen any proof of the payment.

theymos or wangbus,

Please show us the transaction(s) where the $350,000 payment was sent.
vip
Activity: 756
Merit: 504
February 18, 2014, 10:51:44 AM
This is the forum administrator perpetrating the biggest charity fraud in Bitcoin history. There is not going to be any new forum software. The only thing which will improve in the next months is the auction system. The only and solely interest of the administrator is to gather more and more money. Everything else is cheap talk and the new forum will certainly never be produced. Do you all think a forum software worth 1,000,000 USD? Do not be a fool! I come from a country where politicians overpay contractors to misappropriate public funds. This is exactly what is being done here, overpayment to let the administration misappropriate the donated funds without being held accountable. Do you think this is unlikely? Please, ask the administrator the proof of payment. Ask him why he cannot provide such proof. Ask him to open the books and you will find amazing how that request is ignored.
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1004
Keep it real
February 18, 2014, 09:06:58 AM
...
Also, since you are Staff, thus allowed to peruse the entire forum's back-end database due to you needing to know what this one encompasses so to better build the next one, do you have access to our private PMs? If you don't, get it, for there's a wealth of information that could be gleaned there to augment a $1M USD payday.
...

Not sure if you're guessing that all staff is able to look at the database or not... but we can't, AFAIK only an admin has access to that.
qwk
donator
Activity: 3542
Merit: 3413
Shitcoin Minimalist
February 18, 2014, 07:56:22 AM
I haven't been given access to the database yet but will need it very soon. We will follow standard ethics for private data and not transmit information to the public. This will indeed be the highest of priorities.
I don't see the need for giving you access to database content at all.
Schema and content of specific internal tables should be sufficient.
If this is your highest priority, you should at first determine what kind of data exactly you need to see.
member
Activity: 110
Merit: 11
Principal Software Engineer
February 18, 2014, 04:59:11 AM
A plug and play open source forum in Node.js might actually be worth $1 million dollars. Most of the widely used forums today are built in PHP so this could be just as big for Node.js as it is for the forum. Additionally, if this code is open source and integrates with BTC, it has wider applications.

*Puts on his tinfoil hat*

Since Augusto and Goat aren't directly saying it, I'll just be blunt so folks know why there is some flak about spending the money...

Federal (specifically DoD, but others as well) projects often come with an NDA for the developers to not share government work in their portfolios. Whenever I hear someone talk about NDAs, I assume government work. Given that this is going to be an open source forum that has some form of BTC and Trust integration, it would likely be highly valuable to various entities within Darknets as well. If designed intentionally with exploits in the open source version that are patched in the live version, an aspiring three-letter agency could use the success of a Node.js forum to promote adoption in some of these remoter areas of the web. Then, at a specified integration-point, they could exploit said software causing turmoil for hapless Darknet administrators.

*Takes tinfoil hat off*

Regardless of whoever is designing this software, security should be the primary focus or else you're going to get some really bad (and IMHO, quite-deserved) flak. I'd highly recommend keeping the existing security bounties and possibly even integrating or accounting for them during development of the project.

I feel the same about Node as well and I spent a long time a little over 2 years ago getting into Node and had great success with the technology in many situations. I'd like to add that I've never done NDA government work and security is very high priority in what we're doing.

Oh yeah... I'm not John K and I haven't been given access to the database yet but will need it very soon. We will follow standard ethics for private data and not transmit information to the public. This will indeed be the highest of priorities.
legendary
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1000
February 15, 2014, 08:45:33 PM
Why don't we have the automated ad auction system, yet? It's so trivial for a 350k$ team that there is no excuse.

Anything that involves money and security is not so trivial, IMHO. There's a lot of extra bits you have to take into consideration especially since we're designing this to work both with the current server software and the new one we're building. We need to make sure that any user information isn't leaked through the ad auction system yet can tie in directly with what theymos already has.

Edit: not user information because some of it will be public (usernames, whatever else the user has already deemed public in their SMF profile, etc) but at the same time the user does not have to sign up for a new account. They'll be using the account they have in SMF to validate identity. Sounds fun right?

I have built many bridges for login systems, not that difficult stop trying to make sound like you are building the next facebook. It isn't that hard really.
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