Topic: Bitcoin is WAY too confusing for the average person (Read 2979 times)

I cannot disagree. However, I do wish I had looked at this forum (and at the very simple "fast start" instructions on bitcoin.com) before I pushed ahead and bought bitcoins for cash on one site and then for SLL on another!

I have spent a lot of time on this this week--just so I could fund an account on SWC and play poker--and I am still in an unknown (to me) waiting period waiting for my first transactions to process. And now SWC is down!!!

I have annoyed operators of at least 3 sites trying to clarify the process--and to get some idea of when my transactions should clear--and about all I have learned as that I have to wait 48 hours for one site, 4 days for another, and who knows how long for the third before 1) my cash purchase will be verified (they did relieve my bank account of the necessary funds, thanks) and 2) my poker account will receive the bitcoins I asked be sent to them (though that bitcoin wallet has been debited for the bicoins I sent, thanks).

Participants in this universe need to take some huge steps towards securing the trust of new users or bitcoins will never thrive. There are just too many reasons for sensible people to say "no"--if they rely on careless fools like me the empire will never go over the top!

I dont know how everything in my car works yet I can drive it and its useful.
I dont know how email servers functions yet I send email often.
I dont know how this forum functions yet I can use it easily.

(actually I do know most of these things as I am a server admin and work on my own cars but you get the point)

- S M I L Y


Noob post #3!

No.

Bitcoin doesn't have "accounts".

Some service providers (such as MtGox or Coinbase) may provide you with an account where (like a bank account) you turn over control of your bitcoin to them and call on them to send it when you desire.  In this case they may provide you with one of their bitcoin addresses that you can use to send bitcoins to the account you have with them.

A bitcoin public key is not the same thing as a bitcoin address.

A bitcoin address is created from a public key through a process that includes 2 hashing algorithms and a 32-bit checksum.

If you know the public key, you can calculate the bitcoin address, but if all you have is the bitcoin address, then it is impossible to calculate the public key.

The checksum that is built into the bitcoin address prevents you from accidentally sending bitcoins to the wrong person if you make a typo while entering it.


The lingo is rather standardized already.  You ust happen to be unfamiliar with the standardized lingo.

I think we're having the first "victim" of the new bitcoin.org site which promotes the MultiBit client in first place.

oops, just checked again, it doesn't anymore, alright then

Really?  Traditional currencies never get stolen?

Bitcoin is very dangerous for average person. So many computers are compromised and there is no protection once the coins are transfered. So better for average person stick with fiat and enjoy protection.

Since bitcoin.org was made to suck more, I made my site suck less. Please review the sections on "Bitcoin addresses" and "The Wallet" to see if that clarifies some of the terms.

http://we.lovebitco.in/

Besides all the problems pointed out in this thread i think general terminology can be quite confusing...ex: just in this thread ive seen 3 ways of using account/publickeys/address. These all mean the same thing, right ? how about more standardized lingo...

My Mom was trying to throw USD at me today to get a buy in on MtGox.  I still have 0 oh wait .0009 NMC=0 lol.  I guess we both are up the BTC creek lol.

Ps my spamming question is

I just set up my new eBayed Mac Pro and put in a 5770 and have Bitminter running @149ish Mh/s.  My question is should I put the old Radeon 1xxx back in slot 2 even though bitMinter wouldn't recognize it?  I've been trying to run DiabloMiner on osX.7.4 to no avail.  Any thoughts would be swell.   PS I just drank the BFL 30Gh/s juice and don't care tee hee.

Honestly, this is not an invalid issue. However, I think a lot of this is the demeanor of folks, not the technical issues. Just taking a patient attitude with people who are interested but confused. Occasionally, some ppl in the Bitcoin community can sound like cultists when explaining bitcoin to people, so I think telling people it's a financial opportunity that you can get on the ground floor of, while not trying to say it's going to replace the US dollar (even if it eventually might), is a better way to go about it, for a lot of ppl. You've got to play to the audience your talking to.

I guess I'm rambling here, but not everyone out there is a libertarian, but bitcoin is a currency that ideally should be for everyone, so sometimes you just have to play up the strengths of Bitcoin differently.

all i need is the private key to back up my address , do i have to get down my address as well?

Bitcoin and the services around it are evolving. Simplicity will improve over time.

I never said the NSA can break the ECDSA or SHA-256 we know that is currently implausible, but what about how blockchain.info is encrypting the wallet. as I said I don't know specifications of that but is certain plausible. 


You know people will use blockchain.info to hold 100's of coins, it will happen, it is already happening. I remember a post where someone had 40k Coins in a instawallet, LIKE SERIOUSLY COME ON... So don't think people will look for more secure ways.

Bah. If the NSA can break the encryption, then they can probably break the ECDSA keys and SHA-256 hashes built in to bitcoin.  At that point it no longer matters whether you are using blockchain or not.


Exactly, you can choose.  Re-use addresses for added convenience and loose some anonymity, or use a new address and increase anonymity while loosing some convenience.



Most wallets will work fine for the day-to-day use of small amounts of bitcoin.  Think of it as a wallet, not a bank account.  Sure you can loose a wallet with cash in it, or it can be stolen from you.  You'll be upset, but not devastated.  If you are trying to store larger amounts of cash or for longer periods of time, then you need to start thinking about increasing reliability and security.  You probably wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with 1,000 $100 bills stuffed in your pockets.  You'd look for more secure and reliable ways to transport that money.

If you backup, but the government can shut down their servers and you even said people are lazy so you don't have a backup your done. Also you never know the NSA could have a super compter that can break the encryption, you never know, I don't know the exact way blockchain.info stores but if they get shutdown it isn't good.


Depends if you create a new address and send it there then no. If you just use on address, then your anonymity is affected. I don't think they are deterministic wallet.


I saying this in general for all online wallets, but it is hurting network health, it is making people open targets on there wealth if not properly backed up. It is holding a lot of funds which are rising in price, and people are using brute force attacks on looking for people who use alias wallet names and attacking there passwords search the forums. 2FA can save you but then if your not backing up your finished.

Gweedo,

I honestly don't understand how I'm destroying BitCoin's core values. Can you help me with these two questions?

1. Blockchain will never be able to access my wallet, correct? Even if a Gov't wanted Blockchain to give them access to my wallet, they couldn't, correct?

2. (since I'm still learning) I only need to create a backup of my wallet on Blockchain once, right? If I create a backup in January....and then in June I add 50 Bitcoins to that wallet on the Blockchain website....and then a day later Blockchain get's shut down by the Gov't....I still have those 50 BitCoins on my backup from January, right? Then I can import it into another program like Multi-bit, right?

I'm confused as to why I shouldn't like Blockchain  

The average person has no idea how fiat money is created,
How the relationship between US treasury, FED, and Banks work,
How the money supply is manipulated,
How currency is controlled by private banks..

If your hoping to get idiots that don't know this stuff into BTC...good luck.

I may not know everything about BitCoin, but I know people. I know how lazy they are, or set in their ways with their everyday lives and the spheres they are in. Downloading Multi-Bit, etc etc is too much for people. It's not going to catch on mainstream. It has to be web-browser based(or easy to download apps on your phone...I saw there is one for android I think).

The key is to have services like Mt.Gox or Blockchain that are web based AND heavily promote education of offline backups (which are REALLY easy to do on Blockchain I'm happy to say...user friendly) Then if "the big bad gov't" comes in and turns off Blockchain then you're good to go. Or make it mandatory to have a one time backup file for each bitcoin address sent to your avenue of choice (email, dropbox, etc).

To show laziness/unwillingness to try new things:

I work with a Children's Charity, where literally 89% of the money we receive goes to helping children(we're really efficient), yet I literally have to beg people to sponsor a child for a mere 80cents a day in an effort to save his/her life. (in an efficient business way) I also run a business where I can help friends save money on everyday services that they use. Even WHEN I can save them a LOT of money, and they KNOW it would be a favor for them to get their business from me, most never take the time to try something different and help out a friend with a business.

Thanks for reading. Don't think of me as an enemy of Bitcoin. I like Bitcoin. I'm just thinking for mass appeal. It has to have a massive online website based presence for "the masses" to adopt it.

That is a great comment. Makes perfect sense.
(I can't say for sure I know BitCoin well enough to say it's value in USD will go up that much, but it would be very interesting if it happened)