Some of you have been here from the start. What advice would you give someone just finding Bitcoin. They see the promise of Bitcoin. They are excited but just need some guidance on a good place to start. How can someone finding Bitcoin today have a place in the bitcoin realm? Seems Like doom gloom and negativity Rules the space. Anyone have some optimistic insight? Remember way back. Your the Noob. How would you encourage yourself?
The time to be a noob in Bitcoin isn't the tail-end of a bull market. Right now, everyone and their Grandma thinks they know blockchain and pre-mined corporate/foundation-coins will make them rich. Yet, it is clear that this will bring a lot of newbies into Bitcoin.
A lot of them will remain limited to the cesspool of Telegram groups, referral spam, doubling scams. Some of them will graduate to dev channels in Discords. Lower still will have the ability to recognize the history and importance of this forum. (BTW, congratulations on passing the steps yourself, IF you are a new account and someone old/ a concern-troll masquerading as a newbie).
The last level is of the very minuscule percentage that can actually think for themselves. They will go on a path of self-discovery starting from the Bitcoin whitepaper, initial communication on the forum, Hal Finney's posts about Bitcoin, the countless experiments of governance (Bitcoin Foundation), smart-contracts (colored coins), Blocksize debate and will come to the realization that the first priority for "sound money" is decentralization. The rest of the ecosystem simply flows from this one fountainhead.
If you are serious about it, you can read the excellent articles on
this website. It has lot of good resources for those who actually seek an alternative to the world financial order and not just a "get rich quick" scheme.