Topic: Dismal Level of Discourse - page 3. (Read 5465 times)

You seem like a boring pretentious douchebag.  That said, I think the donator's/VIP's have their own private section of the forum.

Same thing happend at the bubble top in 2011.

In OP's defence, I think the idea might not be so bad. There's a lot to sift through to find good quality posts, and although I think the ignore button is a good concept, I find myself reluctant to use it because occasionally the trolls have something relevant to say. Perhaps invite only would be a bit unfair, as I think that quality posts should be accessible to everyone. But I think the suggestion of an 'enlightened members' type section could work quite well. A place for quality discussion amongst those who have been here long enough to gain a real understanding of the bitcoin world, available for all to view.

But yeah this topic should be in Meta. 

this is a public forum so you have to take the good with the bad. if you want an exclusive forum you should create one (irc is pretty much made for that)
I dont really see the point of complaining tho. you just come off as a whiner, and, you know what??? sometimes people you wouldn't think were very smart have valid points to make. you should keep an open mind and do your own editing i.e. skip dumb posts.
I've always held the opinion that the one's complaining about the quality of other people's words, posts, opinions, usually have only that negativity and criticism to offer, and rarely contribute anything of value themselves.
think about it. you're obviously really really smart. (sarcasm)

*sigh* He's talking about kids like you

And there was much rejoicing amongst the intelligent and stupid alike.

Sadly, I imagine that TPTB here on bitcointalk are more interested in pageviews and ad revenue than they are in fostering an environment for intelligent discussion.  I'm off to join the Bitcoin Foundation to see what their forums have to offer.  I imagine the presence of a paywall will lead to a higher quality of postings.

While I don't think this is a bad idea to have private area's, one of my favorite websites (wickedfire) takes an approach that allows the newcomers to read worthwhile posts while excluding them from posting in that section (they call it the 'enlightened members' section).

Most posts end up there because a moderator thought they were particularly worthwhile or the members voted that it should go there. The difference between this and a truly private section is everyone can still read the posts in there and gain insights (and hopefully increase their posting quality through the knowledge gained there) without having idea's horded by just the members who are able to read a 'private' section.

I, being new here, would appreciate a section like this as well as it's usually a good starting point to get your head wrapped around new concepts without having to sift through a pile of other stuff or ask questions that have been answered and subsequently buried under everything else and difficult to find. I am of course biased being new myself and not likely to be included in a private section, but my thoughts really lie on this forum turning me onto crypto currency despite having to sift through things to learn how to get started. If there was an easy section with lots of worthwhile idea's for new people to start on it might encourage others to take the time to learn and get involved.

Hopefully we can see something like the 'enlightened members' section here.

Thanks for reminding me about the "ignore" button. I shall endeavour to utilise it in the very near future so I don't have to endure pointless, pontificating posts from people that don't have anything to say about real topics.

Dumb people are going to find this place and I don't know what the solution is.  Dumb people will continue to think things like "Is the price going to go up or down?" are good threads.

Back when I joined bitcointalk at the end of 2010, the level of the discussion was consistent with many bright people contributing and a high "signal-to-noise" ratio, at least from my perspective.

Lately as I read over what is posted in the forums I'm struck by how much things have changed.  The level of discussion has fallen on at least two scales:  maturity and intelligence.  Now the average poster seems to have the maturity of a teenage boy and at best an average intelligence[1].  As a result, the "signal-to-noise" ratio has fallen so far that the amount of useful information I can find here is heavily outweighed by the time required to sift through it.  And this is despite heavy use of my "ignore" button.

A lot of arguments can be made for having a space where people can share ideas where no one is excluded (other than known troublemakers).  I don't think this should change.  However, I would like to see in addition to such inclusive spaces some exclusive spaces which are by invitation only.  Such spaces could draw from public bitcointalk forums through inviting selected members based on their posting history or other achievements (e.g. Bitcoin developers).  Bitcointalk would be a natural place to host such private subforums, though there is no reason they could not be run elsewhere as well.  This approach has proven worthwhile in other venues, where exclusivity either via an invitation-based system, or through membership fees generally results in a much higher qualilty of discourse.

In the meantime, I think I will limit my use of bitcointalk by creating a few bookmarks to a handful of live threads until I can find a new bitcoin community I am not ashamed to be a part of.

[1] Although this is a subjective claim, I believe it can be independently verified because of the high correlation between intelligence and vocabulary (typical correlation coefficient is 0.8 ).  Thus if one compares the level of vocabulary used in years past on bitcointalk, I assert that it would be considerably higher than it is today.

Edit:  Mods, please feel free to move this to the Meta subforum if you feel it's appropriate.