Topic: Do not rely on articles as resources to learn Bitcoin (Read 362 times)

will lock this topic, I hope that the message has been received, because I get annoyed when someone attaches a link to a newspaper or advertising sites as a source of information.

Doing research about what we want to learn is what is going to help us individually to get more info about what we intend learning. Just like you have written, it is not that good for us to rely on a single source of information to avoid getting inadequate knowledge about what we intend to know about. Many persons had made the mistake depending on a single source for legitimate information mostly when it is related to investment.

Some persons had ended up in a scam casinos because they depend on information they get from a third party websites where they are mostly paid to write articles about different projects and tag then to be reputable and reliable casinos that everyone can use without getting scammed or having problem.

I did not include that one but that's my point in why people should gather information from different sources and ask someone based on their experience. Honestly, that's what I am doing until now and the reason why I achieved what I have right now. Reading alone is good but doing something hands on is much better. Reading alone without doing yourself or experiencing yourself is different and I know that's what you mean. You should tell op about having your own diligence to do not just research but also experiencing it yourself.

Have your own diligence to do the research every now and then and never rely in a single resource but have different resources to depend on as the more legit information you have, the more knowledgeable you become. And never just rely on reading alone, ask personal experience if you can because that is way more real and legit than just merely reading.

Yes, some of the articles are bias so you have to be very cautious on what to rely to. And as much as possible, do not just read articles but also take some time to see real videos too because that’s more convincing. And I believe experience is still the best teacher. You will never learn it all unless you have to experience it all by yourself.

he all so has a site https://aantonop.com/

Talking about reading articles online, you can't entirely condemn them, I've known so much more about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in less than a year since I started BTT. This is even as I have never given any of your suggestions any thought. Good, unbias and reasonable articles are many on the internet and are not difficult to find for good education.

Perhaps, you are trying to advise us to avoid articles that review companies, which would be wise because almost all of them are already paid and will surely be doing the bidding of their paymaster.

With the guidance of Bitcointalk and the wisdom of the researchers, such could be avoided as everything needed would be sorted out without giving a room for sentiment.

With various resources that we can find over the internet, it's true that no one is limiting us to have a lot of source for articles that we like to read.

When something is off with the information that's said on that particular article that we read, we can find another one that's more verifiable and reliable.

Fake news is a lot these days and you can also read a lot of articles that's made for an agenda that's setting the mindset of readers depending on the perspective of the author.

They might be misleading due to some misconceptions that authors viewed from bitcoin. This is why we don’t have to limit ourselves from just few articles and stick to them. There are a lot of reputable and legit resources that we can find online, we just have to explore the internet and do our own diligence to find out which are legit and which are unreasonable. Thus, exposing our minds into different views make us more knowledgeable and wise.

If you are not sure with the article or you think that it is misleading then you should make more research and compare both so that you will be aware that an article is giving an information of a certain topic (let's say topic 1) and the other article also provide or share information about the same topic which is called topic 1 but different article and author. If you compare both then you will know the difference between the two articls with the same topic before you will ask someone which one is correct and which one is misleading or you found the correct somewhere on the internet. My point is that it is much better if you obtain information from different sources as there could an article or an information that is misleading.

You condemned reliance on articles but okayed that on books. Aren't both articles and books subjective to learning and in their assessment of subject matters? Aren't both written by humans who are prone to mistakes and errors? Haven't you read textbooks before and found glaring errors in them? Even the bitcointechtalk.com site you put out there doesn't look much different from what articles can do. I think the major thing is not just for us to avoid articles totally but to have the ability to crosscheck whatever is written on them.

A good channel can at least inspire novice users when it comes to investing. I noticed that the contents explained the new basics towards the subject matter. Yes. A good idea from you more or less with the video giving an overview. But, it all comes back to each individual how he will implement and apply it in the field later.

Yeah I watched a couple of youtube videos some of it hard to understand or they targeted to more knowledgeable users. But I found a youtube channel that really helpful for even newbie users they made graphical interface so we can really understand it

Here the channel https://www.youtube.com/@WhiteboardCrypto

This was the most I recommend when someone asked me about Bitcoin and how to learn, the good this is the website support different languages as you know for better understanding.

I would recommend exploring alternative resources beyond articles such as joining online forums and communities dedicated to Bitcoin technology learning.  Platforms like Reddit (r/Bitcoin), Stack Exchange, or here in our forum Bitcointalk have active communities where you can ask questions, participate in discussions, and learn from experienced Bitcoin enthusiasts.  If you've researched Bitcoin technology, considering multiple resources would be a better option.

Learning is basically base on your Interest, you can acquire the knowledge of what you're desperate to understand through your engagement, observation, consciousness and curiosity, therefore you can learn through your own research without reading from any forum articles, but it's encouraging to devote out precious time to make an adequate research concerning things you want to venture into, especially bitcoin,  and its something you will learn and understand with aids of interest.

Reputable sources, regardless if they demand payment or not, will always remain helpful if you tend to increase your knowledge. Your attitude towards learning can be of great help too. However, it’s inevitable that some sources could be misleading and are not significant anymore towards learning. That’s why you have to be careful in selecting your resources to learn as that could affect your concept and perspective in life once these gained information are not corrected.

We shouldn't rely on 1 resource to learn Bitcoin, more resources are better to get more knowledge. Bitcointalk is surely the number 1 resource to learn Bitcoin, it is the first place where everyone knows Bitcoin after Satoshi introduced Bitcoin here a long time ago. However, after more than 10 years since Bitcoin was introduced, Bitcoin is already popular/famous and the information about Bitcoin already spread out in many media. So, we can learn Bitcoin from any media right now, it can be written form or videos. In the current situation, there is no problem learning Bitcoin from articles, YT videos, or the like. But always recheck whether it is valid or not, we can ask everyone in this forum if it seems suspicious or unconvincing. That's why we have this forum, it is a medium for interaction related to Bitcoin and crypto as a whole. 

Right, when someone is in doubt of the information that he has read or extracted then you always have the option to ask if they're a good source or you think that you're just too paranoid by being overloaded with information.

Sometimes it's hard to find it out if the source is bias but I think all of us can be familiarized with it if they're trying to manipulate it with an agenda of going with the actual product they have.

And if you happen to notice that, it's up to you whether to keep on going or not anymore. We always have the choice.

Not all information made in an article is true, so it's a must to verify before they agree with whatever is said. The author's sentiment on one or two things must exist, so when we want to get one or two correct pieces of information, of course we have to check it again. I often read some recommended sources for something highly technical, but as to strategy and how we develop general knowledge, that's up to us.

Many people might not really understand the language when they watch Youtube, auto subtitles are good - but not perfect I think. I often read rather than watch, but this is about each individual.

As long as they are legit sources, then they are still good to go as a way to learn bitcoin more. But I also believe that some might be out of the blue contents so readers should also be cautious on what they are trying to read so they can avoid being misled from bias information. That’s the reason why experience is always the best teacher, as reading alone is not enough to make you fully aware and informed about bitcoin.

I used https://bitcoin.org/ to find out about Bitcoin for the first time. But since I got to know this forum, I got to know him more through this forum. I think it's a pretty good site. I am happier in this forum because there is validation through written answers. We must be careful to read, use various articles so that we do not misunderstand. In addition, the authors of the article may also be misinformed and the writing is used as a source. It happened in a row and many articles were not in accordance with Bitcoin even though some deliberately made fake news.

I also accept your position because some articles on social media and some websites could be helpful. But I don't rely on one source for information on Bitcoin. Before taking any important decision in this sector, you should always carry out in-depth research. Relying totally on one source of information might not be the best option. When I want to learn anything about Bitcoin, my first point of call is bitcointalk while other sources are secondary. The reason I prefer this forum is that it is filled with members that are highly informed about Bitcoin. There is lesser number of misinformation because it will always be identified, criticized, and corrected.

That's why we must collect more information about what we need and compare it.
If the articles we find are different, we need other articles to know which are accurate and which are inaccurate.
Indeed, it is very difficult to trust the articles we get and it takes time but if we have found the right place, I don't think it will be difficult anymore.
We don't believe in what we get from the internet because we don't know the motives of each person who spreads that information.

You're correct, there are many misleading article and site wrote about Bitcoin.

But suggesting a new people to learn about the technical thing isn't entirely correct, if they didn't understand the basic thing, how they can learn the difficult math and code? Become a Bitcoin holder don't need to learn the technical thing, they just need to understand the difference between Bitcoin and banks or fiat, DEX vs CEX, non custodial wallet vs custodial wallet, back up, privacy, security, that's more than enough.

yeah articles nowadays or some news nowadays can be misleading need to double-check it first or look at other articles to proof is that a legit information or not.

But personally, I do learn bitcoin or other things from this forum. There is always something new here. and youtube some channel is very helpful

Thanks OP for this information. at least there are good references and I will read and learn again what I don't understand about crypto, especially BTC. I will start with the technical stuff first because I like the technical part and the issues discussed in it. So bitcointalk Technical Discussion boards were my first choice.

Bitcoin.com of course is not to be trusted. The likes of Cointelegraph and other crypto-related online publications are also known for publishing articles which are either incomplete or substandard or misleading. I think it's primarily because the contributors or writers themselves are not experts or authorities on what they write, or perhaps they lack research. I don't know if the editors are doing their jobs or whether they're competent enough to screen article pieces.

So I guess it's better to be personality-centered in terms of what to read or perhaps watch or listen to. Andreas Antonopoulos is probably one among the authorities. There's also Jameson Lopp or the various Bitcoin developers. They may disagree with each other but at least you know you're reading the ideas and opinions of individuals who really know what they're talking about.

I guess the reader now has the responsibility of checking the sources on where the article/s based its report to know if they are accurately presenting data. This may be relatively difficult especially that some verified and genuine websites offer misleading articles nowadays.

I guess this is the reason on why this forum was created in the first place- in order to provide firsthand data/information to everyone about the current state of cryptocurrencies in general.

At the end of the day, when you are very unsure whether a certain article is misleading or not, better ask this forum for more clarification to avoid believing in false information being spread.

I very much disagree that books are a better source of information than articles! There are so many books out there discrediting Bitcoin and Satoshi’s work in general and talking shit about BTC. You need to stop finding a specific source of information and start centralizing information from multiple sources and extracting the idea that seems most logical out of all of them.

I think it’s very healthy if you read multiple contradictory articles on a subject you’d like to research. There are obviously a lot of people who like Bitcoin and a lot of people who hate it. They all have reasons and by knowing the pros and cons, you know which side you’re on.

And now I’ll say (actually shout) something that may offend you. STOP READING ARTICLE TITLES ONLY!!!!! This is one of the most unhealthy things you can do, man! You just read that title’s article and said it’s misinformation. I know the title isn’t what it seems, but that’s more like a clickbait than misinformation! The title is pretty much real and legitimate information if you read the rest of the article, but reading the title alone makes your brain think about something completely different. Coin Telegraph’s article only presents a situation where the 12 word seed is under risk. The guy actually “cracked” the seed by finding its right order.

Articles should spur you to want to know more about a topic discussed about bitcoins, they should never be the final source for information about bitcoins that you settle for because I do not think that they can really explain somethings. To get a good understanding, you need to read many articles, not just one and from reading many articles become able to form and put together all the information you have obtained to make sure that you have a good understanding of what bitcoins is. There are too many incomplete articles with half information or twisted information. For anyone that needs good knowledge, you need to read a lot to have good information.

I agree, articles about BTC are just some short writings about Bitcoin, it may have an incomplete information about Bitcoin and may often confused the reader since these kind of writings is often created in haste to fill their quota of the day.  It is better to have bitcoin documentation as resources since it contains the complete information about Bitcoin technicalities.  It also give examples in a way a normal person can understand the terms easily.


True, the same way how some sites mislead people that Satoshi Nakamoto is Craig Wright, this information is not true but most people who does not verify information might believe that it is true.

If I am not wrong this is not just exists in bitcointalk, the whole internet world is misleaded by the paid articles with no actual proofs other than some study papers and you know it drives people crazy to believe that's the truth.

When you find and article then just look what is the source of its content and most of the time you can identify the authenticity of reference by simply reading on them and do some research on your own and that's what we say in the forum too no matter who says you things don't take it to your mind without doing your own analysis and only if you're convinced.

Yes, we need a reliable source of Bitcoin information to compare all of the news from the websites mentioned by the OP because the OP is correct in that some platforms post fake or irrelevant information about Bitcoin technicalities, which may lead a newbie to make a mistake he cannot undo.


While the websites you mentioned previously can provide accurate information, they are not completely credible; while your recommendation is also extremely nice, it is always a good idea to compare your information and conclusions with multiple platforms for full validation.

Also Bitcoin Technical Support, can be a place to get the right confirmation here in the forum.

It is always wise to be wary of information sources before accepting them as accurate. We have a saying: "Don't trust, verify!" When we read articles online, it's easy to get caught up in the story and click through without thinking twice and sometimes it can be difficult to break out of a narrative once we start believing it, but it's worth taking the time to ensure we are not being manipulated by clickbait headlines or biased content. I think it's important to remember that not all information sources are created equal. So, when it comes to articles on platforms and news sites, consider cross-referencing the information with other reliable sources to ensure accuracy and avoid misleading or biased content. The same applies to social media and forums. If you see a post that seems too good to be true or overly dramatic, take the time to check it out and ask yourself if it seems credible. One of the most important things to remember when it comes to online content is that you are not just reading random words on a screen. You are reading words written by people with an agenda who may or may not have your best interests at heart. As such, it's important to consider how the writer is framing their message, why they are writing it and if there is any bias in what they are saying.

Maybe they are not actually relying only on articles but rather they just get an idea to think about if its useful to them. As so many ways to learn about crypto for sure they also stumble some other good information from different medium and just use that article at that time since it could give the reader a information about what they ask. We need to have multiple source of information since not all we can read on internet is true since there are also misleading articles circulate to confuse us.

He is among those early supporters who have tried best to spread awareness about bitcoin among masses and many of us know him from Mastering Bitcoin a book that covers all topic and reliable information about bitcoin.You should also link his YouTube channel as there are more informative videos uploaded : https://youtube.com/@aantonop

There are many useful threads on forum as well for users if they cater to search for them as you can gain lot of basic knowledge in the start like here :

5 Resources to teach Average Joe about Bitcoin

There are many people who have created these sites to promote unauthentic information about bitcoin by spreading rumours as there's no source to check for its authenticity but you can ask your doubts on forum anytime as mentioned and members are ready to help you.

It depends on what you are trying to learn though, If it's about the basics, to learn to buy, send/receive via wallets, store keys, and mnemonics, any reputable source without malicious intent should do fine. But when you want to dig deeper and try to understand the code, cryptography, and more advanced or philosophical stuff, you need to have a good foundation of the topic and do lots of discussion, asking questions, to understand the problem better. People have different understandings about bitcoin that's why there are so many altcoins.

I don't think getting information from articles is the problem, the problem is believing everything you read. Despite the rubbish that flies around on social media, you can still get concrete information from social media. There are articles and blogs that give legit news. Even on this forum, not every piece of information is legit. We should not just run with every piece of information we get. You can even get wrong information from books too. Have an attitude to always research things you hear or read.

Learning about bitcoin is not a day task but a continuous process, which means if you learn today the you continue learning each day because we keep getting updated about what's going on cryptocurrency everyday, if you're good at learning through video clips get their bitcoin channels, if you're the type that like arts works, then get involved, if you like the technical aspects then you're on the right track, as long as you have interest in learning you will keep on improving everyday improving.

This is your first means or access to having a secured bitcoin investment, because you are always informed and you can't be easily scammed or hacked due to the level of your exposure in maintaining a high level of security measures in learning about bitcoin, no one can deceive you, lie to you or cheated you as long as you're always well informed through your continued learning process.

This is not a bad idea but newbie always preferred summarized or simplified version of the Bitcoin information. Most of the books and other source material explained Bitcoin in a technical way while articles usually simplified the content to make sure that reader can easily grasp on the idea and this is what many newbie preferred reading rather than books that is very hard to understand.

We always use the books and other materials to verify the article content. Also not all content provides wrong information. Sometimes they are just wrong since the content is very subjective which is why they think that’s the right approach while the others think different. But in terms of basic knowledge. Binance academy and other site that you mention provides a decent explanation to educate newbie on crypto.

Thank you for sharing your observations and providing additional resources for learning about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. It's important to exercise caution and critical thinking when consuming information from various sources, as the quality and accuracy of content can vary.

I myself usually take directly from my trading experience. I think it can also be used and I just have to juxtapose the latest information from this forum because if there is something new and hot it is always discussed in this forum. For the thread link that you conveyed above, it will be my additional reference in studying market development updates and as a source for learning Bitcoin again.

As long as the sources are adding information for someone who wants to learn more about Bitcoin and it's not corrupting the mind of its readers, that's a fine source.

These sources are even just for free and they've made of course by these exchanges or whoever sponsors them and have it put on their website. And that's the actual fee that every guest or visitor pays them, the traffic in exchange of the resources and information that they've included on these articles.

But it's true that some of these articles might be misleading and bias.

Avoid making broad generalizations like that. It's not about the form, but rather the source. Regardless of the medium or format, the reliability and credibility of the source play a big role in determining the trustworthiness of the information provided. Articles are just one form of information that can be accurate, inaccurate, factual, misleading, etc. But the same can be said for other forms of information as well, including books or posts on the bitcointalk.org forum. So, it's important to think critically, check different sources, and take into account the expertise and reputation of the sources involved. This way, you can ensure a better understanding of the subject with more accurate and comprehensive information.

I agree with the opinion you stated, but not completely agree. Because even though it's true, sometimes websites or news platforms, sometimes make up the news too far, and even lie to the public. But what I know and have experienced so far, most news websites, mostly do write real news. Maybe by chance what you found, is a news article that is not good or contains lies. So you conclude that all the articles written on a website are all lies. But in my opinion, leveling all opinions like that is very inappropriate. Because if you only look at the negative side, all sites that write articles are considered normal. Therefore, we must be better able to filter information or knowledge that is on a site or platform. So that way, I'm sure it will be better.
And I also more or less learned a lot about bitcoin from an article on the website. Looking for information is also certain to see from a website, and one of the ones you mentioned above.

The op mentioned more than one platform to get information:
"Books" are general and I do not know if they are referring to any of the books I have read, but I find the other options to be reliable sources of information barring the last one which I have never visited.

- Jay -

OP, some media provide updated information. there's nothing wrong with following articles or social media from several accounts that do provide updated news related to crypto which of course can help us understand the latest situation from the market.
I do not understand clearly how the error. although there is a possibility that the media from a platform deliberately produces news that is biased or may be one-sided in certain circumstances. it's still just reading that we can still read. and we can still compare the information provided with other platforms.

Dear op i totally agree with you, but to some extent only. How? let me tell you, you aforementioned the first article is misleading one but didn't mention the reason so i read it. All i found is in their title they said " What security? Bitcoin enthusiast cracks known 12-word seed phrase in minutes" but actually this is not what happened, the actual story is, a person named Wicked share a task worth some dollars as a reward, he provided 12-word seed phrase by himself by in an unordered way and he asked others to combine it in an ordered way to unlock the wallet and some dude used brute force method (the easiest one but requires heavy GPU) to make combinations of all these 12 seeds. Well, the scenario was totally different while the title is giving other meanings. And i found nothing surprising here. Because that's what a news company does, they make shocking and misleading titles while the context is whole another thing.

And In the second article, you said it's a biased one, but didn't mention why?. And I was unable to figure it out too because even if they have wrote something biased but everything seems right to me.

And how did you get your answers from Andreas Antonopoulos like he is a tech entrepreneur and are you talking about asking questions in person like in meetups etc or at any online platform?

Well in the end, i do not think depending on only your mentioned one platform for getting knowledge is advisable because diversifying the knowledge from different resources will make it better.

Thank you for sharing your insights regarding the potential risks of relying solely on paid articles for technical Bitcoin information. Its crucial to be cautious of misleading or biased content found on various platforms. As you said To ensure accuracy consider referring to alternative sources like books, GitHub repositories, technical discussion boards and reputable websites. Also Andreas Antonopoulos is indeed a valuable resource for answering questions and providing reliable content I follow him on his youtube channel and watch videos regularly his contribution to promoting reliable learning resources is greatly appreciated.

I see many friends and even some accounts here that rely on some paid (click me) articles as sources to learn technical about Bitcoin.

Almost all platforms and news sites have devoted articles to learning or what is known as academy, and many of the technical articles on those sites contain misleading or biased information, such as some bitcoin.com articles.

Binance Academy, cointelegraph, crypto.com, Bybit Learn,....

Misleading article example https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-advocate-cracks-known-12-word-seed-phrase-in-minutes
Biased essay example https://www.bitcoin.com/full-nodes/

If you want to learn accurate information, it is better to read from

books
GitHub
bitcointalk Technical Discussion boards
bitcoin.stackexchange.com
bitcointechtalk.com

always ask, if you are not convinced of any information.

andreas antonopoulos has good content and answers most of the questions that may arise in your mind, and I also hope that the members will attach more good resources.