Please what are the fastest ways to learn about bitcoin? and how can a software development student meaningfully contribute to the forum?
Don't spam when you are newbie because with spam posts, you won't be able to contribute good things.
If you are a coder, you can code userscripts or SMF patches in order to contribute for the forum and community. It will be highly welcomed by the community.
List of Bitcointalk.org Userscripts/ Add-ons / SMF patchesCoding is one of many constructive ways in Bitcointalk.
Welcome to bitcointalk.org, the Bitcoin Forum! You can access this welcome message from the "help" link in the top menu bar at any time.
As a member of the forum, you are surrounded by legends; phenomenal successes and catastrophic failures. The forum was
created by Satoshi Nakamoto and saw
the first exchange,
the first altcoin, and
the first ICO, but also
catastrophic software flaws,
massive thefts, and
incredible scams. You too have an opportunity to become part of the forum's history: whether and in what way you do so is up to you.
Table of contentsThe purpose of the forumThis forum exists to provide a platform for the free (but ordered) exchange of ideas. If you have an idea to express, then it is probably possible to do it here as long as you follow the rules.
A lot of people come here primarily looking to make money. The forum administration is very happy that people are able to use the forum in order to better themselves; indeed, one of the reasons for Bitcoin's creation was to break the artificial barriers which prevent so many people around the world from attaining prosperity.
However, if your attempts to make money conflict with the forum's primary goal of enabling
discussion, then you are swimming upstream, and you will not be sucessful in the end.
If you view the forum as some sort of "job" where you complete some basic tasks and get paid, then you will almost certainly be disappointed, and the forum administration will not be sympathetic. If you do make money using the forum, then it will be through innovation and entrepreneurship, not any sort of mindless busywork.
Forum rankWhen you start out, you are a Newbie, and you will run into various annoying limits. These limits will be reduced to the point where you shouldn't usually notice them after you have participated in the forum for a few weeks. If you are on the forum to talk, then that's all you really need to know about rank. Don't worry about it too much, and you will eventually rank up.
If you want to maximize your rank, then you need to increase two statistics which are listed on your profile:
- Activity, which is maximized by posting once per day on average. Posting more than that is useless in raising your activity.
- Merit, which is gained by making good posts.
If you make ten thousand posts in a week, your activity will be capped and you will still be a Newbie. If you make ten thousand
useless posts over any period of time, you will gain zero merit and you will still be a Newbie. You can rank up only by
making good posts consistently. It's quality over quantity.
When trying to write quality posts, a lot of people act as though they're writing a book report for school: putting facts that we already know into their own words. Nobody wants to read that, and you will not get merit for it. Moreover, the length of your post and the quality of your English are only minor factors. In trying to write a quality post worthy of merit, you should offer new ideas, personal experiences, or perspectives that other forum users will actually find new and interesting.
