Questions: MagicByt3
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I originally joined the Bitcointalk forum back in December 2011 after reading the Bitcoin paper. Once I understood the concept and design, I was hooked, and have been a crypto-junkie ever since.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I’ve never actually bought bitcoin with fiat. I was an early miner, involved with Bitcoin mining since the Antminer S3's was released. I could never get my machine to mine with the GPU, so I waited for the easy option of ASICs to come around.
My first Bitcoins were sent to me from another forum member for some development work for a website and faucet (a way to claim free Bitcoin by passing a captcha).
3. How did you get on the forum?
I have been around the forum for a long time in various alts. I found it while generally searching for Bitcoin-related sites early on.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Bitcoin is very technical, and people inevitably fear something so new and complex. This also causes worries of losing funds, due to a small mistake in address or storing it safely.
Furthermore, the barrier to entry is super high now, both for people interested in mining, and those wanting to buy for the first time. Ease-of-use can be subjective, though, because as it becomes easier for the average person, so regulation and KYC obligations increase, making it more difficult overall.
As a community, we should push to create better ways for the masses to interact with Bitcoin on a basic level. Much like when Visa released credit cards, there was an entire generation that didn't understand the concept, and education and adoption took quite some time. However, I have no doubt that once we fix the usability issues, there will be no stopping it.
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
Gambling harms the end user. At the end of the day, gambling with a scarce asset like Bitcoin is not something I would recommend, especially as it’s becoming increasingly difficult to obtain from mining, and the price it's now holding. Stable coins would be a much better choice for gambling sites to accept, and for the users.
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
It’s ironic that no-one’s obligated to have any experience to be involved in the stock market; they can pick up the phone and invest with very few hurdles.
The issue with crypto markets is that investors do not understand the volatility, and this creates bad media coverage when people lose money, or demand regulation. In a free and open market, it should be expected that volatility will come as part of the package, and people should be aware of this beforehand.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
The merit system is good and there are many who use it in the correct manner. Unfortunately, there are always the few who manipulate it, though. This also happens with Default Trust 1.
What we need is a Bitcointalk forum token, baked into the blockchain!
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
I have received advice and help from so many users here over the years, it would be difficult to list them all. Here are the main ones I feel contribute the most to the forum and ecosystem:
BitcoinFX
philipma1957
Mikeywith
Vaporizer
-CK
Last Of The V8's
Side hack
Kano
FuzzyWarm
Biffa
There are probably a lot more I’ve missed who do a fantastic job. Sorry if I missed you - you guys know who you are!
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
On-Chain Web of Trust system. Scrap the Trust and Merit and make it fully on-chain
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
High Range: 15700-16700
Mid range: 9500-10250
Low range: 7850-8500
15. P.S. (Optional)
"If you don't believe it or don't get it, I don't have the time to try to convince you, sorry". Satoshi Nakamoto
Topic: [Interviews] with Bitcointalk members - page 15. (Read 30762 times)
Post your interview directly and earn merit. (At any time you can change or delete information)
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/interviews-with-bitcointalk-members-5262967
Some are unhappy that there are many unknowns involved in the interview, who, as LoyceV put it, earned some Merit.
I'm not really interested to read the story of users who barely earned some Merit. If their other posts aren't worth reading, I'm pretty sure this is a waste of time too.
I was wondering what motivates people who are little known on the forum, but who create long reports on their activities.
Everything turned out to be much simpler. zasad@, you entice people with merits, hence such revelations.
Everything fell into place.
This is a fascinating respondent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ban evasion.
sarwershakebALT Autoban user
shakeb
Facebook Profile Link: https://www.facebook.com/nexus.nexus.90226
Link to your profile in the social network: https://www.facebook.com/nexus.nexus.90226/
[ archive ] 
Private correspondence should always remain private and should not be published publicly.I hope you agree that publishing my personal message here is a mistake.
I assume you've sent the same message to many users, and if they choose to answer your questions, they'll also quote the questions from your PM and post them here. In this case, I don't think this requires confidentiality.Just to name my project as "ragbag" it is not necessary to quote a personal message.
Private correspondence should always remain private and should not be published publicly.I hope you agree that publishing my personal message here is a mistake.
I assume you've sent the same message to many users, and if they choose to answer your questions, they'll also quote the questions from your PM and post them here. In this case, I don't think this requires confidentiality. @zasad@
Your questions look like a ragbag of senseless Bitcointalk topics ('How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?') and questions that have hundreds of pages in their specific topic ('What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?').
I don't see a reason why I should answer your low quality questionaire, which only purpose is to be posted in a special Bitcointalk interview topic, which has been moved to the 'Trading Discussion' section. No thanks bai.
Thank you for your honest feedback. I appreciate it.Your questions look like a ragbag of senseless Bitcointalk topics ('How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?') and questions that have hundreds of pages in their specific topic ('What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?').
I don't see a reason why I should answer your low quality questionaire, which only purpose is to be posted in a special Bitcointalk interview topic, which has been moved to the 'Trading Discussion' section. No thanks bai.
Private correspondence should always remain private and should not be published publicly.I hope you agree that publishing my personal message here is a mistake.
Hello.
I want to interview you. I hope for your consent.
Questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
3. How did you get on the forum?
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
15. P.S. (Optional)
You can choose not to answer questions that you don't like.
If you think that answering one of the questions may reveal confidential information about you or harm you, do not answer it.
I am not responsible for the information you posted
There is no time limit for publishing an interview.
Post your interview directly and earn merit. (At any time you can change or delete information)
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/interviews-with-bitcointalk-members-5262967
If my message caused you inconvenience, forgive me and do not write negative reviews.
Have a nice day!
I want to interview you. I hope for your consent.
Questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
3. How did you get on the forum?
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
15. P.S. (Optional)
You can choose not to answer questions that you don't like.
If you think that answering one of the questions may reveal confidential information about you or harm you, do not answer it.
I am not responsible for the information you posted
There is no time limit for publishing an interview.
Post your interview directly and earn merit. (At any time you can change or delete information)
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/interviews-with-bitcointalk-members-5262967
If my message caused you inconvenience, forgive me and do not write negative reviews.
Have a nice day!
@zasad@
Your questions look like a ragbag of senseless Bitcointalk topics ('How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?') and questions that have hundreds of pages in their specific topic ('What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?').
I don't see a reason why I should answer your low quality questionaire, which only purpose is to be posted in a special Bitcointalk interview topic, which has been moved to the 'Trading Discussion' section. No thanks bai.
..
@zasad@, I decided not to do this interview, thanks for invitation.
How do you feel about the idea of a small essay?@zasad@, I decided not to do this interview, thanks for invitation.
If you are asked to write 5-10 sentences, what do you think about the forum and the cryptocurrency, about anything so that your knowledge and experience will be useful for novice cryptocurrency users.
Will you agree to this option?
Csmiami
I congratulate you on your new rank!
Here's an example of how a good interview can help you gain new achievements.
Thanks LoyceV
After being asked whether I wanted to join this QA/interview, I decided it seemed like a good and funny idea to share some things I've lived over the years
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I first became interested in crypto somewhere around 2015/16. At the time I was 15/16 and was looking for some ways to make money online without spending too much time (foolish me) and found a couple of faucets. I still use one of those from time to time (freebitco.in) for the memories and referals I managed to get back in the day; the rest went bankrupt or run away with the funds, so nothing good to say about them. I found the forum some time later, and I must say that even if I first came for the money, I have stayed for the technology.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I haven't; I have only bought BTC once, and that time I was testing an ATM that they had installed close to my house. Everything I've ever had, I've earnt trough different jobs I've had over the years. Most in translation
3. How did you get on the forum?
As I first said, I came here to earn some cash; funnily enough, I did read the whole freebitco.in FAQ, and there I found a link to the forum. I first just read without creating an account, and finally decided to create one and started rather shitposting...
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Usability mostly; how are we going to make them simple enough so that everybody can use them? And not only that; we live in a world where online security is ignored and in many times unkonw to most users. How are they supposed to store some crypto safely, if they can't even store their wedding photos safely?
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
I'm not particularly fond of the gambling industry, as they tend rob the working class and youth from their earnings with the promise of some easy cash. But that aside, I don't think its something bad. For what I've seen, crypto gamblers have a rather different profile than fiat gamblers. It's not that easy for a 14 years old kid to get 5€ in BTC, sign up in a casino/sportsbook and then bet; but it's very easy that they take (or even find in the street) those same 5€ and go to a physical casino.
Now, the impact on the forum... I don't think they really have a huge impact. It's just another company advertising, the same way mixers are advertised, or any other company for that matter. It does only mean one thing; this forum has become such an iconic or even legendary place, and has so many useres, that it's worth to advertise here. That's some rather strong community
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
Currencies should not be considered investments; they should be considered and used as what they are: money
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
When the merit system was first implemented I was so angry I left the forum for some months. There were other factors too, which I'll explain later, but at the time, I was supposed to become a Sr Member the same exact day the merit system was implemented; and because I only got the 100 airdropped ones for Full Member rank, I couldn't rank up and got reeeaally upset.
Now that some time has passed and I don't really use the forum to earn trough signature campaigns (doesn't mean I can't join them LOL), I think that it's a system that has benefited the forum a lot. Of course there's drama involved, because we seem to always be looking for drama everywhere, but all in all, a lot of spammers have been disuaded to use the forum, or at least to post outside of the Altcoin section. Signature campaigns are a simple way of users getting some revenue to use the forum, but here I always make some separation: users posting and getting paid for it, and users getting paid to post. First group would be for users that normally post, and don't change their posting habits even if they are getting paid for it, because their focus is not in the number of posts made or money earnt. Second group would be for those users that post solely when they are getting paid, or make some drastical changes once they get accepted into a campaign. Some benefit the forum, some only spam.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Not sure about the topic, because depending on your aim you will be needing one thing or another; but the list of users is a bit easier to make:
I must say too, that this small and unfinished list is mostly for the sections I usually post in or read, so it's a rather personal choice. Sorry for the ones I didn't name, but if I were to start making a whole list... that'd be reeeaaallly long
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
There's nothing specific I can think of, but I would definately try to improve the reporting system. I know mods get tons of reports every day, but I'd sometimes be nice to know why some reports are marked as bad or unhandled; so there's some room for improvement in what feedback is concerned. Apart from that, I can't think of anything specific at the time
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
None of the above, I a BTC hoarder
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
This may be known by a couple users, but it's still painfull to remember every time I talk about it. Back in the 2017 ATH, I saterted working for a company here in the forum that paid rather well. In a couple of months, I had managed to earn comething close to 0.6BTC; which I stored in an Electrum wallet (non 2FA) and I didn't have a hardware wallet. I started getting a bit paranoid about the chance of getting robbed, and one afternoon, while preparing a sleepover at a friends house, I decided to create an electrum 2FA account to move my funds there, and from there buy a hardware wallet to store my coins. I had finished creating the 2FA wallet, so I logged in to my "normal" wallet to move the funds.... and an outgoing transaction was created the second I unlocked it! I lost close to 0.55BTC in a couple of seconds for not having the necessary opsec from the beginning.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
It's rather a precaution; you never know who may be reading you and with what porpuse, so I try to dox myself the least possible. Of course I could sometimes be more carefull, but I don't really see a need to do that
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I've actually read none
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
I already said that I'm not into investing, because currencies should be used as what they are, but if I had to buy something I think my list would look like this:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I first became interested in crypto somewhere around 2015/16. At the time I was 15/16 and was looking for some ways to make money online without spending too much time (foolish me) and found a couple of faucets. I still use one of those from time to time (freebitco.in) for the memories and referals I managed to get back in the day; the rest went bankrupt or run away with the funds, so nothing good to say about them. I found the forum some time later, and I must say that even if I first came for the money, I have stayed for the technology.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I haven't; I have only bought BTC once, and that time I was testing an ATM that they had installed close to my house. Everything I've ever had, I've earnt trough different jobs I've had over the years. Most in translation
3. How did you get on the forum?
As I first said, I came here to earn some cash; funnily enough, I did read the whole freebitco.in FAQ, and there I found a link to the forum. I first just read without creating an account, and finally decided to create one and started rather shitposting...
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Usability mostly; how are we going to make them simple enough so that everybody can use them? And not only that; we live in a world where online security is ignored and in many times unkonw to most users. How are they supposed to store some crypto safely, if they can't even store their wedding photos safely?
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
I'm not particularly fond of the gambling industry, as they tend rob the working class and youth from their earnings with the promise of some easy cash. But that aside, I don't think its something bad. For what I've seen, crypto gamblers have a rather different profile than fiat gamblers. It's not that easy for a 14 years old kid to get 5€ in BTC, sign up in a casino/sportsbook and then bet; but it's very easy that they take (or even find in the street) those same 5€ and go to a physical casino.
Now, the impact on the forum... I don't think they really have a huge impact. It's just another company advertising, the same way mixers are advertised, or any other company for that matter. It does only mean one thing; this forum has become such an iconic or even legendary place, and has so many useres, that it's worth to advertise here. That's some rather strong community
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
Currencies should not be considered investments; they should be considered and used as what they are: money
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
When the merit system was first implemented I was so angry I left the forum for some months. There were other factors too, which I'll explain later, but at the time, I was supposed to become a Sr Member the same exact day the merit system was implemented; and because I only got the 100 airdropped ones for Full Member rank, I couldn't rank up and got reeeaally upset.
Now that some time has passed and I don't really use the forum to earn trough signature campaigns (doesn't mean I can't join them LOL), I think that it's a system that has benefited the forum a lot. Of course there's drama involved, because we seem to always be looking for drama everywhere, but all in all, a lot of spammers have been disuaded to use the forum, or at least to post outside of the Altcoin section. Signature campaigns are a simple way of users getting some revenue to use the forum, but here I always make some separation: users posting and getting paid for it, and users getting paid to post. First group would be for users that normally post, and don't change their posting habits even if they are getting paid for it, because their focus is not in the number of posts made or money earnt. Second group would be for those users that post solely when they are getting paid, or make some drastical changes once they get accepted into a campaign. Some benefit the forum, some only spam.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Not sure about the topic, because depending on your aim you will be needing one thing or another; but the list of users is a bit easier to make:
- LoyceV
- TryNinja
- pooya87
- nc50lc
- Welsh
- ....
I must say too, that this small and unfinished list is mostly for the sections I usually post in or read, so it's a rather personal choice. Sorry for the ones I didn't name, but if I were to start making a whole list... that'd be reeeaaallly long
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
There's nothing specific I can think of, but I would definately try to improve the reporting system. I know mods get tons of reports every day, but I'd sometimes be nice to know why some reports are marked as bad or unhandled; so there's some room for improvement in what feedback is concerned. Apart from that, I can't think of anything specific at the time
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
None of the above, I a BTC hoarder
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
This may be known by a couple users, but it's still painfull to remember every time I talk about it. Back in the 2017 ATH, I saterted working for a company here in the forum that paid rather well. In a couple of months, I had managed to earn comething close to 0.6BTC; which I stored in an Electrum wallet (non 2FA) and I didn't have a hardware wallet. I started getting a bit paranoid about the chance of getting robbed, and one afternoon, while preparing a sleepover at a friends house, I decided to create an electrum 2FA account to move my funds there, and from there buy a hardware wallet to store my coins. I had finished creating the 2FA wallet, so I logged in to my "normal" wallet to move the funds.... and an outgoing transaction was created the second I unlocked it! I lost close to 0.55BTC in a couple of seconds for not having the necessary opsec from the beginning.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
It's rather a precaution; you never know who may be reading you and with what porpuse, so I try to dox myself the least possible. Of course I could sometimes be more carefull, but I don't really see a need to do that
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I've actually read none
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
I already said that I'm not into investing, because currencies should be used as what they are, but if I had to buy something I think my list would look like this:
- Bitcoin
- bitcoin
- BitCoin
Thank you for the invite. I've read almost all interviews (I focused mostly on those of people I know and are big in community).
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies peaked my interest back in 2015. They were not that popular back then, but they were quite more popular than they were when it all began. I read about Bitcoin in an article and I instantly wanted to know more about it.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
If by "first bitcoin" you mean whole bitcoin, I never bought it. I've bought at most 0.5 BTC during the years, and rest of my now much bigger portfolio has been mined and traded up.
3. How did you get on the forum?
I am not particularly sure what brought me to forum, one of my first posts would reveal that information, but my guess would be that Antminer S9 custom firmware or search for seller of same unit would have brought me here.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Lack of knowledge, media control, lack of interest, a pile of information every user has to know before they can use it seamlessly and many more things. But surely media is the biggest part of it.
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
It doesn't have a big impact in my opinion, but I doubt it will ever have positive effect.
4.3.What is better for mining: ASICs, video cards, FPGA?
Depends on needs of miner.
ASICs are much more risky, prone to failure (especially Antminer 17 series), harder to resell in some cases and they loose their value really fast. However, they bring much more money and they are much more fun to fiddle with.
GPUs are much more of a safe bet. They are not that easy to brake, they rarely come DOA and they are easy to resell and do not lose their value as fast as ASICs. They are profitable but not as much as ASICs.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
Not necessarily, I think they are a good side of forum.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
The most useful topic would be hard to choose. There is a lot of them that are objectively useful, but my choice would probably be too subjective.
Phil would be my first choice for most helpful user as I encounter him A LOT, but that again is a subjective choice.
After that there is a big list of names which I could name but here are a few:
Taserz
mikeywith
VirosaGITS
OgNasty
LoyceV
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I do not have the knowledge that could help this forum. Theymos does a seemingly good job.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Rarely, I mostly sell highs and buy lows, but otherwise I am hodler.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Huh, that would probably be my investment in ETH back in December of 2018 at 90$ which turned to almost x5 when I cashed out a few days ago at 410$. It was a big gain for me. I do not really play with small coins or ICOs as I do not deem them to be worth my time. But I would have probably had much more luck with much bigger gains and losses if I did invest in them.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
I do not really have formed opinion about it since I haven't really had time nor interest to look into it.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
It is mostly a precaution but still there are a few forum members which know my real name and address but I try to be as anonymous as possible.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I haven't really read any books about crypto.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
My always go to crypto would be ZEC, BTC and ETH. I mostly flip them and I am satisfied with my earnings on them.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Circa $15k
15. P.S. (Optional)
I might edit/add some things this week as this week is quite busy for me.
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies peaked my interest back in 2015. They were not that popular back then, but they were quite more popular than they were when it all began. I read about Bitcoin in an article and I instantly wanted to know more about it.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
If by "first bitcoin" you mean whole bitcoin, I never bought it. I've bought at most 0.5 BTC during the years, and rest of my now much bigger portfolio has been mined and traded up.
3. How did you get on the forum?
I am not particularly sure what brought me to forum, one of my first posts would reveal that information, but my guess would be that Antminer S9 custom firmware or search for seller of same unit would have brought me here.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Lack of knowledge, media control, lack of interest, a pile of information every user has to know before they can use it seamlessly and many more things. But surely media is the biggest part of it.
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
It doesn't have a big impact in my opinion, but I doubt it will ever have positive effect.
4.3.What is better for mining: ASICs, video cards, FPGA?
Depends on needs of miner.
ASICs are much more risky, prone to failure (especially Antminer 17 series), harder to resell in some cases and they loose their value really fast. However, they bring much more money and they are much more fun to fiddle with.
GPUs are much more of a safe bet. They are not that easy to brake, they rarely come DOA and they are easy to resell and do not lose their value as fast as ASICs. They are profitable but not as much as ASICs.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
Not necessarily, I think they are a good side of forum.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
The most useful topic would be hard to choose. There is a lot of them that are objectively useful, but my choice would probably be too subjective.
Phil would be my first choice for most helpful user as I encounter him A LOT, but that again is a subjective choice.
After that there is a big list of names which I could name but here are a few:
Taserz
mikeywith
VirosaGITS
OgNasty
LoyceV
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I do not have the knowledge that could help this forum. Theymos does a seemingly good job.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Rarely, I mostly sell highs and buy lows, but otherwise I am hodler.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Huh, that would probably be my investment in ETH back in December of 2018 at 90$ which turned to almost x5 when I cashed out a few days ago at 410$. It was a big gain for me. I do not really play with small coins or ICOs as I do not deem them to be worth my time. But I would have probably had much more luck with much bigger gains and losses if I did invest in them.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
I do not really have formed opinion about it since I haven't really had time nor interest to look into it.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
It is mostly a precaution but still there are a few forum members which know my real name and address but I try to be as anonymous as possible.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I haven't really read any books about crypto.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
My always go to crypto would be ZEC, BTC and ETH. I mostly flip them and I am satisfied with my earnings on them.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Circa $15k
15. P.S. (Optional)
I might edit/add some things this week as this week is quite busy for me.
I'm not really interested to read the story of users who barely earned some Merit.
Yeah, I noticed someone has more than 5000 posts and 50 merits 
. To be honest, I am not interested to read stories coming from fake newbie (merit) farming accounts who post "I just discovered this forum wow it is cool" and "thank you mate, you are good, my buddy, BFF" crap all over the place, congratulating someone because they reached full member rank and/or someone for getting 10 merits.Who the fuck joins crypto forum to talk about forum itself (merits, ranks and so)?
@zasad@, I decided not to do this interview, thanks for invitation.
Questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I answered that a while ago in German, so here's a translation:
Actually, I've already known Bitcoin in ca. 2003.
No, my name is not Satoshi Nakamoto and obviously "our" Bitcoin didn't exist yet back then.
But during my time as a student of computer science and business administration* I already had a quite decent idea of a kind of "money" comparable to Bitcoin.
I'm not sure whether my professor was especially farsighted or whether at that time it could already be regarded as "state of the art/science", but I had already learned that the development of money would tend to move in the direction of having these properties:
- peer to peer
- cryptographically secured
- value determined solely by market forces
I guess a lot of people already knew that at the time, which explains why so many already had been working on the implementation of something of the sort (e.g. David Chaum, Adam Back, etc.).
Fast forward to the end of 2010, when I remember hearing somewhere that once more a system like that had been developed, not for the first time. Being very busy career-wise at the time, I didn't really delve any deeper into it. I cannot even be sure if it was Bitcoin, but it seems pretty obvious.
(so there's my lost chance to get onboard in 2010)
Early / mid 2011, in the wake of the dollar parity of Bitcoin I noticed again, and took the time to look a little closer.
With my prior "knowledge" of Bitcoin I knew within minutes that Bitcoin was a working implementation of the "money" described above.
My further prior knowledge about network effects etc. helped me assess the possibility of any realistic danger that a "successor" would be able to overcome Bitcoin, which I deny decisively to this day. That wouldn't square with empirical evidence.
I can therefore say that I became an adamant Bitcoin-believer shortly after the dollar parity and have been ever since, without hesitation and with the necessary background knowledge to dismiss any hint of a doubt.
* (in German "Wirtschaftsinformatik", a combined curriculum where you become a not-so good computer scientist as well as a not-so good business administrator)
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Around that time, obviously.
I used Japanese exchange MtGox, which was a real hassle, since I had to wire the money with a paper form from my bank etc.
I didn't quite put my life savings into it, but it also wasn't petty cash.
3. How did you get on the forum?
I lurked without registering for a couple weeks, maybe months, then I registered.
There basically was no option other than the forum at that time when you wanted to dig into Bitcoin.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Fear.
People are (rightfully) afraid of something new that they don't understand and that comes with a lot of difficulties and dangers.
I personally still wouldn't advise the direct use of Bitcoin to the faint-hearted, non-tech-savvy (yet).
Funny as it may sound, the average Joe may well be better off buying and storing Bitcoin at a third party with at least technical support and or potential recourse to legal action.
I've always been an advocate of the idea that Bitcoin will most likely never be used by "the masses" directly, but rather through third parties, and I don't necessarily believe that that has to be a bad thing.
And yeah, that makes me a heretic within the community.
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
Gambling seems to be the only kind of "smart contract" that to date has been successfully implemented on a blockchain. Everything else you can see "out there, in the wild" is basically SCAM. Well, maybe Krypto-Kitties are legit, too (I'm not joking, but I'm also not quite sure). So, from the point of view of technology, gambling seems to be the one thing other than money a blockchain is really good for (we might see more things in the future, but I'm doubtful).
How it affects the community or the forum, well, that's a whole different story.
Gambling is about greed, and so is speculation.
I know that greed drives the interest of the people out there to the forums, which is both beneficial, since we probably always need some influx of fresh blood, but it's also bad for all the newbs, which in turn attract the scammers.
All in all, my feelings toward gambling are mixed, which is why I personally would prefer not to see it advertised too much.
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
You can successfully invest once you understand three things about crypto-currency.
First and foremost: Trading is not investing.
Second: Basically everything "crypto" is a SCAM.
Third: Bitcoin might be the one exception from rule number two, but you cannot be entirely sure.
That's all you'll ever need to know.
4.4. What do you think about Shitcoins and what is your opinion about IOTA?
Oh my. 1miau is a dick for bringing that up.
Everyone knows how much I hate shitcoins.
Repeat rule number two from above: Bascially everything "crypto" is a SCAM.
There's some altcoins out there that show some merit technologically, so they seem to be good playgrounds for development and admittedly, that might carry them a long way, even all the way to real-world adoption. But so far, not even Ethereum has come even close to that mark.
When you take a closer look at "real world market caps", i.e. look at the amount of Dollars invested on "real" stock exchanges into crypto-assets etc., you will see that even Ethereum doesn't even play in the same league as Bitcoin. We're talking about numbers like 95+% going into Bitcoin, with the 5-% being divided up between several of the major shitcoins.
So much for Coinmarketcrap's so-called "Bitcoin Dominance".
But the worst thing about altcoins isn't their lousy performance in real-world markets.
It's their never-ending bullshit bingo about how their simple changes and tweaks in design decisions (like "faster blocks", "zero fee transactions" or whatever) are "innovations".
They are not. They are design decisions.
If you promote your altcoin under the disguise of innovation with just minor design tweaks, I personally consider that fraudulent.
Combine that with used-car-salesman-style sales tactics, wash trades etc. on exchanges, and you get from classical "Altcoins" to true "Shitcoins".
Add on top of all that a major design flaw (a "mesh-like" architecture for a highly hierarchical application like IoT), true-bred centralization, and script-kiddy design decisions like ternary without any good reason, you get to IOTA. Oh, did I mention the "coordicide", several WoTs layered on top of each other with a centralized entry point, proposed as a "decentralized" solution?
Need I say more?
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
The merit system is not perfect. But it seems to be relatively effective in reducing spam and encouraging good posts, so I consider it a valuable addition.
Signature campaigns, well, they seem to attract a lot of users, but I'm not quite sure if those are the kind of users this forum needs, so I tend to believe that they do, in fact, more harm than good.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
The most useful topic woulds be my personal taxation-FAQ and Common Bitcoin misunderstandings-FAQ on the German board, obviously.
And the most helpful user, well, me, of course.
It should be pretty obvious by now that I have an oversized ego
Seriously, I don't know, there's just too much good stuff out there, and the best you can do is get into the discussions and you will see which topics will be useful for you and which users will help you.
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I'm pretty conservative, so I would actually leave everything the way it is.
One thing that has always bothered me, though, is the centralized control of theymos over the forum.
I don't have a good solution, but I think this is an issue that should have been addressed years ago.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
No.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
I had a few coins on MtGox.
And by "a few" I mean a couple.
And by "a couple" I mean a lot.
Well, we all made mistakes, and I have learned to live with mine.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
Bascially everything "crypto" is a SCAM.
This holds true for DEFI as well.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I am not anonymous, but rather a relatively highly public figure.
As a kind of "lobbyist" for Bitcoin in Germany, I have to be.
So, yeah, my name is "Bastian Lipp", I'm a board member of the "Bundesverband Bitcoin", my home address is ---, okay, that would go too far.
You can easily find my photo if you google, several even, and really cheeky businesslike ones of younger me.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I'm not sure, I tend to "read them all" (nah, not really, but I generally cover a broad range).
One of the most remarkable has obviously been "The Bitcoin Standard" by Saifedean Ammous, and despite its fame, I'd like to point out a couple negatives about it, so here goes a short review (also translated from a German post of mine):
Chapter 1-3 deliver a comprehensive overview of monetary theory according to the Austrian school of economics, but lack any description of other views.
Chapter 4 is a strange "conspiracy theory" of how the renunciation of the gold standard at the beginning of the 20th century had led to basically all the evil in the world. Wars, famines, plagues, all seem to be a direct consequence of fiat money.
Chapter 5 is another short overview of "time preference", one of economics' justifications for the benefits of capitalism.
Chapter 6 and 7 reiterate further on the conspiracy theory from chapter 4.
The author goes so far as to see his own lack of understanding of modern art as evidence for the responsibility of fiat money for the high prices of what he deems less valuable. As the reader, I almost expected to read the term "degenerate art".
Chapter 8 is a short overview over the technical background of Bitcoin.
Chapter 9 is a superficial overview over several use cases of Bitcoin.
Chapter 10 finally gets rid of some common misunderstandings about Bitcoin, in the sense of a FAQ.
Saifedean Ammous would have done a better job, had he tuned out his own preference of a very narrow reading of the Austrian school (which in this particular case seems to be a peculiarity of 90th US economics), and allowed some space for a broader view.
His personal animosity versus John Maynard Keynes, which at times borders on the homophobe, should also have better been kept his private secret, especially since he doesn't really adhere to the facts too closely (not to say that he tells fairy tales at times).
All in all, i regret that from a solid base resulted a very weak book, simply because the author just had to put forward his personal hatred for Keynes, modern art and fiat money.
Conclusion: if you take "The Bitcoin Standard", rip out chapters 4, 6 and 7, ignore the ever-present animosities towards Keynes, it's a solid book on the basics of Bitcoin economics, even though with a very narrow view.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Bitcoin.
If you want to gamble, basically anything else, because I fully expect Shitcoins in general to rise (and fall) quicker.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Oh, that date is too close.
I don't know where Bitcoin will be at the end of 2020, I guess somewhere in the 50K region, but only with a confidence of maybe 20%.
I am absolutely certain, though, that the next ATH will be in the 100K+ region.
15. P.S. (Optional)
There's so much to say, but one thing I would like everyone to know:
If you don't understand why Bitcoin has a ten minute block time, and why faster blocks are a stupid idea, you don't understand cryptocurrency. At all.
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I answered that a while ago in German, so here's a translation:
Actually, I've already known Bitcoin in ca. 2003.
No, my name is not Satoshi Nakamoto and obviously "our" Bitcoin didn't exist yet back then.
But during my time as a student of computer science and business administration* I already had a quite decent idea of a kind of "money" comparable to Bitcoin.
I'm not sure whether my professor was especially farsighted or whether at that time it could already be regarded as "state of the art/science", but I had already learned that the development of money would tend to move in the direction of having these properties:
- peer to peer
- cryptographically secured
- value determined solely by market forces
I guess a lot of people already knew that at the time, which explains why so many already had been working on the implementation of something of the sort (e.g. David Chaum, Adam Back, etc.).
Fast forward to the end of 2010, when I remember hearing somewhere that once more a system like that had been developed, not for the first time. Being very busy career-wise at the time, I didn't really delve any deeper into it. I cannot even be sure if it was Bitcoin, but it seems pretty obvious.
(so there's my lost chance to get onboard in 2010)
Early / mid 2011, in the wake of the dollar parity of Bitcoin I noticed again, and took the time to look a little closer.
With my prior "knowledge" of Bitcoin I knew within minutes that Bitcoin was a working implementation of the "money" described above.
My further prior knowledge about network effects etc. helped me assess the possibility of any realistic danger that a "successor" would be able to overcome Bitcoin, which I deny decisively to this day. That wouldn't square with empirical evidence.
I can therefore say that I became an adamant Bitcoin-believer shortly after the dollar parity and have been ever since, without hesitation and with the necessary background knowledge to dismiss any hint of a doubt.
* (in German "Wirtschaftsinformatik", a combined curriculum where you become a not-so good computer scientist as well as a not-so good business administrator)
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Around that time, obviously.
I used Japanese exchange MtGox, which was a real hassle, since I had to wire the money with a paper form from my bank etc.
I didn't quite put my life savings into it, but it also wasn't petty cash.
3. How did you get on the forum?
I lurked without registering for a couple weeks, maybe months, then I registered.
There basically was no option other than the forum at that time when you wanted to dig into Bitcoin.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Fear.
People are (rightfully) afraid of something new that they don't understand and that comes with a lot of difficulties and dangers.
I personally still wouldn't advise the direct use of Bitcoin to the faint-hearted, non-tech-savvy (yet).
Funny as it may sound, the average Joe may well be better off buying and storing Bitcoin at a third party with at least technical support and or potential recourse to legal action.
I've always been an advocate of the idea that Bitcoin will most likely never be used by "the masses" directly, but rather through third parties, and I don't necessarily believe that that has to be a bad thing.
And yeah, that makes me a heretic within the community.
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
Gambling seems to be the only kind of "smart contract" that to date has been successfully implemented on a blockchain. Everything else you can see "out there, in the wild" is basically SCAM. Well, maybe Krypto-Kitties are legit, too (I'm not joking, but I'm also not quite sure). So, from the point of view of technology, gambling seems to be the one thing other than money a blockchain is really good for (we might see more things in the future, but I'm doubtful).
How it affects the community or the forum, well, that's a whole different story.
Gambling is about greed, and so is speculation.
I know that greed drives the interest of the people out there to the forums, which is both beneficial, since we probably always need some influx of fresh blood, but it's also bad for all the newbs, which in turn attract the scammers.
All in all, my feelings toward gambling are mixed, which is why I personally would prefer not to see it advertised too much.
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
You can successfully invest once you understand three things about crypto-currency.
First and foremost: Trading is not investing.
Second: Basically everything "crypto" is a SCAM.
Third: Bitcoin might be the one exception from rule number two, but you cannot be entirely sure.
That's all you'll ever need to know.
4.4. What do you think about Shitcoins and what is your opinion about IOTA?
Oh my. 1miau is a dick for bringing that up.
Everyone knows how much I hate shitcoins.
Repeat rule number two from above: Bascially everything "crypto" is a SCAM.
There's some altcoins out there that show some merit technologically, so they seem to be good playgrounds for development and admittedly, that might carry them a long way, even all the way to real-world adoption. But so far, not even Ethereum has come even close to that mark.
When you take a closer look at "real world market caps", i.e. look at the amount of Dollars invested on "real" stock exchanges into crypto-assets etc., you will see that even Ethereum doesn't even play in the same league as Bitcoin. We're talking about numbers like 95+% going into Bitcoin, with the 5-% being divided up between several of the major shitcoins.
So much for Coinmarketcrap's so-called "Bitcoin Dominance".
But the worst thing about altcoins isn't their lousy performance in real-world markets.
It's their never-ending bullshit bingo about how their simple changes and tweaks in design decisions (like "faster blocks", "zero fee transactions" or whatever) are "innovations".
They are not. They are design decisions.
If you promote your altcoin under the disguise of innovation with just minor design tweaks, I personally consider that fraudulent.
Combine that with used-car-salesman-style sales tactics, wash trades etc. on exchanges, and you get from classical "Altcoins" to true "Shitcoins".
Add on top of all that a major design flaw (a "mesh-like" architecture for a highly hierarchical application like IoT), true-bred centralization, and script-kiddy design decisions like ternary without any good reason, you get to IOTA. Oh, did I mention the "coordicide", several WoTs layered on top of each other with a centralized entry point, proposed as a "decentralized" solution?
Need I say more?
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
The merit system is not perfect. But it seems to be relatively effective in reducing spam and encouraging good posts, so I consider it a valuable addition.
Signature campaigns, well, they seem to attract a lot of users, but I'm not quite sure if those are the kind of users this forum needs, so I tend to believe that they do, in fact, more harm than good.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
The most useful topic woulds be my personal taxation-FAQ and Common Bitcoin misunderstandings-FAQ on the German board, obviously.
And the most helpful user, well, me, of course.
It should be pretty obvious by now that I have an oversized ego
Seriously, I don't know, there's just too much good stuff out there, and the best you can do is get into the discussions and you will see which topics will be useful for you and which users will help you.
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I'm pretty conservative, so I would actually leave everything the way it is.
One thing that has always bothered me, though, is the centralized control of theymos over the forum.
I don't have a good solution, but I think this is an issue that should have been addressed years ago.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
No.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
I had a few coins on MtGox.
And by "a few" I mean a couple.
And by "a couple" I mean a lot.
Well, we all made mistakes, and I have learned to live with mine.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
Bascially everything "crypto" is a SCAM.
This holds true for DEFI as well.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I am not anonymous, but rather a relatively highly public figure.
As a kind of "lobbyist" for Bitcoin in Germany, I have to be.
So, yeah, my name is "Bastian Lipp", I'm a board member of the "Bundesverband Bitcoin", my home address is ---, okay, that would go too far.
You can easily find my photo if you google, several even, and really cheeky businesslike ones of younger me.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I'm not sure, I tend to "read them all" (nah, not really, but I generally cover a broad range).
One of the most remarkable has obviously been "The Bitcoin Standard" by Saifedean Ammous, and despite its fame, I'd like to point out a couple negatives about it, so here goes a short review (also translated from a German post of mine):
Chapter 1-3 deliver a comprehensive overview of monetary theory according to the Austrian school of economics, but lack any description of other views.
Chapter 4 is a strange "conspiracy theory" of how the renunciation of the gold standard at the beginning of the 20th century had led to basically all the evil in the world. Wars, famines, plagues, all seem to be a direct consequence of fiat money.
Chapter 5 is another short overview of "time preference", one of economics' justifications for the benefits of capitalism.
Chapter 6 and 7 reiterate further on the conspiracy theory from chapter 4.
The author goes so far as to see his own lack of understanding of modern art as evidence for the responsibility of fiat money for the high prices of what he deems less valuable. As the reader, I almost expected to read the term "degenerate art".
Chapter 8 is a short overview over the technical background of Bitcoin.
Chapter 9 is a superficial overview over several use cases of Bitcoin.
Chapter 10 finally gets rid of some common misunderstandings about Bitcoin, in the sense of a FAQ.
Saifedean Ammous would have done a better job, had he tuned out his own preference of a very narrow reading of the Austrian school (which in this particular case seems to be a peculiarity of 90th US economics), and allowed some space for a broader view.
His personal animosity versus John Maynard Keynes, which at times borders on the homophobe, should also have better been kept his private secret, especially since he doesn't really adhere to the facts too closely (not to say that he tells fairy tales at times).
All in all, i regret that from a solid base resulted a very weak book, simply because the author just had to put forward his personal hatred for Keynes, modern art and fiat money.
Conclusion: if you take "The Bitcoin Standard", rip out chapters 4, 6 and 7, ignore the ever-present animosities towards Keynes, it's a solid book on the basics of Bitcoin economics, even though with a very narrow view.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Bitcoin.
If you want to gamble, basically anything else, because I fully expect Shitcoins in general to rise (and fall) quicker.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Oh, that date is too close.
I don't know where Bitcoin will be at the end of 2020, I guess somewhere in the 50K region, but only with a confidence of maybe 20%.
I am absolutely certain, though, that the next ATH will be in the 100K+ region.
15. P.S. (Optional)
There's so much to say, but one thing I would like everyone to know:
If you don't understand why Bitcoin has a ten minute block time, and why faster blocks are a stupid idea, you don't understand cryptocurrency. At all.
I would like to see qwk being interviewed.
[...]
And please don’t tell him, that I’ve asked you to ask him these questions.
Way to go, keeping a secret by publicly posting on the Interwebs [...]
And please don’t tell him, that I’ve asked you to ask him these questions.
Sorry for my huge delay but finally, I've finished answering all questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Like many of us during the big bullrun 2017 / 2018. Bitcoin was mentioned quite frequently by a large number of popular media and ofcourse as well in the internet.
In general, my opinion is very favorable of Gold, so the characteristics of Bitcoin matched perfectly. Especially the limitation of 21M Bitcoin and the halving roughly every 4 years were extremely promising.
In addition, Bitcoin is adopting many positive characteristics from cash.
2. When and why did you when you buy your first bitcoin?
Honestly, 98% of my current cryptocurrencies have an origin from after 2019. I wasn’t very active before, just reading and following the (upcoming) bear market and staying at the sidelines. Even my Bitcointalk account is from May 2018 and I researched the first time about Bitcoin in November 2017.
So, staying at the sidelines is a good decision sometimes.
In addition, I made mismanagement with collecting worthless Shitcoins and it took some time to figure out what’s important and profitable, although the recent DeFi hype (which I missed, unfortunately) is another chapter in Shitcoin industry. ^^
3. How did you get on the forum?
There were different factors why Bitcointalk got my attention:
One important point was that searching for crypto-specific topics on Google gave always very good results on Bitcointalk. And the replies were of very high quality.
Another important point were Shitcoins. ^^
Many projects used Bitcointalk to announce new coins or offers to receive free tokens. Unfortunately, these Altcoin projects weren’t successful and it was just a waste of time.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
A difficult question. To answer it, I would need to dig much deeper or make a survey for nocoiners maybe.
Very likely it’s a mixture of:
- a lack of knowledge why Bitcoin is so promising
- fear of technical issues and losses as a result
- too high entrance barriers for purchasing cryptocurrencies
4.2. Who do you think will win bitcoin or banks?
Most likely Banks will buy Bitcoin and both will win, JP Morgan did already an 180°:
JPMorgan—Bitcoin's 'Biggest Enemy'—Suddenly Appears To Be Going All In On Crypto
4.3. I see a decrease in activity in many local boards. What do you think needs to be done to develop activity in local boards?
You are right, currently the activity in the German board is a little bit lower than usually. A part of it could be caused by vacations, especially the “German Wall Observer” (Der aktuelle Kursverlauf) is very quiet.
I’m not sure why we are experiencing low activity, my strongest suspicion is an outdated design isn’t very attractive for new users. In comparison, we have in Germany another big crypto forum (Coinforum), they had a very modern design since its beginning 6 or 7 years ago and even got an update recently. Many German users are signing up there instead of Bitcointalk and THAT is worrisome because Bitcointalk isn’t the forum they are using…
Btw. it took 1 or 2 years for the other German forum (coinforum) to get a new design.
A new design would definitely not harm to get more users signing up here.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
I wasn’t here before Merit was introduced, so I can’t give a reference how it was before but I can't complain about the current situation. We haven’t much spam and good posts are written frequently, so I would say it works.
Signature campaigns are a very vital part of the forum and impressively show how Bitcoin is beloved! ^^
Many people here want to get into these to accumulate BTC and make it scarcer.
And Signature campaigns also show that Bitcoin-related companies want to be visible here because the forum is an important part in the Bitcoin ecosystem. I hope this will stay like that.
The current campaign managers are also preventing spam quite professionally.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Difficult to pick one, here are various topics of massive quality, just have a look at the list: [GUIDES] on Bitcointalk. Index thread (until there is a dedicated subforum?)
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/guides-on-bitcointalk-index-thread-until-there-is-a-dedicated-subforum-4928968
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
- New forum software
- Enabling quotes from locked topics
- Trust Feature idea: give DT1 the ability to remove specific feedbacks from DT
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
HODL!
Trading is too much risk.
Investing in projects is very interesting but all the KYC is endangering users to become victim of various sorts of scams which has made such activities unattractive.
But I keep looking out for new, interesting Altcoins.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
My biggest loss is / was my wasted time for collecting worthless Shitcoins. But I’m still doing it sometimes because it’s still possible that such Shitcoins will make massive gains one day (like DeFi). Unfortunately, I didn’t collect any DeFi Shitcoin. :/
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
A very difficult question. Please note that I’ve not read that much about it and I’m trading all information about DeFi with high caution because many actors just want to shill their Shitcoin / DeFi hype in general.
I would compare it with ICOs in 2017, most of it will fail / die but what is different this time: we haven’t seen a major bull market yet. And ETH transaction fees are already extremely expensive. I’m not sure what happens when a real bull market (new BTC and ETH all-time high) happens, if DeFi projects will collapse because fees can get 500$ per tx or more (some people already reported fees of 100$ per tx on Uniswap) or if DeFi projects will be even 10x higher from today.
Difficult to say but another big disruption could be a collapse of ETH. If Ethereum can’t deliver ETH 2.0 or any improvements to lower tx fees for DeFi, people will search for alternatives. Polkadot started recently from 0 to 6 billion marketcap causing a massive disruption against competitors.
Another project launched recently is Avalanche. Their coin is based on a novel consensus protocol called “Avalanche”, which is quite different from all the other PoS-coins.
Of course, everyone needs to know these PoS projects are highly speculative because we don’t know if their concepts actually work but owning few of them is not a bad idea. In general, I stay away from Shitcoins but both, Polkadot and Avalanche offer some new approaches.
Most likely we will know more soon; DeFi as a part of Shitcoin industry is moving very fast.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Anonymity (or let’s call it pseudonymity) is a very valuable good, especially online where everyone can become victim of many dangers. I like the approach of establishing trustable pseudonyms, like it’s done here on Bitcointalk, where users can build trust around a specific account and it is working quite well.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
Unfortunately, I didn’t read a cryptocurrency book yet, but if I would read one, it would be “Mastering Bitcoin” from Andreas Antonopoulos.
In general, I don’t have time to read long books, I prefer some short, well-written research articles like from Bitcoin-Blog (a German website led by Christoph Bergmann).
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Normally I don’t advise to buy Shitcoins. Currently, I’m doing a study in the German local section: Bitcoin vs. Alts
There are a few good ones included, but I won’t recommend to buy them, adding Shitcoins to your portfolio is very risky.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
14k would be nice.
15. P.S. (Optional)
I would like to see qwk being interviewed.
Please ask explicitly
- what’s his opinion about Shitcoins
- what’s his opinion about IOTA
And please don’t tell him, that I’ve asked you to ask him these questions.
Great topic!
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Like many of us during the big bullrun 2017 / 2018. Bitcoin was mentioned quite frequently by a large number of popular media and ofcourse as well in the internet.
In general, my opinion is very favorable of Gold, so the characteristics of Bitcoin matched perfectly. Especially the limitation of 21M Bitcoin and the halving roughly every 4 years were extremely promising.
In addition, Bitcoin is adopting many positive characteristics from cash.
2. When and why did you when you buy your first bitcoin?
Honestly, 98% of my current cryptocurrencies have an origin from after 2019. I wasn’t very active before, just reading and following the (upcoming) bear market and staying at the sidelines. Even my Bitcointalk account is from May 2018 and I researched the first time about Bitcoin in November 2017.
So, staying at the sidelines is a good decision sometimes.
In addition, I made mismanagement with collecting worthless Shitcoins and it took some time to figure out what’s important and profitable, although the recent DeFi hype (which I missed, unfortunately) is another chapter in Shitcoin industry. ^^
3. How did you get on the forum?
There were different factors why Bitcointalk got my attention:
One important point was that searching for crypto-specific topics on Google gave always very good results on Bitcointalk. And the replies were of very high quality.
Another important point were Shitcoins. ^^
Many projects used Bitcointalk to announce new coins or offers to receive free tokens. Unfortunately, these Altcoin projects weren’t successful and it was just a waste of time.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
A difficult question. To answer it, I would need to dig much deeper or make a survey for nocoiners maybe.
Very likely it’s a mixture of:
- a lack of knowledge why Bitcoin is so promising
- fear of technical issues and losses as a result
- too high entrance barriers for purchasing cryptocurrencies
4.2. Who do you think will win bitcoin or banks?
Most likely Banks will buy Bitcoin and both will win, JP Morgan did already an 180°:
JPMorgan—Bitcoin's 'Biggest Enemy'—Suddenly Appears To Be Going All In On Crypto
4.3. I see a decrease in activity in many local boards. What do you think needs to be done to develop activity in local boards?
You are right, currently the activity in the German board is a little bit lower than usually. A part of it could be caused by vacations, especially the “German Wall Observer” (Der aktuelle Kursverlauf) is very quiet.
I’m not sure why we are experiencing low activity, my strongest suspicion is an outdated design isn’t very attractive for new users. In comparison, we have in Germany another big crypto forum (Coinforum), they had a very modern design since its beginning 6 or 7 years ago and even got an update recently. Many German users are signing up there instead of Bitcointalk and THAT is worrisome because Bitcointalk isn’t the forum they are using…
Btw. it took 1 or 2 years for the other German forum (coinforum) to get a new design.
A new design would definitely not harm to get more users signing up here.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
I wasn’t here before Merit was introduced, so I can’t give a reference how it was before but I can't complain about the current situation. We haven’t much spam and good posts are written frequently, so I would say it works.
Signature campaigns are a very vital part of the forum and impressively show how Bitcoin is beloved! ^^
Many people here want to get into these to accumulate BTC and make it scarcer.
And Signature campaigns also show that Bitcoin-related companies want to be visible here because the forum is an important part in the Bitcoin ecosystem. I hope this will stay like that.
The current campaign managers are also preventing spam quite professionally.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Difficult to pick one, here are various topics of massive quality, just have a look at the list: [GUIDES] on Bitcointalk. Index thread (until there is a dedicated subforum?)
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/guides-on-bitcointalk-index-thread-until-there-is-a-dedicated-subforum-4928968
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
- New forum software
- Enabling quotes from locked topics
- Trust Feature idea: give DT1 the ability to remove specific feedbacks from DT
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
HODL!
Trading is too much risk.
Investing in projects is very interesting but all the KYC is endangering users to become victim of various sorts of scams which has made such activities unattractive.
But I keep looking out for new, interesting Altcoins.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
My biggest loss is / was my wasted time for collecting worthless Shitcoins. But I’m still doing it sometimes because it’s still possible that such Shitcoins will make massive gains one day (like DeFi). Unfortunately, I didn’t collect any DeFi Shitcoin. :/
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
A very difficult question. Please note that I’ve not read that much about it and I’m trading all information about DeFi with high caution because many actors just want to shill their Shitcoin / DeFi hype in general.
I would compare it with ICOs in 2017, most of it will fail / die but what is different this time: we haven’t seen a major bull market yet. And ETH transaction fees are already extremely expensive. I’m not sure what happens when a real bull market (new BTC and ETH all-time high) happens, if DeFi projects will collapse because fees can get 500$ per tx or more (some people already reported fees of 100$ per tx on Uniswap) or if DeFi projects will be even 10x higher from today.
Difficult to say but another big disruption could be a collapse of ETH. If Ethereum can’t deliver ETH 2.0 or any improvements to lower tx fees for DeFi, people will search for alternatives. Polkadot started recently from 0 to 6 billion marketcap causing a massive disruption against competitors.
Another project launched recently is Avalanche. Their coin is based on a novel consensus protocol called “Avalanche”, which is quite different from all the other PoS-coins.
Of course, everyone needs to know these PoS projects are highly speculative because we don’t know if their concepts actually work but owning few of them is not a bad idea. In general, I stay away from Shitcoins but both, Polkadot and Avalanche offer some new approaches.
Most likely we will know more soon; DeFi as a part of Shitcoin industry is moving very fast.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Anonymity (or let’s call it pseudonymity) is a very valuable good, especially online where everyone can become victim of many dangers. I like the approach of establishing trustable pseudonyms, like it’s done here on Bitcointalk, where users can build trust around a specific account and it is working quite well.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
Unfortunately, I didn’t read a cryptocurrency book yet, but if I would read one, it would be “Mastering Bitcoin” from Andreas Antonopoulos.
In general, I don’t have time to read long books, I prefer some short, well-written research articles like from Bitcoin-Blog (a German website led by Christoph Bergmann).
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Normally I don’t advise to buy Shitcoins. Currently, I’m doing a study in the German local section: Bitcoin vs. Alts
There are a few good ones included, but I won’t recommend to buy them, adding Shitcoins to your portfolio is very risky.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
14k would be nice.
15. P.S. (Optional)
I would like to see qwk being interviewed.
Please ask explicitly
- what’s his opinion about Shitcoins
- what’s his opinion about IOTA
And please don’t tell him, that I’ve asked you to ask him these questions.
Great topic!
icopress
I hope that I will be understood correctly.
I can't do everything perfect.
My question is, how many interviews can OP contain?
If I add trust rating to each interview, then I will have problems. I may have to create a new topic.
If I don’t do something, it doesn’t mean that I don’t hear you. I write down your ideas and possibly apply them in further design.
I hope that I will be understood correctly.
I can't do everything perfect.
My question is, how many interviews can OP contain?
If I add trust rating to each interview, then I will have problems. I may have to create a new topic.
If I don’t do something, it doesn’t mean that I don’t hear you. I write down your ideas and possibly apply them in further design.
I think that icopress has been trying to help. I haven’t been; now I will, too.
My principal suggestions are threefold:
0. Personalize the interviews. As icopress first suggested; I will add: A journalist interviewing a famous personality does not just toss over a stock list of canned questions.
For each interesting individual, there are specific reasons why that person is interesting. Is the interviewee known for excellent technical posts? For firebrand speeches amidst the Fork Wars? For a peculiar pseudonym? For exceptional wit and humour? Ask more about such things, and about the experiences and thought processes behind them!
Just for instance, if I were interviewing Lauda, I may ask questions about her Bitcoin wallets thread. 123,753 views and counting—a stickied legend of the Beginners & Help forum! What originally inspired the idea for the thread? Why has she spent four years of her life lovingly tending a resource to help Bitcoin beginners find the right wallet for their needs? As a sort of meta-question, how could her experience with providing this guidance in turn guide others who want to help? I can think of a dozen intriguing questions about that one topic—to say nothing of all of the other interesting things about Lauda.
Lauda is an exemplary hypothetical, because it is obvious that we will never have the answers to these questions. For reasons other than her general aversion to answering personal questions. Now, think about people who are here, and who would enjoy talking about themselves. What questions are about them?
1. Limit the number and frequency of interviews. By analogy, consider monetary inflation. The interviews are valuable, if they are few. I think that this thread got more respect when it was exclusive.
Moreover, nobody who has a life can (or wants to) read interviews of Internet forum personalities at a prolific rate. How many Internet forum interviews can a busy person read in one day, in one thread?
2. Find a better way to connect with people who are desirable interview subjects, and who desire to be interviewed. I will present this hereby as a question, rather than trying to answer it; I think that I have written enough here, for the moment...
Good luck.
WOW! this thread escalated quickly!! 
Yes. No good deed goes unpunished. :/
WOW! this thread escalated quickly!!
With such a big activity it is expected to problems arise, but I hope the original poster will be able to solve them properly. The idea is quite innovative to me and innovation deserves a pinch of gratitude at least.
Count on me, if you decide to make a new thread ever, and I'll re-post my interview, as I'm sure many will also.
This list is awesome!! (despite the fact I'm not there "yet")
With such a big activity it is expected to problems arise, but I hope the original poster will be able to solve them properly. The idea is quite innovative to me and innovation deserves a pinch of gratitude at least.
Count on me, if you decide to make a new thread ever, and I'll re-post my interview, as I'm sure many will also.
A very first check would be if users are on BPIP's Most Recognized Top 1000, and even that list has many names I'm not familiar with.
This list is awesome!! (despite the fact I'm not there "yet"
)
icopress
I hope that I will be understood correctly.
I can't do everything perfect.
My question is, how many interviews can OP contain?
If I add trust rating to each interview, then I will have problems. I may have to create a new topic.
If I don’t do something, it doesn’t mean that I don’t hear you. I write down your ideas and possibly apply them in further design.
I hope that I will be understood correctly.
I can't do everything perfect.
My question is, how many interviews can OP contain?
If I add trust rating to each interview, then I will have problems. I may have to create a new topic.
If I don’t do something, it doesn’t mean that I don’t hear you. I write down your ideas and possibly apply them in further design.
I cannot prevent people from posting their interviews here.
It's not an interview if they just copy the list without you asking them to do so. 
I didn't want this project to become a VIP club.
I decided not to publish other people's interviews anymore. I cannot prevent people from posting their interviews here.
This is not at all what I, LoyceV and eddie13 were talking about .... Nobody wants it to be a VIP club, but we want the published interviews to be more valuable. I decided not to publish other people's interviews anymore. I cannot prevent people from posting their interviews here.
And the fact that you say that you “have no opportunity to prohibit publications” looks like a shift responsibility to others, (given that your OP is clearly hinting at sending you applications to PM). And honestly, one simple change will be enough to make future interviews more valuable, (if the questions were more personalized... at least a few).
The "ignore" button will solve the problem.
If I were eddie13, I would take it as sarcasm ... and an offer to ignore the whole thread 
And as I said twice, it seemed to me that you deliberately neglected these proposals ... You can organize lists in three or four columns and add trust ratings.
You can request images of the trust rating in this thread: LoyceV's Trust score images - request them here (and use in a post/table/BBCode)
Quote
nullius
Thank you!
eddie13
I didn't want this project to become a VIP club.
I decided not to publish other people's interviews anymore. I cannot prevent people from posting their interviews here.
The "ignore" button will solve the problem.
I hope Vod will answer your question soon.
Thank you!
eddie13
I didn't want this project to become a VIP club.
I decided not to publish other people's interviews anymore. I cannot prevent people from posting their interviews here.
The "ignore" button will solve the problem.
I hope Vod will answer your question soon.
Jump to: