philipma1957 (Legendary)
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
" In Dec 2011 I had a Mac Pro with a decent gpu and tried to get mining going. Failed at it. Then in 2012 July I joined here found the now closed Pool bitminter and started to mine there."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"I purchased a few from a member of the forum anandTech in 2012"
3. How did you get on the forum?
"I found it by being a member of anandtech. I liked building pc's and selling them on ebay. I noticed a BTC section there. It lead me here."
4.1.When did you start mining? Is this a hobby or your main job?
" My First successful mining was July 2012
I make a few bucks monthly I never really made a living on it other then 2017 which was a good year."
4.2.What is the power consumption of all your devices? How much does 1 kilowatt of electricity cost?
" We mine with 1.7ph at a warehouse it pulls around 85kwatts hourly.
Our deal with the warehouse owner is a 50-50 coin split"
4.3.What is better for mining: ASICs, video cards, FPGA?
" Asics are more consistent earners.
But gpus have had great years.
At the moment Cpus gen 3 threadrippers from amd are pretty good with monero
I have never been able to make money with FPGA gear as every builder I worked with was not particularly good to me."
4.4.How to properly dispose of the mined cryptocurrency (how much to hold, how much to sell)?
" It is Hard work to move gear out when the time comes. I always try to undersell gear at a good price. I must have sold 500 to 750 pieces of gear. Before I found the warehouse deal we have. The ware house deal allows for storage of good gear that does not make sense to mine with unless a bull market starts again. we know have 15 s9's and
22 l3+ stored in ware house."
4.5.They say that mining is a constant sense of risk (the rate will fall, the lights will be turned off, the equipment will burn out), is it so?
" yes and no.
A guy in his home most likely has poor rates and 1 or 2 pieces of gear. He or she may have paid a lot for the most efficient gear and has no margin of error.
Myself and forum member buysolar along with the ware house owner have a lot of spare gear. So a 1200 usd unit dying is not as painful when you have 25 other ones. To the guy mining in his home with 2 pieces of gear he will lose 1/2 his mining power so it is a constant threat to him. To the four of us 1 piece of gear dying is not a threat. But I live in the USA and we had riots all over the country this summer. We were afraid the warehouse could be looted for the food inside as the ware is primarily a food distribution center. Losing 1.7ph in asic btc gear. 10gh in LTC gear and 12 1080ti gpus was not a pleasant thing to worry about."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
" The merit system is okay better to have it than to not have it. Signature campaigns I would love to see the forum have a vacation month no signatures for a month. I would love to see Loyce do a stats look at it. Mostly to see what would happen."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
" The beginner board is good for new people.
Mikeywith is good for mining help. He also speaks another language and is on that board a lot.
Loyce is good for stats.
Lots of other good people here. DdmrDdmr is good."
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
" A signature vacation 2 to 4 weeks every year.
theymos knows better how to manage forum then me so I have just the one idea."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
" Very little trading I have been converting my LTC into Doge and now I hodl 2 million Doge not much in the grand scheme of things. I used to push BCI but it died."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
" I never made a lot as I mine and sell 2017 was the one good year.
As for a loss I purchased a lot of USB sticks for mining. Red bitfury they arrived late I paid 17 btc for them Bitmain came out with a better cheaper stick while I waited for the red ones to show up."
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
" Can some one in this thread please write what this is as I do not know what it is.
So I won't google it to just give a flip answer here."
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
" This is the one thing I would do over. I am well known and many people know my name and home address.
So I sometimes feel vulnerable. I made to decision to be transparent back in 2012 to help promote BTC and coins. I never thought coins would become as big as they have. Had I known that I would have been more discrete with my id. "
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
" A lot of hype in a lot of books and in a lot of articles. I have done research on Taxes in the USA Using tax programs. https://bitcoin.tax/ I have read all info here."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
" Doge, LTC ,BTC. I am a big Doge believer"
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
" 15k to 19k "
15. P.S.
"It has been a heck of a ride and I never expected it to be where it is now. Hopefully it will stay interesting as it has been."
Thanks to philipma1957 for the interview!
The end.
Topic: [Interviews] with Bitcointalk members - page 30. (Read 30820 times)
I would also like to see an interview from @philipma1957, the most active member on this community.
That is nice of you.
I would be happy to do so if asked.
This thing is addictive. Would love to hear from veteran members of the forum. How they started and what motivated them to be here.
Hope, we will get to know about some moderators as well, how they got to know about the forum.
Hope, we will get to know about some moderators as well, how they got to know about the forum.
Would like to read an interview with a bounty hunter, that cheats in campaigns 
Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons).
Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
I do not think there is really good money in bounty hunting especially in ICO. Many of the countries are prohibiting the community to invest in ICO because there are countless number of scam on it. So how could a bounty earn? They get paid tokens but that will become worthless or a shit token probably. I do not see reputable user now bringing a project and probably they afraid in now that they too get tag as scammer for promoting a scam projects. Other tha that moat of them are now very careful in promoting project but there are few teams that aren't as long as they could earn on their managed project. Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons). Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
Well perhaps it would be greed if they have have a car but want five more, of have enough food to eat but want a feast. For some it's not greed but necessity, and some others probably just want to earn financial freedom. Would you rather be unemployed or 'work' on bitcointalk to earn money. For some the money isn't a lot and to others it is vast. Also, the reason why some people 'cheat' campaigns and multi-account is because it's not that profitable unless you do. $50 a month isn't much to most, but if you times that by ten accounts then that's $500 which isn't a bad amount, and certainly not for a developing country.
I received your questions, but they don't make much sense for my history here. Are you aware of my history on this forum?
What did he ask you? Not the questions in the OP? That's why I suggested having maybe 15 standard questions that everyone gets asked like all the ones in the OP minus the fourth one and then maybe 5 personalised question which you can choose to answer or not if appropriate. Asking a base set of questions at least gives you everyone's perspective on things and I think there's a lot of good questions there.
oops methinks i may of stepped in something
lol. I got into bitcoin early, spent too early, and now I am set for major expenses but hurting for daily funds. :/
I spent a decade here trying to educate people about bitcoin, and the danger of scammers; I didn't use this forum to make money.
Would you consider writing some different questions for me?
well you just answered the two questions i was going to ask
The purpose of the interview is not to limit the participants to questions.
You can write any thoughts after the interview. It will be posted.
This will help me to do my job better and any forum members can ask you interesting questions.
You can write any thoughts after the interview. It will be posted.
This will help me to do my job better and any forum members can ask you interesting questions.
oops methinks i may of stepped in something
lol. I got into bitcoin early, spent too early, and now I am set for major expenses but hurting for daily funds. :/
I spent a decade here trying to educate people about bitcoin, and the danger of scammers; I didn't use this forum to make money.
Would you consider writing some different questions for me?
I received your questions, but they don't make much sense for my history here. Are you aware of my history on this forum?
wait.
wouldnt it make it more interesting and thus more worthy of an interview?
oops methinks i may of stepped in something
I received your questions, but they don't make much sense for my history here. Are you aware of my history on this forum?
Would like to read an interview with a bounty hunter, that cheats in campaigns Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons).
Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons). Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
Well there is only one reason why anyone would cheat a bounty campaign because they think that it is easy way of making money. I don't think it is now a profitable to go for bounty hunting but 2 years back when crypto was on the boom, many people become rich only by collecting altcoins which later moved to exchanges with high value of return.
Also i don't think we should give importance to cheaters by giving them a chance of an interview.
Very nice idea with the interviews. Find it quite exciting and very interesting to read some background information.
Thanks for the engagement zasad@. Continue with the good work
By now it is already a proper collection of interviews.
Thanks for the engagement zasad@. Continue with the good work
By now it is already a proper collection of interviews.
I would also like to see an interview from @philipma1957, the most active member on this community.
webtricks (Legendary)
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
"I first heard the term 'Bitcoin' in a local newspaper back in 2014. There was an article on a person who lost millions of money because he lost his private keys. My second encounter with the term 'Bitcoin' came in 2015 when I was participating in the final round of National Finance Quiz hosted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI Quiz). We were asked a question whose answer was 'Bitcoin'. Up till this point, I had no clue about what Bitcoin exactly is. Then after few months, maybe around September or October 2015, I got the first-hand experience in bitcoins when I received a freelancing income in bitcoins. Then I read materials (lots of articles) on Bitcoin and even started my own Twitter channel: @Bitcoin_Bullet which gained over 30,000 followers in last 5 years."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"You maybe surprised to know but I never bought a single satoshi for fiat money. Almost every bitcoin I ever owned or currently holding is earned from one source or the other. Actually, my first real investment was Ethereum when I bought 50 (I don't remember the exact count) ether from a local Indian Exchange for $8 each. Someone advised me that the price of ETH will surge shortly and it was really a profitable trade for me."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"I was a regular user on a money-related forum which had a chatbox. I used to visit chatbox daily and made many friends there. I met and talked with LeGaulois there and we became good friends. One fine day in November 2016, he told me about Bitcointalk forum. I joined the forum and loved it right away."
4. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
"Love it or hate it but we all have to agree that gambling industry is the biggest utility sector of bitcoin as a currency. Due to pseudo-anonymous nature of Bitcoin, it is loved by many gamblers (including me). Sometimes I do feel that extensive promotion of gambling projects may be somewhat distracting for a newbie who genuinely comes here to learn solely about Bitcoin because 90% of the forum ads and signature campaigns are gambling related. But I am a person who considers gambling as a normal economic activity so it doesn't bother me much."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"Merit System is a love! If not for merit system, with all this rise in bitcoin's price and ICO/bounty hype of 2017-18, we would be having thousands of Legendaries submitting bounty reports or shit posting all over the forum. Merit System is a well-thought and nicely implemented idea. Only difference I would have liked if pre-merit era Legendaries were given 500 merits instead of 1000. As far as signature campaigns are concerned, they contribute to spam no second thought on that. But we have capable managers on forum who do their jobs perfectly. Also, sig campaigns open up an advertising niche with potential of thousands of the audience. Being a finance guy, I love every activity which has economical (monetary) value and Bitcointalk Signature Campaigns together worth around $1.5-2M per annum which is sweet mini-industry in its own."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"Most Useful Topics according to me (highly subjective):
There are many more topics that I love on forum but can't recall right now.
Most useful users? Umm,.. LoyceV, gmaxwell, pooya87 (my personal fav), Heisenberg_Hunter (the most important Indian forum member right now), Vod, achow101, o_e_l_e_o (pronounced liked oreo), yahoo62278, efialtis, there are several others. Again can't recall them all right now."
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"Number 1, Revamping Altcoin Section. Altcoin Discussion and Speculation boards are junk. If revamping is not possible then just remove those sections.
Number 2, Mobile responsive design. Many users access forum via mobile devices. Current design doesn't show signatures properly on mobile.
Number 3, Feature to favorite certain members. For example, suppose I favorite 'LoyceV' then if LoyceV has posted in a thread I open, his post should be visible either on top or as highlighted."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"I am not an active trader anymore. I have tried the day trading, futures and other leverage trading back in 2017-19 period. Made some profits, suffered some losses. But don't do those stuffs anymore. Now I am a long term investor and holding few coins in my portfolio. As far as investing in projects is concerned, I have invested in few ICOs during ICO hype period. But haven't invested in any new projects since last 32 months."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
"Big profit is something I don't wanna disclose. Big Loss I can tell. It was a dumb move and I bought 500 Truckcoin from an ICO investor a day before ICO ended in Jan 2018. It wasn't wholly my mistake because project was scam and misrepresented its position. It had an ICO structure where coins were sold for a period (I guess for 60 days) and price of the coin was increasing every day. So on the first day of ICO, coin was selling at $0.02 then $0.05 so on.. and on the last day the price was $30. Truckcoin twitter handle posted that the team had successfully sold 100% coins on the last day. The tweet made me optimistic that I could easily sell coins for $20-25 after listing so I bought 500 truckcoin from an early Truckcoin investor @ $5 each. After a week, coin was listed on some shit exchange (BTC-Alpha I guess) @ $0.001. My $2500 investment then worth $5. Hey don't judge me, that was ICO Hype period so such mistakes were acceptable in those days."
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"It's too soon to comment. I personally believe the model is non-sustainable but commenting anything on it will be mistake right now.
You are here, I am here.
Let's talk about DeFi after a year.
"
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"More of a precaution than a necessity. I pay taxes on my bitcoin earnings, not holding very high amount of bitcoins, bitcoin is legal in my country, haven't earned any bitcoin illegally. So even if my identity comes forward, it won't effect me much. But still remaining anonymous online is better and I found 'webtricks' a really cool identity."
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"The only cryptocurrency book I ever read is 'Mastering Bitcoin' by Andreas Antonopoulos. The book is real asset and every Bitcoin Beginner should read it at least once. Other than that book, I rely on articles and videos to learn new things more than the books."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
"History is evident. Every altcoin which was looking fancy couple of years ago has never recovered from the dump of 2018-19. Ether which surged to $1200 is struggling around $200-250 (shrank by 80%). So it is better to keep money in bitcoin, the only proven cryptocurrency. It has recovered much of the fall and currently trading with the shrink of 40-50%. I am holding few altcoins other than bitcoin but that's sort of gambling and I won't recommend anyone else to buy those coins."
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"$14,200. Don't ask me how I calculated because even I don't know."
Thanks to webtricks for the interview!
The end.
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
"I first heard the term 'Bitcoin' in a local newspaper back in 2014. There was an article on a person who lost millions of money because he lost his private keys. My second encounter with the term 'Bitcoin' came in 2015 when I was participating in the final round of National Finance Quiz hosted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI Quiz). We were asked a question whose answer was 'Bitcoin'. Up till this point, I had no clue about what Bitcoin exactly is. Then after few months, maybe around September or October 2015, I got the first-hand experience in bitcoins when I received a freelancing income in bitcoins. Then I read materials (lots of articles) on Bitcoin and even started my own Twitter channel: @Bitcoin_Bullet which gained over 30,000 followers in last 5 years."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"You maybe surprised to know but I never bought a single satoshi for fiat money. Almost every bitcoin I ever owned or currently holding is earned from one source or the other. Actually, my first real investment was Ethereum when I bought 50 (I don't remember the exact count) ether from a local Indian Exchange for $8 each. Someone advised me that the price of ETH will surge shortly and it was really a profitable trade for me."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"I was a regular user on a money-related forum which had a chatbox. I used to visit chatbox daily and made many friends there. I met and talked with LeGaulois there and we became good friends. One fine day in November 2016, he told me about Bitcointalk forum. I joined the forum and loved it right away."
4. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
"Love it or hate it but we all have to agree that gambling industry is the biggest utility sector of bitcoin as a currency. Due to pseudo-anonymous nature of Bitcoin, it is loved by many gamblers (including me). Sometimes I do feel that extensive promotion of gambling projects may be somewhat distracting for a newbie who genuinely comes here to learn solely about Bitcoin because 90% of the forum ads and signature campaigns are gambling related. But I am a person who considers gambling as a normal economic activity so it doesn't bother me much."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"Merit System is a love! If not for merit system, with all this rise in bitcoin's price and ICO/bounty hype of 2017-18, we would be having thousands of Legendaries submitting bounty reports or shit posting all over the forum. Merit System is a well-thought and nicely implemented idea. Only difference I would have liked if pre-merit era Legendaries were given 500 merits instead of 1000. As far as signature campaigns are concerned, they contribute to spam no second thought on that. But we have capable managers on forum who do their jobs perfectly. Also, sig campaigns open up an advertising niche with potential of thousands of the audience. Being a finance guy, I love every activity which has economical (monetary) value and Bitcointalk Signature Campaigns together worth around $1.5-2M per annum which is sweet mini-industry in its own."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"Most Useful Topics according to me (highly subjective):
- Everything you wanted to know about BTC futures but were afraid to ask! by fillippone - This is one of the best and most detailed finance related topic I have seen on the forum
- How to sign a message?! by shorena - Easily the topic with the highest utility on forum
- Bitcoin and me (Hal Finney) by Hal - Mind Freshener! If you ever feeling low, just read this thread and you will be ignited to get up again.
There are many more topics that I love on forum but can't recall right now.
Most useful users? Umm,.. LoyceV, gmaxwell, pooya87 (my personal fav), Heisenberg_Hunter (the most important Indian forum member right now), Vod, achow101, o_e_l_e_o (pronounced liked oreo), yahoo62278, efialtis, there are several others. Again can't recall them all right now."
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"Number 1, Revamping Altcoin Section. Altcoin Discussion and Speculation boards are junk. If revamping is not possible then just remove those sections.
Number 2, Mobile responsive design. Many users access forum via mobile devices. Current design doesn't show signatures properly on mobile.
Number 3, Feature to favorite certain members. For example, suppose I favorite 'LoyceV' then if LoyceV has posted in a thread I open, his post should be visible either on top or as highlighted."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"I am not an active trader anymore. I have tried the day trading, futures and other leverage trading back in 2017-19 period. Made some profits, suffered some losses. But don't do those stuffs anymore. Now I am a long term investor and holding few coins in my portfolio. As far as investing in projects is concerned, I have invested in few ICOs during ICO hype period. But haven't invested in any new projects since last 32 months."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
"Big profit is something I don't wanna disclose. Big Loss I can tell. It was a dumb move and I bought 500 Truckcoin from an ICO investor a day before ICO ended in Jan 2018. It wasn't wholly my mistake because project was scam and misrepresented its position. It had an ICO structure where coins were sold for a period (I guess for 60 days) and price of the coin was increasing every day. So on the first day of ICO, coin was selling at $0.02 then $0.05 so on.. and on the last day the price was $30. Truckcoin twitter handle posted that the team had successfully sold 100% coins on the last day. The tweet made me optimistic that I could easily sell coins for $20-25 after listing so I bought 500 truckcoin from an early Truckcoin investor @ $5 each. After a week, coin was listed on some shit exchange (BTC-Alpha I guess) @ $0.001. My $2500 investment then worth $5. Hey don't judge me, that was ICO Hype period so such mistakes were acceptable in those days.
"10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"It's too soon to comment. I personally believe the model is non-sustainable but commenting anything on it will be mistake right now.
You are here, I am here.
Let's talk about DeFi after a year.
"11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"More of a precaution than a necessity. I pay taxes on my bitcoin earnings, not holding very high amount of bitcoins, bitcoin is legal in my country, haven't earned any bitcoin illegally. So even if my identity comes forward, it won't effect me much. But still remaining anonymous online is better and I found 'webtricks' a really cool identity."
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"The only cryptocurrency book I ever read is 'Mastering Bitcoin' by Andreas Antonopoulos. The book is real asset and every Bitcoin Beginner should read it at least once. Other than that book, I rely on articles and videos to learn new things more than the books."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
"History is evident. Every altcoin which was looking fancy couple of years ago has never recovered from the dump of 2018-19. Ether which surged to $1200 is struggling around $200-250 (shrank by 80%). So it is better to keep money in bitcoin, the only proven cryptocurrency. It has recovered much of the fall and currently trading with the shrink of 40-50%. I am holding few altcoins other than bitcoin but that's sort of gambling and I won't recommend anyone else to buy those coins."
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"$14,200. Don't ask me how I calculated because even I don't know."
Thanks to webtricks for the interview!
The end.
Peanutswar (Full Member)
His projects:
Bitcointalk game
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/game-bitcointalk-game-5251833
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
"Before I was like the other people ignoring the use of the cryptocurrency likes to be specific the bitcoin and I have a friend focusing the use of the bitcoin and now he bought a car and paying bills at his own so I got curious and ask to help with him if I'm not mistaken the last year 2019 month of November I explore what do I need to learn in bitcoin how to earn and what kind of investment I need to do it takes time, lot of articles, and videos needed to watch just to understand the crypto. By that, I got a small amount of earning and until now I continue learning more with the crypto."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"I bought my first bitcoin in November 2019 too just for fun investment just to learn. I remember it's only 0.001. After I saw that I make a profit because of the market movement I bought more to get more profit."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"A friend recommends me that I can learn more with this forum and yes he is right."
4. I've seen your Bitcointalk game project, do you plan on adding new useful things to the forum?
"I'm planning to add different features on the game like an animation too, and also it's hard to find some of the questions for the game, data gathering is the hardest part for me."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"*skip "
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"I cannot give it one by one but it's a lot because we have different things want to learn so it depends on you too. For me one of the most helpful users on our forum is DdmrDdmr"
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"For me, just one, and this is the real status of the member like a degree holder like that so we know if the person is reliable."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"Absolutely yes, in binance."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
"One of my big profits is on trading and this is my first week of trading most of those trades are successful ( I'm a daily trader ) and every week I need to meet my quota just to maintain my income to pay the bills.
One of the biggest losses is in trading too, because of getting greedy I already have profit but because of the market signal and the movement I still hold the position and after an hour it's liquified."
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"*skip "
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"It's better to be lowkey than getting much attention came from different people also you can move freely without any eyes watching on your steps."
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"Right now I haven't read any book related to crypto because I don't have enough budget right now but I'm planning to buy the book of Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrency/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
"Still, ill go for the bitcoin, ripple, and monero those are the coins still has the potential to make the biggest market profit."
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"Just the other people hoping it will reach the 20k dollar market price but I think it's not quite possible because right now the number of people supporting bitcoin is increasing."
Thanks to Peanutswar for the interview!
The end.
His projects:
Bitcointalk game
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/game-bitcointalk-game-5251833
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
"Before I was like the other people ignoring the use of the cryptocurrency likes to be specific the bitcoin and I have a friend focusing the use of the bitcoin and now he bought a car and paying bills at his own so I got curious and ask to help with him if I'm not mistaken the last year 2019 month of November I explore what do I need to learn in bitcoin how to earn and what kind of investment I need to do it takes time, lot of articles, and videos needed to watch just to understand the crypto. By that, I got a small amount of earning and until now I continue learning more with the crypto."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"I bought my first bitcoin in November 2019 too just for fun investment just to learn. I remember it's only 0.001. After I saw that I make a profit because of the market movement I bought more to get more profit."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"A friend recommends me that I can learn more with this forum and yes he is right."
4. I've seen your Bitcointalk game project, do you plan on adding new useful things to the forum?
"I'm planning to add different features on the game like an animation too, and also it's hard to find some of the questions for the game, data gathering is the hardest part for me."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"*skip "
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"I cannot give it one by one but it's a lot because we have different things want to learn so it depends on you too. For me one of the most helpful users on our forum is DdmrDdmr"
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"For me, just one, and this is the real status of the member like a degree holder like that so we know if the person is reliable."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"Absolutely yes, in binance."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
"One of my big profits is on trading and this is my first week of trading most of those trades are successful ( I'm a daily trader ) and every week I need to meet my quota just to maintain my income to pay the bills.
One of the biggest losses is in trading too, because of getting greedy I already have profit but because of the market signal and the movement I still hold the position and after an hour it's liquified."
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"*skip "
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"It's better to be lowkey than getting much attention came from different people also you can move freely without any eyes watching on your steps."
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"Right now I haven't read any book related to crypto because I don't have enough budget right now but I'm planning to buy the book of Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrency/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
"Still, ill go for the bitcoin, ripple, and monero those are the coins still has the potential to make the biggest market profit."
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"Just the other people hoping it will reach the 20k dollar market price but I think it's not quite possible because right now the number of people supporting bitcoin is increasing."
Thanks to Peanutswar for the interview!
The end.
Ratimov (Sr. Member)
His projects:
Ratimov - 1 year on Bitcointalk
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/88-5255365
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
"It was 2017. One friend constantly talked about Bitcoin and Ripple, I got interested and bought these coins, it was a profitable investment. Bitcoin at $3700 and Ripple at $0.15"
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"As I wrote above, I bought Bitcoin in 2017, while I was just studying trading and preparing to trade in the stock market, but having bought Bitcoin, I decided to launch it into crypto trading."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"This was the first time in 2018, I started looking for information about crypto exchanges, reviews and other information related to trading, and Google kindly provided this forum in the top. Since then, since the spring of 2018, the forum has been in my bookmarks, I read it every day. I don't know why I didn't register then."
4. You are the most successful participant on the forum (in 1 year you have earned more than 1000 merit, status DT1 and status merit source, more than 20,000 reports, etc.). What caused these achievements? What are your plans for the future?
"Thanks. Yes, during the year on this forum I did a lot of things and this was due precisely to the craving for knowledge about cryptocurrencies.
- I received many merits because I always shared the information I found, I read English articles that I was interested in and translated them for the Russian community.
- I got DT1 status rather thanks to the fight against account sellers and other scams (I don't like purchased privileges).
- For merit sourse I have all the necessary resources (time and desire) Thank you theymos for approving my application for 2 weeks. I was very lucky, some have been waiting for years.
- A lot of reports is a thank you to the forum. The forum gives me knowledge, and I make it cleaner. Most often I send reports on topics that I read or interested in for general development.
Plans for the future:
Wait until I finally get rank Legendary
Wait a long time. To earn a minimum of 2000 merits. Within the Russian locale I'm already cramped, I'd like to try creating crypto topics in the English section."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"Merit system is a good system. It is a stimulant for good forum posting. And it's nice to see that your topics and posts are appreciated by other participants. So it doesn't hurt the forum. Those who say that it has caused many newcomers to leave, it is only for the benefit of this forum, less trash messages will be. In terms of usefulness, the forum will not lose anything from the departure of those who are dissatisfied. Now the forum provides the whole conditions for obtaining a merite, the main thing is to write useful posts and you will be sprinkled with merites. But many people are just lazy.
Signature campaigns also do not harm the forum, but rather encourage participants to share their knowledge and get bonuses for it. Yes, there is a downside in the form of signature shitposters. Well, what can we do, there are no ideal systems."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"There is no specific topic for me. For me, all topics are useful if they contain useful information and I learn something new for myself.
The most helpful users are those who benefit the forum and its inhabitants. These include creators of original content (OP), translators, merit sources, those who make statistics on participants, hunters for cheaters and scams, reporters, moderators, managers, etc. These are the most helpful users on this forum."
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"1- This is a notice that the text for one post is oversized before it is published. This may be a rare problem in the English section, but for the Russian locale it is a frequent case. It often happens that you write a large text, press the Preview button and everything is displayed there in full. You press the Save button and part of the text, if it exceeds the size, disappears. It's good if you notice it right away, but I've had it happen the next day and I had to type it all over again. It's uncomfortable.
2- The Banned plate in the account profile would save a lot of time. I very often turned to the moderator with a request whether this or that user was banned, because BPIP or Loyce.club do not always correctly show the status of this or that participant. It happens that someone is banned, but there is nothing like that on these resources. This feature would save a lot of time for those who identifying ban evaders. Or it will save merit source his merit, because there is no point in handing merit out to a banned participant.
3- This is the setting of the tolerance to the ranks that can write in your topic. Sometimes the influx of nubs-shitposter and have to either report on their masterpieces or open a self-moderated theme for deletions."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"Only margin trading. In general, I was initially preparing to trade on the stock market, but on crypto exchanges the conditions are much more pleasant for beginners. That is why for 3 years I have been developing this very direction in the crypto."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
"It was 2018. July is a month. In one day I managed to earn almost 2 BTC with a balance of 0.6 BTC, but the joy was not long, after a few days the loss for the day was ~3 BTC, margin call"
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"This is a good stage in the development of cryptocurrencies. A whole decentralized ecosystem. But, at the moment, the system is still damp. Frequent hacks, plus token hype. So far, everyone is interested in watching this, but I would not invest yet. The risks are too big, and some operations require technical knowledge, such as the ability to write a smart contract in the same flash credits."
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"No, I don't feel the need for anonymity. I even registered on forum under my last name "
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"In particular, I have not read books on cryptocurrencies, I get all the information from Bitcointalk, as well as resources such as Medium, Hackernoon, Reddit and many others."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
"Only Bitcoin. For me, 99% of altcoins are garbage that's not worth the attention."
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"Hmm, I don't really like to predict prices, but something tells me it's no more than $10,000. I think all these funny stories about updating Bitcoin ATH this year will remain the stories."
Thanks to Ratimov for the interview!
The end.
His projects:
Ratimov - 1 year on Bitcointalk
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/88-5255365
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
"It was 2017. One friend constantly talked about Bitcoin and Ripple, I got interested and bought these coins, it was a profitable investment. Bitcoin at $3700 and Ripple at $0.15"
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"As I wrote above, I bought Bitcoin in 2017, while I was just studying trading and preparing to trade in the stock market, but having bought Bitcoin, I decided to launch it into crypto trading."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"This was the first time in 2018, I started looking for information about crypto exchanges, reviews and other information related to trading, and Google kindly provided this forum in the top. Since then, since the spring of 2018, the forum has been in my bookmarks, I read it every day. I don't know why I didn't register then.
"4. You are the most successful participant on the forum (in 1 year you have earned more than 1000 merit, status DT1 and status merit source, more than 20,000 reports, etc.). What caused these achievements? What are your plans for the future?
"Thanks
. Yes, during the year on this forum I did a lot of things and this was due precisely to the craving for knowledge about cryptocurrencies.- I received many merits because I always shared the information I found, I read English articles that I was interested in and translated them for the Russian community.
- I got DT1 status rather thanks to the fight against account sellers and other scams (I don't like purchased privileges).
- For merit sourse I have all the necessary resources (time and desire) Thank you theymos for approving my application for 2 weeks. I was very lucky, some have been waiting for years.
- A lot of reports is a thank you to the forum. The forum gives me knowledge, and I make it cleaner. Most often I send reports on topics that I read or interested in for general development.
Plans for the future:
Wait until I finally get rank Legendary
Wait a long time. To earn a minimum of 2000 merits. Within the Russian locale I'm already cramped, I'd like to try creating crypto topics in the English section."5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"Merit system is a good system. It is a stimulant for good forum posting. And it's nice to see that your topics and posts are appreciated by other participants. So it doesn't hurt the forum. Those who say that it has caused many newcomers to leave, it is only for the benefit of this forum, less trash messages will be. In terms of usefulness, the forum will not lose anything from the departure of those who are dissatisfied. Now the forum provides the whole conditions for obtaining a merite, the main thing is to write useful posts and you will be sprinkled with merites. But many people are just lazy.
Signature campaigns also do not harm the forum, but rather encourage participants to share their knowledge and get bonuses for it. Yes, there is a downside in the form of signature shitposters. Well, what can we do, there are no ideal systems."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"There is no specific topic for me. For me, all topics are useful if they contain useful information and I learn something new for myself.
The most helpful users are those who benefit the forum and its inhabitants. These include creators of original content (OP), translators, merit sources, those who make statistics on participants, hunters for cheaters and scams, reporters, moderators, managers, etc. These are the most helpful users on this forum."
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"1- This is a notice that the text for one post is oversized before it is published. This may be a rare problem in the English section, but for the Russian locale it is a frequent case. It often happens that you write a large text, press the Preview button and everything is displayed there in full. You press the Save button and part of the text, if it exceeds the size, disappears. It's good if you notice it right away, but I've had it happen the next day and I had to type it all over again. It's uncomfortable.
2- The Banned plate in the account profile would save a lot of time. I very often turned to the moderator with a request whether this or that user was banned, because BPIP or Loyce.club do not always correctly show the status of this or that participant. It happens that someone is banned, but there is nothing like that on these resources. This feature would save a lot of time for those who identifying ban evaders. Or it will save merit source his merit, because there is no point in handing merit out to a banned participant.
3- This is the setting of the tolerance to the ranks that can write in your topic. Sometimes the influx of nubs-shitposter and have to either report on their masterpieces or open a self-moderated theme for deletions."
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"Only margin trading.
In general, I was initially preparing to trade on the stock market, but on crypto exchanges the conditions are much more pleasant for beginners. That is why for 3 years I have been developing this very direction in the crypto."9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
"It was 2018. July is a month. In one day I managed to earn almost 2 BTC with a balance of 0.6 BTC, but the joy was not long, after a few days the loss for the day was ~3 BTC, margin call"
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"This is a good stage in the development of cryptocurrencies. A whole decentralized ecosystem. But, at the moment, the system is still damp. Frequent hacks, plus token hype. So far, everyone is interested in watching this, but I would not invest yet. The risks are too big, and some operations require technical knowledge, such as the ability to write a smart contract in the same flash credits."
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"No, I don't feel the need for anonymity.
I even registered on forum under my last name "12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"In particular, I have not read books on cryptocurrencies, I get all the information from Bitcointalk, as well as resources such as Medium, Hackernoon, Reddit and many others."
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
"Only Bitcoin.
For me, 99% of altcoins are garbage that's not worth the attention."14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"Hmm, I don't really like to predict prices, but something tells me it's no more than $10,000. I think all these funny stories about updating Bitcoin ATH this year will remain the stories."
Thanks to Ratimov for the interview!
The end.
Would like to read an interview with a bounty hunter, that cheats in campaigns Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons).
Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
I do not think there is really good money in bounty hunting especially in ICO. Many of the countries are prohibiting the community to invest in ICO because there are countless number of scam on it. So how could a bounty earn? They get paid tokens but that will become worthless or a shit token probably. I do not see reputable user now bringing a project and probably they afraid in now that they too get tag as scammer for promoting a scam projects. Other tha that moat of them are now very careful in promoting project but there are few teams that aren't as long as they could earn on their managed project. Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons). Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
Would like to read an interview with a bounty hunter, that cheats in campaigns Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons).
Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
Interested to hear why exactly he had chosen a way of a cheater (greed is on a first place, but there must be more reasons). Such interview will destroy a myth that cheating in campaigns in 2020 can bring good money (so that people will drop an idea of cheating), or it will confirm that this is still profitable (this will stimulate forums growths, as rumors that forum is dying started to appear).
The Pharmacist (Legendary)
Member of the Merit Cycling Club
Let's start
1.When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
" I think I’ve written this in a few of my older posts, but bitcoin first came onto my radar right around the time the Mt. Gox debacle was happening. The price was going haywire, and of course as a result it made the news. I had no idea what a cryptocurrency was and thought bitcoin was akin to Flooz from the late 90s/early 2000s. That was some weird form of money that was to be used solely on the internet—and since there was no need for such a thing, it quickly fizzled out. So in 2013/14 I just figured bitcoin would follow the same trajectory and that anyone who bought it would lose everything.
I kept following bitcoin’s progress throughout the Mt. Gox episode, and I remember being surprised that it hadn’t gone to zero. So I did a little research into what makes bitcoin different from something like Flooz and realized there was something a bit special about it."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
" When I finally came to terms with the fact that bitcoin was not some kind of scam, I started seeing its potential as an investment (though I didn’t think then and don’t now think that it’s a great currency). The technical aspects of it still perplexed me, since I don’t have a background in computers or cryptography, but I finally figured out how to send and receive bitcoin by playing around with faucets. I fondly remember one called Land of Bitcoin which I don’t think still exists.
My first actual purchase of bitcoin was a small amount on Coinbase in 2015, probably March or so, and I think the price of bitcoin was around $350. And man, I wish I still had all the bitcoin I bought at those low prices."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"I discovered bitcointalk when I was following the progress of bitcoin, back in 2013 or ’14 when I was still very much skeptical of crypto’s legitimacy. A lot of Google searches turned up results linking to forum posts, so I spent a lot of time reading stuff here. One of the first things I noticed was that there was a lot of drama going on, and a lot of scams. Another thing was that the forum was extremely lenient as to what you’re allowed to post. Other discussion forums I’ve been members of barely tolerate disagreements, much less full-on rage fests laced with profanity. That appealed to me greatly, the freedom to essentially say what you want without having your posts moderated into oblivion.
I lurked on the forum for at least a year before I finally created an account, and since my technical knowledge of bitcoin wasn’t anywhere near that possessed by the majority of members here, I did a bit of mild trolling at first and I don’t think a lot of my early posts had much to do with bitcoin (lol). Though I didn’t know what a signature campaign actually was when I registered, I could easily see the result of their existence—a lot of what I read sounded like it was written by a robot or a complete moron, and it was clear that there wasn’t much back-and-forth discussion going on, just members making near-incomprehensible statements….you know what I’m talking about, because we still have that going on in 2020."
4. You actively participate in the discussion of reputation issues on the forum. In your opinion, is the DT system fair or has flaws?
" Bitcointalk’s trust system is unlike anything I’ve seen on other forums, and yes it’s got plenty of flaws. One of the biggest flaws IMO is that nobody is held accountable for the feedback they leave, since trust isn’t moderated and members are allowed to leave feedbacks regardless of whether what they’re writing is the truth or not. I’ve never liked the trust system, but it’s become apparent to me over the years that Theymos isn’t too keen on making huge changes to it.
As far as the DT system goes, I tend to think it worked better before it became a rotating list—but even then, there have been abuses and all sorts of shenanigans that have gone on, involving DT members (not to mention all the drama). Frankly, I’d be completely fine if Theymos scrapped the DT system altogether."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
" Those are two separate questions. As far as the merit system goes, I’m a strong supporter of it and was relieved when it was introduced in 2018. The problems of spam, account farming, sales, and whatnot had gotten completely out of control by January of that year, and while there was a lot of discussion about how to combat all that crap, there weren’t any good tools to use in that fight. Actmyname and I were tagging shitposters in the months before the introduction of the merit system, but it wasn’t a good use of the trust system and was frowned upon by Theymos. The merit system has done a fantastic job of making it extremely hard for accounts to be farmed, since climbing the rank ladder is now dependent on earned merits—and for the average bitcointalk member it’s very hard to earn merits unless their posts are above average.
Regarding signature campaigns: I used to be staunchly against them, but after a while I did join one as I figured I might as well earn a few satoshis by doing what I was going to be dong anyway. Unfortunately, that isn’t the mindset of the average bitcointalk member. I’ve long had the impression that the majority of members are here for the sole purpose of earning through campaigns/bounties. That might not be such a problem if all campaign managers had high standards regarding the quality of their participants’ posts, but that most certainly is not the case. And the net result of that is you’ll see tons of posts that don’t really say anything and are stretched out to 75-100 characters just so the post will count for the campaign.
Campaigns are also significantly responsible for the plagiarism problem we have on the forum. Many campaigns only pay for posts in English, and a lot of the “professional campaigners” hail from countries where English isn’t spoken, and there they have a dilemma—and often how they solve it is to copy content from the internet verbatim or use a word-spinning script or whatever, and it’s a plague nowadays.
Despite all the negatives surrounding campaigns and bounties, I do think they help people gain some interest in crypto, and they also contribute to the bitcoin economy even if it’s in a small way. In addition, there are some very poor people who can earn far more money in a campaign than they could anywhere else. That’s an excellent thing (though I wish they didn’t contribute to the shitposting problem as much as I estimate they do). I have no idea how long campaigns are going to exist for, but I’m not hoping they disappear anytime soon. "
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
" Topic? I don’t have a good answer for that. But there are a number of members who are extremely helpful. Jet Cash is the first person who comes to mind, and I base that on all the work he was trying to do to help new members improve their English. Some of his ideas fizzled out pretty quickly, but he put a lot of effort into helping newbies without asking anything in return.
As I said, there are a ton of helpful members, and I don’t want to list names in case I inadvertently forget some and give the impression that I don’t appreciate them. "
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"1. Ban known scammers like all other forums do.
2. Restructure the ranking system to perhaps increase the number of ranks and create some higher than Legendary.
3. Impose more restrictions on newbies, and there have been a lot of good suggestions made over the last few years that apparently fell on deaf ears at the top. It’s an unfortunate truth that most of the garbage posts originate from members who’ve been referred to bitcointalk by friends/relatives/coworkers as a place to earn easy money just by writing posts. The merit system was a fantastic idea, but I think there’s still a few things that could be done to make it harder for newbies to use the forum as shitposting gig. "
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
" Invest in projects? Hell no! I assume you mean ICOs and the like, and I have a very dim view of that entire space.
As far as trading goes, I’ve dabbled in it here and there, but I’ve found the markets to be way to unpredictable and volatile to seriously engage in trading. "
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
" Sadly, I don’t have any stories to relate about either. I never made real profits with bitcoin or altcoins, nor did I lose much. I don’t day trade crypto, which I know is a very popular activity amongst forumites and assorted cryptocurrency enthusiasts. If there’s a gambling gene, I’m pretty sure it’s missing from my chromosomes. "
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
" Nothing, since I don’t even know what that is (though I’ve heard the terms mentioned on the forum). "
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
" Since I don’t think I could remain completely anonymous even if I tried my hardest, it’s definitely not a vital necessity. It’s not even all that important to me as far as bitcoin goes, but it is one of the features of crypto that I do like. "
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
" The one and only book about crypto that I’ve read was Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper, and it was fascinating. "
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
" Eh. Off the top of my head: NEO, Neblio, and Tezos. There are so many, though, and I’m not confident any of them are going to perform any better than bitcoin. Nor do I think altcoins/tokens are ever going to find a real-world use that would cause the average Joe on the street to want to buy any of them—and if no one buys them, they’re probably not going to be good investments. "
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
" $9750. My guess is as good as anyone else’s."
Thanks to The Pharmacist for the interview!
The end.
Member of the Merit Cycling Club
Let's start
1.When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
" I think I’ve written this in a few of my older posts, but bitcoin first came onto my radar right around the time the Mt. Gox debacle was happening. The price was going haywire, and of course as a result it made the news. I had no idea what a cryptocurrency was and thought bitcoin was akin to Flooz from the late 90s/early 2000s. That was some weird form of money that was to be used solely on the internet—and since there was no need for such a thing, it quickly fizzled out. So in 2013/14 I just figured bitcoin would follow the same trajectory and that anyone who bought it would lose everything.
I kept following bitcoin’s progress throughout the Mt. Gox episode, and I remember being surprised that it hadn’t gone to zero. So I did a little research into what makes bitcoin different from something like Flooz and realized there was something a bit special about it."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
" When I finally came to terms with the fact that bitcoin was not some kind of scam, I started seeing its potential as an investment (though I didn’t think then and don’t now think that it’s a great currency). The technical aspects of it still perplexed me, since I don’t have a background in computers or cryptography, but I finally figured out how to send and receive bitcoin by playing around with faucets. I fondly remember one called Land of Bitcoin which I don’t think still exists.
My first actual purchase of bitcoin was a small amount on Coinbase in 2015, probably March or so, and I think the price of bitcoin was around $350. And man, I wish I still had all the bitcoin I bought at those low prices."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"I discovered bitcointalk when I was following the progress of bitcoin, back in 2013 or ’14 when I was still very much skeptical of crypto’s legitimacy. A lot of Google searches turned up results linking to forum posts, so I spent a lot of time reading stuff here. One of the first things I noticed was that there was a lot of drama going on, and a lot of scams. Another thing was that the forum was extremely lenient as to what you’re allowed to post. Other discussion forums I’ve been members of barely tolerate disagreements, much less full-on rage fests laced with profanity. That appealed to me greatly, the freedom to essentially say what you want without having your posts moderated into oblivion.
I lurked on the forum for at least a year before I finally created an account, and since my technical knowledge of bitcoin wasn’t anywhere near that possessed by the majority of members here, I did a bit of mild trolling at first and I don’t think a lot of my early posts had much to do with bitcoin (lol). Though I didn’t know what a signature campaign actually was when I registered, I could easily see the result of their existence—a lot of what I read sounded like it was written by a robot or a complete moron, and it was clear that there wasn’t much back-and-forth discussion going on, just members making near-incomprehensible statements….you know what I’m talking about, because we still have that going on in 2020."
4. You actively participate in the discussion of reputation issues on the forum. In your opinion, is the DT system fair or has flaws?
" Bitcointalk’s trust system is unlike anything I’ve seen on other forums, and yes it’s got plenty of flaws. One of the biggest flaws IMO is that nobody is held accountable for the feedback they leave, since trust isn’t moderated and members are allowed to leave feedbacks regardless of whether what they’re writing is the truth or not. I’ve never liked the trust system, but it’s become apparent to me over the years that Theymos isn’t too keen on making huge changes to it.
As far as the DT system goes, I tend to think it worked better before it became a rotating list—but even then, there have been abuses and all sorts of shenanigans that have gone on, involving DT members (not to mention all the drama). Frankly, I’d be completely fine if Theymos scrapped the DT system altogether."
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
" Those are two separate questions. As far as the merit system goes, I’m a strong supporter of it and was relieved when it was introduced in 2018. The problems of spam, account farming, sales, and whatnot had gotten completely out of control by January of that year, and while there was a lot of discussion about how to combat all that crap, there weren’t any good tools to use in that fight. Actmyname and I were tagging shitposters in the months before the introduction of the merit system, but it wasn’t a good use of the trust system and was frowned upon by Theymos. The merit system has done a fantastic job of making it extremely hard for accounts to be farmed, since climbing the rank ladder is now dependent on earned merits—and for the average bitcointalk member it’s very hard to earn merits unless their posts are above average.
Regarding signature campaigns: I used to be staunchly against them, but after a while I did join one as I figured I might as well earn a few satoshis by doing what I was going to be dong anyway. Unfortunately, that isn’t the mindset of the average bitcointalk member. I’ve long had the impression that the majority of members are here for the sole purpose of earning through campaigns/bounties. That might not be such a problem if all campaign managers had high standards regarding the quality of their participants’ posts, but that most certainly is not the case. And the net result of that is you’ll see tons of posts that don’t really say anything and are stretched out to 75-100 characters just so the post will count for the campaign.
Campaigns are also significantly responsible for the plagiarism problem we have on the forum. Many campaigns only pay for posts in English, and a lot of the “professional campaigners” hail from countries where English isn’t spoken, and there they have a dilemma—and often how they solve it is to copy content from the internet verbatim or use a word-spinning script or whatever, and it’s a plague nowadays.
Despite all the negatives surrounding campaigns and bounties, I do think they help people gain some interest in crypto, and they also contribute to the bitcoin economy even if it’s in a small way. In addition, there are some very poor people who can earn far more money in a campaign than they could anywhere else. That’s an excellent thing (though I wish they didn’t contribute to the shitposting problem as much as I estimate they do). I have no idea how long campaigns are going to exist for, but I’m not hoping they disappear anytime soon. "
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
" Topic? I don’t have a good answer for that. But there are a number of members who are extremely helpful. Jet Cash is the first person who comes to mind, and I base that on all the work he was trying to do to help new members improve their English. Some of his ideas fizzled out pretty quickly, but he put a lot of effort into helping newbies without asking anything in return.
As I said, there are a ton of helpful members, and I don’t want to list names in case I inadvertently forget some and give the impression that I don’t appreciate them. "
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"1. Ban known scammers like all other forums do.
2. Restructure the ranking system to perhaps increase the number of ranks and create some higher than Legendary.
3. Impose more restrictions on newbies, and there have been a lot of good suggestions made over the last few years that apparently fell on deaf ears at the top. It’s an unfortunate truth that most of the garbage posts originate from members who’ve been referred to bitcointalk by friends/relatives/coworkers as a place to earn easy money just by writing posts. The merit system was a fantastic idea, but I think there’s still a few things that could be done to make it harder for newbies to use the forum as shitposting gig. "
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
" Invest in projects? Hell no! I assume you mean ICOs and the like, and I have a very dim view of that entire space.
As far as trading goes, I’ve dabbled in it here and there, but I’ve found the markets to be way to unpredictable and volatile to seriously engage in trading. "
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
" Sadly, I don’t have any stories to relate about either. I never made real profits with bitcoin or altcoins, nor did I lose much. I don’t day trade crypto, which I know is a very popular activity amongst forumites and assorted cryptocurrency enthusiasts. If there’s a gambling gene, I’m pretty sure it’s missing from my chromosomes. "
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
" Nothing, since I don’t even know what that is (though I’ve heard the terms mentioned on the forum). "
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
" Since I don’t think I could remain completely anonymous even if I tried my hardest, it’s definitely not a vital necessity. It’s not even all that important to me as far as bitcoin goes, but it is one of the features of crypto that I do like. "
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
" The one and only book about crypto that I’ve read was Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper, and it was fascinating. "
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
" Eh. Off the top of my head: NEO, Neblio, and Tezos. There are so many, though, and I’m not confident any of them are going to perform any better than bitcoin. Nor do I think altcoins/tokens are ever going to find a real-world use that would cause the average Joe on the street to want to buy any of them—and if no one buys them, they’re probably not going to be good investments. "
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
" $9750. My guess is as good as anyone else’s."
Thanks to The Pharmacist for the interview!
The end.
Foxpup (Legendary)
Founder of the Merit Cycling Club
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
" Late 2011. I think it was an article about the Silk Road that first drew my attention to Bitcoin, and I realised that it could potentially solve a lot of problems in e-commerce, if it became more widely used outside the criminal world."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"Early 2012, when the price was just a few bucks. Naturally I didn't jump on Bitcoin immediately after I heard of it; I did a little research first (including on how to buy it in the first place, since this was before there were any true exchanges in Australia)."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"Google, though I mostly use DuckDuckGo now."
4. You rent an avatar from LoyceV. An interesting way to spend bitcoins. Why are you doing this? How much would you pay to rent my avatar ?
"I rented LoyceV's avatar mainly to prevent anyone else from renting it, while also playing into the conspiracy theory that the merit system is controlled by a handful of "merit cyclers" who only give merit to each other instead of people less deserving. It was originally meant as just a little joke but it ended up getting way out of hand.
The Merit Cycling Club is not currently accepting new members. Sorry.
"
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"I was on the forum since before signature campaigns existed, so I can say from first-hand experience that they have caused massive harm to the forum from which I doubt it will ever fully recover. The merit system has helped, but not as much as one would hope."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"I think the unofficial list of rules is pretty useful, or at least it would useful for more people to read it. More seriously, there's still some useful topics in Development & Technical Discussion and Bitcoin Technical Support, though even those sections have not totally escaped the signature spamming that has rendered most of the rest of the forum all but useless for serious discussion.
The most helpful users would be gmaxwell, achow101, o_e_l_e_o, LoyceV, suchmoon, Vod, The Pharmacist, and of course Lauda.
"
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"1. Bring back Ignore button highlighting. The Ignore button used to be highlighted on users who were frequently ignored, which made trolls easier to identify.
2. Introduce a "Banned" rank. This is standard on most other forums, and I don't really understand the reasons for not doing it here.
3. Ban all signature and avatar campaigns (yes, including mine). This is probably the only forum in existence where being paid to post is permitted. The result, I feel, only serves to demonstrate just why all other forums prohibit it. "
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"I mostly just buy and sell Bitcoin."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
" I'm embarrassed to admit that I did lose a fair bit to the Playtin casino exit scam way back in 2014. There were a lot of shady operators back then, but this one appeared on the surface to be one of the least shady among them. There were no real indications at all it was a scam except for being based in an African country I had never heard of before (which, in hindsight, was a pretty major red flag). As is often the case with exit scams, it was actually a fairly decent casino until they halted all withdrawals, went offline, and absconded with everyone's money.
No matter; I can afford to write off a few "educational expenses". "
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"Is that an Ethereum thing? Because my antipathy for all things Ethereum-based is well known:
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"Yeah, about that... As a gender-nonconforming furry pornographer with controversial opinions on a forum with a large right-wing nutjob userbase known for doxxing anyone who gains sufficient notoriety, I expect my life insurance underwriter would say "yes". Also I'm wealthy enough to be a target of all manner of thieves, scammers, and extortionists, but it's mostly just the first one, since I'm inclined to agree with the Red Cross when they say I can't put a monetary price on my blood.
"
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"I honestly forget. It was one of the ones about Bitcoin that was full of elementary information being presented as revolutionary even though it was long obsolete by the time it was published (which probably doesn't narrow it down much). This is why I tend not to read books on recent trends. "
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
" Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin. Accept no substitutes. "
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"Just over US$10,000, assuming the Novikov self-consistency principle holds and I'm not changing the future by talking about it. "
Thanks to Foxpup for the interview!
The end.
Founder of the Merit Cycling Club
Let's start
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
" Late 2011. I think it was an article about the Silk Road that first drew my attention to Bitcoin, and I realised that it could potentially solve a lot of problems in e-commerce, if it became more widely used outside the criminal world."
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
"Early 2012, when the price was just a few bucks. Naturally I didn't jump on Bitcoin immediately after I heard of it; I did a little research first (including on how to buy it in the first place, since this was before there were any true exchanges in Australia)."
3. How did you get on the forum?
"Google, though I mostly use DuckDuckGo now."
4. You rent an avatar from LoyceV. An interesting way to spend bitcoins. Why are you doing this? How much would you pay to rent my avatar
?"I rented LoyceV's avatar mainly to prevent anyone else from renting it, while also playing into the conspiracy theory that the merit system is controlled by a handful of "merit cyclers" who only give merit to each other instead of people less deserving. It was originally meant as just a little joke but it ended up getting way out of hand.
The Merit Cycling Club is not currently accepting new members. Sorry.
"5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
"I was on the forum since before signature campaigns existed, so I can say from first-hand experience that they have caused massive harm to the forum from which I doubt it will ever fully recover. The merit system has helped, but not as much as one would hope."
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
"I think the unofficial list of rules is pretty useful, or at least it would useful for more people to read it. More seriously, there's still some useful topics in Development & Technical Discussion and Bitcoin Technical Support, though even those sections have not totally escaped the signature spamming that has rendered most of the rest of the forum all but useless for serious discussion.
The most helpful users would be gmaxwell, achow101, o_e_l_e_o, LoyceV, suchmoon, Vod, The Pharmacist, and of course Lauda.
"7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
"1. Bring back Ignore button highlighting. The Ignore button used to be highlighted on users who were frequently ignored, which made trolls easier to identify.
2. Introduce a "Banned" rank. This is standard on most other forums, and I don't really understand the reasons for not doing it here.
3. Ban all signature and avatar campaigns (yes, including mine). This is probably the only forum in existence where being paid to post is permitted. The result, I feel, only serves to demonstrate just why all other forums prohibit it. "
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
"I mostly just buy and sell Bitcoin."
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
" I'm embarrassed to admit that I did lose a fair bit to the Playtin casino exit scam way back in 2014. There were a lot of shady operators back then, but this one appeared on the surface to be one of the least shady among them. There were no real indications at all it was a scam except for being based in an African country I had never heard of before (which, in hindsight, was a pretty major red flag). As is often the case with exit scams, it was actually a fairly decent casino until they halted all withdrawals, went offline, and absconded with everyone's money.
No matter; I can afford to write off a few "educational expenses". "10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
"Is that an Ethereum thing? Because my antipathy for all things Ethereum-based is well known:
Ethereum tokens are an especially sad case, being failed projects built inside of another failed project, like a Matryoshka doll of failure.
"11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
"Yeah, about that... As a gender-nonconforming furry pornographer with controversial opinions on a forum with a large right-wing nutjob userbase known for doxxing anyone who gains sufficient notoriety, I expect my life insurance underwriter would say "yes". Also I'm wealthy enough to be a target of all manner of thieves, scammers, and extortionists, but it's mostly just the first one, since I'm inclined to agree with the Red Cross when they say I can't put a monetary price on my blood.
"12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
"I honestly forget. It was one of the ones about Bitcoin that was full of elementary information being presented as revolutionary even though it was long obsolete by the time it was published (which probably doesn't narrow it down much). This is why I tend not to read books on recent trends. "
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
" Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin. Accept no substitutes. "
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
"Just over US$10,000, assuming the Novikov self-consistency principle holds and I'm not changing the future by talking about it.
"Thanks to Foxpup for the interview!
The end.
Please write who would you like to see here next?
-theymos
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-yahoo62278
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