So, after zasad@ asked these questions a few years ago (September 17, 2020 to be specific), I've finally decided to give it a shot. I'm quite impressed with my memory (fine you got me, BlackHatCoiner reminded me). Anyway, I've removed some, but I tried to the best of my ability to answer the questions.
Also, zasad@ thanks for the questions, I didn't ignore you
, I just gave a delayed response, albeit very delayed
. Nah, I honestly didn't believe many users would care about my story, can't recall if I ever did message you, don't think I did though, so I apologise for that.
Not sure why certain users were interested in hearing off of me. I'm not particularly interesting. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed with the lack of bear attacks, and close encounters with bulls that I was promised at the start of my journey.
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
3. How did you get on the forum?
So, I'm not much of a story teller, and to be quite honest with everyone here, I can't even remember all the motivations. However, I can tell you a little bit about what I can remember.
Over the years I recall some users speculating over my age, and for whatever reason assumed I'm much older than I actually am. Well, without getting too specific lets just say at the time I was speculated to be 30-40, which these days unfortunately is becoming a little more accurate to those lower figures, although I wouldn't say
close .
So, why that's important is because when I was younger looking to earn a bit on the side, you know to fund my action man collection (Okay, I wasn't quite that young), I was technically too young to get a Paypal account. I can't remember the specifics of why I couldn't, probably something to do with having to be 18 to open a Paypal account. Anyway, for whatever reason I searched up for a legal alternative, and discovered Bitcoin (See at this time where kids my age were getting into drugs, and drink I was getting into the super cool Bitcoin, actually looking back it did lead to an addiction that's lasted for nine years now...).
Now, I didn't really have many skills at this point, I'm not one of those genius kids that could code up some app, and sell it to Google (although I was learning to code at this time, and guess could say I was okay at it). I was a normal kid, looking to make some pocket money. So, and this is quite laughable now looking back. I had this app on my Ipod at the time, which earned money by viewing ads, I was generating tiny amounts, like $1 voucher codes or $5 voucher codes for Amazon.
So, I decided to sell these codes for Bitcoin. It was really the only earnings I was making, and it was abysmal at the time. I wasn't going to get rich, and I wasn't trying to get rich. I thought about ways of scaling it, but ultimately it wasn't something that was going to make me Elon Musk, you know? Nah, instead I started to participate in the forum, and slowly started to understand why people actually valued their time here.
Honestly, I wasn't here to participate per say, not at this point, I didn't see myself caring about my account or even the forum at this point, but it slowly grew on me. I guess you could lend the phrase off Bob Ross, and call it a happy little accident that I stumbled upon Bitcoin. At that point, I started to learn more about Bitcoin, and started to see why these crazy geeks were into it so much. So, I decided once I'd buy some gift cards from the stores you can get them at, like the physical ones, and sell them. So I can get higher denominations.
At this point, I'm finally grasping why Bitcoin could absolutely set up my life in a real good way (even with these bloody gift cards). So, I didn't care about discounting the codes, because well I had faith that more people would realise what I realised about Bitcoin, and that would push up the value, and over time I'd be earning more than the 20% off or whatever it was at that time.
Anyway, safe to say that gift card business didn't last long after the collapse of bitmit?, but the damage had already been done. I was now obsessed with Bitcoin, instead of going out with friends, I studied Bitcoin, and participated in Bitcoin discussions here on the forum. However, that doesn't mean nowadays I'm a technical mastermind, I understand the fundamentals, still have a few gaps to fill, but I've now got this belief that no matter what happens, even the recent declines I'm in this for the long term, and quite frankly even if Bitcoin reached a million a coin, I'd still own Bitcoin, because of the freedom I've achieved.
That's the humble beginnings of Welsh, and how he joined the army of geeks
. I know, you guys were expecting some sort of entrepreneur like story with that wall of text, wasn't you? Anyway, it goes without saying, but I'm so glad that kid that wanted that spare money to fund his marble collection, stumbled upon this gem of a community. It's weird to say these days, but this forum has become a passion of mine, which hopefully a lot of you can relate too, otherwise I'm going to sound like that guy that has romantically fallen for his car.
2. When and why did you when you buy your first bitcoin?
I can't remember exactly when I bought my first one. I mainly earned it through advertising, and what not. Back then you could get something like 0.25 Bitcoin a week. I can't remember exactly, but it was crazy amounts looking back.
4.1. How did you get the Staff position?
I basically reported enough that theymos had a absolute guts full of seeing my name pop up. Nah, I reported a fair amount, and was invited by theymos very casually to become a moderator. No massive story there.
4.2. Tell us about the your working day, what do you do, how much time do you spend on work per day?
Varies wildly. Few hours a day, although most Saturdays I'm not as active, and occasionally have days off when real work ramps up, so even then not all dedicated to moderation as I still try, and participate in the community as much as possible.
When I was reporting I was dedicating maybe 2-3 hours a day to reporting, however since I can now delete most of the crap, it doesn't take as long. Significantly less actually. From time to time, I dedicate a large part of the day of clearing up all the crap. I hope I've made a difference in the time I've been here.
4.3. Which user do you find useful in making unban appeal decisions?
Don't really pay attention to it all that much, since that's not my line of work. I leave that to the big boys (Global moderators/admins).
4.4. How do you feel about the idea of giving more authority to local moderators (ban of violators, bots, unban appeal)?
I tend to believe its worked for this long, and becoming a moderator you don't go through a course or anything like that. theymos gives asks you, and then there's a few things in the staff forum to guide you. If you're making mistakes or not quite hitting the standards that theymos expects he'll message you, and very casually guide you. So, reducing the permissions of a local moderator reduces any issues that could pop up, in that lack of knowledge stage.
Plus, local moderators can get in contact with the big boys (Globals/admins), and ask them to escalate any cases. So, it's not like we don't communicate. Its not like you'd communicate in a office, but you ping things over to the big boys, and they get to decide the right course of action based on the local moderator's input. The system has worked for many years, and honestly there's not to many issues reported.
I think it's fine how it is.
4.5. Do you think the administration should contribute to the development of the forum (do more contests, expand the possibilities of project developers' accounts,to create a platform with ratings of ICO, IEO, IDO, etc.)? How do you think the forum should develop?
I have the belief that the community is the driving force behind any forum. Without the communities involvement, we wouldn't have what we have today. As for the administration contributing to the development, I think they do. I do think admins, and the community have different responsibilities. The admins make sure things don't get too rogue, as well as implementing essential things, but the community is what makes things happen.
I'll be completely honest, I'm not looking forward to the software change, that might eventually happen. Over the years I've come accustomed to using UserScripts built for SMF, I've got my own CSS to make it look all fancy, and to remove niggly bits that have bothered me over the years. So, the daunting idea of doing all that again, is well daunting. Plus, I really hate modern looks, I know with CSS I can change that, but I bloody hate modern looking forums. So, much white space.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
Without a doubt, we wouldn't have as much problems with spam if signature campaigns weren't a thing. However, I don't think they should be removed. They provide a sort of ecosystem on the forum, which I actually think is brilliant. I haven't always been involved in the signature campaign scene, I took a few years out of just posting normally, but I absolutely love the idea I can get paid to do what I would be doing anyway. That's like turning your passion into also your job, right?
Merit system has saved a lot of headaches. I think the merit system, and the underrated bumping changes, really did change things for the general forum user. It reduced a massive amount of spam, at the same time hiding some of the spam that's still here from the eyes of a regular forum user. Those two changes, along with removing the restrictions of the newbie jail, were the most important for the development of the forum, in my opinion. Slightly biased, as I see the massive effect that the bumping changes had in the Altcoin sections.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
There's just been so many over the years, it would feel disingenuous to publicly name some, and not all. We all sort of know the prominent ones, but also as a staff user you also see the quiet users that just report for the good of the forum, without actually talking about it. That's respectable in its own right, in my opinion.
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
KYC I mean...two factor authentication. That's likely a priority to me, and the only major thing that's missing from the forum. Maybe, some restrictions on bounties, they're a problem. I'm also not much of a fan of restrictions usually, but the bounty section is a unique case.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Might be a shocker to some being active, and a moderator of the altcoin section, but I'm not invested in anything other than Bitcoin. I never invested in Litecoin or any other altcoin that has had some success over the years. I also rarely use exchanges. Only ever take out of Bitcoin when I need too. For example, a few expeditions in the past.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
I bet one whole Bitcoin on Germany to win a game in the world cup a few years back. They didn't lose, they just waited until extra time. Obviously, that meant I lost that. It wasn't worth much at the time, but obviously looking back today, it's rather funny or depressing what ever way you want to look at it. I think I would've won something silly like 9 Bitcoin, which again could be funny or depressing. Especially, as I've proven to be a holder rather than someone who trades. Would've bought me a nice Cyber Truck that would've.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I believe privacy is a human right. There's not much more to it than that. I don't use it as protection, but because I respect my privacy, as well as those around me.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I don't tend to specifically read books these days, usually listen to them in audio book form. That way I can do it while moderating or doing something else. Long travelling journeys is usually where I consume the most knowledge, as audio books have proven to be well worth their investment during these trips.
Last book I read was probably Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Bitcoin, BTC, and what's that really cool one called? Ah, Satoshi's.
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
See this is the problem when I don't answer for a few years. I did remember too though! So, I'll predict for 2022. I think £20,000 on the 31st of Dec 2022. This isn't financial advise, and quite frankly I couldn't care less about the price of it at that time.
