Topic: [Interviews] with Bitcointalk members - page 8. (Read 30584 times)

"Jesus" "Christ" or "Jesus fucking Christ" has been in the lexicon of millions of people as an expression of frustration for many years.  It's not a trend. 

Did I piss you off or something?  You left this on my trust page: "The Pharmacist, A very valuable and objective member. His messages are always pleasant to read and discussions with him are satisfying. Doesn't miss any of Foxpup's parties 🦊".  Do you now think that I think I have an inflated ego on the forum?  Believe me, I don't--compared to a lot of other members here who know a lot about bitcoin and those who've been here much longer than me, I'm a complete nonentity.  I do think I make better posts than those common shitposters you mentioned, but so do you.  That's something to strive for, not be ashamed of. 

Also, I'm proud to be in Foxpup's campaign because it's exclusive.  I don't even know how many members Foxxxxy has in it, but I don't think it's all that many.  When people think enough of me to offer me a slot in something like Foxpup's campaign....yeah, I'm grateful and I'm not hesitant to say that.  As far as being an "influencer" goes, I'm not being modest by saying I'm not one.  I don't think I'm influencing anyone on this forum--and it's not like bitcointalk is Youtube, where those influencers have thousands or millions of subscribers listening to every word they say and buying whatever the influencer is selling.  This forum is just a discussion board and I'm just an avatar and a username with no following whatsoever.

It looks like this expression of ambiguous feelings is becoming a trend  

Not one "influential person" will not say so about himself ... but if this term is really unpleasant for you, then it can be replaced with another expression that clearly defines your position in the forum society.  Namely that Cycling Club members are "entitled to an inflated sense of superiority to common shitposters".

Indeed.  Look at this nonsense:

Though the post is written in English, I have no fucking idea what he's trying to say.  The post makes absolutely no sense.  This thread didn't need to get bumped unless someone with something significant to contribute felt like telling their story.  Seems obvious that the two members you mentioned are alt accounts, since they wrote the same "Thanks zasad@ for giving me chance for an interview" thing.  Jesus.

Whaa?  I'm a proud member of Foxpup's Merit Cycling Club and I don't consider myself an "influencer" (I hate that term with a passion) on the forum or anywhere else.  What I am is a merit source, and part of that "cycling" is handing out merits to lower-ranked members who make good posts so they can rank up in a reasonable time.  I think you're painting a lot of members with a very broad brush.

I think you are mixing up 'contribute good content' with 'form a circle-jerk with a clique of sad-ass wankers.'  I didn't realize until oldovlobo's comment that high 'merit' nets you footer-spammers extra $$$ on your wares.  That makes participation in mutual merit-pumping schemes even more pathetic.

That's how the forum works, contribute good content = get Merit, keep shitposting = no rewards for you here. In addition, I think at least a good part of content wouldn't be here if we had no Merit. 
Activity is a rather meaningless metric since it can be abused by one-liner shitposts. There are tons of pre-Merit era "Legendaries" still posting "Nice project, Sir! Great team and idea. I see a very great potential in your project, SIR" 

Aside from it, this topic is about Bitcointalk Members interviews, not rants about Merit or other personal feelings.

Plenty of people care about merit. People come to this site specifically to make money by posting. They need the merits in order to get a better price for their spam.

Who gives two fucks about 'merit'?  It's an obviously gamed-by-losers shit-show (and you guys in the 'merit cycling club' are a poster-children for the phenomenon.)  An 8000 'merit score' tells at a glance who the 'social media influencers' are.  Don't need to even read the posts because it is entirely predictable what social media inflencers are going to say.  Also the attitude of 'Ban!', 'Delete!', 'Cancel!' fits the mold perfectly.

A 'activity score' (and decade of posting history) tend to be a lot more meaningful.  To me at least.

Dear low-ranked accounts
If you're posting here hoping to earn Merit, at least answer the questions by yourself, and don't use text spinner plagiarism. This gets you banned!

Thanks zasad@ for giving me chance for an interview. 


1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
It was 2017 I got inquisitive about the substance and discovered the bitcoin is one of the money use to execute, wondering for no specific reason I research the bitcoins and discover some data's on what sort of cash is this and how this thing work since the innovation truly got my premium. I get some data from one of my senior siblings and I googled about bitcoin. Then I gradually found out about it and engage in crypto.


2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Most of my pay were changed over into books that I have been using starting as of late so I can at any rate help my dad in directing his expenses. Maybe than using the money he gets from his business to buy my materials, he can distribute it to my more young kin and for our consistently needs. I was conceded a credit here and in a bid to abstain from defaulting I picked to purchasing of bitcoin to settle my obligation. it was a significant intriguing exchange quick and straightforward on account of blockchain innovation.


3. How did you get on the forum?
I decided to enroll since, this spot was not typical for most get-togethers. Business focus items and adventures including bitcoin are enabled here, basically all bitcoin organizations on the web root from assertions on Bitcointalk. I research a specific data and bitcointalk gathering is continually springing up on determination, that is the point at which my excursion begins here and I never lament to discover this discussion.


4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
I fathom their perspective that they would not want to get a decentralized kind of money which is freed from control yet serious prohibitions will overall annihilate this potential. Many would like to move toward the banks to submit question of their lost cash and made to fill a structure, and being cheerful to get the cash back or discount. They need to see a face to make such gripe as well.


4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
I think it two points of view, positive and negative. They offer for it. If you are examining the people, there might be a couple of individuals who are subject to wagering. Advancing wagering adventures will overall be priceless as it gives show and a kind of redirection to customers who search for wagering. Assuming the entire world has a similar cash, as far as I might be concerned, there is no extraordinary character that a nation has. What's more, eventually, individuals will in general fail to remember the historical backdrop of their country.


4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
In case anyone troublesome work this spot I think they get their chance after a half year included anyway for the some even the whole life would be inadequate to sort out some way to make productive endeavor. What one individual can understand in one month, another person will not have the alternative to learn in one year. I think it relies upon the individual to individual and how much everybody is able to actually put their time and exertion in investigating the market and learning.


5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
Authenticity pay can empower a business to isolate between the show of high and low performing agents and prize the introduction of the better specialists. Imprint campaign it is a good headway where this social affair is useful for customers just as various stages that advance through mark missions and I see an extensive part of them use marks with progress on that stage.


6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Topics are needed inside Forums all together for site individuals to have the choice to post, scrutinized, and answer to messages. I took in a huge segment of the data there on advanced monetary forms under that board. So this thing ought to be taken out and with the exception of those I discover everything okay.


7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I'm happy with the frameworks that are right now in activity. I think we need to change the models for permaban on the discussion and unban. Nearby people group ought to have more impact and the chance to change things inside their neighborhood areas.


8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I generally prefer to purchase Cryptocurrency exchanging on a trade and hold them for what's to come. I exchange significantly less and I am more centered around bitcoin now.


9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
On the lookout, every one should cost about a dollar. I think the bull run will proceed and contemplating to bring in more cash for the current siphoning occurring yet turns out the value dump and as yet accepting at the cost ascend to rebound and lose more for that is important.


10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
I'm not that cultivated or especially communicated in the DEFI climate so I will not comment on this one anyway I was unable to envision anything better than to get some answers concerning this organic framework.


11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I consider this to be a safeguard on the grounds that my administration has not yet endorsed Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been proclaimed illicit here. In the event that this wasn't unknown they could've confronted outcomes, so being obscurity is acceptable perpetually and required one for digital currency.


12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I typically attempt to discover the answer for any issue from the web. I get all the data through Google. I can't suggest you any book since I haven't read any, yet certainly, I will advise you to hit search on Google for cryptographic money books.


13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
I think BTC will consistently raising.

1. Ethereum
2. Bitcoin
3. Ksm


14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
End of this year Can go at $75000

Thank you @zasad@ for permitting me and starting 2021 interviews session


QUESTIONS:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

It all began as a joke in my year 3 in university, I was searching for side income where I could earn since Fiver platform wasn't friendly for me with their policy and harsh customer reviews. A friend introduced me to a  Telegram group where they hold this new and confusing topic about bitcoin, the terms and words were so complex but with help of some material and consistency, I grew to understand some terms like HODL, Bull and BEER, SHITCOINs ( I came in during ICO collapse of the market ), PUMP and DUMP with other popular terms.
What picks my curiosity was how some mate made some $$dollars during the ICO year was motivating, I had to step up the game too, I went through some papers and blog to understand the basic things I had to learn by that time.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I was pondering to buy bitcoin during the ICO period when the whole market became scary, the Chinese ban was frightening the whole market.
I bought my first bitcoin in 2019 when the whole thing became stabilize.

3. How did you get on the forum?
That was back in 2018 with my Alt account, there were so many airdrops back in the days and I was so lucky to Participated in Revain and I was among the selected participants.
One of the criteria to be eligible for the reward was to comment on their announcement thread, that was how I got to know this wonderful forum.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
The answer to this question is obvious, of course, it's the Government in my opinion. Seeing how China and their government were playing cards before institutional investors took over the game was obvious and disappointing. They play a major role in this asset since most of the bitcoin Miners come from China and lots of investors.
I  could recall when they removed the ban on cryptocurrency in 2019, Bitcoin pump 17% in just an hour. They control the people and since we have been used to a centralized system, we fear worst that will happen to our funds when the government likely take an action.
We also observe an increase in market cap when the Indian Government lifted their ban on cryptocurrency in 2020, this is why I hate the government in this system though little regulation is important because of selfish interest by a group of people.

4.2 Tell us about your experience on bitcointalk?
It has been great and tremendous so far, the experience is amazing and I grow to learn every day since I wasn't fortunate to be among the early members of the forum. It's such a pioneering environment guide to knowledge.

4.3. Why do you need multiple accounts on this forum? Do you have a commercial interest or other reasons?
The more you look at Bitcointalk, the less you see. It's a large forum with so many sub-board and interesting topics. I'm using two accounts because I feel my main account shouldn't just be about bounty and earning but to learn from others and impact my knowledge on others.
I have also observed other members especially the higher rank don't value account once they see social links on your profile. So, I needed something that can add value to other people.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

It has prevented lots of users from writing jargons and improving quality content in the forum, It has also helped to reduce plagiarism and copy-paste.
On the aspect of signature campaigns, it easily differentiates users and how they earn and encourage users with low rank to improve on there self.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
The practical and interesting topics I have found include:
[Tutorial] How to create Lightning Network Channel (Testnet BTC)
Newbies - Read before posting
Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ
How to sign a message?

Users that have been helpful include:
Ratimov
OgNasty
DmrDmr
LoyceV
RapTarX


7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
First, the forum should be customized and adjustable to mobile view when interacting with the phone, it's kind of eye disturbing when you have to keep zooming at every loaded page.
Secondly, the account security system should be improved. There have been many cases of account stolen and hack, it will be a good move if he implements Authentication/2FA in every account with a unique password. I have seen on Facebook and other huge fan base web community, I believe the system will work here too.
Last but not the list, alternative way to deal with newbies that abuse an IP address.
Over the last 3 weeks, I notify my account to some board for quick updates about posts and I have noticed how some users open new accounts with unnecessary topics that are filled with crazy spams and dangerous links.
These topics are usually deleted by mods and such account become permanently banned but my issue is how this account poison others from having free registration on the forum. It's unfair since they have abused the system and hence new users from that particular location/region have to pay some fee before they can post on the forum. It isn't their fault.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I have both experiences but investing has been easier for me, trading requires skill, consistency, patience and time. I can't give all to trading, most of the time investment.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Early January 2020, I sold all my KCS( kucoin shares ) as I no longer see much progress in their token, with the little profits I made collectively, was $1400.
I used all my fund to purchased BNB each at $17, luckily for me, Iran and US mini-war began which trigger some market pump including crypto. My BNB was heavily pumped to $26 and I had sweet profits as that was my first time of making such profit but did I sold? No!, that was my first mistake.
I was busy with my final year project as I was hoping BNB will break ATH and pump heavily since Binance chain was making waves and whales were shilling.
It all became another story on the March 12 black Friday when my portfolio became $350, I panic and sold. That's how I lost to the market.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
It's has become crystal clear that most projects with suffix FINANCE have nothing to offer, only a few with the real user case and products are still fit, though almost all are still down from the all-time high.
The frenzy has cool off, is that the end? I don't know but I believe in some.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Privacy is essential but can we hide everything from the rest of the world?
In some aspects I love privacy but it should be a pseudonym.
Anonymity demerit out wages it Merits in my opinion.


12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
The DeFi, its an embodiment of decentralized ecosystem and previous knowledge about cryptocurrency by Coingecko.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
BNB has failed in the past due to an ill-fated market situation, but I love everything about Binance chain and utility behind BNB.
Keep eyes on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Polkadot
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2021?
It's very difficult to predict bitcoin direction ever since all-time high price became broken, though if the steam continues, $50k is imminent before the end of the year.


 Invest in what you can afford to lose doesn't equate you to be a careless person

Really?
I hardly understand why everybody is surprised by the price:


That model has been working since 2010: why should have it been broken on Dec, 31?
The model will eventually break, probably because the dollar itself will, but this is another story...

Personally, I believe that my prediction of sub $17,250 was more than reasonable.. because I did not expect that BTC prices would break into no man's land of $17,250 to $23,500 and then subsequently to pass through such no man's land.. but in the end, these greater than expected can happen in bitcoin in either direction and go higher or last longer than any of us had expected, and surely feels good when such BTC price moves are to the upside rather than to the downside... especially if you happen to be prepared for such UPpity - and likely a lot of us longer term bitcoiners have been prepared for UP - including that we had nearly 3 years of this last correction and slowly moving back up to actually prepare for UP.. if any of us has been in bitcoin through that 2018 to 2020 period.  

Along with a few of the phenomenons about the trend being your friend and also that there might be a bit of both FOMO and punishing going on.. so all those folks who had either been waiting to buy BTC because of a expected dip or NOT really buying enough BTC on a regular basis.. are wondering what the fuck to do at this point.. to buy now or continue to wait for possible BTC price dips that are even less likely to happen now.. - especially to the level that they would have been able to buy just a few short months ago..  so when we were making a lot of these BTC price predictions in the mid 2020 time frame, $10k was feeling kind of expensive for some of us.. and how are you feeling now if you had not stocked up enough, when you failed/refused to adequately prepare for UPpity that ends up happening.,. as we had seen such a thing take place in the past few (3-4) months?  

So in some sense, I guess I am saying that it does not really matter so much what any of us are predicting or anticipating so long as we are prepared for either BTC price direction (and UPpity seemed to have been the more important one this time around - which has mostly been the case in bitcoin anyhow), so personally, I hardly have any sympathies for anyone who actually knew about bitcoin and had capabilities of better preparing for UPpity, but failed/refused to do so.  Call me a hardass, if you must...     .,. but even if you have not adequately prepared for UP or bought, if you know about bitcoin, you are likely still in position to prepare for more UP by continuing to buy BTC on a regular basis and continue to have a long term plan that includes BTC accumulation for 4-10 years or more... we are still in the early days in that regard, and bitcoin remains a good investment in spite a nearly tripling of the price in the past few months.


I don't think so.

You can look back at BTC history and see all kinds of bullshit under performance predictions of past cycles.

There were all kinds of threads in 2015/2016 of all the people with bullshit theories about BTC prices not being able to get above $1,000 because of all the people wanting to sell to get their money back.. blah blah blah..

Same thing this time around.. what happened to all of those sellers in the $20k range.. bunch of bullshit that causes some people to underprepare their lil selfies for UPpity.. which ended up happening.   

Again, I hardly attribute any kinds of significance to one prediction or another, so long as you are preparing also for the more outrageous scenarios that could end up happening.. and in bitcoin, historically you would not even have to put a whole hell of a lot of value into bitcoin in order to highly benefit from the UPpity that ends up happening.. no need to be greedy, and when the UPpity ends up happening, even if outside of the range of expectations, you profit so long as you do not do stupid things like either failing to buy any or hardly any or selling too much too early.,. and both of those things happen with peeps having regrets.. or some of the dumb shits are distracted into investing into various shitcoins, which surely are not doing too well relative to bitcoin either.. good luck with timing your entrance and exits from shitcoin bags.

Damn it!

I feel that whales are watching the interview series and they manipulate the market different than what all interviewers thought. It is basic characteristic of any market. Whales have their power and when they know most of traders are thinking of the market, they will play their games.

Happy new year everyone. The year 2021 begins with a bitcoin fever and I wish all you a prosperous year. 

My prediction wasn't bad:
I know I said I have high hopes, but damn The current price is higher than I dared hope for.

I'm just revisiting this thread, as I said. Damn, what a terrible prediction. Anyone that got it right?

Questions:

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

At the end of 2013. I've heard of something valuable and computer related. I found interesting both the idea and the tech behind. (And I still do.)
I even had an (always empty) account at MtGox!

I rushed to mine it with my GPU (of course, without reading basically anything) and after a month I was still under the dust amount. I understood then that I cannot mine it and I also thought that I've missed the train already (it's funny and also sad to think now to that).


2. How did you get on the forum?

After the cold shower on Bitcoin mining I looked for something easier to mine, so I can catch the next train. Litecoin was also tough, so I found Dogecoin, its mining and its Reddit.
The good thing was that the community made me stay. The bad thing is that Dogecoin ... has no limited supply, now I understand.
The even better thing is that I heard there about Bitcointalk.


3. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

Ohhh, that was late. It was in 2015/2016. However, most of my coins I've actually earned. Some from signatures, bounties and translations, some from altcoin trading.


4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

I think that we are almost there, the obstacles are more like something from the past.
The central banks' narrative and lack of legislation was the big obstacle, but now big companies are buying, the price is on a rise, people are coming too, the word of mouth make more and more buy, and PayPal (although they actually sell now only IOUs) help a lot.
An obstacle still present is probably the lack of easy 99.9% fool-proof wallets.


4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

I have positive view about the gambling advertising on this forum, but it's biased: I've advertised here myself gambling for long time.
I know that there can be a problem, since kids are also visiting this forum and can get caught badly by gambling. But imho that's their parents' issue: they have to check where the kid is surfing, since they can find gambling ads in many other places (including faucets and tv).
So no. Imho gambling is not a problem. And the money it brings here helps the forum.


4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

It depends. After less than 2 years in trading I learned that I'm doing it wrong and I stopped.
After this many years and countless altcoins turned to dust, I still didn't sell some and hoping to see them recover.
I think that investors have to have certain "neural structure" and certain amount of luck too. They have to be born for it to do it right. Then some experience will already do. Without the "right stuff", it doesn't matter much, whether it's education or experience.


5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

Signature campaigns are a necessary evil. Although many good posters would still be there to help and answer, the number of them will be less and the amount of posts will be smaller, hence some will have to wait for a good answer (and crypto people lack the patience badly).
Of course, they also bring big amounts of spam / unnecessary posts. But, doesn't the forum also has more and more spam not related to signatures nor ranking?

The merit system? It's brilliant! We still need much more merit sources imho, but that's all. It's clearly on the right track.


6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

Woah. No. I would have to make longer lists than this post would allow it. And if I wouldn't then I'd leave good posts or good posters not mentioned.
It's a good forum with a huge amount of great posts (not necessarily topics!) and a huge number of great people. Let's leave this instead of a list.


7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

* Automatic account update and recovery based on Bitcoin signed message (it's Bitcointalk)
* Change of ancient contact methods for 2021 worthy ones
* A mobile with no very big changes, but bigger font and better readability. I know that new forum will come someday, but you asked


8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I did trade at some point. It was nice, but too time consuming and also rather risky. I decided it's not for me.
I did invest in a very small number of ICOs, it was more like gambling than investing, I guess.
The time has shown me that I do better if I just HODL what I can.


9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

I wish I wouldn't sell/spend so much of my crypto earnings... Should I say more?


10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

I didn't research almost at all about it. My feeling is that's just a new ICO-like scam bubble. Until now I successfuly stayed away from it.


11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

I think that 100% anonymity is impossible. Sooner or later you make a mistake you don't know about and it's blown away. But one has to be cautious.
I'm still a Monero fan, and that's because I don't find it normal that anybody can find out what's the content of your pocket. OK, not literally anybody, but still...
Anonymity is a necessary precaution.


12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

There was a book - I don't remember the title - about CSW days when he provided that fake signed message, does it count as crypto book or as novel?  (don't shoot me, I was curious how he managed to fool so many prominent members of the community)
I've also started "Mastering Bitcoin", but never got to finish it... yet.
I know I should have read more. But unfortunately I didn't.


13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

No. Everybody has to do his own homework and decide for himself.
Bitcoin has to be more than 50% of the crypto portfolio.


14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

Since I am so late with my inteview, I won't answer to this, mkay?
It's already higher than I hoped for this year...


15. P.S.
Sorry for being this late, but I warned zasad@ that this will happen.
However, thank you for thinking of me worthy for this interview.

Questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

- I started way back 2016 when my friend introduced it to me and asked if I'm interested in it.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

- I first bought Bitcoin way back in 2016 as well. I bought it because I was curios on what does it feel to have one

3. How did you get on the forum?

- A friend of mine introduced it to me, since I always ask him how he earns money.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

- Doubt I guess? especially if the Government still have doubt on Bitcoin because of scams that's using Bitcoin's name then mass adoption is way too far to be reach.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

- It's neither of both, because it could be good or bad. What I mean is it's only a business, and having a business is not bad at all. However, gambling addiction is bad for people, but gambling sites don't have to be blame for that since it is our decision to engage in gambling and what we're going to do while gambling.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

- You don't need 2-3 years of experience to understand how this Blockhain technology and cryptocurrency works. It's better to study while you're engaging in cryptocurrency to have a better understanding on how it works, also to not miss the opportunity to make profits in the long run.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

- The merit system in my opinion makes ranking up in this forum hard, so you'll need to work hard to receive merits but I think others has bigger expectations to all of the members here. I mean not all of us here is capable on posting very high quality stuff to be noticed by merit sources or anyone here that would appreciate the post and giving merit to it.

Signature campaigns helps a lot of people here in this forum, that's all.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

- Off-topic, and most helpful I guess is Meta

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

- I
- don't
- know (yet)

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

- I only join bounty campaigns

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

- I lost big profit because I hold my coins for too long

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

- It's convenient for me, though I'm still studying what this DEFI really is.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

- Of course

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

- I don't read books

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

- XRP, BITCOIN, ETH

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

- I don't know, but reaching $23,000 is a good sign

15. P.S ( Sorry for not answering your PM on time. I thought it was just some spam or anything)

Let me remind you that December 15 is the last voting day!
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--5294957

Please vote.

First I have to apologize for taking me three months to finally write this interview, but better late than never

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

First time I heard about Bitcoin was sometimes in the early 2014 (can't remember exactly) while browsing on the Croatian forum. For some reason I ended up in "Investing" subforum and there I saw it, topic named "Bitcoin". People were arguing whether it's legit or some kind of scam, all the usual stuff, but most importantly it got me interested. Unfortunately all I did really in those few months during my first stint was buying some shitcoins as I naively thought that since I can't afford 1 whole BTC, better focus on some which I can own a lot.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

Even though I heard about it years before, I bought my first BTC pretty late, sometime in the summer of 2017, via Coinbase. It always makes me chuckle when I remember how I was contemplating whether it's too late to invest in bitcoin at that moment since price already increased 3-4x in the last few months. I guess many people have similar thoughts before buying BTC for the first time.

3. How did you get on the forum?

I heard  about it in the previously mentioned Croatian forum. I visited bitcointalk once or twice, but honestly I preferred more intimate atmosphere there, since I was member for many years before that and knew all people well. Two months later I had to take a break from crypto due real live stuff so I didn't check bitcointalk again up until  2017. Upon my return I checked it a bit, but bitcointalk was simply too hectic for my taste at the time, so yet again I couldn't bother to register since before mentioned Croatian forum fulfilled my need. My 3rd visit to bitcointalk in the summer of 2019 (after month or two of lurking and due lowered activity in Croatian forum) resulted into me finally registering and here I am now.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

The way i see it, there are several factors; First you have governments that are making it more complicated than it should be, then you have the fact that an average person is not so interested in being responsible for their own money, he prefers to delegate that to 3rd parties. And in the end, in the current state, question is whether cryptocurrencies are ready for mass adoption. And by adoption I mean using bitcoin primarily for payment, not just as store of value.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

Gambling business is probably at the forefront  of crypto adoption, so it's no surprise that we see so many looking for advertisement here. Signature campaigns definitely affect the forum traffic, making it more visible and relevant, but on the other hand that standard requirement that certain amount of posts have to be written in Gambling boards makes them barely readable due amount of mindless spam that you can find there. People are forced to write about sports that they probably never watched in their lives, and it shows.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

If you invest in bitcoin and especially if you are using DCA method I don't think that you have to be an expert as historically this method works and if you are into bitcoin for the long run you will profit. Regarding trading, situation there is way more complex and for that you need years of studying, experience and probably a lot of money lost in the process of learning.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

AFAIK, merit system was introduced in order to make account farming much harder than it was before. In that aspect, I think it succeeded. Of course it didn't completely removed account farming, I am pretty sure that some are still managing to do that, but then again, no system is infallible and there will always be some abuse, to certain degree.

Regarding signature campaigns, I think that it's great that people from less developed countries can make a living just by being an active part of this community. It is not without the downside though, as it is responsible for significant portion of spam on the forum. There are more and more campaigns showing up that are paying good and looking for active members, so there is more demand than supply of quality posters and that consequently lowers the bar so even a Hero/Legendary shitposter has a decent chance to get into one. To sum it up, in the end pro's outweigh the con's and I don't think that forum would magically be a better place if signature campaigns are suddenly abolished.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

There are many useful topics and even after more than a year on the forum I still stumble upon great older topics created years ago, but if I have to narrow it down to few that I find most useful, those would be:

• Newbies - Read before posting
• LoyceV's Beginners guide to correct use of the Trust system

You can find the names here, but shout out to all those active in scambusting & spambusting, those that are creating very useful bitcointalk related tools & guides and last but not the least, members of my local board.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

1. More transparent ban / unban system
2. Trust Feedback visible across all boards
3. Mobile version. I personally don't need it but it would make forum more attractive to new/younger people as fresh blood is always needed.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I did in the past but not anymore. I realized that trading is just not for me and same thing goes for investing in altcoins. I hodl what I have and that's about it.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

As many other noobs, I lost a lot while investing in various altcoins but the one that hurt the most was when I lost almost everything I had due phishing. I still feel stupid every time I remember that, but I learned few things from that loss and maybe some other noob reading this won't repeat my mistakes.

So, few days before Christmas 2017 (iirc it was 23.12) I was waiting for some BTC so I opened blockchain wallet. It was quite a shock to say the least when I saw that instead of 0.1 BTC my balance was 0. Completely confused I am sending the message to friend, asking can he check my address, but of course only thing he could do is confirm that my BTC is indeed gone. Upon checking the address where my BTC went I saw quiet a lot of BTC, and new one kept coming, making me believe it was a work of an experienced scammer.

Mistake I did? Earlier that day for some stupid reason I typed "blockchain.info" into Google instead having it bookmarked, leading me to a phishing page. After few sleepless nights during which I seriously considered to get rid off crypto I had left ( beside BTC I had a little bit of ETH ) and simply forget about all this. But then I said to myself "fuck it, shit happens, move on" and I did. Next day I ordered hardware wallet and here I am still.

That experience is the main reason why I am active in scambusting as I felt how it is to loose basically everything due my own negligence and stupidity.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

Not much really. Even though there are some legit projects and ideas, whole market is overrun with so many DeFi scams and shitcoins that at the moment I don't wanna have anything to do with it. Things will get better eventually, but until then I will keep my distance and if I want to gamble with  my BTC, I'll rather do it at the casino.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

Precaution, but in the real life my closer circle of friends and family know that I am into crypto. I don't bother them with it or trying to talk them into investing, but if someone asks me something crypto related I won't pretend I know nothing in fear of $5 wrench attack. Then again, Croatia is generally safe country with low crime rate so maybe I would be more cautious if I lived somewhere else.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I don't read as many books as I used to years ago, but recently I started reading "Internet Of Money" by Andreas Antonopoulos, which is my first Crypto related book.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

Since I stopped following altcoin market few years ago when I got rid off them, I can only recommend bitcoin.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

I have no idea, and honestly I don't care. I do hope for some bigger correction so I can accumulate more. I did worry a lot in past, thinking about the price and constantly checking blockfolio, but eventually I realized that it doesn't make any sense as I am into this for a long run. To paraphrase the title of a Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, I learned to stop worrying and love the Bitcoin

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Thank you @zasada@ for a chance to hear forum members POV on various topics,some of the interviews were pleasure to read.

Cheers!

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

I started by doing Bitcoin mining back in 2013, I had earneed around 5 BTC and sold most of them for peanuts. Back in the day, I thought Bitcoin was never gonna grow and that's why I sold all of my coins. I took a break and came back in 2017, where I owned a Faucet - Casino. I made decent profit with the faucet. I am currently trying my best to deepen my knowledge as much as possible here on BitcoinTalk and maybe take out a small bit of profit at the same time from signature campaigns.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

I bought my first Bitcoins in 2018 to try trading, but I gave up. So these coins are now sitting in my wallet. I'm HODLING too   . Eversince, I have bought Bitcoin around 20 times and visited a Bitcoin ATM 1 time.

3. How did you get on the forum?

I don't think I remember how. I guess I had a problem and found a topic related to it on BitcoinTalk and I signed up.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

The main thing that prevents mass adoption, is scepticism. People think Bitcoin is a scam, they think it's illegal everywhere, they think it is only used for illicit purposes like buying drugs on the black market. People think they know everything and are not open-minded for new concepts which wouldn't harm anyone.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

I don't think it harms the community. A user is intelligent enough to know that he can lose money with gambling, so it is the user's responsibility to wether or not gamble. I am a gambler myself and enjoy these games, even if I lose, I have fun. The only way it can become a problem is if users are gambling addicted; where this can cause bigger problems.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

In my opinion, the merit system is good but the difficulty to earn merit itself is very high. But maybe it is better like that, in this way, users need to work hard for merit which is better if you ask me. Getting established here on the forum is not easy and it is better like that. Users need to prove that they deserve merit. Now, the signature campaigns, are a serious problem on the forum. As soon as a newbie becomes a Jr. Member, they jump into a signature campaign, which is just abuse. People who run the signature camapigns should do a bit more digging to make sure they are not dealing with an alt-account or a signature campaign abuser.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

In my opinion, the topics which newbies need to read are here and there, there should be an entire section for guides and How-To's for new users. The rules topics are thrown all over the forum who make it hard for newbies to understand everything. I think that the following users are doing a great job keeping the forum clean and helping out other users:

theymos
suchmoon
LoyceV
mk4
Vod

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

I think the forum is great like it is currently. The way satoshi built it. It should be kept that way.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I personally don't invest in other cryptocurrences

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

My biggest profit ever is when I recovered my wallet.dat file from the mining I did back in 2013. I had fortunately kept 2.05 BTC.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

Both. For me, privacy is safety, the less information I share online the safer I am in real life.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I read Bitcoin for Dummies and I still have the book. I bought the book at a yard sale and this is how everything started. I read this book so many times and I learned a lot from this book. I guess I can thank this guy if I'm here today!

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

I strongly Believe that PolkaDot (DOT) will moon soon. but I only support Bitcoin mainly. Almost all altcoins end up by dying or failing to succeed their mission. This is why I hate altcoins. All cryptocurrencies are shitcoins except Bitcoin to be honest.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

(I am not an expert and don't follow these predictions) In my opinion, Bitcoin will hover around 20K USD. at the end of the year. It's crazy to think that Bitcoin started at 0$ and people are making prediction of it being at 300K by 2021.