[POLL] Should we recommend that noobs use an alternative client? - page 3.

gweedo

legendary

Activity: 1498

Merit: 1000

Quote from: CurbsideProphet on January 04, 2013, 01:30:13 PM

I agree that all disclaimers should be made, however, I don't see a problem with recommending an alternative client. I recently downloaded the entire block chain and it was incredibly slow to put it mildly. I think this will be a huge turnoff for those new to Bitcoin and some of the alternate clients can have alleviate that issue.

Explain to me why it is a turnoff? I think people like you just too lazy to read and learn about the benefit of a full node.

DannyHamilton

legendary

Activity: 3472

Merit: 4801

Quote from: gweedo on January 04, 2013, 02:27:37 PM

Quote from: SgtSpike on January 04, 2013, 02:03:05 PM

. . . They want a piece of software that allows them to send and receive Bitcoins . . .

No I think the noobies that have a hard time with waiting, are in denial that they are serious about bitcoin.

Who said anything about being "serious about bitcoin?" SgtSpike seems to be talking about people who just heard about bitcoin, and want to try it out. They have no idea if they want to be "serious" about it yet, they don't know much about it and have very little exposure to it. At best they want to purchase something and the seller/merchant has indicated that they are willing to (or prefer to) accept bitcoin for payment.

If the "new user" can't quickly and easily accomplish the the transaction to gain exposure to the process, they'll never get to the point of learning enough about it to see the significant benefits it offers and become "serious" about it.

SgtSpike

legendary

Activity: 1400

Merit: 1005

Quote from: gweedo on January 04, 2013, 01:50:10 PM

Quote from: CurbsideProphet on January 04, 2013, 01:30:13 PM

I agree that all disclaimers should be made, however, I don't see a problem with recommending an alternative client. I recently downloaded the entire block chain and it was incredibly slow to put it mildly. I think this will be a huge turnoff for those new to Bitcoin and some of the alternate clients can have alleviate that issue.

Explain to me why it is a turnoff? I think people like you just too lazy to read and learn about the benefit of a full node.

Newbies don't care about running a full node. They want a piece of software that allows them to send and receive Bitcoins - anything beyond that is something they won't care about or want, especially if it adds additional inconvenience. If it takes them 3 days before they can even use it, OF COURSE it'll be a huge turnoff for them! Anyone who can't see this is simply in denial about it.

People are turned away from QT every day because of the lengthy syncing process. We desperately need a newbie-friendly solution. I've been pointing people to blockchain.info, but it's not perfect. The perfect solution would be a downloadable client with blockchain.info speed and ease of use.

CurbsideProphet

hero member

Activity: 672

Merit: 500

Quote from: ?? on ??

No, we should educate new users about the benefits and drawbacks of each client and let them choose.

I agree that all disclaimers should be made, however, I don't see a problem with recommending an alternative client. I recently downloaded the entire block chain and it was incredibly slow to put it mildly. I think this will be a huge turnoff for those new to Bitcoin and some of the alternate clients can have alleviate that issue.

DannyHamilton

legendary

Activity: 3472

Merit: 4801

Quote from: ?? on ??

No, we should educate new users about the benefits and drawbacks of each client and let them choose.

This.

mccorvic

hero member

Activity: 518

Merit: 500

Quote from: ?? on ??

No, we should educate new users about the benefits and drawbacks of each client and let them choose.

This option would be optimal.

But we all know some people who don't want to hear about options because they don't have time, don't care, whatever. In THAT event I'd probably recommend the official client for people I inherently know that they know what they're doing, or blockchain.info for people who I think would prefer that sort of thing (with appropriate warnings of course).

mjc

hero member

Activity: 588

Merit: 500

Available on Kindle

Just point them to my book : Bitcoin Step by Step : http:://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Step-by-ebook/dp/B00A1CUQQU/

Download Kindle reader for any OS: http:://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

I walk users through setting up and securing Bitcoin-qt, along with how to use it. I also cover web base wallets and configuring MFA. I cover a number of topics that noob will need.
I've sold or given away just over 300 copies over the past few months.

That's just one idea. When I joined Bitcoin, I found that there was a lot of information out there, almost too much to know where to start. This is why I thought a short concise book that walked users through what they needed to know and pointed them to where they should look for more information would be useful.

justusranvier

legendary

Activity: 1400

Merit: 1013

Quote from: bittenbob on January 04, 2013, 12:47:49 AM

What more could new Bitcoin users want in an eWallet service?

I didn't see an Android app for your web wallet. Is it possible to read QR codes through a mobile web app?

novusordo

sr. member

Activity: 800

Merit: 250

Quote from: bittenbob on January 04, 2013, 12:47:49 AM

I'm surprised you have two of the newer eWallet services posted but not the long standing WalletBit.

That option should be interpreted as "web wallets in general." I was just offering those two as examples.

Jan

legendary

Activity: 1043

Merit: 1002

If they have an Android device they should obviously use BitcoinSpinner
Grin

Nagato

full member

Activity: 150

Merit: 100

I think at the very least they should be told of the different security/trust implications of the various options.

Bitcoin-QT
Trustless transaction verification.
You can fully verify that a transaction is valid.
6 confirmations guarantee funds are yours.

SPV Clients
You always have to assume that your server/peers are honest.
A malicious or compromised server can feed you transactions which are invalid on the blockchain.

E-Wallets
For hosted wallets, you have to assume the website operator wont take off with your bitcoins.
You have to trust all information from your balance, received transactions, sent transactions with the e-wallet provider.
Even for hybrid wallets like blockchain.info, you never know when the server starts serving you pages which capture your secret key
or will upload your decrypted wallet back to the server unless you check the source EVERY SINGLE time you use the site.

Obviously if you are running a business or online store, it is highly reccommended to use a full client.
If you cant do that, then atleast check multiple sources(blockchain.info/blockexplorer/SPV Client) to confirm payments made to you.

E-Wallets/SPV clients are great for watching addresses and a small hot wallet.

Stephen Gornick

legendary

Activity: 2506

Merit: 1010

Quote from: flix on January 04, 2013, 06:46:26 AM

hell even https://bitcoin-app.com/

Ohh .. bad timing.

Quote

Closing on 4th of Feb 2013! Withdraw all your coins!

- https://bitcoin-app.com <-- Facebook wallet.

flix

legendary

Activity: 1227

Merit: 1000

Definitely hook noobs via the path of least resistance. If they are only going to have < 1 BTC to play around with they don't need to know too much. Coinbase, blockchain... hell even https://bitcoin-app.com/ can be good sandbox for them to learn!

Once they see the benefits and ease of use there's plenty of time to teach them more advanced stuff.

Telling them to install the client and wait to download all the blocks is a huge turn-off for many...

gweedo

legendary

Activity: 1498

Merit: 1000

Quote from: ?? on ??

No, we should educate new users about the benefits and drawbacks of each client and let them choose.

I agree with this kinda, cause I think some people are just impatience and will not look for anything but a faster sync time. I don't get why people are all up in arms cause it takes a day or two, I had itunes and software downloads that have taken longer. Also the bitcoin-qt / bitcoind actually helps the network but no one cares. Honestly everyone should be up in arms over wordpress and big companies like that, who have great bandwidth and speeds should be running a bitcoind for the greater health of the network.

21after2

member

Activity: 112

Merit: 16

BitCoin-QT was a little intimidating for me when I first started using BitCoin (though I knew very little about the currency at the time). MultiBit made the learning process much smoother for me, especially since I didn't have to wait 24 hours for it to sync, lol. I would personally recommend MultiBit for new users, but I do want to see BitCoin-QT gain more user-friendly features (and for MultiBit to gain encryption as a feature).

bittenbob

hero member

Activity: 560

Merit: 500

I'm surprised you have two of the newer eWallet services posted but not the long standing WalletBit. We have been safely and securely processing Bitcoin transactions since July 2011. This makes us the longest operating Bitcoin eWallet service today and perhaps because there have been no major incidents it has largely gone below the public radar. The only major incident was the DDOS for ransom attack which WalletBit was able to overcome much sooner than any other target. It was in part our solution that lead to the attacks subsiding. When it comes to keeping eWallet funds safe no one can compare with WalletBit's track record.

As the marketing director and a Bitcoin enthusiast I will personally help new users through our support platform understand more about Bitcoin. Because we are an eWallet service there is no waiting for the block chain to sync and we have easy cell phone integration with WalletBit Mobile. We have added to weusecoins video to our homepage to assist in new users along with our new promotional video. What more could new Bitcoin users want in an eWallet service?

novusordo

sr. member

Activity: 800

Merit: 250

Looking forward to the results of this poll. Should be interesting.

Please explain your reasoning below.

Topic: [POLL] Should we recommend that noobs use an alternative client? - page 3. (Read 4638 times)