So part of the discussion is about the length of acceptable keys, which would help drive the format for these multi-sig addresses. Casascius... you mentioned in another thread that you actually type some addresses in by hand. What is the reason for this? So far, I have never needed to do it myself, and was wondering if you have special requirements, or if we anticipate a common scenario that people would be copying by hand (i.e. typing). If so, then perhaps it's not ideal to push the multisig approach with long addresses. It's okay if it's done occasionally, but if there's a common scenario that most users would run into semi-frequently, we probably should focus on keeping them short.
I use paper bitcoin wallets and multiple computers, including one dedicated to transacting in BTC, and a different one for interacting with financial websites (including bitcoin exchanges) which browses no other websites, so I minimize the risk of having my bitcoins lost or stolen and my accounts compromised. Although that seems somewhat heretical, the more people have their bitcoins stolen without seeing it coming, the more it makes sense.
I have a serious amount invested in bitcoins, am aware that skilled adversaries are after them, and don't want to risk it. All my bitcoins are offline pretty much all the time.
When I take bitcoins offline, I break them into denominations so if I just need to buy something small, I can import a "twenty" or whatever, and leave the remainder of my stash safe.
