It turns out a large number of Somethingawful members are in fact, police officers, and some of them have been posting here. My My....
This is getting very interesting. The main database for the forum was penetrated (not by me) and they have now gotten into several members mailboxes. (again, not me, personally).
Seriously child, if you need an arrangement to meet with a psychiatrist and help finding insurance to pay for the medications, I may have some contacts that can help you out.
I have been consistently disappointed by the Bitcoin enthusiasts that I have encountered on the forums and in real life (with the exception of a few professional individuals).
I first got into Bitcoin as a miner, because it was just too damn bleeding edge for me NOT to get involved. I thought "hey, this is both hilarious, unique and a technical challenge!"
I sold all my Bitcoins today. Perhaps it has a future, but more likely it will be replaced by something else, and hopefully it will not be so full of nutty conspiracy theorist, government hating perverts, pedophiles, scammers, fraudsters and their ilk.
God damn.
After mastering mining and getting bored, I started looking at how Bitcoin really works. I'll tell you this: Very VERY few people in these forums who are proponents of Bitcoin actually understand how it works. Furthermore, their banal assumptions that Bitcoin transactions are anonymous makes for great entertainment, but also makes me wonder how much more this whole grand experiment can take? If you purchase drugs, kiddie porn, or anything illegal with Bitcoin, you are incredibly ignorant. "They" can find you, as can I. The whole blockchain is public, transparent and ultimately simple to investigate.
The paranoia that is seeping out of these forums and threads has at least a basis in the fact that many of these insane and misinformed individuals have used their Bitcoins for illegal purposes, under the flag of freedom and libertarian values that TRUE libertarians simply don't subscribe to..
..and the paranoia is only going to get worse, especially once people start getting arrested and prosecuted for real world criminal activity, unfortunately centered around their use of bitcoin as a medium of exchange.
While it's unfortunate that the experiment seems to be ending this way, I only hope that Bitcoin 2.0 is even more transparent, where people don't hide behind proxies and stupid user names.
Yeah, the fucking masons are here. Derp.