Topic: STFU. Stop telling newcomers about mining. DON'T. - page 2. (Read 4896 times)

Yeah, those "40 year olds" went to drive-in movies and soda fountains with their slicked-back hair, etc. when they were young.

That was all true back in the 80's, but this isn't the 80's anymore.

The long and short of it: A 40 year old is not a "Baby Boomer". He was born in 1972. He was 23 when Windows 95 came out. The "personal computer" really took off a few years earlier, when he was 20.

I doubt such a guy/gal would be ignorant of computers, like some stubborn strain of Baby Boomer (I say "stubborn strain" because plenty of Baby Boomers use PCs today).

I am 36 myself, and "U Can't Touch This" was all the rage when I was in 8th grade. I suppose some members here were just babies in 1990 -- if they existed at all

Just like Scientific American laughed off poor genius Stephen Wiesner when he wrote his quantum cryptocurrency thesis in the 1960s. (Though he envisaged the QC being used to protect central bank notes from counterfeiting, at the time.)

Nah. Age has nothing to do with it. I'm over 40 and feel that I've got a pretty good grasp of bitcoin.  I've talked with several people here who were clearly younger than 40 and couldn't seem to wrap their head around the necessary concepts.

I've told a few people, but most of them don't think much of it. But I have had a few people take interest. Overall, most people I've introduced it too think its just to much of a radical idea.

I could not agree with you more. We will have to wait for a younger and more tech savvy generation. Any one over the age of 40 is a lost cause.

I tend to agree, mining is not something the average person needs to know about, it confuses what can already be a bit of a head f**k - some people struggle with the idea of digital currency (why I dont know, we've lived in a digital money world for a while now).

This harks back to something I've commented on before, that bitcoin is poorly branded for the average user to understand, let alone trust. That said, the question of "but how are they made" always comes up, I've taken just to saying the network rewards the transaction processors with new coins... its simpler.

i adjust how i explain them based on who i'm talking to and what purposes they would find most useful. pc guys love the tech aspect of "mining" and care less about the economics while business owners are interested in completely different info

+1 to what TradeFortress  said!

and +1 to what subSTRATA  said too!

This. I also think "mining" is a stupid term that should never have been used. I like to tell people that somebody has to keep this wonderful network running, and it takes a little work, hardware and electricity; as a compensation, there are the block rewards. It's no more "free money" than any other work. Sure, it is heavily automatized, but the pay is not that great, so it's essentially a hobby for most participants.

In general I agree that newcomers don't need to know about mining. That being said, the best approach to explaining bitcoin takes into account who you are explaining it to. If you are explaining it to a random person who you don't know anything about, by all means skip over the mining part. If you're explaining it to a guy who loves tinkering with hardware, then absolutely you should tell him about mining. A ones-size-fits-all approach is not a good idea when pitching, no matter what the idea is.

Correct, inputs are signed but not encrypted.

If you have to talk about it, the non-weird answer to this is that new money is issued to people who process payments. If they want to know who these people are, the answer is that anyone with a computer can start processing payments, and the system is designed to work even if some of those people are dishonest, but most people wouldn't want to bother.

The mining metaphor isn't actually a very good description of what's going on when miners mine. It may have been historically useful in attracting the initial goldbug types who were one of the first groups of early adopters, but it sounds a bit weird to Joe Sixpack, and makes the whole thing sound dodgy.

not if you're using someone else's system to do the mining

re: first question, most of the people i've mentioned *bitcoins to have questions as to wtf they are and how they retain value, not how to get them (that comes much later)

Mining is becoming less important as a price regulating factor as the market grows. New miners will loose money from day one.

And remember: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".

Depending on the view, I introduce Bitcoin from an economic/currency standpoint, a commodity/investment standpoint, or for mining.

Depending on who I talk to, a "dumbed down" version of mining is the best way "You use your computer to make free money."

No Tradejackass please STFU you MORON. PT Barnum had your number.. If you don't get the reference, well lets face it, even if you do your a tool at best.

Its more like this anyway you $%^#^!.

You say "bitcoins are really taking off they are worth like $13.00 each"
Friend says "whats a bitcoin"
you say "its a digital currency that you make with a SPECIALIZED PIECE OF HARDWARE THAT HAS ZERO OTHER USES or you can buy them at exchanges."
friend hears you say "its a digital currency that you make blah blah blah blah blah blah must use special hardware blah blah blah"
They then feign interest. That means to fake interest you used mens underwear sniffer. Oh sorry, that word, fake, it means not real, like the love your parents "gave" you.

See, the fact is Bitcoins is not and NEVER EVER will be for the every man.
Its a great idea an I have profited off of from selling the suckercoins as fast as they come in but the barrier for entry was
raised to high. Once it left the CPU it was the beginning of the end.  ASICS will put all the power in just a few hands. Then we have the morons who continually allow website to hold the cash or coins and get supprised when they are robbed blind.

If I was a criminal I would have had a site up and took all the BTC i could from the stupid like you tradeass. Come on, anyone who deals with guys with names like PIRATEAT40 deserved a good hard but pounding.  I mean really, pirateat40,  do names like irobyourcopins or closeyoumouthmouthbreather need to be used to make it anymore obvous this place is full of people looking steal your BTC and pretending to be honorable.  Ohh looky here I traded stuff on some BTC websites, its safe to trust my new BTC site with all you funds.
.

Everyone please continue to value these worthless and useless coins, I am so glad there a suckers buying.. You certainly can make a ton of money buying and selling BTC but the odds are you are just too stupid and will lose it all buying high and selling low.
I sell, always making more and more real money and NEVER EVER losing a BTC.

BTC! Its how I take your money while you smile like a fool.  I get cash you get the equivalent of some MMORPG gold that may or may not last.. LOL
Reminds me of when I used to sell gold for real cash back in the EQ days. That is EverQuest Trade%$^&#, the 1st huge MMORPG that was not that Ultima PVP griefer lame ass one. Bet all those EQ gold buyers felt exactly the same way BTC buyers do. Now we all know the EQ gold buyers feel stupid for buying some dumb game gold and they wasted their real money. BTC will be the same one day, a forgotten relic of the past that took peoples money, made a few rich and many had a good time. Me I had a good time and took some real money for these suckercoins.

Is there a way to encrypt something without doing it cryptographically?

More importantly, I don't think bitcoins are encrypted?  They are just an unencrypted value in the blockchain.


If we are getting new coins every 10 minutes or so, then the currency supply is inflating, isn't it? (Unless of course more coins are being permanently lost than mined)

You should always be careful about what you "expect". We can hope that you'll get richer, but there are no guarantees.

I would say that people I have talked to want to know how they are made before they are keen to get some. They like to know how it works on some level before knowing they can trust it.

not really.  usually the first question is "how can i get some?".