Thanks, TPTB!
It's a fascinating topic.
Would love to hear more thoughts about how/why more people ain't exactly keeping it real with regard to their bagholder status and/or prowess in the markets.
From your original post on it: "Without the sordid stories from the losers, everyone thinks it is silly to not try to get rich quick."
Pride. People don't flock to discussion forums to brag about how stupid they are or how they got sandbagged. Well, some do. But they're usually looking for sympathy or a handout or both and this forum provides neither.
Agree.
So...how about this...what would you, or more likely what DO you (not The Pharmacist specifically, but people in general) say to this...
1) I'm thinking about buying some Bitcoin. You know a little about it. What do I need to know?
2) I've held Bitcoin for about a year. I'm concerned about blocksize, halving ramifications, developer static, etc... and I'm thinking about branching out to alts. What do I need to know?
Scenerio 1
You need to know Bitcoin is not anonymous, transactions of it can be traced and its coin history can be mis-used to block you at certain third party's
You also need to know that its founder identity is unknown and that a large sum of bitcoins is held by that person and / or group
Lastly you will need to know that there is a conflict going on for some time now on how to go forward with regards to scalability and general vision on Bitcoin and that this conflict is
still ungoing, creating uncertainty in the market.
Scenerio 2
You need to know a lot of development has taken place in the altcoin scene and you will have to find out for yourself which cryptocurrency best fits with your own needs. Important points to take into consideration :
Does the altcoin you are possibly interested in show signs of active development ?
Does the altcoin you are possibly interested in have a track record with quickly solving problems ? (in other words, does it have a capable dev team ?)
Does the altcoin you are possibly interested in have roadmaps and does it have a history of successfully finishing those roadmaps ?
Does the dev team of that altcoin you are possibly interested in provide clear and detailed feedback to its community ?
Is there information to obsorb about the altcoin's past you are possibly interested in ? and does it have a vision ?
So basicly every investor should do its own homework by doing some research himself and dont rely purely on a forum.
But most importantly, only invest that which you can spare to loose and be aware that cryptocurrency by nature is highly volatile and contains therefore considerable risks.