Bitcoin Forum

Dear community,
i just became a little more active on the forum to get a better understanding of the bitcoins and the community behind it.

By now im a strong believer in bitcoin, so i care what happens here, thats why i write these lines. Guess, its a key point in public acceptance to block any attempt that hurts the whole community by scaring bitcoin interested individuals away.


So, i just recognized that there are already structures in the bitcoin market which invite criminal actions.

What i want to suggest is a implementation of some kind of measure to make sure that everybody who is participating in the market section has at least a basic understanding of how scams, pumpndump und ponies work and how to identify them. I thought about some sort of quiz.

I also want to suggest to better categorize the market section in different trust levels. So inexperienced users could better identify fishy services and offers.

In my short time on this forum I've already come across many posts that warn of the dangers of fraud in the Bitcoin market.

The Newbies board (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=39.0) contains stickies such as Trust No One (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=33835.0) and Better protect yourself from having your account/accounts compromised (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=93252.0).
The Service Discussion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=85.0) board is about the merits of various services available for Bitcoin, including ones that people believe are scams.
The Important Announcements (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=87.0) board contains good information when there are serious changes in the market.


Bitcoin, even at its core technical levels, is about only trusting oneself. The algorithms do the heavy lifting of keeping nodes honest. You are responsible for verifying that those algorithms work as intended. You are responsible for storing your private keys safely. You are responsible for not making transactions that you will regret.

Asking people to fall back on "safe" versus "unsafe" market sections is undermining their own capability to make judgement calls, which is a necessary skill to participate in the Bitcoin community. It also puts the board at risk if somebody does get scammed in a "safe" section.

As kaii said above, take a look around and you'll see those warnings repeated incessantly around the forum.

Yes of course the stickies are around but lazy people simply ignore them.
I think we all have the same goal that bitcoins get more acceptance, so how do we get there?,.

I doubt that it is such a hard task to implement some sort of quiz where poeple are forced to at least understand the very basics before participating here. I know other forums where this is already in use.

I mean, what do we have to loose? Maybe some lazy guys who would not contribute anyway. From my perspective this is a win-win.

What do you think the newbie restrictions was for?

I also agree to this, but the restrictions just prevent spam and engage people to spent time, the function that somebody has to prove knowledge of the underlying topic is not given.

We'll get more posts like this :https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=102112.0 if we implement more restrictions. Heck, we could implement a complete tutorial that needs to be completed with high marks before one could even view the forums.

Anyone who is dumb enough to not read for himself will stay dumb despite any spoonfeeding attempts.

Yeah, people like to be spoonfeeded or get handy apple like applications to point and click. Those who strive for knowledge or look behind things are the minority.

Well, your arguments got me by the balls but i def still like the thought.

Concerning the market section, a simple differentiation between trusted / established sellers and sellers who are not known or suspicious.

There is threads like : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=81542.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=484.0 etc etc. Anyone who's looking to make a trade should do some research of his own, much like buying anything with your regular money.

I suspect once Pirate's project collapses, we'll see a shakedown of the "longterm lending offers" forum.  A lot of it should be moved into gambling.

I think it's going to take a big collapse, and people losing a couple million dollars to get significant action on this.

So the forum should actively try to protect people from their own stupidity? That is, of course, completely impossible.

We should do everything within our ability to make bitcoin not just a tool for geeks that normal users don't understand or get robbed by unscrupulous businessman.
For a newb there is enough to learn and understand, lets make it more easy and idiot friendly.

Do you want bitcoin to succeed? then make it accessible and understandable for everybody, not just for geeks.

You should consider making a suggestion, then, if you think something can be changed.

I made 2 suggestions, both got refused  so far.
As soon as i have another one il share it, till then may somebody else has a better suggestions.

Do you need to fill out a questionaire every time you get cash out of the bank ?