Bitcoin Forum

Almost everyone wants bitcoin to grow and become mainstream. But bitcoin is in no way noob friendly, and the majority of the community prefer to keep it that way. For bitcoin to become mainstream the majority of users are going to have to be noobs, with most not knowing or caring about the inner-workings of the technology.

Here is a fictitious quote I made up to put things in perspective.

Old-school credit card user:  8)
"ZOMG, you have been using a credit card for 3 years and you don't even know that the magnetic stripes tracks one and three are typically recorded at 210 bits per inch? pfff Go back to cash noob credit cards are not for you."

Me:
 :'( "But, I just want to buy a soda."

Who is the majority of the community and where did a poll happen to say that "the majority of the community doesn't want a noob friendly bitcoin"?
This makes no sense because as far as I know everyone wants to see a worldwide widespread Bitcoin. And yes, at the end of the day the final goal is that Bitcoin is easy enough to use so people don't need to understand the tech behind it, but we are still at the very early stages so you can't expect this to happen, once the technology finally ready to start scaling up worldwide the devs will focus more on cool looking GUIs and making it all more noob friendly, for now the main focus remains making the protocol as robust as possible guaranteeing you will be able to keep working on top of it without needing hard forks every X time because some sort of dead end is meet.

I actually believe bitcoin is incredibly easy to use. Way easier than it has ever been in fact. I also don't believe that the majority of the community wants to keep bitcoin in the dark. I don't see this.

I think there is lots of work going on to make bitcoin 'noob friendly'.

A good indication of this is both online, mobile and desktop wallets. Especially so mobile wallets which are becoming easier to use. You do not have to be an expert to work a mobile nowadays. So I also tend to disagree that the 'larger' community do not want bitcoin to be noob friendly, I think most are trying to make it as easy as possible without throwing security out the window.

I can agree to allthingsluxury.

I also believe that Bitcoin is very easy to use. You can download a client in seconds and you are ready to receive payments. One doesn't need to wait for days like when you are opening a bank account.

Simply download, send someone your address, receive your BTC.


And sending BTC is also quite simple. Get an address, type in the amount, send and wait until it is confirmed.

Ok, maybe I was out of line by saying "majority". I should have said the majority of users that respond to noob-like questions in any sub-forum besides beginners, that I have read.

I based my assumption on the small sample size of posts that I have read.

I wouldn't say that's necessarily true. Perhaps the majority wants this. There is a core group of bitcoin users, I believe, who see it purely as a hedge against government intervention and devaluation. In that case, whether or not it achieves "mainstream adoption" is less important than maintaining a "secure network that is decentralized." Many believe that at a certain point, those two things are antipodal.

i don't find bitcoin so hard to use, really you need a program an amount of coins and an address to spend to coins, how in the hell this is not noob friendly?

people are avoiding it for a compeltely different reaso, which has nothing to do with how hard is bitcoin to use, but more how insecure it can be if you don't take the right measures

Funnily enough those who say it's easy to use are those who are currently using it. It's easy once you're rolling but there's a mountain to climb to get just anyone to roll. It takes decades for new concepts to take root.

There are no shortage of third parties beavering away. It can only really be truly widespread when its use is a mindless act and it's such a no brainer that you don't need to justify why you're using it to yourself.

i thought bitcoin was noob friendly?  :o you have a wallet it has bitcoin in it and you can send and receive.

I will take this seriously:
The main difference between a credit card operation and a bitcoin operation is that the main logic runs on different places:
*CC: In VISA servers.
*BTC: In your Phone/PC/Tablet/etc.

That will obviously complicate a little bit the things for the user, but guess what?, the whole process is almost the same. Instead of sending data to VISA servers and signing a paper, your phone or tablet have to cryptographically sign a transaction and send it to the Bitcoin network. And the latter is almost transparent now by using very user friendly Android/iPhone wallet applications.
Both worlds are very similar, but now the responsibility is on OUR SIDE. That's the thing and it is lovely.

I will end my post saying that if we are complicating a 1% things to be REALLY FREE, then I love complications.

Anyone wondering why the pin code on credit card  have so few digits? I would have chosen to have more than 10 numbers but normal people cant remember long numbers. Most people are idiots and a payment system has to be made to work for idiots. Even now there are a lot of people who has to write down the pin code and carry it with them to be able to use cards.

No way bitcoin is userfriendly and easy for the normal person.

It is not. Maybe in 5-10 years.

Just wait to see when normal people drown their phone and dont have any backup and have no idea how to get their bitcoin back.

idk blockchain.info's wallet is pretty simple.

but its true actually using them, learning how to get them, how to securely store them if your want to hold a larger amount long term, etc... isn't exactly easy.

Well bitcoin could be made to be more user friendly, but it’s not rocket science either, especially with online wallets and QR codes.

As such, I think that mainstream adoption could be possible, the only problem that I see could delay this is the fact that people are not very good with passwords, so be prepared for a lot of stolen coins.

I agree with the OP on this problem. Bitcoin is not yet enough user friendly and that's a fact. I am not talking about scanning a QR code and hitting a send button.

First unfriendly thing is definitely a security. Bitcoins are hard to secure at the moment and this is essential and needs to be solved. I bet that if we gave a 100 people from the street 1 BTC each and show them how to secure it, at least half would have their coins stolen or they would lose them. This is just too much.

Second unfriendly thing that comes to my mind is buying first coins, verifications, etc.. This is way to hard at the moment.

Yes a lot of work to be done for us!

How is writing down some words hard? You have to do that once and it is done.

Buying Bitcoin is also not that hard anymore, I know of two ways in Austria, where you don't have to register anywhere: ATMs and Bitcoinbons.
Besides, registering on an exchange is as hard as opening a bank account. Most people can manage that.

walking, reading, writing... all of that isn't easy tasks either...

but we all make an effort to learn them because they are soooo good and necessary...

if people knew how GOOD bitcoin is to change the way the world works and how FREE they can be in a bitcoin (idea) financial system, they would do everything to learn bitcoin as much as they could...

people are not interested because they don't understand how good bitcoin is...
when you try to explain to people how the current financial system works and that in the end the rothschild controls pretty much all the economy in the world, they don't pay attention or simply call you a conspiray theory freak..

when you have facts, the theory is not a theory anymore..

1) buy a recycled android phone (less than 100 USD)
2) buy a internet phone month service (less than 15 USD per month)
3) create a gmail account (free)
4) install Bitcoin android wallet (schildbach)

Now, you can emit and receive bitcoin for free ...





so, noobs ?
sorry, if noobs don't read FAQ, i can't help.

http://www.road-trip-bikers.com/images/pavement_end.gif

I completely agree with the OP. No offence to anyone on this forum but sometimes I think it should be renamed "nerdcoin". The technology and folklore behind Bitcoin are fascinating, and the investment potential is alluring, but the practical uses so often seem completely ignored.

Even if you look at "introduction to Bitcoin" videos on YouTube, it's all about decentralisation, the blockchain, mining, cryptography, etc. .. when in fact a layperson really just needs to be shown how you can instantly transfer "cash" between cellphones, or over email, etc

People don't need bitcoin to "instantly transfer cash between cellphones, or over email, etc".... there are plenty of services they can use to do that. So why bitcoin? I think the emphasis re: organic adoption should be less on the consumer-side.

The thing is, much of the value attributed to bitcoin has nothing to do with the transfer protocol, per se. Sure, we want average people to use it to send money. But bitcoin isn't just a replacement for Apple Pay and the like. It's important for people to learn what bitcoin is and why it has value to begin with -- that it is not simply a transfer protocol but a new asset class... a new kind of money.

Think of it like a transferable, digital gold. Decentralization is what gives a limited supply token value; it cannot be externally devalued. Cryptographic security and proof of work mining -- these aspects of the protocol are what makes those tokens retain value -- it is extremely difficult/expensive to roll back spends or remove transactions from the blockchain. In other words, this is what makes bitcoin "money".

Sure, people can devise more smooth Google or Apple-like wallets and services, so people don't even realize they are using bitcoin in day-to-day use. But the "killer app" is already here: decentralized, transferable value. It's not an easy concept to understand off the bat, but that's what newcomers need to understand.

This is EXACTLY the kind of attitude the OP was talking about. It's absolutely toxic to bitcoin.

We also should have named the Internet “Internerd” 20 years ago. But now, everyone is in Facebook sharing Minion pictures.

The problem with Bitcoin is that it still is new technology. As more and more people start to use it, those high-technical explanations about the blockchain and scripts and so on should disappear.

Bitcoin is not that hard to use.... Its simple.

Its simple but why use it? There needs to be a consumer side incentive. Some type of "COUPON".

As far as usage of Bitcoin is, I think it's pretty easy for the modern kids as they're already use to a lot of tech, it might be a bit difficult for the older kids but they can also understand it, if they make an effort. It's a new technology and it takes time, Email, was pretty hard to use for some people at the start but now almost everyone uses it. What I think is a little difficult right now is buying/selling of bitcoin, with all the scam going on one has to be really careful when buying/selling but new people don't realize this and usually are the ones getting scammed and that's the only area of my concern about Bitcoin right now.

I'm a horrible communicator when it comes to Bitcoin; I'll leave it up to others to help newbies.

If asked a specific question I'll try to help but often, newbies don't even know what questions to ask. 

I find the biggest misunderstandings new users have is the line between Bitcoin the Network and Bitcoin services provided by 3rd parties.

Let's say everyone was warned in an economic collapse is coming and they announce bitcoin is the new currency should it be worth more then 1 billion?

Simple because the last people to purchase bitcoin like per satoshi is 10$s

Would prices change to fix the people that are late buyers in bitcoin?

Or simply because they are late there in poverty

there is a learning curve but if you really want the knowledge its out there and easy to get. new potential users who want to understand bitcoin and ask me... i tell them... "first download bitcoin core, it will take about a week, then reserve an afternoon off and study. bitcoin.org bitcoin wiki and here at bitcointalk. I let them know there is quite a bit to learn but after a few hours of study you should have it mostly figured out. keep studying and looking around the forums. by the time core is fully downloaded you should be ready to roll."

then i warn them that bitcointalk has a lot of users who are smarmy computer nerds who delight in mocking people who dont have the obscure knowledge they do. learn to ignore these butthurt losers and you will find not everyone is such an asshat, plenty users are glad to help and understanding"

bitcoin isn't that hard to use, its just that a lot of the spineless anon users are hard to take.

Pretty much agree with this.

There is a learning curve with Bitcoin at the moment. I don't think a learning curve actually ever disappears, it's only the next generation who grow up with it and learned it young that don't really notice it. I remember when Facebook had a learning curve, in some ways it still does. It was also only the fact that so many people started using it that people stopped thinking about the curve and suffered it.

If Bitcoin isn't all over the place in ten years, that's when I'd start to worry.

Who are you referring to as the majority? We're trying to come up with a rather complete layman
's definition and how-to explanation of bitcoin to attract people to use bitcoin. Many are interested, but yes, most are overwhelmed by the complication present in bitcoin. It prevents adoption to boom.

Why are people so obsessed about the user-friendliness of Bitcoin, when there are so many online wallets and payment processors out there to make it idiot proof? The most difficult decision they need to make, is to chose which of these services are the best and most secure option to take.

How many people know how the TCP/IP protocol help the internet to function? BUT they still use the internet? Ask the normal user to give you his or her IP address or gateway or DNS and they will not know what you talking about, BUT they still use the internet.  ::)

Use the applications and the services and forget about the internal protocols that enable it. 

The addressing system is really rather cumbersome. Is there no way we could attach some kind of decentralised dns system to map the long address to registered names?

I completely disagree to anyone saying using bitcoin is easy at the moment.

Sure, if you have spent time in getting to know it, it is easy. The services are fast and easy, but there is still a massive barrier to get started with bitcoin.

Real adoptation will only happen when people don't need to bother with the basics of bitcoin and when they can just use their apps to do it.

All markets are full of noobs, the herd mentality is strong.

I find the using of bitcoin easy and that can be learned by itself (if you want to do seriously this) with the help of an other person which is a little more expert and know how to use it. Needed to understand which is (digital money, internet money, not physical form), needed to open a wallet (can be learned in 2-3 minutes) and to navigate within it to learn how is organised (needed 10-15 minutes depending from the wallet), what is an address of your wallet , where to find it and how to create one (can be learned in 2-3 minutes) and at the end how to send bitcoin. Then to show a site which show the data of blockchain and learn the meaning of the confirmation of the transaction (can be learned within other 2-3 minutes).

Maybe seems to many things but are longer explaining those than doing those.

exactly, using bitcoin it is a little nightmare for the average joe (is was even worse in 2013). but we dont need or can handle mainstream adoption yet. so it is "actually a good thing"  :D

Bitcoin does need to be simplified but just in the way of giving the users a general overview of how their 'money' would work if they converted it into bitcoin.

The general public don't know the technicalities of a bank account actually works, how a debit card works, how chip & pin works etc they just know its simple to remember and easy to do - We only need to apply the same to the bitcoin arena.