Bitcoin Forum

Hey everyone,

Bitcoinquickstart.com (http://bitcoinquickstart.com) is meant to consolidate information so newbies can get up and running fast.

People new to bitcoin often have similar questions and searching this forum and the wikis can require time and research turning many people off.

Please let me know how it might be improved or of any inaccurate information.

Thanks!

Great idea


In "What is Bitcoin":

I find "Well, bitcoins don't get value from any words of government, which is known as "fiat"." somewhat confusing.
I mean, I know what fiat is, but some people might interpret this sentence as " not getting value from goverment = fiat " (even though you use 'instead' in the next sentence).

Personally, I would change " bitcoins get value because people who learn how they work often begin to want them" to "bitcoins get value because they are scarce and useful, both as a medium of exchange and as a store of value."

"This makes Bitcoin a deflationary currency rather than an inflationary one, meaning the value of each bitcoin will probably increase over time, instead of decrease."  --> depends on whether you are talking about price inflation or monetary inflation (you are probably talking about price inflation).  Maybe change to "This makes Bitcoin resistant to inflation, meaning its value won't be eroded over time"?

Agreed and changed. Thanks!

One thing I would add to "how do I store bitcoins" is the fact that you should refresh your backups before doing more than 100 transactions.  This is something that took me a while to find out, and vague references to it kinda scared me when I was starting out (which isnt that long ago  :) ). I am assuming it works the same way for multibit as for the original client.

Ooo... good point. Will add that.

Edited for typos and re-wording...

Perhaps add a link to the Free Bitcoin Guide (http://www.freebitcoinguide.com)?

Yes, of course. In fact one question I need to add is "Where can I find more information?" where I'll list other resources like this forum, the wikis, and I'll add the Free Bitcoin Guide there too.

The site is not finished. I want to keep it simple, but maybe add in some pictures and video references too to liven it up.

The WeUseBitCoins video would probably be perfect ;)

Yep, exactly what I was thinking  ;D

Added some pics and videos... lookin good now :)

full disclosure: I had a quickstart page in mind for a while and might add it to my site.

really? How many types of inflations there are? Are you an economist? :( :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6a10UuQFOM

Anyways, I'd really read a good introduction to Bitcoin. But which one really is that?

Thanks Coinster for making this guide! should come in handy for the NEWBS. ;D

Nice job so far!

Correction: CryptoXchange has shut down

Addition: The Bitcoin Store! By far the most impressive and mainstream-friendly answer to "what can I do with bitcoins?"

No, I am not an economist, but I have the internetz:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_inflation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_inflation


Check the website being discussed ...

The Youtube video in my post above is a better source.

Navigation suggestion: Give a link at the bottom of each section to return to the main page (rather than force the reader to use the BACK button or go back up and click HOME.

Very clean, nice and tight. Thank you for this, I'll point new folks here to this page!

Thanks!

Changed CryptoXchange to BTC-E.com

Also added BitcoinStore.com with a great screenshot (http://bitcoinquickstart.com/where-can-i-use-bitcoins)  ;D


Awesome suggestion. Added 'return to homepage' link at bottom. Thanks!

I've put a link to this guide on the multibit.org landing page as I think it is pretty good.
(Bottom right of multibit.org/index.html (https://multibit.org/index.html) )

Would be nice to have a medium sized "BitcoinQuickStart.com" icon to use for the link as it is somewhat swamped by the LoveBitcoins.org one next to it.

Well they won't win any awards, but I have just grabbed the BitcoinQuickStart title text and made:

https://multibit.org/postImages/BitcoinQuickStart1.png

and

https://multibit.org/postImages/BitcoinQuickStart2.png

Coinster < Are you ok if I use the second one as the icon for the link to your site on multibit.org ? Better than a raw text link.

Awesome! Yes, thanks that looks great  ;D

Do newbies need a quick start?

No, they don't. Newbies don't need a quick start unless they're interested in selling or buying drugs or something. These are urgent needs that demand an anonymous payment. Can you tell me why they should replace dollars and credit cards with bitcoin at this stage taking safety, conveniences and transaction fees into consideration?

Maybe the most sincere design is to show them how to buy and sell bitcoins as ordinary commodity and earn some dollars.

Frankly I don't expect to see a large number of newbies hyped into bitcoin circle with nothing gained after a long period of anxiety and expectation in vain. I'm not being rude, but being practical and sincere :)

Great! I have updated the landing (https://multibit.org/index.html) and faq (https://multibit.org/faq.html) pages with the icon.

Do newbies need a quick start?

Yes, yes they do.  So they don't need to spend hours looking for good information, reading the stuff they already know over and over again.
Also, this way they can feel that they know enough to get started.

As for the drugs stuff: I am not here to buy drugs.  I am here to invest/speculate in what could become a mayor currency and store of value in the future.  And (with the exception of the syncing/scalability issue) I find, once you are set up, using bitcoins is extremely easy and fun.  Future convenience and safety will only improve as the bitcoin-economy matures.

One more navigation suggestion: As well as a 'Return to Homepage' link at the bottom, have a link to the next section (to allow a nice flow of reading & education) such as: 'Next: What is Mining?'

This is one of the best new bitcoin-related sites in quite a while. Great job!

I'm just playing the role of antagonist 8). Of course beginners need quick start. I care about the facts concerning the profitability of both beginners and website owners, and optimize the market position in this context.

Since you annouce that "I am here to invest/speculate in what could become a mayor currency and store of value in the future", It can be assumed that you agree that bitcoin is not a currency for the time being, at least not fully-fledged. What is it now if less than 10% or 5% of the bitcoins are in circulation serving as medium of transaction? A sleeping beauty, or a gambling? What do you call bitcoin exchange? I would definitely call it operator of a biggest ponzi scheme if/when more than 50% of all the available coins are actively traded. All the hypers and the exchange stand in one side who make profit by so-called speculation, beginners lose money and bitcoin is dumped.

A grim picture, isn't it?