Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Mining => Topic started by: NCDiesel on October 19, 2017, 02:11:40 PM



Title: Resources to point interested friends and spouses
Post by: NCDiesel on October 19, 2017, 02:11:40 PM
So I get the question:  "What is bitcoin mining?" every time someone sees my equipment.    My explanations are lacking.   Likewise, my spouse just knows that money is supposed to show up magically.  I try to explain how and shes pretty convinced I'm "hacking the web"   :)

Is there a good, but layman's, document on the web that explains what we are doing ?   You know - 3 page white paper style but for the uninitiated
 Everything I seen is too technical or glosses over it to the point its inaccurate.

Thanks!


Title: Re: Resources to point interested friends and spouses
Post by: VRobb on October 19, 2017, 02:15:41 PM
Wikipedia is halfway between too much and too little.  That might be a good place to start for the uninitiated.


Title: Re: Resources to point interested friends and spouses
Post by: HeRetiK on October 19, 2017, 03:13:35 PM
I like pointing people to this short introduction to Bitcoin's historical context:

https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3136559

It explains the rationale behind Bitcoin and PoW by giving a comprehensive overview of the basic concepts that lead to Bitcoin and crypto-currencies. It's less of a "how" and more of a "why" explanation of what mining does. You might need to explain some of the used terminology, but in my opinion it's rather layman-friendly.


Title: Re: Resources to point interested friends and spouses
Post by: NCDiesel on October 20, 2017, 12:24:09 AM
Thanks!   Both are good(had seen the Wikipedia already of course) - probably use both for friends of differing backgrounds.

While searching for the Wikipedia article so I could grab the link, I found - and was shockingly unaware of - the existence of a "simple english" Wikipedia.  I think it is designed for ESL folks but it is even better for some of my friends and relatives (ie 81 year old mother-in-law).  They do a nice job of aggregating the main page's information without introducing inaccuracy.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

Thanks again,



Title: Re: Resources to point interested friends and spouses
Post by: VRobb on October 20, 2017, 12:53:38 AM
NP NC!  Frankly we appreciate more intelligent questions instead of the usual, broken record (that dates me!) of "is it profitable", or "is it profitable now", or "help me mine bitcoinz for free!!!111", or the real kicker of "free energy" or any of the other useless, repetitive threads that make most of roll our eyes and sigh!  ::)
Thanks for the breath of fresh air.  8)


Title: Re: Resources to point interested friends and spouses
Post by: NCDiesel on October 24, 2017, 03:17:00 PM
NP NC!  Frankly we appreciate more intelligent questions instead of the usual, broken record (that dates me!) of "is it profitable", or "is it profitable now", or "help me mine bitcoinz for free!!!111", or the real kicker of "free energy" or any of the other useless, repetitive threads that make most of roll our eyes and sigh!  ::)
Thanks for the breath of fresh air.  8)

Thanks for the kind words!   Had a bonfire/chicken stew at the farm over the weekend and links came in handy after my wife brought up mining and a field trip to the shop (where the equipment is) ensued.