Bitcoin Forum

If you want to be a merit source:

 1. Be a somewhat established member.

2. Collect TEN posts written in the last couple of months by other people that have not received nearly enough merit for how good they are, and post quotes for them all in a new Meta thread. The point of this is to demonstrate your ability to give out merit usefully.

those files are html browser based tool that you can run locally offline on your browser
ok, so I'll be using 19Fm1SKQnk8Gpy1v7fXyiHqvHiFPiTnFRF as destination address
current recommended tx fee is very very high close to 1000s/B  :o
so I set 0.00225 for tx fee which will be around ~850s/B ($36 @ $16,000) and 0.003 ($48) for tip if you don't mind
when you see and do this, hopefully the network fee will drop a few hundred nearing this weekend

Preparations:
- open this post so you can follow the step by step instruction easily
- have your private key for 1o4PtEAcNCHx8H5qU5R9XSGBMskJ2Jocp handy, my guess it starts with K or L
- go offline, disconnect your internet connection
- open your browser's private window so it doesn't cache, record or leave cookie, history, and etc
chrome incognito mode or firefox private window or whatever private browsing mode your browser have
- open the folder where you unzipped the two tools you've downloaded

First, acquiring your privkey:
- if the privkey you get from bc.info starts with 5 then you're set, jump to Second part
but if it starts with K or L, as I guessed before, then you need to find the real privkey for 1o4PtEAcN address
- open folder bitaddress.org-3.3.0 then click & drag bitaddress.org.html to new tab on your private browser
- you can move around your mouse to get to 100 % or just click "Wallet Details"
- enter your K or Lxxxx private key in the space provided and click "View Details"
- it should show your 1o4PtEAcNC... address on the left, scroll down a bit you can see "Private Key WIF" starts with a '5'
- the string starts with 5... is your actual private key for 1o4PtEAcNC...

Second, signing rawtx:
- open folder coinbin-1.3 then click & drag index.html to another new tab on your private browser
- click on menu "Sign" then copy paste your private key 5xxxx into the first input form
- also copy paste unsigned rawtx below into the second input form , and click submit
- it will give you "Signed transaction" , select and copy the new signed tx
- open notepad, paste this signed tx and save it for later use
- click on menu "Verify" and paste your signed tx in the input space provided then click submit
- make sure all inputs for your transactions are checkmarked on the signed column
- also double check the destination addresses and amounts are precisely as we agreed, 1Fq7XdaVC... is my address

Third, broadcast:
- close all incognito browser but don't forget to save the signed tx on your notepad txt file
- re-connect your internet and re-open your local coinb.in index.html or just go to live coinb.in page
- click on menu "Broadcast" and paste your signed tx here then click submit
- if it gives you error, you can broadcast/push it to other nodes or post here your signed tx
and I will help you push it to other available nodes

I hope these instructions clear enough for you to understand and follow

I’m no expert in Bitcoin, or any crypto currency, just a regular guy, with a bit of background knowledge, mostly from reading this forum over the last few days. I’m starting to experiment with Bitcoin partly to diversify my investments, but mostly out of curiosity! I thought I’d start a thread about my Bitcoin journey to help anyone else in a similar position, but also as a sounding board to make sure I'm on the right track.

Bitcoin has been in my peripheral vision for years - I’m not going to think about how lucrative it could have been to have bought some Bitcoin when I first heard about it! The value has already doubled since I put “Research Bitcoin” into my todo list a few months ago! I am not interested in learning about the mining side of things, I understand I have already missed the boat on that!

From my current investments I have come to the  conclusion that I prefer to take a hands off approach to investing and that fees can eat into your profits, so need to be minimised. I’m going to take a similar approach to Bitcoin, finding a balance between returns, effort and fees and to start with - not investing more than I can afford to lose, until I know what I am doing a bit more.

It seems like my first step is to set up a wallet - there seem to be a lot of options for this. I think to start with I'll go for a web based one to start with, blockchain.info and coinbase are looking most likely at the moment - any preferences on the two? Or is it worth setting up both and seeing which I prefer?

Security wise, I have set up a new email address, with 2FA activated, to keep my Bitcoin stuff separate/private.

The private key did not work for some reason, and when I would check addresses there was no BCH showing on it either.

However, this is what ended up working:

1 - Sent all coins to another wallet (thanks LoyceV), this is the safe thing to do

2 - Downloaded Bitcoin ABC on another PC

3 - Loaded it until it was up to date

4 - Swapped wallet with old bitcoin wallet that is now empty, but had coins in at time of fork

5 - If you sent your coins out, it will show 0. Go into transactions. Right click and select Abandon Transaction for all post-fork transactions.

And then your BCC is right there. This should work for anyone that was having issues with the Coinomi method. Make sure you have enough harddrive space when doing this files are very large.

I've rebroadcasted your transaction https://blockchain.info/tx/83619e4a579b498b30c1d48fa4ef57b2692a0f6a471ede2c0cc7a5afeb43539a and the parent transaction's inputs - https://blockchain.info/tx/e7fd426cc3716b59ba84869abfafafc8315eec0c3975b71c4b6dfba9c0d4c41e

Before re-broadcasting the parent transaction, it was giving me missing inputs, so I had to do that first and then re-broadcast the child transaction.

Basically derived it from: https://blockchain.info/tx/e7fd426cc3716b59ba84869abfafafc8315eec0c3975b71c4b6dfba9c0d4c41e?format=hex


and https://blockchain.info/tx/83619e4a579b498b30c1d48fa4ef57b2692a0f6a471ede2c0cc7a5afeb43539a?format=hex


I've pushed the transactions on blockcypher, coinb.in, smartbit and blockexplorer. I believe other nodes should start picking it up as well soon.

Edit: Have also submitted your transaction to the antpool transaction accelerator, just incase your transaction can be picked by the next block that they mine since both these transactions have very good fees.

Edit2: Both transactions now have 1 confirmation.

What you could do is to try to use tool such as: https://coinb.in/

I've been using it for quite some time and so far my keys are safe with me. What is coinb.in anyways? It is a website open-source that have basic functionality of signing an address and creating and managing transactions in general.

I use LIVE OS installed on my USB for this because every time I use this USB it is only existent in my RAM. Basically you want to boot up your live OS, download coinb.in pull the information about available inputs via some available block explorers out here and simply go offline after you get your inputs. Plugin other usb with your priv key or you can install software that can read QR from your camera codes before you even go offline and can read your private key this way. Sign a message with that private key and simply save your hex encoded bitcoin transaction either on your hard drive or plugin another USB so you can simply broadcast that hex later on.

I found this to be effective thing to do for me, might be a bit complicated but so far it have served me well.

I don't really see an other offline solution as you will still have to pull unspent inputs from somewhere.

Electrum can do this if you have an online computer and an offline (air gapped) computer.

Setup the online Electrum in watch only mode with the address in which you have funds. Attempt to send the funds as desired. This will create an unsigned transaction which can be saved in a file that you can place on a USB stick. Setup the offline Electrum with your private key. Move the USB stick to the offline computer, load the transaction into Electrum, sign it, and saved the signed transaction back onto the USB. Move the USB to the online computer, load it into Electrum, and broadcast it to the world. (I've not done this, so I don't know all the user interface choices that will be needed...)

The signed transaction is secure. You can take your time broadcasting it from the USB. No malware can take it and change it.

No altcoin can compete with Bitcoin in economic fundamentals.  Bitcoin has the first-mover advantage, the network effect, the famous brand name, and most importantly:  Large numbers of people, rich and poor, of a thousand opinions and religions, are each and all forcibly united by their common selfish interest in Bitcoin.  Bitcoin isn’t only a technology:  It is a sociological phenomenon.  That is Bitcoin’s economic foundation, and a power no altcoin can hope to match.

Thus, altcoins compete with either scam glitzy marketing, or features and technical advances.  I will here focus on the latter.

As an economic giant, Bitcoin needs to be technologically conservative.  People rely on Bitcoin to safekeep their life’s savings!  Many have considerable fortunes held in Bitcoin.  So Bitcoin can’t take risks on unproved ideas, however promising they may seem.  It also can’t hardfork on demand, if needed to implement features which could not otherwise be added.  Thus if you want a cryptocurrency which implements radical new ideas and experimental features, you can only get that with an alt.

This whole situation will change with sidechains (whether Drivechains (http://www.drivechain.info/) or otherwise).  A sidechain allows implementation of almost any imaginable feature, backed by genuine Bitcoin.  Turing-complete smart contracts?  Unlinkable transactions secured with zero-knowledge proofs?  A coin which sings like a bird each morn at dawn, and changes hues with the days of the week?  Do it with pegged Bitcoin, on a sidechain.

If and when that becomes a reality, no one of sound mind will buy into an altcoin—and no one with sound motives will build a new altcoin.  People with new ideas will simply create a sidechain.  People who want new features will simply use a sidechain.

Absent the only legitimate means for an alt to compete against Bitcoin—features—the only people left in alts will be speculators, scammers pushing hot ICOs, and fools buying into hot ICOs.

When that happens, will all altcoins crash and burn?

Corollary question:  How much higher will the value of Bitcoin rise, when the capital currently in alts starts flowing into Bitcoin sidechains?

Note:  For technical reasons, I am not thrilled by the proposed implementation of Drivechains.  But the technical discussion is not here relevant, if Drivechains become Bitcoin’s substantial implementation of sidechains (https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-December/015339.html).  Any which way, sidechains are coming.

Disclosure:  I currently hold a substantial position in an altcoin.  I bought into it for ideological reasons (privacy), not for speculation.  I paid bitcoin for it.  At present, I am watching it slowly slide away into oblivion against Bitcoin.  I will not say which one, because my purpose here is not to bash any particular coin—especially not one in which I myself am invested!  Rather, I am questioning the future viability of altcoins altogether.

In reply to these, and likely others earlier in the thread:



Smart thinking!  A day or two ago, I whipped up a quickie Segwit address generator with a simple regex search.  It can produce both P2WPKH-nested-in-P2SH and Bech32 addresses.  It’s quite trivial; it lacks vanitygen’s features, and probably also falls short in performance.

Some sample outputs from short patterns:

3NULL3ZCUXr7RDLxXeLPDMZDZYxuaYkCnG (bitcoin:3NULL3ZCUXr7RDLxXeLPDMZDZYxuaYkCnG)  (^3NULL[0-9])

bc1qcash96s5jqppzsp8hy8swkggf7f6agex98an7h (bitcoin:bc1qcash96s5jqppzsp8hy8swkggf7f6agex98an7h) (hahah; ^bc1qcash[0-9])

From earlier tests, WIF private key import was confirmed by me to work perfectly in Electrum:


The code is in C, Unix-only.  It’s fairly trivial; it essentially glues together Core’s secp256k1 library, luke-jr’s libbase58, and sipa’s reference Bech32 code.  It has almost no features; it won’t even try to tell you if the pattern you seek is impossible.  I’d intended to toss it out there somewhere for others to play with; but it devolved into a patchwork of #ifdefs with multiple different code paths, due to an build-time problem with dependencies (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2635880.msg26818621#msg26818621).  It would require time and effort to clean up.

How great is the interest in this?

Hey folks,

Today is a Monday and that means an update of my weekly BTX airdrop end date prediction spreadsheet.
This week I predicted 134 000 coins to be dropped, while the factual number was 133 140, so slightly lower than predicted.
The main reason for this is in my view the 3-4 days that the airdrop registration was offline due to the new website added by the team.

In any case, the end date is still unchanged - still April 23rd as the last Monday.

Next week we will have the first 6% airdrop and I predict 180 000 coins to be dropped that week. Let's see how it goes!

https://i.imgur.com/WZ524j3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WZ524j3.jpg

--ypsi

Current issue

Currently you can check your sMerit balance only when you try to send sMerit to someone's post by clicking the +Merit link for the post.
Another issue for small-number sMerit holder is the sMerit balance is rounded off and you can't check if you have 0.5 sMerit.
Furthermore, it does not seem to be well-recognized in the community that the minimum unit for sMerit is 0.5 [EDIT: while sendable minimum unit is 1], or even the difference between Merit and sMerit.

[EDIT:
Another point is that in the current system +Merit link doesn't appear if you have 0 Merit and 0 sMerit, which makes Newbies and Jr. Members a little bit hard to know the existence of sMerit.
Of course if people read the theymos' post carefully they understand the system, but it's also true that some people are confusing, so I tried to think about how the interface could be improved.]

These issues prevent smooth Merit/sMerit circulation.

Proposal

I think one can solve these issues by improving the interface, specifically, by

1) introducing sMerit balance to Profile page and under the name at one's post,
2) making 0.5 sMerit visible there.

The new interface requires minimal effort to implement, resolves the above issues, and also answers repeated questions such as "how to check my sMerit", "why I can't send sMerit", "why I have 0 sMerit when I received 1 Merit" etc.

Of course a user's sMerit balance should be visible only by him/herself, otherwise people might rush to people who have a large number of sMerits.
[EDIT: so sMerit balance should be still hidden from other accounts just like email address.]

The following images are what I have in mind, the left one is the current interface, the right one is my proposal:

Profile page
https://imgur.com/qbHYTeE
https://i.imgur.com/qbHYTeE.png (https://imgur.com/qbHYTeE)

Each post
https://imgur.com/e0eIeEc
https://i.imgur.com/e0eIeEc.png (https://imgur.com/e0eIeEc)

3. We will take a look at your history and maybe make you a source.

I am especially eager to have merit sources in sub-communities such as the local sections.

The criteria for a merit source should require that a source must be fair and possessed of sound judgment, well-informed, resistant to corruption, and deeply invested in the Bitcoin Forum’s long-term success as a community.  By such evidence as I have seen in my experience here, LoyceV appears to have these characteristics in more than adequate measure.

A merit source should ideally be someone who actively strives to promote post quality in a positive sense, by making and promoting quality posts, and also in a negative sense, by fighting spam and abuse.  LoyceV’s post history is impressive for his own quality as a poster.  Almost from the first day I actively started posting here, I noticed his aptitude for both starting and encouraging generally helpful discussions.  On the spamfighting side, LoyceV’s copypaste plagiarism reporting thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1926895.0) is an endeavour I much respect, independently of the merit issue.  I suggest that it clearly demonstrates his devotion to forum quality, plus the superlative level of effort he will expend for it.

Hereto, I avoided replying here out of an apparent conflict of interest.  I wish to make it clear that what I say is not based on LoyceV having picked some of my posts.

Which is why he should not only be a merit source,but a staff member.

It doesn't work that way, nearly no one who "wants" to become a mod becomes one on BCTtalk or we'd have either Lutpin or shorena be one(who are at the top for making the most reports AFAIK).

As for becoming a merit source, I believe this is way too early to ask to be one

secondly your examples aren't that noteworthy

you'd have to get at least the approval from some merit sources

Well theymos rarely replies or reacts when you just make a thread, might as well send a PM with a link to this thread, don't expect a reply though.

<Table updated -theymos>[/center]

P.S: I have the 36 sMerits things, does that mean I'm a merit source?

Well theymos rarely replies or reacts when you just make a thread, might as well send a PM with a link to this thread, don't expect a reply though.
Theymos has seen the "Unofficial merit source application thread":
I'm in that table now, several others are, so I just keep bumping this thread until I hear from theymos. No need to PM him on this.

If you're a source, it will say so on the Merit-page.

Just wondering, do you think I should be trying to bump that thread more often so he can see it? I kind of expected more people to apply to be merit sources than actually have, so there really hasn't been much for me to update.

I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Before reading this post, I was already thinking I would like a "Merit-subscription" to your posts. Basically, (almost) anything that you write is worth reading.
You're the second Top-merited (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topusersat) Member, only second to deeperx (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1038794) (who has red trust and got all his Merit for DeepOnion posts in his self-moderated (censored) ANN-thread). I really appreciate how well the Merit system works for good posters (and I ignore deeperx in my list of good posters).

Theymos has seen the "Unofficial merit source application thread":

Don't ask me :D
I guess there is no rush to apply as a merit source, maybe more people will apply the coming months.

Bump

20 new Merit sources were created.

Were you one of the lucky 20?!

More seriously, if you were to become a merit source, what your criteria be for the following?

• Reviewing posts around the forum (there are a lot of boards!)
• Assessing the merit-worthiness of a post
• Determining how much merit to give a post

I wouldn't bump this if I was.


I will Merit posts just like I do now.

Ok, asked a different way...how do you merit posts now?

What criteria calls your attention?

How do you determine how much to give?

What do you use as a guide or ideal post to compare all other posts to?

You don't mention any of those details in your original post.

Bump

It's quite simple: I merit posts that I deem worthy. Have a look at my Merit summary (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;u=459836) to see which posts I've merited.

I just keep bumping this, as I have no idea whether or not theymos has seen the thread.
It seems the first batch of Merit sources was quickly processed, and since then Merit sources (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=sources) have been stuck at 57 in total.

Side-Note, why do you think they seem to come in batches of acceptance rather than one at a time? That behooves me a bit, unless theymos sets aside a particular chunk of time to bang out a bunch of applications and always manages to find multiple sources within that pile.

<Table updated -theymos>[/center]

I think your criteria to select reserved post to be rewarded merit is more clear to me just not expressed clearly

Bump

Come on Theymos, make the man a source already

I think that I read a comment by Theymos that he was looking for merit sources that didn't have paid signatures.

I wonder where I got that idea then. It must have been somebody else posting in one of the threads.

I didn't know about the 0 merit restriction. That sounds like a good idea.

I would like to join the other top-merited users of all time in this thread in endorsing @LoyceV as an excellent choice to become a merit source.

It's kind of awkward, honestly, to see certain merit sources (well, just one) voicing their particular methods in how they disperse merit while highly-criticizing others' methods and insulting them in slanderous ways. All the while, @LoyceV is sitting patiently twiddling their thumbs and undoubtedly sitting on a list of posts that are waiting to be merited :P

Do the forums a solid and make it happen, @theymos!

Bump

It's been 2.5 months since I opened this topic. It has been read by at least one Global Moderator and one Staff member (I know this because they left merit). All I want now, is a reply from theymos :)

Since you have so many glowing endorsements and merit is being thrown around within your application thread, I would have to assume that there is something else preventing them from accepting you. I remember theymos talking about looking for sources that are active in obscure board, and maybe the boards you are active in already have a disproportionate amount of merit flowing within them.

I've thought about this too. I mainly read boards that are interesting for me, and indeed, they don't seem to have a lack of merit around there.
Then again, without any official word, we can only guess. I know more people are waiting (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2823944), and that list was only updated by theymos once, a few days after merit was introduced.

So, perhaps another batch change to the source members, at some point, but might include both the addition and the subtraction of source members.

Apparently, digaran resigned from being a merit source.
Reference: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3436932.0

Apparently, digaran resigned from being a merit source.
Reference: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3436932.0

He now want to be a merit source again: Reapplying as a merit source! (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3560707.0).

Consider this a bump :D

He removed his sig too as promised

Accounts with a negative trust rating from DT members are not allowed to enroll. Receiving such a negative rating during a period will result in your removal without any payment.

I'm not sure that resigning a position and then almost immediately reapplying for it shows the level of maturity required. I hope LoyceV's application is looked upon more favourably.

Beats me as well.

My trap worked? now we would know who is the real hypocrite, I said I would remove my signature whether my red tag stays or not. if they remove the tag and I immediately join a signature campaign, I would be a hypocrite. now I'm daring you after humble Joe, would you remove your signature and stay in this forum to discuss about improving it?

I've thought about this too. I mainly read boards that are interesting for me, and indeed, they don't seem to have a lack of merit around there.

Then again, without any official word, we can only guess. I know more people are waiting (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2823944), and that list was only updated by theymos once, a few days after merit was introduced.

He now want to be a merit source again: Reapplying as a merit source! (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3560707.0).

Start exploring boards that are of no interest to you, maybe you'll have a better shot at things. Search for the land deprived of merit and weave that board into your own circus of merit dancing monkeys.

There should be a more systematic way to track the progress of your application. Simple notices of acknowledgement, review, refusal or delay in processing would be a pleasant implementation. I can see that this would add more work, but the current methods seem to be leaving threads like yours to accumulate thousands of views only to leave us all in suspense.

Theymos, making me wait is mean and cruel :P

I'm wondering if there are any merit sources with a negative trust rating from a DT member.

Merit isn't my main reason for being here, so I'm only reading boards I value.

I do read different boards sometimes, but usually end up getting people band instead of meriting them.

Theymos, making me wait is mean and cruel :P

If I assume allGlobal Moderators are also merit sources, then yes (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=51173), it happens.

....but did his negative trust or his merit resignation come first? I wasn't around for that day, or those couple of days, it's been a busy past month. I've missed a lot of the nuance and inner-workings of these issues.

Is that a fair assumption to make? Would the evidence or the announcements support the idea that they are all merit sources? Also, outside of Global moderators or other DT members, are there any examples of those with a negative DT trust rating that are sources?