Bitcoin Forum

As the world moves more towards open standards, websites and services are focusing a lot on offering an extensive set of APIs for interact, turning more into some protocols with clients built on top.
Take Twitter for example: https://opensource.com/life/16/10/3-twitter-clients-linux-command-line

Would you use such a client, if existed, to read and maybe post on Bitcointalk?

I use console sometimes, but honestly i'd rather use browser to access Bitcointalk. Lack of image and proper quoting visualization is big turn off for me.

If such an API would be provided, imho the best use would be in another graphical tool/app, like for example an Android app, although there can be trust issues there, I know.
Using bitcointalk in text mode.. I'm not sure how many are "hardcore" enough to do that. I'm not.
As @ETFbitcoin correctly stated: bitcointalk is more complicated than twitter (multiple images, complicated and nested use of quotation...)

I am already using Bitcointalk in a console (lynx (http://lynx.invisible-island.net)).

Granted, it has its faults, but it works for the most part.

Recent circumstances require me to evade detection while browsing Bitcoin material and I have found lynx excellent for that purpose.

The only caveats are that JS is obviously not supported, so you need your captcha-bypass login link and then you have to compile your own Lynx build (because the ones shipped with distros don't have cookie support enabled - this is required to log in. No special config ptions needed except for --with-ssl=/usr/lib (or lib64) so that HTTPS support is enabled.

Even then though, the cookie support is not persistent so I'd get logged out if I close the browser. But it's good enough for my needs. I mostly have the BBCode syntax firmly entrenched in my brain, and I can post and  I can post and reply to PMs normally (almost a genuine Hal Finney experience).

Lynx ought to be started with -editor=/usr/bin/vim, so you can just press Ctrl-X e to open vim when your cursor is in a text area. Makes composing posts much easier. I might be prone to blank trailing lines autogenerated by the textarea, which have to be removed with vim. I've just learned that.

I'm still looking for a text-based PDF reader with Latex support to read documents though.

I could probably get some use out of it. If it's not just for the inner nerd in me, but when travelling consoles/text based browsers can be great if you're in a country which doesn't exactly have great internet access. When I went to Nepal for example, loading the forum was absolutely horrible, and that's taking into consideration that this forum is rather stripped down to most websites these days.

Though, obviously extremely limited use cases I'd say or better yet extremely limited user base that would be interested. I imagine a lot of users here have come accustomed to such privileges like UserScripts, and various extensions.

I've used Lynx in the past, can't recall if I've ever used it on Bitcointalk, but there was a period where I tried to use it for almost everything (that didn't require JS, since I didn't compile my own build). This is going years back though, and was more of a experiment than anything. I feel like these days I've been spoilt a little too much with the functionality of modern browsers.

Fun fact: in my slightly drunk state, when I saw the title I internally uttered "why dafuq would I want to access Bitcointalk on a gaming console."

Really though, it would be really cool; but I could imagine that responding to multiple or curated quotes would be a total nightmare — 50x worse than doing it on mobile.

wouldnt one result of this to be opening up more vulnerabilities?

i mean theymos has hardened this forum through the years.. or would that hardening come along with the apis?

Also, as a side note. As long as it looks like the terminals from the Fallout series ;).

In all seriousness, to be a bit more specific on my earlier post, I probably would only find the need when travelling. Other than that, I think I've become a little too reliant on certain modifications I've made to use it as a daily thing.

Depends on how it would be implemented. For example, text browsers without Javascript literally remove natively the issue of malicious attacks through Javascript. Same as specific attacks with media, and depending how hardened you want to make the console, you could even prevent phishing attempts, via non obscuring links with the url bbcode. The thing is with modern browsers while pretty well updated, and reasonably secure, they tend to offer a lot of customisation, which is where you tend to deviate from the original browser, and start introducing vulnerabilities. Plus, I think most browsers are made for convenience, by default don't come with the optimal settings. Although, modern browsers are also suspect to attacks, it's why things like turning off Javascript or using an extension like No Script is recommended. Text based browsers can also be set to reject cookies, so might even be better for the privacy conscious.

I'm not exactly sure how the Twitter terminal works, since I haven't got Twitter. However, I imagine its a fairly basic API, that doesn't allow you to connect outside of Twitter, and conveys information back, and forth. Which due to its limited nature could be considered more secure than a browser that is used for everything.

So, in short as with anything depends on how it's implemented.

Sincerely speaking, I am not all that of a tech savvy person but I definitely would love to try this out provided there is  a guide clear and thorough and easy for newbies to understand and easily follow.
Am a kind of person who loves learning new things, it's one of the  best ways I pass my time, it did be amazing to experience what accessing and posting on bitcointalk from a place other than a web browser would feel like.

i would definitely give a console version a shot, i grew up on text only BBSs. it was surprisingly readable with proper color use and formatting, even with nested quotes.

robocomm and robomail FTW

It's interesting how only senior members have replied so far and nobody has written they don't like the idea or are against it.
I wouldn't use a console to access Bitcointalk. I want my experience to preserve at least some visual appeal.

I would rather see an official mobile app since people have been complaining about that for years. I don't need it personally, but it would be nice to have one. Maybe a new group of users would be attracted or we could keep some who are here from leaving.

I highly suspect it'll be a gimmick or have very limited uses, such as the travelling example given above. So, excitement is likely to be quite high, and therefore users will be trying it the first few hours, but it's a rather acquired taste I'd say, and it'll quickly become tedious for a lot that have never tried a text based browser before.

For uses, it has limits. Although, it does definitely satisfy the geek in a lot of us.

As much as I like a CLI, I wouldn't use it to read Bitcointalk (or any other website). I've only used console browsers for troubleshooting ("how do I get that broken X server back up?") when I had no other option.

But LoyceBot (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=949024) would love it! I still can't post messages from my bot. I can think of so many cool things to do!
And for scraping, an API would be much better than "manually" searching through HTML (which is what I do now).

I mean the Idea for maybe making something like this happend for the Linux harcore users is good !
But my personal opinion is that there will be not much that will be using this service and 95% of the Users will use there Browser or Smartphone.
I sharing also the idea from Pmalek that it would be more useful for getting or have an official mobile app for Bitcointalk as in a lot of Countries its the most used device.

I would give a try once or twice, but probably that's all. This stuff just isn't for me. I'm trying to imagine that console browser is far from most convenient ways to use forums. And also, visual part is important for me.
Even when travelling, it doesn't looks like good alternative. If I would have very slow intenet connection or very limited data abroad, I probably rather would use WAP version of Bitcointalk.

I'm not even drunk now and I also first thought about gaming console :D

Nice, two-tree years ago I had a bit of a fun playing Dunnet* on my Linux machine (no gui, only server version) got stuck on one place and decided to check the forum, I had elinks installed and manage to browse around. Couldn't log in tho, but it's OK to read threads.

It won't be the most useful feature, but for sure it's gonna be a funny one :)


* for those who like cyberpunk adventures in text format run this in a terminal ;)

Have you tried feeding it your browser cookie? That's what works on wget to login (I need it to see Trust scores).

I would probably use it for a week to feel like some kind of action movie hollywood hacker who hacked into a secret internet money forum. But, at the end of the day, I don't want to have to run a VM everytime because what kind of hacker uses windows?

Well, I'll be damned. I didn't think about this last time out. I'll out of country relatively soonish, and will be resorting to this at least for reading, obviously with the posting limitations, a console might still have some use here. Although, thanks for reminding me of the ;wap version of the forum.

For me again it would have limited uses since I only use the mobile phone to read when out, and about don't ever log in on it, although this is the one that would gain the most support. Although, I imagine for Cyrus, it doesn't satisfy the inner nerd as much as a console.

It is already possible to access bitcointalk via automation. There are a few people that take actions via automation.

Mostly people will write their own code to access the forum via automation. I don’t see a lot of benefit to accessing the forum via the command line or via the terminal, but I think there is a benefit for there to be a library that will allow someone to easily interact with the forum via automation.

I also use my mobile phone mostly for just reading stuff when i am out somewhere and not at home , or when i get a notification from the bot.
Guess that a mobile App will be catch and getting more Users attracted for using it and to visit Bitcointalk not everybody in the World has an PC or laptop.
But yeah i think also that Cyrus maybe would love it more to code something for a console as making a mobile App .

Nice! I didn't even know such a thing existed on bitcointalk as I completely forgot that SMF had WAP support.

I didn't have to be drunk to think that :P

Personally speaking, I prefer the bitcointalk's interface and the way how you could post and quote. Accessing the forum in console would mean lesser graphics to look upon which could bring strain to the eye for some users who prefer to see variations. I'm not really fond of text-based, I'm more into the overall appeal of the website. If we're going to transition to console which is more on characters than visual appearance, visual members of forum would have a hard time adjusting.

Perhaps a mobile version of bitcointalk would be much better like other members are saying. It was a long time already we've been using this kind of interface which is built in with html way of posting and quoting. It would be nicer if there would be an app wherein we can access all the time. That way, we could easily open it without having to search the internet.

In addition, it would be more visually appealing to the eyes if we'll have an app that would cater a much more variation such as images and color that could be combined altogether for a better version of this forum.

sorry as a beginner like I'm comfortable using a browser. the atmosphere of the forum is more pronounced when viewed and done on the website directly.
I have experience as a novelist on a site. and once offered to write on the android app version of the novel site. I also tried it and I was not comfortable because it felt like something was missing. whether it's because I'm used to the web or indeed I feel the features feel limited maybe because the layout is becoming more different and made simpler. well because it is made simpler that makes the atmosphere less. the effect is less. so I decided to keep writing on his live website. I think it will not be much different with this forum. but I don't know because I haven't tried. maybe my view will change if i try. but to those who have tried, please state what are the advantages of using the console that you feel and the disadvantages?
 
maybe i'll try it sometime


_{I represent beginners who do not dare to speak on this topic. because I see no newbies who dare to enter this topic.} [

I sometimes try ro read using w3m in mobile (i dont know if this is the same console you refetring to),

but just like


didnt know, still dont know, how to login xd

heres a ss:

https://i.imgur.com/kvI6d65.jpeg

whos reply #2 btw?

I tried, but couldn't get elinks to log in. Even if I use the Captcha bypass URL (https://bitcointalk.org/captcha_code.php), it complains about a Captcha, and when I copy the cookies from LoyceBot (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=949024), elinks wipes them.