Bitcoin Forum

So yeah I'm a newb, and trying to suck up a ton of knowledge from here. My problem is the amount of information is almost too much!
Are there any "Must read" threads (apart from the obvious stickies etc)?
This place can be quite overwhelming for someone new to BTC in general.

All the talk here is about one written paper. The link below is to the white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto.

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

You want to know more about the forum rules and policies or about Bitcoin?

For bitcoin I guess bitcoin faq is better than the topics here

Well I guess one of my problems is that when I get interested in something I want to know it ALL :)
I feel like I'm barely scrathing the surface, and I cant decide on what I want to start reading about. Mining, trading, the tech etc.

I know how you feel. I remember when I first started out there seemed like so much to take in that I never knew where to start. Your best bet is to pick something at random and start from there that was what I did. It may take a while but at least you know you will be more prepared when you finally start to make a go of it :)

There are MANY different parts you can learn.  I think first pick if mining, or straight buying.  That will help your process some.  

Tom's hardware has a nice article about bitcoin, mining and other crypto currencies.

Maybe it can help you out a little:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitcoin-mining-make-money,3514.html (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitcoin-mining-make-money,3514.html)

Here is a small introduction how to use bitcoin https://bitcoin.org/en/getting-started (https://bitcoin.org/en/getting-started)
To use bitcoin, you do not need to understand all technicalities or things like mining yet.  Simply need a wallet to hold bitcoins.
However, if you are interested in that I recommend reading the bitcoin paper.
Once you have a wallet you will have a unique bitcoin receval address.

That's a pretty good read, thanks.

So far I've started using faucets (yeah I get next to nothing, but I get a sense of the system), I've sold some other currencies for a bit of BTC, and made a few purchases.
I tried mining (first thing that came to mind with the limited knowledge I had/have of BTC), but my hardware isn't up for the task. I'm considering getting one of those cheapish usb miners to try it out "for real". Again, I know the investment has a slim to non-existing chance of paying off, but I'm interested in knowledge more than profit, at least to begin with.
Baby steps :)

Well u don't need all informations, only basic stuff and best of it all, learn by practice. Buy 1$ worth of bitcoin, send somewhere, u will get it so much faster

You could try joining a smaller community and working alongside other early adopters. I think that's a good way to get started.

I suggest you take a look at the Bitcoin Wiki at https://bitcoin.it/ as well as the Wikipedia entry for a quick introduction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

https://www.weusecoins.com/ is also a helpful starting point.

Is huge forum and BitCoin is huge, just read and learn slowly, when you have time. It is not everything you need to know in details. Focus on some things. About wallets about safety first. Then move on.

Indeed it is huge, not just this forum, but the world of BTC. So many directions to go in. I'm reading up on a lot of stuff and slowly getting an idea of where I want to go with my little bitcoin adventure :)

Apart from the links posted (bitcoin wiki, bitcoin.org, whitepaper, etc), you can also take a look at the following 2 links.

A beginner's guide to bitcoin: http://www.coindesk.com/information/
Multibit FAQ: https://multibit.org/faq.html

True that it is not easy to understand bitcoin for newbies, but the good thing is you don't need to understand every aspect of bitcoin in details to use it as a ordinary user.

The most important things are to figure out how wallet works (change, backup, safety, etc.) and how transaction works (confirmation, tx fee, etc.).

When i first joined I was blown, I cant imagine you right now. As time goes you get all of it!!!!

It's pretty simple, you should watch one of these youtube introductory videos imo.

I have the same problem, it is so much info here, in every direction.

You need to relax and learn the basics man.

I guess the community has made available the search button on the top right corner,possibly visible anyone

To be honest, the search function on bitcointalk is very bad.
If you want to search among bitcointalk posts, you could use google and put "site:bitcointalk.org" in the end of your search query.

Ok it seems that some has read my post wrong, or I haven't explained myself good enough. (Most likely the latter - I tend to ramble on aimlessly sometimes)
I understand the basics of how it all works. I'm also quite familiar with the search feature of smf.
What I was trying to explain was really just that I was overwhelmed by the amount of information available, and the amount of options available to someone wanting to work with bitcoin.
I think I figured out where I'm going to start though, and I'm currently looking for a decent deal on 1 or a few antminers (u1 or 2). I like to get my hands dirty, so to speak, in stead of just reading about things, and it seems to me that this is a cheap way to try it out.
Anyway there we go, I am not nearly as lost as I once was :)

It's a wonderful paper if you want to get to know the idea, philosophy and workings behind Bitcoin, even below the actual implementation. But I think most people will want to have a straightforward simple guide that tells them about the basic things like addresses, wallets and that's it.

Oh, this stuff is pretty complicated for my small brain. Much scientific things. Can't understand it completely. For newbies probably something more straightforward is needed.

Im still learning now after nearly 2 years, just take it slow, use a simple offline wallet like bitcoin qt and password protect it. 

In which specific aspect of Bitcoin are you mainly interested?

Other than the bitcoin whitepaper and bitcoin wiki that people already suggested, I consider the movie "The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin" a must-watch material as well. You can watch it on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpPQeeqhF3w

Start from the basic and accumulate over time is the only way.

Most of us didn't born knowing everything.

True but i would say its not wise to direct a new member to the white paper Roger  ;)

Maybe youtube is a better choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0oDDIy0P2s

Most people is ADD these days. I think a video is way less dense.
There, OP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ultLPNj-a8Y

That is extremely long, most newbies won't bother watching that in its entirety.

I am new as well and love learning all aspects.  My suggestion is get a wallet and hit a handful of faucets regularly while you are learning.  that way you have a tiny trickle coming in to keep you more interested and starting to make calculations

still learning too , i dont know much about bitcoin
i just gamble and get bitcoin and sell it

There are some courses you might find interesting, such as the ones on Coin Academy website: http://coinacademy.co/
Also, saw this article today: http://blog.cex.io/bitcoin-talks/sources-follow-wrap-head-around-bitcoin/ - from their list, Udemy course is quite useful


That's great inspirational stuff, but it mainly tells a story of the pioneers; the film's educational role is not that big.

Here are some facts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UC_8NdR1To

By watchmojo, easy for anybody to understand.

Don't worry, I tought the same when I was getting into Bitcoin. But slowly after asking here on forums for all the info and searching the internet for explanations, I've gathered all the information I need about btc... for now. :D

Read the bitcoin faq in the bitcoin site and don't expect to understand everything at once.

Stay around and things will become clearer every day, until you are a pro.

While amount of information is is truly overwhelming I got good advice for you and everyone else. Do not try to comprehend and read it all in one go. Remembering and learning all this stuff takes time do not rush it.

watch out for scams. Everything is a scam until proven not on the forum.  ;)
Don't buy shit just because people tell you it's the best thing on earth. Always research.

There is really much information so there are several approaches you can take.  One is to try to fully understand all the technology, the other is to simply use it. Both approaches are perfectly fine. https://bitcoin.org (https://bitcoin.org) is a really good resource.

Bitcoin has a steep learning curve. It took me more than a day to just understand the very basics (create a wallet, send a transaction, make a backup, etc), and much longer time for me to really understand how bitcoin works under the hood.

As a newbie, you just need to start by learning the basics using those great links posted already, and leave those complicated stuff and jargon behind at this moment.

Like a newbie would know what it says ;D