Bitcoin Forum

Just noticed that SuchPool will stop their operations because of the many scams in 2014. We will probably see a lot more of them in 2015. Good coins are losing their value, because like I said many times - people are sheeps in general. Since the beginning of 2013 we have about 800% more coins on CoinMarketCap, but capitalization was shrinked with about 350%. I think that this forum can do something about it. I have some suggestion, but I also want to start discussion in that matter.

1. Newbies must not be able to start new topics in Announcements section. I think that solution is a member to be registered for at least 3 months, and to be ranked at least as Jr. Member. In that way people can look over his history and be more confident with their investments. This of course will not entirely stop scams, but I'm sure that it will reduce them significantly. That action will also reduce viruses distributed by various newbie accounts.

P.S. I know that this topic is not for that section, but I am posting it here, because it is concerned.

Cheers,
Spartak

It will create a market in user account on hackforums etc.

WTS my account @ 100 BTC.  ::) ;D
Just kidding.  :)

preventing newbies can not  stop their scam.
they will buy many account for their scam :-\

If someone steal account, the owner of hacked acc. will be able to follow it and to post warnings. People can take some precautions after that and the scam may be caught earlier.

i think this is a good idea although it's just gonna raise the cost of a scam a little.

We're not shutting down especially because of the scams, rather the general health of the markets.

It's harder than ever for us to turn a profit, therefore we halt our operations for the time being. We do realize that most of 2014 coins were scammish and most didn't end up great, but the scams are not the main reason for our closure.

Just wanted to clarify that :)

Scams are killing the price of good coins and therefore profits so I think it is main reason. :)

Well... at least it's better than no actions whatsoever.

i suggest only sr member and above can creat the topic in this section

anyone thinks this is good idea?

It's a bit harsh imo.

that's like saying altcoins are killing the price of bitcoin.

untrue.

It's not like btctalk sr. member accounts can't be bought. I don't think it's going to stop scammers at all.

It's retarded.
It will only promote spamming, nothing more.

While i understand the issue, I have to say no. Let markets decide what lives and what dies.

A lot of the coiners here have alternate accounts, sometimes multiple alternates.

being a "this" or "that" member simply says how long you have been using an account with no bearing on your trust.

Of course that altcoins (and scams) has something to do with the price of bitcoin. What do you think scammers are doing? Take some BTC, sell them for no matter what price and buy themselves boats. How about prices of abandoned coins? You buy 1BTC worth of shitcoin at 1k satoshi and your investment is $275 (based on BTC current price). What happens when it hit 100 satoshi for example and you still didn't sold?

i don't think it will prevent scam because most newbie account that launch new coin are old member of this forum, and create a new alt account to launch the coin

You are right, but if btctalk take this measure they will be forced to expose themselves with their real account or to buy one. Surely it can reduce scams in some way.

Sounds great at first but it will just lead to people creating a bunch of dummy accounts spamming some general stuff until they get to whatever level they can post new threads and sell these accounts as stated above.

Besides, it's worth noting that scammers might be more successful because people generally trust older accounts more.


I think people just need to be educated because at the end of the day knowledge is the best way to avoid getting scammed.

For example, people should avoid running random wallet and miner executables. Everybody should use sandboxes or virtual machines or run them on a machine with a throwaway OS. People should also see ICO/IPO/premine for what they are and not go for them. Don't give coins/devs the opportunity to be able to scam people. But what about initial coin costs? Well, I think if some dev or devteam is really confident in their idea of a coin, what better way is there to show their confidence than to pay for the initial costs like bounties and logos themselves? And if they are not confident enough, they shouldn't bother with another shitcoin. Sure, they should be paid for their work if they actually offer something but only in a way that prevents the possibility of them screwing over others.

This is why I love PoW coins where a fraction of the reward from every block goes to the devs (for example 1coin) which gives the incentive for them to stick around and care about the coin. Having a premine, or even not having a premine both lacks that incentive and will probably lead to the devs abandoning the project with, or without scamming and probably move to the next one under a new name.

As I created yesterday PeaceBit thread with new idea, I have a modified idea.

Maybe need to create new rule:

New users WHO PAID to escrow they CAN create in this forum ANN threads.
Other users who didn't pay can only create a posts in this forum.

Escrow will set a bounties for pools, exchanges etc. Not dev. Dev has paid to escrow.

Maybe it is radical way, but why not? This idea can be expanded.

That is a first good point imo, but you are missing something here. People need to spam with those general stuff for like 3 months. You will also be able to follow their posts and see if they are bs posted to raise their rank on btctalk. If someone still invest in dev with such account, it deserve to be scammed.

+100 :) I totally agree with the no newbies starting threads for announcements :)

You know what else is a good idea? Stop investing in scammy coins looking for quick profit and start supporting the ones that have already proven themselves.

If you keep falling for the same old crap then its time to consider making better decisions.

I tweet about that every single day, but I will repeat myself - people in general are sheeps. That is why imo some measures should be made. Many people can't decide for themselves on what to invest and what not to...

u can't be serious. lol

Are you aware that $1.8 million worth of bitcoins are being thrown in market on daily basis?

Are you aware that we don't have buyers who'll buy those BTC?

Are you also aware that most of those BTC users look at whole altcoins as SCAMS?

Are you also aware that btctalk accounts can be bought online?

Are you also aware that 0.0008 BTC can get your account unbanned?

Besides everything I've said ..no one knows what's a scam and what's not a scam anymore until you lose money. I thought shadowcash was a scam when it first came out and it has turned out to be pretty good so far.

This discussion is not about in what I am aware or not. I just think that it will reduce scams.. not stop them. Talking about awareness is not the smartest thing we can do. I am aware for example that war is illegal (drugs too), but many people have access to them (weapons and drugs).

I always tell people when I recommend a coin to check how active the Dev is and how new the devs ideas are and how fair the coin will be distributed and to check all those types of things.  Are there a heck of a lot of newbie accounts posting saying this coin is going to be BIG??? Probably not going to happen.  Does the Dev answer the communities questions when they ask them because he is dedicated to his coin and making it a success?? NO? You probably shouldn't invest in that coin :) These are just a few of the tricks of the trade that I've learned since I started trading because before I used to just follow everyone's tweets on twitter lol And wow was I ever lucky that I didn't go bust the first week trading ;)

Yes, anyone who's not aware is ignorant.
Yes we have buyers hence the price not crashing (slow, but acceptable decline).
They are all scams.
Anything and anyone can be bought.
Meh.

Yes, experienced people see a scam from a distance, unless you want a Nigerian Prince to transfer money to your bank account.  :D


It would also be beneficial to prevent anyone under full member from starting topics in Bitcoin Discussion.

I personally think newbies should not be allowed to post in the Loans section either. Until at least Junior member status. The amount of valid newbie loans are kept at a bare minimal. It's best if they would not be allowed there until they've proven themselves they are a constructive member who didn't spam their way there.

Plus Vod wouldn't have to work as hard   ;)

and there it goes a new market coming up , selling BCT accounts  :D

I don't agree with this. There are some honest newbies, remember we all started out as newbies once. However, I do agree that we need to do something about scams, but I do not think this will work. If this becomes a rule, scammers are just going to buy junior member accounts for 0.01 which is relatively cheap.

+1. I think it's better to try explaining them when they need explanation & clarification about forum rules as well as Handling bans when they broke such rules. I think also that such kind of rewards could also help policing newbies behaviour & helping root out bad apples from them (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=918797.0).

Just my 2 satoshi.

Guys.. you are forgetting something. That measure will surely reduce (not stop) some of the scams. We all know that scammers can find another way, but it will be relatively harder for them. Personally I know a lot of people (I believe you too) who gave up on crypto, because it is now flooded with impudent scammers. Those scammers are affecting the prices of ALL coins as well. Cryptocurrencies market is insecure in general and just imagine how current/future investors should think, looking at all of those scams, which are making it more and more insecure.

You're wrong.
There is no single valid reason for anyone to create a thread on their first day.

My point exactly!

But what if a newbie wants to ask a question about this forum or bitcoin? Ask the question in a thread completely unrelated to the question?

Here is your answer: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=39.0

That's the only place they should be allowed to start a new thread.

But then the scammers would just post unrelated spam in the beginners and help section saying stuff like "I'm sorry, but I can't post anywhere else except here, give me a loan please.

HA! just realized i've had you on ignore more than 12 months

It's easier to moderate 1 subforum than have spam in every subforum, is it not?

Seeing the trolls in the beginners section would be a good place to learn about the ignore button.

True enough but also scare the beejus out of the newest Bitcoin users on a continuous basis
Kind of gives a bad impression right off the bat at least in the altcoin section they have to navigate their way to it, but to be fair the whitelist would be the same as a newbie ban on all areas of the forum but beginners, just a small edit in that they can post in all forums not just newbies but can't create a topic out of newbies without some approval/time.

Yeah people will get really scared from troll threads in the beginners section, compared to the ones in Bitcoin discussion.  ::)