I was raised as a catholic but eventually realized how most religions are simply a very effective way of controlling people. and now I just simply can't believe in something for which there is no evidence. is really that simple.

I read somewhere in the the forum that after the silk road bust, online drugs sales has actually increased. so that got me wondering, what possible outcomes do you see if all drugs became legal? do you think that would make society better? worse? same?

I used swagbucks for a while in January using a VPN. managed to make 500 points, but when I tried to get the gift card, the disabled my account. if you are using a VPN, is just a matter of time until they find out. I was using a paid VPN with my own exclusive IP and that didn't work. you are better off finding some other way of making a few bucks.

A) Diversification. I do trade on localbitcoin, which I will continue to do. and also,  I want to start trading and build a reputation here. As far as I'm aware, there are no rules here that demands any kind of exclusivity for traders. Free market, my friend.

B) The "bullshit about escrow and selfies" are actually proven methods to minimize risk, which are largely used to safeguard online deals. if they weren't, then why do we have so many escrow services here?

Again, thanks for trying to keep the forum safe from scammers.  I too have been victim of scammers here, which is why I perfectly understand your concerns.

Any other question, feel free to ask or contact me.

Unless you used bitfinex 

A) Escrow is useless as long as people charge back, which I can guarantee I won't.
B) I don't fund my paypal account with credit cards and can provide proof of it.
C) Completely agree, past transactions are useless, but is the best thing we have to create online trust, which is why this website, like most trading websites, is based on a past transaction rating system.

I understand that new users here are all scammers by default, and appreciate your effort to protect the forum, thanks!

Any other questions, I'll be glad to answer

I've been reading about "matched betting" which is supposed to be a no risk method where you have guaranteed winnings, but it seems like a somewhat complicated, and requires investing plenty of time. I haven't done much research yet, but I'll give it a try soon and if it works, report back

there are no "strategies" while gambling, period. You could have the illusion of some strategy working if you win for a little while, but that's just pure randomness. No matter how complicated it looks,  you don't have a strategy, you just have a more complex method to lose that will just take you a little longer than "normal" betting.

Why do I mention this? I gambled away 0.5 btc trying every single "strategy" I could come with. I would've had a much better chance if I had 2x the whole thing the first time.

Remember, gambling is just entertaining.  you are paying for it, just like a movie or a dinner. you don't expect to get your money back when you do those things, do you? it's the same thing with gambling. You pay, enjoy it for a while, and that's it. you won't make money.

Why would this surprise anyone? if anything, I'm surprised by the small amount of people wanting those coins. it's "free money" and we are all greedy. if we weren't, we wouldn't be here in the first place.

I want to buy your BTC with Paypal, paying at Preev rate+5%.

terms of the deal:

• Escrow is a must. No Escrow, No deal. I'll only avoid using escrow, if you want to send first on your own.
• I won't charge back, but since you can't trust me, I will provide pictures, selfie and screenshots to seller stating that I've bought digital goods from you, so you can dispute and win any chargeback in the future.
• I have more than 30 trades on localbitcoin, with 100% positive feedback, including plenty of paypal deals, for which I can provide proof if needed.
• you must post in this thread before, during and after we make a trade. feel free to contact me via PM only after you post here.

Here's my reputation thread.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any question may you have

how is this not a ponzi?

it's so so obvious, god. stay away from this.  like someone said, if you can guarantee 3% profit, then you would have no problem using escrow for it upfront, right?

Bitfinex is done. if people do manage to get what they have left out of there, they should consider themselves lucky. but this is a positive thing for bitcoin, since the price didn't drop too much and it's been recovering since the "hack".

he's been telling people to buy bitcoin for a long time now. I guess he regrets not doing it himself before they seized all of his money 

there'll always be a empire raping the rest of the world for its own benefit. Roman, British, Spanish, American. it's just the way humans are. the more you have, the more you want, until your own greed destroys you. then someone else comes along and replaces you.
Now, the interesting thing is guessing who's going to replace America as the world's next greatest empire. China maybe?

North Korea is mostly a cartoon. they are no real threat to anybody. eventually it'll collapse and who knows what's going to happen.

Depends on the seller. I've done quite a few trades with two trades with very high volume there and never had a single problem. but if what you want is to remain completely anonymous,  then you are going to have to use some more risky way of trading, like this forum, where you will get scammed eventually.

Do not use paypal in this forum. you will get scammed. use localbitcoin instead. you'll actually get better rates there as well, at around 11% with escrow from the website that doesn't depend on some user.

it'll be very interesting for one of these hackers to eventually let people know how they did it. I know it won't happen, but I wound find reading something like that more exciting than any movie out there

bitcoin over bank 100% of the times. banks are obsolete, but most people haven't realized yet.
Bitcoin is the future. it'll take a while but I will love to be able to tell stories about how people didn't use bitcoin at the beginning and have younger people say "they used... banks???!" 

is there an actual way to keep bitcoins safe? I mean, that's the price you pay for all the benefits bitcoin brings and not having a centralized from of control.
People there took that risk and now they are paying for it, plain and simple. if you want your money to be "safe" you should use a bank instead.