And before you say, "but tolls are so obnoxious!" you should know that, once again, private industry solves that problem via either pre-paid subscription models or RFID drive through tolls. In Dubai, the "toll booths" are just small structures that cross over the freeway. They scan a sticker in your car window when you drive underneath at 80 miles per hour. Easy.
Yes, tollbooths are shitty only when they're statist, because there's no incentive to make them not stupid and not slow. When you have voluntary customers, the last thing you want is to ruin their trip with delais. Obviously never been on trains in England. That said, I agree with the above. But unpicking "voluntary customers" brings up many issues around where situations are involuntary. Most state-vs-individual discussions seem to assume that people either act in accordance to their will, or forced to act against it by state forces. Sadly (or not) there are more powers in the world than the human race, which disrupts the notion of "voluntary will" on a day-to-day basis. Where people are forced into a situation not because of will, nor of the state, should we be looking to a third model of institution, and therefore a third purpose of money? Or is all economic activity locatable along a 2-dimensional axis (heads/tails or vertical/horizontal in Dmytri's original article, IIRC)? Or is that a false dichotomy? Genuinely interested in answers, as only really figuring this out as I go along. |
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guys guys I just lamped my 2 year old so he wouldn't break my stuff and now he hates me what's the best way to hit him to make him like me again? URGENT THX
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Best discussion on Bitcoin and money in forever - this is getting to the heart not of whether Bitcoin is good or bad, but of how we value the boundary between private and public goods in the next, networked century. I applaud Dmytri for bringing up the issue, and for highlighting the challenges that both Bitcoin *and* the state face.
My own opinion is that the Bitcoin crowd has a long way to go, and that Dmytri is "right". To be on the fence about it, I want Bitcoin to succeed in order to improve the effectiveness of both individuals *and* common action. Both can do better, and indeed *have* to if we're going to face up to an ever-changing, fucked up world.
Right now, Bitcoin is still "at risk" IMHO. It has promise. But it's also naive. It is an experiment that could go either way. But the challenge is not to rebel against existing hierarchies, nor to replace them.
The challenge is to re-build them. Better.
Rebuild reputation models. Rebuild tax models. Rebuild payment models. Rebuild banks and insurance models. Rebuild user interfaces. Rebuild local currencies.
Redefine "fiat".
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Managed to release a new double album for Bitcoin Friday, 1/3 off today. If you like a bit of glitchy ambient electronica, check out Stillium Deluxe on CoinDL (thanks again, weex!) The 2 albums are also available separately with over a third off each: see here and hereAlso bought "Bright is the Silence" from CoinDL today - scanning a QR code and paying in seconds still amazes me. |
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I bought the Bitcoin issue of Blink magazine, but it's a pre-order so all I have to show for it is an e-mail in German. Also bought this album on CoinDL, but not really part of BF, so probably shouldn't mention it. Might go for the Bitcoin Magazine bundle, undecided. |
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New feature/service!
Users with linked bitcointalk accounts will be tagged scammers here if they default on BTCJam.
The integration between financial reputation and broader social reputation is fascinating to watch. Imagine if you had to wear a bright orange hat if you went to a pub where you owed loads of people. Serious reputation models are one of *the* big game-changers coming out of the side of Bitcoin, imho. |
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Convert your funds to euros and wire tranfer to bitcoin-central.net EUR account: Account Holder Name: Paymium (Paymium is the registered company operating bitcoin-central, instwawire, instawallet and Paytunia) IBAN: FR76 3006 6108 8700 0200 7310 542 BIC: CMCIFRPP If you do not want to convert, send GBP to Paymium's account in GBP . Your bitcoin-central account will be credited in Euro at the going rate when we receive the funds. IBAN: FR76 3006 6108 8700 0200 7310 930 BIC: CMCIFRPP In any case, since the UK is in the SEPA zone, the wire transfer is free. There is a 15 € fee only if you mistakenly send euros to a GBP account or vice versa. Do not forget to copy your bitcoin-central account number (BC-XXX..) in the "comments" field of your wire transfer online form. Which banks allow SEPA transactions for free? Natwest trying to charge me £25! Heh, same with Barclays, from what I've read. I'm not convinced the UK *is* actually in the SEPA zone, but only just started looking into it... |
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Even some very suspicious listings got funded, from users with no reputation, little verified info, unbelievable rates and multiple active loans, some with the same title!
Probably the same user making an investor account to fund his own investment and gain trust. Unfortunately I decided to not use this service as it is too open to abuse.  Yeah. If I were a scammer... this would be the first thing I would do. More integration with Bitcoin-OTC would be pretty neat, as I think this has ways to check against that kind of thing. (It would also be great to be able to feed back into OTC, but not sure if this is possible.) |
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Just to add - I love the site, the beginning is always going to be the trickiest bit as people build reputation. More people using it and more feedback weighing in will go a long way to making the experience for lenders much more approachable.
In the meantime, I'm just lending less to people with less proven history. I'll wait to see what happens on those first few defaulters, but was clearly my choice to make the loan.
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@ Scribe: Do you think you can add a graph parsing the real worls shops as well in a future update?
Should be pretty simple - most of the code will be the same, but there may be differences in how the lists are structured (I use headings a lot, but in theory it should be a simple job...) Will have a look soon, probably after the weekend. On a side note, is there any way to do a Google search to find out how many sites use the bitpay code, or something similar? |
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Overall is it worth the risk?
Depends on how risky you make your investments. At the start, this was trickier as there was little feedback and few lending options, but it's easier to choose as more people use it, and more feedback rolls in. In theory  |
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Been using since it started (only to loan, not borrow) and finding it pretty addictive. Frustrating when someone doesn't pay up, or tell you why, but balanced out by getting money back elsewhere |
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I made some designs ages ago - you can tell I'm not a pro, but I kind of like them: http://scribewear.spreadshirt.co.uk/bitcoin-C202151No idea how to set up Bitcoin payment in Spreadshirt though - PM if you really want one and want to pay with BTC, and I'll order for you. |
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Hey, sorry for being out of contact, one of those lives. Agree with both sides - I'm happy to get/keep the script running, but sure, it's not an indicator for number of Bitcoins merchants, just an indicator of wiki activity. In fact, it'd be good to add in "churn" as well - number of sites removed as well as added, as an indicator of the "health" of the wiki page. Not an indicator or the number of overall merchants, but interesting nonetheless. Anyway, I think I see what happened with the script - it *is* actually updating (once a day), but the stats are being added to the bottom of each section, rather than in time order, e.g.: Currency exchanges {
total: {
2012-07: 104, // July "ends" here ...
2012-06: 100,
2012-05: 95,
2012-04: 91,
2012-03: 89,
2012-02: 85,
2012-01: 95,
2011-12: 93,
2011-11: 85,
2011-10: 84,
2011-09: 92,
2011-08: 76,
2011-07: 70,
2011-06: 54,
2012-08: 109, // August actually picks up down here
2012-09: 110,
2012-10: 105
}, The CSV version should list them a bit better: http://www.exmosis.net/btctt/stats.csvInterestingly, October shows a large dip so far. Has someone been cleaning up the wiki? I'll try to "fix" the JSON ordering soon, plus might put the code up on github in case anyone wants to run/help. One change I'd like to do is to merge or drop categories where an old one has been renamed/moved about. And yeah, if anyone has any bright ideas for exporting as an image automatically, let me know. |
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Bought a basic one for BTC recently, and loving it - great for events and meetups. The idea of multiplayer games is intriguing too.
Going to look into building my own next though - good luck with selling them.
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On the Pingit page, would it be possible to clarify whether the fee specified is applied before or after the BTC exchange rate shown? e.g. now it says "Enter the amount to purchase in GBP. 1 BTC = £ 7.43 (5.97% Fee)" - I'm assuming that's £7.43 *after* 5.97% deducted, but would be good to be sure.
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'I want to link my Bitcointalk name with BTCJam's. Verification code: 7487e372-b65f-4d62-851c-9d2b7a258fb0'
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It's OK, it's the Guardian. They'll spend a few years mocking the weird nerds, and then start selling cookbooks for Bitcoins once they realise it's not the end of the world.
I'd much rather have some BTC than some Guardian shares right now.
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Google trying out micropayments for web content
This is for charging amounts under a dollar. Interesting. Suspect it'll struggle because everyone is used to free stuff, but it's an intriguing alternative model to straightforward voluntary donations - feels more like an "up-front tip", a more active form of considering a donation. Something a bit like Flattr, but with previews and content blocking. Looking forward to it kicking off some good alternatives... |
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