No mechanism will stop a crime on the forum, but it could be reduced if some things are acknowledged as a crime and then moderated accordingly. Post or threads could be deleted, if it is deemed to be against the rules of the forum.
To make these rules or to acknowledge something as a crime, it should be against the laws of all people from every country around the world. Ponzi's for example, is not against the laws of some countries.
The popular believe, is to outlaw anything that may be against the laws of the country where the forum is hosted.
The forum owner are held responsible for everything that is done on his or her forum. <Like with Silkroad>
This is very difficult to prosecute, if the forum is hosted in a neutral area, but managed or owned by someone from another nationality. 

The transaction volume is higher than before, so I cannot see how this is even relevant. I am not spending more than last year, because the price is so low.
There should in theory be a steady increase in the transaction volumes as the merchants and vendors increase.
The latest testing of the blockchain could have a influence in the short term.

On my next date, I will wear a T-shirt with a QR code printed on the front. The QR code will point to one of the richest Bitcoin addresses out there now.
I will print the following on my back " Do you like me now? "
It will get me laid, but I will have a truck load of trouble when she finds out, I am not the owner. ^grrr^

Why then are people second guessing the upgrades Gavin suggested?
Last time I checked, we were averaging 100 000 transactions... The stress testing is @#%king with the stats. ^hmf^
At this stage, I cannot see how we would be able to go mainstream with protocol as it is now.

There is no reason not to do both. I hodl 50% of my coins and trade and spend the other 50%. Use Bitcoin in the same way you normally used fiat. A LOT of people use Bitcoin as a possible investment plan, not for it's currency feature. The more they hoard, the better for us, because it helps to increase the value of the coins currently in circulation. We are FREE to use Bitcoin in the way we want to use it.

You cannot judge a coin just based on it's transactions per second feature. I would rather use a crypto currency that are widely adopted and excepted by every merchant out there, than going with a coin, that has all the features, but NO support or demand.
It has taken MANY years to establish a merchant base for Bitcoin, and now you want people to switch coins and back a horse nobody knows? Good luck with that. 

Not everyone hate banks <<Did I just say that?>> Most Bitcoiners still use banks for things like mortages and loans and the payments requiring the fiat system.
If they combine the two, they might grab a share of the market, currently held by banks that does not allow Bitcoin.
If I am forced to use a bank, I will rather use a bank that are pro Bitcoin. How many people had already had their bank accounts frozen, when it was linked to Bitcoin? They spot a gap in the market, and they capitalized on it.
Take the business away from the banks, who does not acknowledge or allow Bitcoin users.    

Even though all of them are ground breaking tech, I am most excited about two of them :
Streamium >> For it's decentralized nature and it's disruptive possibilities.  
Bitfury light bulbs >> Simply because I like gadgets and also it's goal to support the network
The other uses are good, but not very mainstream in my opinion.  

The goal is not to create a NEXT Silkroad, but to create something that is truly private. Until recently I have thought Switzerland was neutral, but I learned that they are working with the USA to infringe on people's privacy.
You cannot shift anything to a single country, and think they will stay neutral forever. It has to be open source and it has to be decentralized for it to work.
I am all for internet privacy, but not for a NEXT Silkroad linked to Bitcoin.   

Gavin working for the CIA? Nope
Did he go there to explain the concept and to reduce the misconceptions that there might have been about Bitcoin? Yes, I think he did.
If you are identified or linked to any possible threat against the USA, you will be "pulled in" to state your case.
In the beginning a lot of agencies, who did not understand the technology, might have perceived this as a threat, and he willingly went there to explain the technology. That is my take on it.

Well, for those who wants to leave, I say GOOD LUCK and make sure you sell your coins at discount prices.
I for one will enjoy the rodeo ride and buy as many of those coins as my fiat budget would allow.
Bitcoin is the killer APP for me. ^Hint hint^

Then you are in the right place and the wrong crowd. ^Joke^ In the beginning I also thought Bitcoin was a NerdCoin but my opinion changed when I met a few of these people in meetup's. There are a lot of hunks and jock's and cheerleaders amongst them too. Bitcoin has become so widely adopted now, that people from all walks of life is using it now.

Would be fun, if they could flash a Bip38 paper wallet {Bitcoin Address & Private Key pair} on a big screen and the first person to SMS the correct answer to a question, will be electronically given the pass phrase to sweep the content.
We live in a electronic age, where things like this is possible. Why not do it?
 

This sounds like fun, but what kind of turn-based game will wait for 30 minutes to confirm a transaction?
I would like to play chess against someone, where every move is recorded on the blockchain. You pay for every move you make and it goes to a central escrow service, that would pay the winner on completion of the match.
The only problem is speed and honesty. <You will have to stream the game, to proof that you used NO device to make the moves for you>   

These guys like this type of technologies because it disrupts THE SYSTEM. Most of these guys, originate from the older hacker communities and if you read their posts on the old BBS's you find that they very opposed to centralization and government controlled entities. <We need more people like this, who think out of the box>
In my opinion, he is part of the Satoshi group. ^Hide^

 

Even if you bypass the IP Block, you still need to be able to withdraw it. The minimum withdraw limit and that fact that you cannot <rinse & repeat> without a zero balance, make it impossible to accumulate it to the withdraw limit.
The only way to benefit from that, would be to repeatedly milk the site from the faucet from several different accounts and then gambling with that until you hit the jackpot. Your chance of doing that is very small.

This to me is further proof that the sha256 used in Bitcoin is bulletproof or it could have been cracked and the OP did not report back, due to criminal intent. Out of curiosity, did any of the members attempt this or did the OP not respond to your request for more information?
There was a guy on reddit who posted his BIP38 paper wallet {Address & Private Key} and challenged people to Bruteforce it, and I wonder how successful that was?   

We should not mention bitcoin at all, when we close our accounts. The banks does not need any more information about this matter, than what you want to tell them.
They sr3w us over for years and then we have to arm them with knowledge to hurt us more?
Just close your accounts and tell them you are changing banks for cheaper banking fees.

They sure have a lot of different coins on there. It would be a nice tool to introduce people to the Alt Coin scene.
It can be quite a daunting task to buy all those different coins from several sites.
I joined a year ago, out of curiosity to see if they might increase the rewards, but nothing has changed and I still receive dust from it. I now think they only created it to farm email information, but I may be wrong.

This might sound a bit trivial, but I actually count them. I call them <The Coverted>
Up to date, I have counted 53 people converted to buying Bitcoin or owning some. My best period was when the price was just below $1000/BTC - Since then, a lot of people lost faith <About 13 people>
I do however find that the people who bought before the spike in price, was the people who held on the longest.
They are also more active and still buy BTC frequently.