No I wouldn't, and that's why I ~'ed JollyGood and a number of other members.

The trust system (including both the DT aspect and feedback giving in general) is just straight-up broken and is way too complicated and full of holes to work as anything people can rely on.  That's not a new opinion from me; I've been saying the same thing for years, but people always defend it.  Who knows, maybe I'm the one who's wrong.

But what's the point of this thread, exactly?

I don't think his motive was necessarily to get himself removed from DT but to protest against the system itself, which is a mockery of what it used to be prior to this rotating lunacy.  That was a bad idea IMO, and honestly after reading this thread I'm thinking about doing exactly what Yahoo62278 did.  I think the DT system sucks, and I already know whose feedback I trust (and if I'm not sure, I can always click on a member's trust profile) so I don't need to have a custom trust list or any list for that matter.

Props to you, Yahoo62278, for leading the revolution.

Who the fuck are you?

Oh, I've done that in the past without remorse and would do it again if I found someone who wrote perfect English in 2013 but is now barely coherent and participating in a bounty in 2022.  There's no way you can go from proper use of a language to barely knowing how to structure sentences, spell, use grammar, etc. (aside from a stroke or something like that, but that would be so rare on this forum that Occam's Razor would guide my paint gun with ease).

You've been here since 2013, so you ought to know a deterioration in language combined with a long absence is a dead giveaway that an account has changed hands, either through a sale or a hack.  It's happened many times.

OP, I've read just a little bit about the Bitlucy drama and Royse777's involvement in it, and that being the case, this thread is confusing as hell.  If you start a thread in Reputation, you've got to be clear about details and not assume people are familiar with an issue that was dealt with in another thread. 

Plus the title ought to describe what the thread's about.  So in other words, you're better off posting your input in the other thread that was opened about Royse777 (if it's not locked) and locking up this one.

My first impression of your post, OP, is that you're jumping way ahead with that last part of it.

I'm not familiar with tornado cash whatsoever, and I'm pretty ignorant about smart contracts too, but I did take a look at the article and I think what needs to happen is for this action to be challenged via the legal system, lest it set a precedent that might put into motion all of those github removals and negative actions against bitcoin that you suggested could happen.

Does the large and wonderful land of bitcoin happen to have a group of legal scholars who would take on a case like this?  I've always thought bitcoin needed powerful lobbyists to fight for fair regulation and such.  I know there are people like the Winklevoss twins and some OG whales that have some pull, but this seems like there's a need for pro-crypto lawyers.

Anyway, thanks for posting this info.  I'm kind of curious as to what, if anything, is going to come of this action.

I'm skeptical about these claims of countries becoming "bitcoin hubs" (whatever that really means), because it seems like I've heard this story before and it just sounds to me like they're trying to ride the wave of something very popular but without doing anything lasting or even meaningful.

It's kind of like how every business and a lot of altcoins are jumping on the NFT bandwagon to attract newcomers, which I think is complete garbage--because IMO NFTs are complete garbage.  We'll see where Singapore stands with bitcoin in five years, because that'll show whether they meant what they said, and only time is going to determine that.  Right now it's just a lot of words.

Ah, yes!!!!  Dude, thank you for linking to that, because it's a page I used to have bookmarked a long time ago (probably from whenever it was created) but somehow lost track of because of various hard drive changes and forgetting how to locate it.  Sweet, now I'm going to bookmark it again.

You'd think that for as long as I've been here, I'd know how to find my way around the forum, but....I don't.  I'd like to think it's a forum design problem, but the reality is it's more likely a my-brain-is-turning-to-hamburger issue.  I'm going to blame it on smartphones and social media, the easiest scapegoats I can think of.

And by the way, guys, keep in mind that some merit sources didn't apply for the position and I think those are the ones least likely to dedicate a good amount of time giving away merits.  Theymos tapped a bunch of members to be sources back in 2019 (IIRC), and damned if I know when the last time he accepted an application or created a new merit source.  It'd be awesome if he dumped a ton of statistics about the merit system and in particular the merit sources past and present, but I know that's not going to happen if their identities are kept confidential.  Oh well.

Lol, now I'm even more confused--although obviously I'd forgotten that I'd posted about franky1 and was under the impression he'd been banned from the dev & tech section.  There are probably a million separate and unrelated thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis, and it's only gotten worse with age, so bear with me and my absentmindedness. 

There was probably never any need to do so before, and since every decision about forum-related matters flows from Theymos, I'm thinking he's pretty much just making up new rules and adjustments to existing ones as needed.  There was nothing ever written in stone about bans only being of two types.  In fact, the rules are *informal* ones, even though we know they're not--but my point is that there's flexibility, which I think is a good thing.

All of this begs the question: Who exactly are "they"?  Are we talking about those presumptuous morons on Youtube who play-act as gurus, telling people all about how rich they got by being an entrepreneur (and in the meantime make more money through Youtube's ad revenue than they probably made through whatever business they may or may not have had previously)?

Regardless, the fact is that not everyone can be an entrepreneur--and I'm defining that term to mean starting up your own business.  The reality is that most people need to be working those 9-5 jobs under someone else's management, else all of those public and private companies out there wouldn't be able to function--and that would be a nightmare.

Take some consolation from me if you're a worker bee, though.  It's still possible to become wealthy if you invest wisely and earn a decent wage.  I even clipped an article from a few years back about a gas station worker who lived to be 90-something, and when he died it was discovered that he was worth millions and owned tons of stock that he'd bought consistently throughout the years. 

So you don't need to strike out on your own and work 18 hours a day, putting all of your blood, sweat, and tears into a new business plan that probably won't succeed in order to become rich (if that's your goal).  That's a myth.

While this might sound all nice and liberal, it's a fucking horrible idea.  Taxes shouldn't be used as a political weapon, to redistribute wealth, or to do anything other than fund the government, and if increases are needed because of the need for more money, then those increases ought to be fair and rational.

The "excessive profits" phrase really got me there.  In whose eyes is any profit excessive?  That's something only a socialist would say.

That's true--and it's very fucked up--but that doesn't mean the idea of taxing corporations when their profits happen to be extraordinary is a good one.  Or a fair one.

Hm.  Maybe I'm wrong, but being banned is basically the same as being a lurker with no account--and the latter group can't even see red/green trust, much less create their own trust lists, so I'm not sure why a person who's gone so far as to get his ass permabanned should have the right to modify anything that could affect other members (however small the chance).

Though I've only read the first few posts in this thread and might get an answer to my question, I have to wonder why naim027 would feel the need to modify his trust list now, after he's been banned.  It's not as though he's going to do business with anyone or anything of the sort.

Bottom line: I think when you're banned, you ought to lose the privilege to do things like make changes to your trust list.  Hell, I'm not even sure why banned members are still allowed to log into their accounts and do anything at all.

Baaahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!  (I'm laughing about the trailing criticism gang thing)

Foxmaster's club is indeed exclusive and shrouded in mystery, but it doesn't mean there's ever a concerted effort to reinforce Foxxy's opinions by stifling dissent.  I hate to admit this, but since I have avatars on ignore I'm not even sure who my fellow cyclists are.  That should tell you that there's no collusion happening behind the scenes (or that I'm just excluded from it, although I'm always invited to the witching hour sex parties gatherings, where identities are hidden with some extremely creative masks).

I agree with you about Lauda, though.  If we're talking strictly about influence on members of the forum, Lauda was right up there with Vod, OgNasty, TECSHARE, and Bruno.  There are others, but at the moment there seems to be a dearth of very strong, outspoken personalities who acquire a cadre of acolytes.  Leaders, in other words.  Or maybe there are and I'm not paying enough attention and missing them--or my definition of "influence" is too strict.

Not believing in the Merit Cycling Club will put a member's name on a secret list, just FYI.  I think you're underestimating just what our club does and what resources it has access to--and that's to your detriment, my friend.  *lulz*

Ayyy!!  I like seeing this thread updated, but I often miss it because it doesn't generate much discussion and quickly gets buried after Coin-1 posts new monthly data.  Now it's bookmarked, problem solved.

But the reason I bumped this thread is that I upped my position in the past two months from my general average, which I was hoping would be the case but was prepared for it not to be.  So I'm not tooting my own rusty horn here, just taking note of the fact and thanking OP for keeping the thread updated.

More members have been taking me up on my offer of post history reviews, so I think that could account for my move higher in the generosity list.  That offer is still open, by the way.

I don't visit the Services section or the bounty one, so I haven't noticed that first hand--but I don't doubt for a minute that members do kiss mucho ass so they can keep their spot in whatever thing they're involved with. 

As far as DT ladder climbing goes, I'm not sure exactly who's doing that but I know for a fact that it's much easier to do with the rotating system as opposed to the way it used to be, i.e., nearly impossible to even get on DT2 because getting the requisite DT1 inclusions was hard and often met with resistance from opposing DT1 members.  Things just ain't what they used to be.

I'm starting to get the impression that Royse777 might be doing things for money that he otherwise might not do.  He's sent me two PMs so far, asking me to communicate off-forum for something he's doing, and he hasn't replied to my last PM to him a couple of days ago.  It could be legit, whatever it is, but I'm just getting a funny feeling about it now that there's all this drama surrounding him.

And yeah, nobody here is perfect, and if you can point out a saint active on the forum I'll throw myself down in front of the cathedral of Theymos and immolate myself until you can make a tasty kebab out of what's left of me.  Bring ketchup.

In real life I have a very hard time suffering fools, and thus it makes it hard for me to interact with people 1) when I'm forced to, or 2) in medium-large groups, where there's always a bell curve of social worth (or tolerability), thereby making it nearly impossible to avoid idiots.

On the internet?  Yeah, I'll rain hellfire down on your ass if I don't take a liking to you--but the basic rule is to mirror the treatment people show me (or the forum).  I appreciate the feedback, you puppy dog.  *lol*

Sometimes on the rare occasion I visit BPIP and check my profile, my mind doth boggle at the stats.  This is my profile as of 30 seconds ago:



10th most recognized??  I know there's a formula for how those numbers are arrived at, but I seriously doubt Vod's math represents reality as we know it.

Hopefully that's the case with whoever hires bounty/campaign managers--and admittedly I have a very customized trust list, but I'm seeing that the majority of OP's trusted feedback is positive, and it really doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary.  It's always been the case that even some of the most trusted members of the forum have had red daubs of paint on their trust pages by DT members for one reason or another.

This isn't the first thread questioning JollyGood's feedback-leaving judgement, and I doubt it'll be the last.  IMO he's putting in a good amount of effort trying to bust scammers and assorted shitbags, but he's made way too many questionable calls for me to have done anything other than exclude him from my trust list.

OP, whether JollyGood is ever booted from DT or not, I wouldn't lose sleep over this.  It's not even that unusual for people to leave red trust multiple times, even if the recipient hasn't committed any new real or perceived offenses.  Vod used to do it all the time.

Heh heh....I'm not certain we're on the same page as far as what it means to be a pillar of a community, because those three members were very different in terms of their personalities, contributions to the forum, and respect earned over the course of their time here.  They were pretty well-known members to be sure, but I don't envision a community pillar to be someone who generates as much controversy as Lauda did.  Some of that was because of his/her sheer abrasiveness, but there was that sting operation that didn't have great optics and probably some other accusations with supporting evidence that I'm forgetting.

Overall, though, I always thought Lauda did more good than harm--but there was a balancing between the two.  With Vod, I don't think there were any accusations against him that held any weight.  He generally tread a righteous path and did a hell of a lot to warn people about loan scammers.

TMAN.  What I remember most about him was his amusing choice of words, some of which could probably make a router blush.  There's no one like him around these days that I know of.

Eh, I don't know about that.  

A lot of you know that I've offered (and still offer) post reviews on a monthly basis to any member of the community under Legendary rank and without enough merits to reach that rank already.  I always say just send me a PM requesting a post history review, and I'll be more than happy to do it.

You wouldn't believe how many members have phrased their PMs to me like I'm some kind of forum diety...!  They think that because I've been around for years and have that coveted Legendary rank that I'm something other than a regular guy who treats newer members just like peers (assuming they're not scamming/spamming/account-selling jackasses or idiots who want red trust removed when there's no basis to do so).  So you'd better believe that when a lot of members have personal interactions with Theymos--who was around during the days of Satoshi--they figuratively piss in their pants as if they got a phone call from Chris Pratt [or pick your celebrity].  

So anyway, how important am I to bitcointalk?  Not very.  99.5% of members are more helpful, knowledgeable, and smarter than me, and I'm probably underestimating that percentage so as not to go to bed tonight with my ego deflated like a used sex doll.  I'm not humblebragging *edit: fishing for a compliment, I mean*, either.  If I just disappeared tomorrow, I doubt there'd be much notice at all.

**scrapes self up from aforementioned concrete wall**

That is true, and I get your point.  And I don't know where you live, but I'm assuming it's either in a rural or an undeveloped area.  My question is: Do you have access to online retailers, and in particular ones that accept bitcoin?  There aren't even many physical businesses in the US that accept it--that pizza shop and the computer place are kind of anomalies, but online is a different story.  Even if you couldn't spend your coins at a place like Amazon, you could do it indirectly via Gyft or some similar services.

And part of my point was that this author was writing from what seemed to be a US-oriented perspective (not surprising, since that's the magazine's main audience).  I wish I could post the whole thing here, because I'd love to hear people's opinions on it.

I'm sleepy, so I'll just pick this one to argue against--and I'm surprised you'd write such a thing!

I wrote in a post a week or so ago that I'd recently read an article called "Crypto's confusing consumer promises" written by Rebecca Ackermann in the MIT Technology Review.  In it, she's all over the place with utterly false statements mixed with truths and half-truths, and would lead the reader to believe that bitcoin can't be used to purchase things.  It boggled my mind that so little research into bitcoin's utility (admittedly limited but not trivial) as money.  If she had, she'd be aware that places like Newegg and a whole lot of retailers of all sorts of goods and services exist and wouldn't argue--as she did--that in 2022 bitcoin can basically only be bought with the intention of selling it for a higher price.

True, that's what most people do I'd imagine, but to suggest that bitcoin isn't money is ludicrous.  I even convinced my local computer repair shop to accept bitcoin when I needed my function junction box jiggered with.  My local pizza place accepts bitcoin, too!

Now the drowsiness is wearing me down and thus what started as a passionate defense of bitcoin as money has hit a concrete wall.  As the hit was head-first, I will now slide bleeding to my knees, then full prostration, then the dying of the light.  Adieu.