The reason I put out my 30-second spots on YouTube was to have something that isn't a long technical presentation, just enough to grab someone's imagination. It doesn't promise riches, success in trading or lots of babes relaxing on a pristine yacht. I think that is the tack to take - don't push the speculative nature, just the core principles:

Decentralization

Low fees (if any)

Robust Security (blockchain, with client additions to be added.)

If we can keep hitting on these three points, I think it will win over people who don't understand the true nature of what bitcoin is.

We're wary of people expressing interest for several reasons:

1.) Most people have heard of Google, so are able to find it themselves without 'help'.

2.) The list only serves one purpose, a potential avenue for further abuse. (See number three.)

3.) If you missed the hundreds of Gox threads, you may not have changed your password. I find this highly unlikely, however.

4.) If you used the same password on multiple sites, especially when dealing with your personal data, I have no sympathy for you.

Bitcoin only fails if we let it fail. Seriously. Like it has been said many times before, when there is only one node left - we've lost. If we keep the blockchain going, we will win.

I sincerely believe this.

chodpaba,
             Excellent work. I concur with your analysis of the refractory 'resting' period. Takes time for the market to build up an imbalance again, which will be expressed in the usual manner.

Just a reminder to the new people in the forum that lardycake has a history of making troll posts/comments. Just do a search, you'll be well informed.

Lets see how long this one lasts, lol.

Would be nice to have the miners seeding a torrent of the current blockchain, maybe update the file they are torrenting once every 'n' days. Unless there's some future bitcoin client feature in the works to do the same thing that I'm not aware of.

One of my more frustrating experiences when I was just starting out was simply getting the entire blockchain. (Since the client does nothing to tell you it hasn't gotten them all yet, you just watch numbers climb and wonder what it means.)

I don't think bitcoin has 'jumped the shark' just yet. Funny story though. Hell, most people don't even know bitcoin exists, hard to preach a saturation scenario with less than 0.05% of North America involved right now. It would be exciting if the pacific rim countries jumped into the fray.

I agree, I have asked some of the IT people I know about it in casual conversation. Only one had an idea of what I was talking about. I don't think bitcoin has really commanded the spotlight yet, even with the online stories. Most people filter that out, inundated with information in general. It will only 'break through' if it pops up in mainstream media, and by that I mean actual printed articles and tv segments.

Guess we'll find out, we are still barely out of the woods here...

I'm inclined to agree, 'first mover' advantage usually defines who's number one. Numerous comparisons to online services provides a good example of this phenomenon. Hard to overtake something unless it fails spectacularly. My bet is on bitcoin 1.0

If mining was unprofitable, wouldn't you expect the global Tera-hash capacity to decline?

I just checked, its hanging around the 12 THash level. I recall it being under 9 when I first got into bitcoin.

You're right, math does solve a lot of problems

How about some OS analogies? Sure!

I've got three pairs of pants, (bear with me - I hate a cluttered closet), and depending on what I'm doing or where I'm going I choose one of the three.

WinPants - You know, these suckers are comfortable. Well, they better be - I've only spent decades getting them to fit just right. Sure, there's a small hole in the left pocket so I have to be careful not to put anything in there I don't want lost, and there is the annoying tendency for the elements to seep in through the threadbare but wonderfully smooth denim at times. But dammit, they do the job and I don't get arrested for going out nude - so its a win-win scenario. They won't impress the girls, but it will take care of regular errands and going about-the-town during the day.

iPants - Well, I'm a bit invested here. Spent more than I usually do - and god, do they look it. I hear the fabric was woven by some particularly picky designers and I'm paying for their expertise. That's okay with me. Although if I get a tear I have to send it off somewhere special to get it repaired or replaced. But they are my fancy pants used for wowing the ladies as I dash off into wild discos and art showings. Not to say they don't get holes in the pockets like my WinPants, but they do get repaired eventually, whenever I can manage to get to the authorized drycleaner.

x32-Pants-0.01.02-tar.gz - Yeah, the label is a bit long, but the damn fabric seems to have been crafted in a vulcan furnace, a bit of a burnished exterior that fades improbably to near pitch-black. I've poured an entire pitcher of bloody mary mix on the leg once, and it vanished without a trace. Amazing. However, it took me a while to get these on. You have to be certain pants.conf is setup properly, and you don't want one leg in before you realize that the cuff_relax_flag isn't set to "Auto". That really stung. Ladies tend to avoid me in these pants, but that is only because I didn't have the fabric_refresh set to something higher than 24 fps, and my boxers were showing. I fixed that, and they've been pretty dependable ever since. I can go anywhere with these, I just have to keep an eye on the pants announcement board to make sure some clown hasn't figured out how to unravel my seams while I'm walking around town at night. No, that wasn't me, that was some other guy... really.

This whole order-matching incident doesn't instill confidence in me, at all. It makes me question how the trade engine was validated, to begin with. Just off the top of my head, the one thing you don't want happening is your code not catching input problems. This is a basic concern for anything with any serious responsibilities.

I'm not a QA expert, but you'd better believe I would stress-test my algorithm by giving it a specially crafted 'junk' pile of inputs, to see if it could fail gracefully at worst, at best - ignore the false inputs and continue flawlessly. As I'm sure MagicalTux is aware, any continued problems will contribute to declining volume at his exchange.

Please get it right, for your sake and ours.

Calista is a troll.

The only thing decreasing is the parent posters remaining time here.

Troll is obvious.

The only thing that bothers me is the fact these threads exist so long here. This belongs in the 'newbies' section, honestly - if not outright locked. It is no better than the "CRASH CRASH CRASH" threads, or someone claiming they've "HACKED THE BLOCKCHAIN - FREE BITCOINS" kind of postings.

Due to the design of bitcoin, even if it does become highly valuable the fact you can express fractions to eight decimal places will ensure it does enter the overall economy. That is hard to do with physical currencies, for obvious reasons. I have no problem with bitcoin achieving higher dollar valuations because of this.

While some may hold on to their bitcoin wallets, I'd think a majority would be just fine with spending 0.025, 0.01, or 0.00332 of them

Appreciate the comments guys. I don't require funding to keep going, but if you are absolutely set on donating to me, just shoot me a PM on the forum. I'm going to take a break over the holiday weekend, but I have a few more ideas that will see the light of day soon.

Have a good one!

Regrettably, I have to agree. Seems the order book isn't being processed in a sane manner.

Yes, for those who wonder - a proper order book fills at the best bid/offer. "Stub" bids and offers way off the market price don't get priority if there is something resting higher or lower. I sincerely doubt there was nothing between 15.50 and 3.00. Has to be some kind of problem we don't know the details about yet.

We don't need this, honestly.

I'd say swiss francs, personally. It is one of the lesser evils in the forex world. CHF!