Done and done - have included tabled items, and also added in CSV output for exporting into spreadsheets.

Here's data taken from the last 3000 edits, which goes back to February 2011:

CSV: http://www.exmosis.net/btctt/stats.csv
JSON: http://www.exmosis.net/btctt/stats.json

The CSV version means you can load it straight into a Google Doc using =importData(), like this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnMuKQGBY6LhdFZsbzU4WlFSS3J6TDIyUHItdXFtWlE

(Second sheet contains a quick chart. I'll leave charting the breakdowns up to you...)

And thanks for the jsonviewer link. I usually use browser plugins, but might come in handy when I can't do that.

As a Brit, I think this is my favourite bit.

This one's been going round my head a few days, but one evening and a few glasses of red wine, and I think I'm on the right track. Here's a dump from my script in its current take:

http://www.exmosis.net/btctt/stats.json

(Best viewed with some kind of JSON-prettifier in your browser.)

It runs through a set number of revisions in the Trade History, and grabs the last version for each month that it finds, then does a bunch of parsing to count the items in each category. It's pretty basic at the moment - it's not handling any special exceptions or tables in the page, for instance.

I figure some kind of CSV output might be useful too, and I'll probably get it running once a night to keep the latest timepoint up to date as well, at some point. Sticking the data into a database would make it easier to do the counting as well.

Feel free to suggest anything else, or point out inaccuracies. My spare coding time is fairly limited these days, so don't expect miracles to happen too quickly though. And if it's useful, small tips go a long way...

Subbing, like the idea of answering trivia and puzzles for bitcoin...

I'd love to understand this better too. From what it sounds like there's a kind of two-way lock/check which means you can't tamper with transactions - you'd have to change both at the same time, but also each depends on the other? Reminds me of the Robin Hood/Friar Tuck virus for some reason..


Not sure on #2, but the main problem the whitepaper sets out seems to be power usage. Have to admit I have a similar concern, but would want to see more evidence on power usage vs power used on other server farms, or for producing all the crappy spam mail I get through my door every day.

Curious - seeing some rise in interest here as well: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90217.0

I've also literally had my first ever contacts to buy BTC via localbitcoins.com in the last days - 3 in total, 2 within minutes of each other, oddly. Will have to find out where they heard about it from.

(Don't take this as thread-jacking, just trying to draw a few threads together.)

Finally got back from back a weekend away to find my copy waiting for me - well done to all involved, really good. You were only let down at the end of a day here by a badly-organised mail system grappling with an institutional monarchy organising one-off bank holidays - not so bad really.

BTW, are shipping costs likely to change once production moves to the UK? Wondering if it's worth waiting to subscribe if so...

Good to know the UK can still do some things right

Might have to go and subscribe, looks like this thing is alive...

I wonder if there's scope to start a blog on "my new life with bitcoins" - a kind of honest, day-to-day look at what the frustrations and triumphs are in getting into it all.

Damn, now I'm thinking about doing that... couldn't resist starting one... http://bitcoinlife.wordpress.com/

Interesting (and good) to see that "Difficulty of use for non-technical users" is the biggest hurdle people see. Definitely lots to be done here.

Are you planning to repeat the survey in e.g. 6 months? Would be really good to know how things change.

Interesting stuff, subbing. Keep it up

To keep things fair, I would have a panel of "independent" judges from each proposed choice, who can also vote for one of the proposals other than their own.

The final decision would be based on a 50-50 split between the results of this panel of judges, and the btc-weighted "votes".

Last but not least, each proposal would be required to sing a short pop song (about 3 minutes in length) before voting opened.

Sorted.

This needs banging home to people. Over the last few years in the UK, I've seen the main GBP "growth" policy as basically being to water it down so it's more widely available. People don't seem to get their heads round the idea that when more money is printed, the money you've got is worth less. Coupled with no incentive to save, it's very difficult to see fiat currency as anything except a way to keep foreign trade balanced and banks happy.

The amazing thing about Bitcoin is that "monetary policy" is basically a feedback algorithm, based on supply and demand rather than political and inter-geographical agendas. That's a strength because it's *predictable* - much more so than a central bank deciding whether or not to "pump money" into an economy because it hasn't got any better ideas.

Replying to myself, but might be useful to others - found out today that Royal Mail in Brighton are still clearing a backlog from the bank holiday weekend, so that might explain some delays. Ho hum.

Cuuurious. I like the local nature of it. But I'm left wondering - what does it do, other than generate its own power, that I couldn't do with my phone?

That's a genuwine question, because I do like the sound of the device. To answer myself a little, I like that it makes sending btc very easy, i.e. hides the idea of an "address" and replaces it with a device. Could a smartphone do something similar via Bluetooth/Google Maps/etc though?

Ditto. Toys would be good too. Although you'd have to beat the experience of going from charity shop to charity shop somehow...

Wait, this whole thing was just an advert for a Bitcoin alternative? Genius

Good, important thread. The main problem I can see at the moment actually comes from Bitcoin's strength - namely, that BTC allows easy *spending* among a distributed network, but for buying "things" that always means paying for postage and having to wait. It's not about users being "cheap" - it's about diversity of choice, and being able to resort to existing alternatives which are a) work well enough, even if they're more expensive, or b) are large enough to support free and fast postage.

Driving spending based on the currency doesn't make much sense, long term (ironically the same problem facing major economic powers currently) - using bitcoins needs to "piggyback" on existing and *new* trading, as a better alternative to paypal etc. But, in a sense, having the "bitcoin community" come up with business ideas is somewhat arse-end-first. That's why I get more excited about existing small businesses offering to take BTC.

That's also why I think it's important to at least study what makes local economies successful or not. A lot of local currencies spring up where local trade is already doing pretty well, and people want to stop value from leaving the local system. I'm glad there's some talk of tying Bitcoins to local or "child" currencies as that, I think, is one huge area of potential of a *technological* currency (rather than a legal one). The idea of forking a blockchain is amazing because it *can* be done, even if it's not necessarily a good idea (YMMV).

Right now I'm spending a lot of time wondering where BTC could be applied in the real world, rather than worrying about hoarding BTC and hoping someone comes up with a site that doesn't get hacked. Tip jars are interesting, but I'm not sure tipping is actually fashionable at all (too much free stuff around anyway). People still like to think of consumption as a social activity, rather than creation.

Damn, nothing at mine yet. Maybe it's waiting til tomorrow when I'm at home.

Looks like a really useful - and accessible - read. Looking forward to browsing this alongside Bitcoin Magazine