+1 for nckrazze

I purchased a 1 oz. silver eagle proof from him.  He delivered first and shipped quickly, providing me with insurance and tracking information.  Great transaction, would do business again!

Look, I'm all for an ideal world where we can all play Dalai Lama and Gandhi and let everyone decide for themselves and do what they want to do.  That's fine, and I would prefer it.

Practically, we live within a global economy driven by capitalism, and if you want any idea to succeed in a capitalist market, it will likely be done through competition in any of its various forms.

Your words are dubious.  Appealing to someone's intellect to convince them is also manipulation, though ironically, perhaps the words I chose earlier such as 'brainwash' appealed to YOUR emotion, (albeit negatively) and so here you are stating what you are stating. 

In either case, appealing to emotion works and it elicits a reaction.  If the intent is to deceive for a greater good, and I don't believe it was, then that's what we call a little white lie, and little white lies are ethically justified in their own right.  By the way, I love that ugly sweater your wearing.

If, as you assumed, the makers of the video believe in what they are saying in the video, then where does the unethical part come in?

And even if they didn't, consider this question:  Would it be unethical to brainwash someone into choosing good over evil?  If, as I think we all assume, that the Bitcoin protocol itself has more potential for ethical application than does the alternative (fiat currency and its implications), then is it wrong to brainwash others to get them to use it?

Regardless, perhaps "brainwash" as understood in the fullest sense was an inappropriate word choice.  People can make their own decisions, including choosing to be ignorant.

Are those real screenshots?  If so, I love how the sell side obliterates the buy side.

T-minus to failure = soon

BTW, notyep, do you have some kind of neurological deficiency that makes you confuse pictures for reason?

I completely disagree with those who say this video isn't effective.

1)  Unless you're a total nerd (and the vast majority of the population are not), you will not be picking apart this commercial line by line.  The message is extremely simple:  "Are you the little guy that's sick of being pushed around by bigger guys?  Here's a solution."  Thus, it's empowering.

2)  That line about stock brokers does not need to appeal to stock brokers.  Any teenage idiot has heard about occupy wall street or zeitgeist or alex jones or someone like that, and they're easy to brainwash.  They're not stock brokers and they think stock brokers are boring guys in suits, and for that reason the message still works.  You could start a video about rebelling against lunch ladies that make horrible hair-laden casseroles and they'd buy into it.  Besides, the tone of voice that's used in the video is a brilliant form of peer pressure, almost like a  "if you don't get what I'm saying by now then you're fucking retarded" kind of deal.

3)  Gavin hit the nail on the head.  Marketing is about appeal to emotion and not intelligence.  This is why sex sells and why peer pressure sells (peer pressure marketing made rap music successful...entourages, anyone?).  I posted this video up on my Facebook and within 10 minutes some dumb bitch that I've almost never talked to in my life (but whom I went to school with) gave it a 'like.'  This video creates a brilliant but unspoken dichotomy -- either you're on board with the Bitcoiners or you're a piece of shit who sides with corruption and greed.

Again, awesome video.

Oh Phinneaus, we all know that at least one of your arms will be limber enough to get the job done.

Also true.  I mined during my first week with a 550-ti pulling 40 m/hash.  Bought a 6970 in a week (had to game too) and then built two rigs in the next 6 months.

And it's fun monitoring them and adjusting my fans and voltages like I'm some kind of engineer.

Yeah, screw nVidia.  I don't blame ya one bit

That's perfect!  Mining is extremely difficult for those without a lot of prior computer tech know-how.  Mining contributes to network security, but what you're doing is helping Bitcoin liquidity

True.  Anybody who has Rybka would likely take all, always.

I personally still think that it's OK to start mining, and the sooner the better.

While it's true nobody really knows what will happen when the reward halves late this year, the great thing about mining is that you still have the value of your hardware to act as a hedge on your investment.  That is, instead of buying Bitcoins outright, you are essentially indirectly buying them over time while retaining a tangible asset (i.e. your hardware).

Lets say you spend $2000 on mining equipment.  Then, let's also say that the value of Bitcoin drops to zero tomorrow.  Well, then you'd still be able to resell your equipment for at least $1500 ($500 loss, might be able to do better).  But, as long as Bitcoin retains value for at least a year, you're likely to be in the green if you take into account the value of your hardware.

I actually spent $3000 in December on a very inefficient  desktop computer that acts as a mining rig.  It's so powerful that I can mine with it and still do all the other stuff that I would normally use my computer for simultaneously.  Since then, I've already recouped about $700 and I could easily turn around and sell my computer tomorrow for $2500+.

It really comes down to how much you pay for electricity.  I'm very fortunate that electricity is included in my rental agreement and my landlord has not once complained about the electric bill.  For me it was a very easy decision and if I still had the capital to invest at the moment, I would scale up my mining operation as much as I could.

So, when it comes down to it, if you have cheap electricity, I'd say go for it.  The best part about mining is getting Bitcoins daily without needing to go through the hassle and fees associated with obtaining them through an exchange.

Yeah, there's a steep learning curve for like...a week.

After that you feel like you're from the future 

1 minute games only -- prevents cheating.

In a 5 minute game, or even a 2 minute game, you can cheat pretty easily.  In a 1 minute game with an average of 30-40 moves, there's just no way you could cheat without running out of time (unless your opponent is a sponge).

Kelsey,

I empathize with you completely.  I got in back in June 2011 and I spent 6-10 hours trying to figure out how to get my first Bitcoins and start mining them.

The nice thing is that once you have them, the rest is essentially a piece of cake.  The main reason that Bitcoins are so hard to acquire is because the payment methods that people typically would like to use to get them (e.g. paypal) have been exploited over and over to scam the seller.  Nobody wants to sell Bitcoins for PayPal because the buyers could always claim they didn't receive their BTC and perform a reversal of the payment.  This actually highlights some of the problems with traditional payment methods -- unfortunately, it makes it appear as though Bitcoin is causing all the hassle.

Regarding centralization, it does appear that way, but the type of centralization that Mt. Gox performs is (unfortunately) required at the moment.  Can you think of some other way to transition from fiat currency to Bitcoins without there being a middle-man?  How would you determine the purchasing power of each Bitcoin?  While it's unfortunate that they hold such a large market share, they still don't have control over the Bitcoin protocol itself.  If you keep your Bitcoins nice and safe in your wallet, Mt. Gox can't do a damn thing to touch them.  By the way, I've never traded on Mt. Gox in the 11 months I've been doing this and I've done extremely well.

Realistically, though, tangible cash is going to be phased out sooner or later and it will be replaced by a digital version.  There have been many other attempts (Beenz, Flooz, Linden Dollars, WOW money, Ithica HOURS, the OCCCU, etc.), and while some of these have seen some success (i.e. Linden Dollars and WOW money), none of them really represent a form of digital cash, and all of them have been centralized in some way or another. 

It's possible that something superior to Bitcoin will come around, but if it does, it will likely only expand upon its characteristics and not replace them.  I can't think of any other form of payment where I can be talking with someone at 2:00 AM and receive money from them at 2:01 AM.  I'm in control of my Bitcoins, and I'm entirely responsible for them.  Nobody can take them away from me.  I like that.

And really...the fees are so tiny (usually < $.01) that it's essentially insignificant at the moment.

I've read two of your posts now.

My advice would be not to "stick out"  if you're a newb (e.g. by complaining about newbie restrictions).

Most often, those are the types that rush straight to the lending or marketplace sections and scam people.

Patience, grasshopper, and welcome.

Bump-diggity

Counterproductive?  Not really considering some loser has been spamming the boards over 20+ times in less than an hour with the same horrible business pitch.

Already worth a bump

Mods?

Bingo.