Day 11:
Edit: Corrected the day

Merit is supposed to be earned; you're indirectly asking for merit by including the Bible in his post. This is to distinguish who's worth ranking up and who isn't. Judging by your posts, I don't see a reason why anyone should give you merit. Ranting about it won't help you either, you're working against yourself.

On top of that, you're using AI content in your posts, you're not going to get far with this attitude.

Day 10:
I almost finished synchronizing. Currently at 91.5% and 34 weeks behind. It'll probably be fully synchronized in the upcoming 5 to 6 hours at most. I might consider increasing the prune block storage to 40 or 50 GB from 35, as we have a couple of days more till the end of the challenge. I wish I could download more, but my internet speed sucks big time.

That's one way to say it, indeed. This isn't any different than the lotteries available in most countries, offering millions to one lucky winner. I've never played either, because the chances of winning are so slim that you're more likely to be struck by lightning. In the OP's case, I personally wouldn't participate. $50 isn't a huge amount of money, but you can easily get carried away and bet two, three, or more times, quickly getting out of hand, and the amount lost is adding up fast. I'd rather spend a few dollars with the potential to earn a few minor amounts.

I've also noticed than restarting Bitcoin Core seems to boost the progress per hour, while indeed there's a difference in the total progress as well. However, I've noticed that it only last a few seconds and seems to get stuck after a while, and it seems to halt for a few seconds. From my understanding, it's purely visual and the halt is due to the start-up "boost" of a few seconds.

Know your limits for sure, both emotionally and financially. I see threads asking if you're gambling at work, and I'm thinking, who in the right mind would do this? But in reality, you see some people actually going for it. Although they might not be spending a lot of time or money in the process, it's a sign that you can't go without it. It's also vital to not keep a large amount of money deposited in your casino accounts; it can easily get out of hand. The same thing applies to what the OP mentioned already: while encountering large wins, don't start aiming for the stars; be thankful for what you've earned and withdraw; otherwise, you're way more likely to lose everything.

Nothing is guaranteed, although I understand what the OP is trying to say. As @mindrust already mentioned, past data doesn't predict the future. Yes, the historical data show that Bitcoin has been performing in approximately 4-year-old circles, but that alone cannot guarantee what's going to happen in the future. Moreover, we don't have enough data to safely say that this will also happen in 4, 8, 12 years, and so on. If we suppose that we had a history of 30-year-old data and identified that every circle runs every 4 years and the price surges to a new ATH every time, or close at least, then we could be more confident in what we could predict for the future.
I was completely disheartened when Bitcoin crashed in 2017/2018, and lost interest in cryptocurrencies. After I saw what capabilities it had, rising up to $20.000 again. in 2020, I was certain that I needed to get back on track.

I believe physical casinos bring out the worst version of yourself. They're built in a way to crush your self-control; there is neither a physical light nor a clock, on purpose, in order to make you lose track of time. I'd never visit one myself; they're built against you, and one way or another, you will become a victim of their practices. Imagine being so lost and so focused on playing that you're not even bothering to go to the toilet. This is a complete degradation; nothing about this is entertaining. I wouldn't step in, no matter what; their practices are scammy and based on your weaknesses.

I'd rather stick to my online casino, which is much more accessible, and I can stop at any time, being in the comfort of my own home.

Moreover, becoming a streamer isn't that simple; set aside whether or not someone is successful in gambling. There're literally tons of streamers out there; why would anyone watch you? Are you capable of providing something different for your audience, or are you just like anyone else? It's the exact same thing when everyone thought they could suddenly become a YouTube content creator, providing generic content with no diversification.

You can become a professional gambler; does that mean that you should? The majority of us ultimately lose money from gambling; an even smaller percentage would be capable of turning it into a profession; it would require an abundance of time to analyze sports betting because that field is supposedly based on knowledge as well, and even then, there are certainly no guarantees.

First of all, thank you, 3 years might not sound a lot, because they aren't, but judging by my quitting background, I'm surprised I've held so far.

I believe we've had a similar discussion quite a long time ago. It's certainly not a long time; I was actually having second thoughts about creating this topic in the first place, but decided to go ahead and post it. I've been here since December of 2014, while I also spent some time lurking without an account. This is the longest period I've been active, not only on the forum but with cryptocurrencies in general, something I honestly regret. Things would be extremely different if I had spent a little more time here. Apart from signature campaigns, which none of us can deny are of great assistance, I've now discussed and talked to users that if I had the same discussions with them in 2018, then I most likely wouldn't have quit the way I did.
No one can deny the importance of money, however, not everything is about money. I'm happy that I've enganged with some great people on the forum, something I hadn't done the previous times I was here.

Day 9:
80%, I'm expecting to have fully synced by tomorrow afternoon.

That's true; the ETF approval doesn't necessarily mean that they suddenly accepted Bitcoin as a currency or as an investment asset. The majority of bankers and politicians are against cryptocurrencies in general, and Bitcoin is not an exception either. Jamie Dimon isn't the first banker to state such an opinion; who is that guy anyway? Why should anyone bother? He's not the first, and he won't be the last either. How I see things is that they at least finally understood that they cannot stop the advancement of Bitcoin; thus, they're trying to have a share of that cake as well.

Personally, I expected a larger hype due to the ETF approval, which I find a little odd. Although it's still a positive event, if we suppose that it hadn't been approved, Bitcoin would still survive and would continue to progress.

That's true; 14 out of 20 posters are from Stake. I've noticed that participants in some specific signature campaigns, which I'm not going to name, are generating spam content; generally, it's those that have a high maximum post count. They're often paired with a large number of participants with low payment rates or feature scammy services that attract users other campaigns wouldn't hire, such as 1xbit approximately a year ago.

I'm personally against offering such a high post count, I'd rather make 20 or 30 constructive posts at most, than make 50 or 60 just to earn a few more dollars per week, it isn't worth it, at least for myself.
That's what I'm referring to, some managed to rank-up to Legendary just by posting on bounties, the introduction of the merit system was extremely justified.

I agree; although I understand the OP's concern, regulating spam and removing users that repeatedly ignore the rules is what's best here. I was here before the merit system was introduced; you should have seen how much spam there was. Everyone could simply rank up with the only requirement of being active and posting; it didn't matter what; just post whatever comes to mind. You could even become a Hero member in 1.5 to 2 years by posting in the off-topic section. A large number of those users have now quit because they weren't able to participate in signature campaigns, while the merit system discourages spamming newbies who're simply after signature campaigns because they have no chances of ever ranking up.

We're focusing too much on gambling rather than the addiction itself. Gambling on its own can't ruin your life or your loved ones; if it does, then it's getting out of hand, and you're likely to be an addict who needs to seek assistance from a professional, similarly to any type of other addiction. Everything in life needs boundaries; gambling and alcoholism are probably two of the most commonly found addictions, with the latter being more serious, in my opinion, because your lack of self-control can also directly endanger other people in your surroundings.

Drinking a glass of wine every now and then isn't hurting you; the same rule applies to gambling too. Playing a few games every now and then, provided that you can afford the money you're risking, isn't that big of a deal.

Well, it's what makes sense. Just because the games are sourced and developed by a third party doesn't mean that they're also managing finances; that doesn't make much sense, does it? Game providers receive a commission from each game. I'm unsure how much that is; it's probably a tiny percentage, but it quickly adds up from all the games and all the different casinos. It's no different than any other service that works on commission.

I'm unsure if house-edge and commission from the games to the providers are different, but according to Investopedia, house-edge represents the average gross profit the casino is expecting to make from each game.

It's not, if you take into account that, in theory, my account is approximately 10 years old. Not a huge accomplishment indeed, but I'm honestly regretting not spending more time on the forum; it would have kept my interest in cryptocurrencies alive if I had persisted a little more.
I was intrigued by Bitcoin, even though I didn't understand too much back then. My main issue was that I actually wanted to purchase some. I had enough money for more than one coin, but I didn't have the means to acquire it. Buying as someone who's under 18 wasn't that easy, as exchanges would need a deposit or a credit card, and at that point, I couldn't have thought of another way without getting scammed.
Thank you; you're one of the members that I totally enjoy talking to, even on a casual basis. I find it significant to have a few forum pals that you can talk to and support each other.

Day 8:

Progress is significantly slower after surpassing 50%, currently at 67%, but haven't had the computer turned on at all times the past few days. I'm expecting it to fully sync in the upcoming two days.

Hello there,

I know this topic might sound a little cringe-worthy or lame, but I'm going to go ahead and post it. Just a few days ago, I realized that on January 2, 2024, I'd crossed 3 years of active participation on Bitcointalk and in my involvement with cryptocurrencies. I signed up in 2014 and wasn't too active in the beginning. I was a teenager back then and didn't know much, and unfortunately, I didn't have the means to acquire Bitcoin. I stuck around in the forum for a while and quit. Most of my posts have been deleted, either out of shame of seeing what gibberish I was writing a few years later or because the threads were completely scrapped.

I then returned in May of 2017, after seeing the attention cryptocurrencies were receiving, and quit again after approximately a year, when the market had completely crashed from the ATH of $20,000. I was completely disheartened by this, but now I'm disappointed to see the huge opportunity I missed. What's surprising me is that, in my mind, I was almost certain that I had stayed for at least two years back then. That's disappointing to see how easily I just abandoned everything all together. My attempt to stick around was quite petty. I could have stuck around for a while longer; it would have been of tremendous help now.

I've now been active for 3 consecutive years, my longest active period so far, and I'm quite impressed, to be honest. Seeing that I wasn't disappointed when Bitcoin plummeted to $16,000 approximately a year ago, it is quite positive that I won't easily quit this time. I'm also grateful for my Bitcointalk internet pals and users I've interacted with, who have made this journey a lot more fascinating; a large thank you goes to Lucius who has been a great friend throughout the last months, and Hhampuz, with which I've stuck for the past years in his signature campaigns, and has been nothing but great so far. This potentially proves that I'm here to stay for quite a long time.

Edit: Accidentally posted this on Meta, my bad, moved to the reputation board

Day 7, half way there!