No; they're not.  If they were, they wouldn't have gone ape-shit crazy with the money printing presses without any apparent plan as to how they're going to avoid inflation and massive debt. 

I'm hoping 2021 will be a better year, but I don't think the effects of COVID-19 have shown up in the stock market yet, and that could happen next year.  I'm also not sure about Biden's leadership in the US or about how much more lockdown measures we're going to see because of coronavirus.  I don't think 2021 will be quite as bad as this year, but I've been known to be wrong before when trying to predict the future.

Man, I hope you're right and I do hope the vaccine can be manufactured at such a rate that it can be given to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.  It's not going to look that way in the beginning, but we'll see.  I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Nah, me neither and I wouldn't expect to if I'm clicking an update link on the Ledger Live screen.  If that started happening somehow, forget about it.  Ledger users would likely sail them out the window and into the swimming pool.

Lately it seems like there have been a ton of updates, but none of them seem to improve LL to any significant extent.  Anyway, I'm not all that concerned about it, since I have almost nothing on my Ledger right now.

I agree, but you might not be aware of how much of a worry-wart jerry0 is.  He strikes me as a person living in complete fear--at least as far as hardware wallets and crypto are concerned.  It's extremely difficult to allay his fears about things going wrong, even if the chance of it happening is nearly infinitesimal.

When you say "taken over" do you mean they've become active after a long period of inactivity, or has there been a proven hack?  I would think that when bitcoin shot up past $19k, that would incentivize quite a few members (and/or their alt accounts) to come back and try to get into a signature campaign.  

And that's basically what I said in mdayonliner's "welcome back Kotter" thread, that I suspect he's being motivated by money even though his account is red-tagged.

Agreed.  As I said before, I've had a suspicion that nullius is Lauda's alt account, but it's just that: a suspicion, with no evidence.  But Lauda had been a part of bitcointalk for a very long time, and I do find it hard to believe that he'd just abandon his account for good.  We'll see, I guess.

I know this is off-topic, but I had to give my input.  DireWolfM14, you should be very stingy when it comes to handing out positive trust, and if you do any deals in the Currency Exchange/Lending sections, I would put a disclaimer in the OP that no feedback (or neutral) will be left.  That's what I've been doing since being on DT, because as soon as someone's trust shows up as green, a lot of folks might take that to mean the member is trusted--and that very well might not be the case based on a small deal with a DT member.  I haven't given anyone a positive trust in quite some time, and I don't feel pressured to. 

No shit; your English sucks--work on it.

Obviously he's not a native English speaker unless he has some sort of mental retardation.  I think he's trying to say that he posts in the English sections only, probably because those are the only ones he can get paid for.  I don't see another way of interpreting that statement.

What are you suggesting here?  Meriting suchmoon's posts?  I agree, suchmoon is one of the best posters out there, but (s)he's got plenty of merits and can't rank up any further.  Personally I would rather reserve my sMerits for lower-ranked members who need them to rank up--and I'm still pulling my pubes out trying to find those kinds of posts.  There's so much bounty hunter/sig campaign garbage out there that very few posts seem to meet my standards (which I refuse to lower).

Yeah well, that's the newest, strongest insult you can call someone these days, given all the anti-racist sentiment that abounds.  The term "racist" seems to have lost its meaning, and I don't think a lot of the younger generation even knows what true racism is--looking at the protests in the US regarding police shooting blacks, some of the statements made by the protesters make me think that they have an absolute lack of knowledge of history and how much race relations have improved in the past 100 years or so.

That's the point most people just don't get.  The type of speech that needs to be protected is that which will probably offend you, or that the majority of people might disagree with.  And if you want freedom to say what you want, you have to allow people to express racist opinions.  That doesn't mean those opinions can't go unchallenged, but not allowing them would be a step in the wrong direction.

Ah, I had no clue as to what OP was talking about, but I saw one big referral link banner in someone's post in your thread.

Honestly, I haven't seen too many members doing this else I would be reporting them.  Probably I'm just not looking at the threads where they're happening, but I'll keep an eye out henceforth.

That's what I'd expect if a mod is on the ball, because there's really no judgement to be made in cases like these--posting referral links and/or signature advertising outside of the signature space isn't allowed, so any post containing that annoying shit should be nuked as soon as a moderator sees the report.

I recently got into folding@home, as I think it's a fantastic project and of course I wouldn't mind earning a wee bit of crypto, even if it is an obscure alt like Curecoin.  When I was on their page just now and clicked their bitcointalk link and found you posting here, I was quite surprised (because we've communicated in the past, and I didn't think I'd know anyone on this forum who had an interest in Curecoin).  So good to see you here.

Nobody answered your question about small/big payouts, but I think it actually does matter with PoS coins, though if you're only getting your Curecoin through folding you're going to be waiting a long time before you have enough to stake.

I wanted to buy some Curecoin on Bittrex, but I don't want to go through their KYC procedures.  BTCPOP is another alternative, although the market there seems to be very thin.  I wish coins like this could get listed on exchanges like Kucoin, Binance, or some of the bigger ones.

Yes it is.  I was also a fan of Gridcoin for a while, but running the BOINC program seemed to screw with my computer to no end.  F@H doesn't, fortunately. 

But although Curecoin can be earned by doing something extremely worthwhile, that doesn't mean it has more value than any other coin.  I do wish more people would start running the F@H program and earning Curecoin; that would create interest in and demand for the coin at least.

I looked at OP's post history, and there's nothing there yet that's worth meriting IMO.  I'd be more than happy to give him his first merit so he can rank up....but he's got to make a good post first.  That's just me, though.  Anyone else could give him a charity merit and I don't think there would be too much of an uproar.

That was very nice of you.  Boy, how the mood around here has improved in the last year or so.  Questions like OP's would have been greeted with open hostility not so long ago. 

OP, if you haven't earned any merits in a week or so (assuming you're making posts), drop me a PM and I'll take a look at what you've written and give out merits accordingly.

You know, I haven't seen all that many snowflakes on this forum--and I've certainly seen a lot of racist comments aimed against many nationalities/races/whatever.  And yes, it is allowed. 

I am no left-wing SJW by any means, but in my time on bitcointalk I've actually come to like interacting with people from all over the world--as long as they're not shitposting.  And yes, I am guilty of some harsh words against Filipinos in the past but I truly have no grudge against them.  Everything I wrote was just angry, emotional ranting against people who were polluting the forum with nonsense. 

On the other hand, sometimes I think getting it all out on the table when you've got a beef with someone can be a healthy thing, because at least you're being honest.  And usually the problem is never due to race, but behavior.

Wow, was it that long ago?  I'm not one for watching the news much, so I only remember when COVID-19 started getting talked about in the US around March or so.  Man, time really does fly.

The vaccine creation is definitely a big positive, even if there isn't enough at first to vaccinate everyone.  Simply knowing one is available should put a lot of people's minds at ease.  Personally I haven't worried much about contracting the virus, but I know some people who worry about it constantly--plus there are people in the at-risk population who really should worry about getting infected, so it's no joke.

As far as the economy goes, the whole world took a hit (some countries are still getting hit) but we're recovering from it.  Slowly, to be sure, but there hasn't exactly been a worldwide economic collapse, nor has the stock market even dropped except for that dip in April/May.  We're gonna get through this thing, and hopefully 2021 will be a better year than this one.

Don't know what calculations you did, but my gut has been telling me the same thing since about 2008 or so.  All this money-printing, economic stimulus checks, quantitative easing, and everything else has to be paid for at some point (I'm talking about the United States here), and I can't see who else would foot the bill except the taxpayers.  There's no free money; somebody's got to pay for all of this.

There will be massive revolt, since people generally don't like being locked up in their own homes by government decree.  At least I hope there would be resistance to it, because the world economy can't survive if businesses are closed down, people are unemployed, and individuals get desperate. 

Nor do I think any country needs to be locked down--the media has been filling our heads with stories about how lethal COVID-19 is, but I'm inclined to think they're exaggerating the danger.  Fear sells.  The doctors you see on the news are handpicked by the media to portray the grimmest possible picture of the pandemic.  Believe me, they don't choose them at random.

Yeah, I definitely remember this issue being brought up, though it's been a while.  I don't remember Theymos's response, but I'll take your word for it that what you wrote above is correct.  I'm not sure I agree with that, but you're certainly correct that negative feedback can and is handed out for many reasons that have nothing to do with whether a member is actually trustworthy.

On the other hand, it's the DT negatives that make a member's trust score red when it's displayed near the avatar and one would hope that DT members would be responsible when tagging someone--but of course determining whether they really are would open up a gigantic can of worms. 

Regardless, I do think trust ought to be visible on all the sections and to guests who might be lurking but haven't registered yet.  I think the positives outweigh the negatives, but it's not my decision.

You know, it's common that when things are extremely shitty with regard to the economy, politicians and big banks make a lot of bullish statements.  They most likely know that what they're saying isn't true, but they do it to soothe the public's anxiety.

JP Morgan seems to be giving it to us straight, IMO.  With all the business closures and unemployment, I sure as hell wasn't expecting this year or 2021 to be rosy.  I couldn't tell you whether JPM is correct or not, but at least they're not trying to blow sunshine up our buttholes.  The stock market has been booming for over a decade now, and I'm not sure why it's still booming.  One thing I do know is that the good times don't last forever, and the market is long overdue for a crash. 

But we'll see.  I hope JPM is wrong, but my gut is telling me that they're not.

Actually, I have no idea what OP is talking about and without providing context for what he wrote, it just comes off as a bizarre, nonsensical post.  I'll check that link for my amusement, but it sounds like good advice for him to stop creating threads if they're going to be as baffling as this one.

You sound like a shining example of someone who should leave bitcointalk for good.  Just from what you've written here, I can tell that nothing you post on the forum is going to be of value--unless it's on a local board, but if you got banned you can forget about it. 

Let the people who know how to write get paid for writing and go try your hand at something else.

Eh, I don't know about that.  Coca-Cola has been the #1 soft drink in the world for decades, and they still spend an enormous amount of money on advertising--and the same holds true for a lot of companies at the top of their game.  Word of mouth advertising is great for any business but I think Ledger might benefit from a little bit of traditional advertising.

OP, you're no dummy and I wouldn't expect stupid threads being created by you--but I don't understand why you're asking this question.  How many signature advertisements have you seen lately?  I've got sigs and avatars blocked, so I wouldn't know.  I've got the Services section on ignore, too, so I wouldn't have noticed it had Ledger started a campaign thread there.

I'll take a look at that thread, see if I see any shilling.

Edit (from that thread):
Ha ha, OK I didn't realize dkbit98 hated Ledger devices so much.  But as bad as you think they are, I don't think they are or ever will be as bad as that awful Keepkey.  I respect your opinion, though.

You do?  Where are these people so that we can rid them of their wrongthink and show them what real freedom is and what will be required of them?

404 error.

You know, I'm actually kind of surprised that I haven't seen more of the SJW ideology being espoused on the forum, since it seems to have permeated even the tiniest cracks of the interwebz.  So I don't think bitcointalk is in imminent danger of crazy far-left liberal infiltration--and yeah, should I see any of that nonsense I'll hit the ignore button so hard and fast I'll need a new mouse afterward.

On a somewhat more serious note: what's prompting you to create this thread, OP?

You're entitled to your opinion, but I wouldn't keep your expectations high with regard to campaigns not wanting to rent out your avatar space.  It's kind of prime digital real estate for advertising, which is why most campaigns require you to use an avatar that they designed.

Personally, I hate avatars and have them on ignore so I don't have to see them--and that's not specific to bitcointalk; I've always thought they waste space (along with the signature) and make for more scrolling. 

But in any case, if you're going to join a campaign you've got to abide by their rules.  I don't keep track of what campaigns are currently running, or how many there are, but I expect that the majority of them will require you to display their avatar.  Some of them even require putting a message in your personal message space.  But hey, good luck and I hope you find a campaign that won't require your avatar to be changed.  And please, for the love of all that's evil, don't be a shitposter.

I sure as hell won't be using NOMINEX even if I were considering trying out a new exchange, and yeah anyone who reads this thread ought to protest with their money, i.e, don't give these hucksters any business.

From their bounty thread:

Don't know about anyone else, but that business model sounds like an MLM scheme to me.

Yep, that sounds like the M.O. of a lot of these bounties that screw their participants over in the end.  Those disclosures that rules (or anything else) are subject to change are nothing more than a license to steal IMO.

Ah, I was not aware of that.  Actually I was likely aware at some point until other newly-acquired information squeezed knowledge of the banning of Retina out of my noggin.  There's not much room left in whatever it is that's between my ears.

I did know this, and it certainly would be an impediment to joining a signature campaign.  But aren't bounties a little less strict when it comes to accepting DT-negged members?  In any case, I have the suspicion that this return has some kind of financial motivation.

LOL.  What did you put into that flagrant drink you're in the process of consuming?  Feel free to PM the recipe to me.

Wow, nullius certainly has gone from one of the most popular posters (before he took that long break) to being labeled a cunt by multiple members.  What the hell happened?  I have to confess that I don't read a lot of nullius's posts in full, as they're usually extremely long and I don't have the attention span for it--but something must have happened recently whereby he's become damaged goods on bitcointalk.

Does anyone think nullius is an alt of Lauda?  I always harbored a suspicion about that based on their style of writing and high level of knowledge of crypto, but having a suspicion isn't evidence of anything.  I've also had a hard time believing Lauda would have abandoned the forum completely.  Anyway.  I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what the drama is all about.