When I first became a merit source, I felt that I needed some guidance from senior members. I know I can be a bit dogmatic at times. I created a chat room using free blab software, and I am grateful to those members who helped me in that room. The room is still active, but there are only 3 or 4 of us who chat regularly there - all legendaries btw. I would welcome any other merit sources or DTs to join the chat.

I've got as closed mod board on fit to talk, but that is only for that site. What may be more interesting are the closed boards for members to sanitise posts before submitting them to Bitcoin Talk. We are aware that some governments monitor forum sites looking for political dissenters, and we would like to help members to avoid this unwanted attention.

The beginners board is now completely useless, and I am considering creating an index of decent threads to scan for meritable posts. I no longer have the time to hunt through 4 or 5 pages of off-topic threads looking for the odd gem.

I am installing Teamspeak on a VPS, and I hope that this can be used to discuss posts with foreign language students as they make the posts. Comments about this would be welcome.

Of course they will be approved. The bankers need to be able to influence the price, so that they can suck as many Bitcoins as they can out of the market. I can see Bitcoin becoming an asset base for next generation "fiat" currencies. That takes us a long way from Satoshi's original concept, and will make bankers a fortune. It will make some of us some money as well, but it will mean that Bitcoin will not be viable for daily purchases. You will have to use the new government cryptos.

Nuke the account, and mark the IP as toxic.

I find it highly annoying when people complain about merit, and they haven't bothered to spell check the word. It shows they can't have read the stickies. It is also highly annoying when people quote the original post in full and then complain because they don't get any merits.

It could also be a problem if you wallet is on a full node, and you have to sync it on your laptop before you can pay. If the restaurant has WiFi, allows for internet ordering, and offers table service, then that could work.

Let me give you a tip. Quoting the original post in full is redundant and annoying. It gets you put on merit awarders' ignore lists, and that makes it harder for you to earn merits. I'm doing this to you as soon as I've made this post, and I hope it will be an example to other new members. Just read the advice threads, and you will see it is a repeated theme. I know it is far easier to just agree with posters, and not bother to read anything. but if you do this constantly, then you just become an annoying polluter and most people will start to ignore you.

I'm sorry, but I feel that whole article is a joke. I can't see my being able to scan a QR code on my burger box, to find out the birth time of the cow that was used to create the burger, and what about Subway? Will they want to admit to the source of the soya that is reputed to be used to create half their chicken sandwiches.

Of course it could be useful to try to detect and stop those Mexican mangoe immigrants sneaking into the US.

That's easy. You suggest he reads the threads on Bitcoin Talk.

Could I draw your attention to this thread in the stickies. Failing to read that lost you a merit.

Well I'm obviously a junior merit source. Obviously I need to do more work, and make less noise.

I don't think my quota is as high as that, but I don't know how to check it. I'm not sure it is relevant anyway, as it depends on the amount you award once you have received your initial allotment.

As a basic principle, I'm against debt and lending. Debt is one of the ways that governments and banks enslave the population. However, there are some instances where a loan can be beneficial - starting a new business for example, as long as it is profitable of course. Borrowing Bitcoin is fraught with danger, and lending it is not much better. Both the borrower and lender have to decide if repayment is to be made in Bitcoin or fiat, and extreme price volatility turns this into a major factor.

So why should you borrow Bitcoin? There aren't many businesses that can be funded in Bitcoin, and generate Bitcoin revenue. Those that are able to do so, can probably be funded with a share issue, and this is a safer option for both parties. Another reason is because you believe that Bitcoin will drop in value. You sell the Bitcoin, and repurchase it when the price is lower. The name for a person who does this is "an uncovered bear", and because you are uncovered, you face unlimited potential losses.

Why would you lend Bitcoin if the market is likely to rise or drop? If you are a long term holder of Bitcoin then the price doesn't really matter until you decide to sell. Leaving your Bitcoin on the blockchain does not produce any revenue, and you may want to gain a bit of interest. However, you have to ensure that you will eventually receive repayment. Failure to take reasonable precautions will leave you in the same position as the bankrupt fiat banks.

There is another possibility.  You can place your Bitcoin in a transaction, and use this as a security for a loan, or a service such as escrow. When the security is no longer required, you can reclaim your coins.

My attitude is to leave my coins alone on the blockchain, and not borrow anything. Am I missing some revenue opportunities?

I created a board that was designed to help Italian members to produce posts that were worthy of merit on the international boards here. I did this because there were complaints that the Italian members were being under-merited. I had absolutely no interest, so I have now removed the board. We are now in a global world, and, whilst it is important to preserve national sovereignty and identity, it is equally important to be able to communicate internationally. Like it or not, English is the only possible lingua franca, and it is the language of the Eton/Oxford created Deep State elite.

Atomic swops are a relatively new concept, and they present a way to avoid exchanges. How do you think the exchanges will react as atomic swops become more popular?

I've just given bob123 6 merit - which is what he needs to rank up.

I'll have a look at some of the others in a minute

But it confirms almost immediately, and it is guaranteed. There are not guarantees with Bitcoin until you have got a few hours worth of confirmations.

I can see how it would work if you buy a gift card, and then use that for the purchase.

There is no such thing as a Bitcoin debit card. There is a pseudo-bank exchange service that will make the payment for you in fiat, but that isn't peer to peer.

I'm seriously considering the reverrse of my ignore list - a list of members that are worth checking for meritable posts. Obviously this will lead to further centralisation of merit circulation. At the moment I've got over 200 sMerit to award, and that's after I gave away a few this morning. I started a couple of threads which I hoped might create some decent replies, but this is a bit of a thankless task, as they usually sink to the secondary pages under the weight of bounty spam and other rubbish by those desperate to increase rank.

If I get time, I spend an hour or so going through the 4th and 5th index pages looking for decent posts. The pickings are richer there, as all the low lifes tend to keep the rubbish floating on the top.

Those are his airdrop merits.

I'm starting to wonder if those alts should be red tagged.

I'm not sure that that is a breach of the forum rules, unless he is a merit source. He has been red tagged as an account seller, so maybe the best solution is to red tag the alt to make it toxic. That would reduce its value, and could block it for use with some bounties.

Wow! A post that could have come from me. I agree completely. I would add that one should snip out the images as well.

I have seen that on some forums the quote is limited to a dozen lines or so, and at the bottom of the quote there is a ...more... type of link. Clicking this expands the quote. I have suggested several times that this is added to the forum, as it would reduce the work of the mods.