I hear that SaltySpitoon fella is pretty solid as well  but joking aside, the quality of a person's feedback and the users it is from are more important than some numerical score. Having a +10 from Theymos is probably more telling than +100 from 10 random people. At a certain point, I really don't think the number matters all that much.

It is an interesting metric, but there are a lot of reasons why you can't necessarily draw conclusions from this alone. For example, each person's marketplace presence. Phillipma has a pretty large presence in the computer hardware section (if I'm not mistaken, I'm not looking up post history now, just recalling this from memory), Ognasty and Blazed in the Collectibles sections, myself in the Goods/Collectibles sections, and the others not as much. The 15-20% that you are calling normal seems to be about the standard for those not as heavily involved in the marketplace sections, so what does that mean about people who are getting tons of feedback for trades they are doing?

As you said in your OP, there is also some consideration to the nature of how a relationship starts. I have a couple of people on my trust list that I would never have known had I not traded with them, so to a certain extent its inevitable. The real metric for who you should trust to add to your trust list, are people that you believe will leave accurate feedback for others and act fairly.

And finally, usergroups kind of just establish themselves in boards where people frequent. The Alt coin sections have pump/dump groups, the ICO hunter groups, etc. Another example is the weird cult of people that have established themselves in the collectibles section. If you find yourself in one of those groups, by interacting with them, you'll probably find people you trust to add to your trust list. More so than just following the posts of a user you agree with in the speculation section. If that group was formed in a section that facilitates trades, your % I'd imagine would get higher.

Phillipma is indeed a large outlier, but this thread serves as the smoke to warrant further investigation, not necessarily something to draw conclusions from. I'm really tired so ignore the spelling and grammar mistakes, I write walls of text and proofreading is more than I'm up to right now.

I have not yet, I know it is used in platinum alloys, but I don't know much about it in pure form. It is an exotic I'd like to try working with, assuming there is nothing strange about it. For example, I can't cast titanium, because it catches fire when exposed to oxygen. Not sure where I'd source it, but I can look into it.

*edit* Looks like its doable, I'd just need a new hardcore respirator because some of the oxides are a little lethal, and its not too hard to source. At the current spot price of ~$205/oz, it still holds a bit of a hefty premium from what I've seen because its an exotic, but not nearly as bad as some other oddball metals I've tried to find at reasonable prices.

Glad you are happy with them 

I've been a little inactive on the production side for these last few weeks because I've been undergoing some major equipment setup to improve and expand what I can make. I got my rolling mill today, so I can produce metal wire or sheet stock. Wearable engraved private keys has been something I've wanted to do for a while. A gold chain with each link having 1 character of a private key would be really cool.

I've got a new torch setup arriving on Friday that will allow me to do more intricate work, and with every metal in existence. Tungsten and its melting point of 6200 degrees? Blah! Thats nothing! I've got a few bits together for my larger kiln, so I can produce more cast pieces like the death star. Just need some sensors and to do some minor home electrical work to support a ~ 8,000 Watt kiln. I've got a lot more design work to do with the Bitcoin Blockchain statues. Since I'm going to have to ruin each printed piece anyway, I may as well make them obscenely detailed. Maybe I'll look into silicone molding and wax injection, so I don't need to print the same thing 20 times.

I'll be moving out of just silver pretty soon as well. I've been playing around with more exotic metals, and with any luck will be producing a line of physical wallets or perhaps traditionally funded coins in the relatively short term. I can't say anything about the design yet, but I intend to have a video of a timelapsed 6 hour stay in a firepit that can nearly melt steel as my product test to make sure my coins can withstand a house fire anyway.

While its not against the rules to buy/sell merit (unless you are a merit source) its frowned upon, others have said it and I don't need to rehash that.

What I can say, is that if someone is sending you unsolicited PMs, that IS however against the forum rules, so if you report their message, they will be banned.

Thats really cool that they actually brought it to you after losing it. Not that it shouldn't be standard protocol, but I have a feeling there is a bin somewhere for packages that have fallen off the radar, or conveyor belt, years previous only to be found later on. Where once in the bin, it disappears again, but permanently.

On this note:

Has anyone actually ever been able to claim insurance on a lost crypto collectable? I've heard nothing but horror stories from serious bullion collectors who have lost multi thousand dollar graded coins, and they were only refunded the spot value of the metal because they couldn't adequately prove numismatic value, even with comparable on well known retailer's sites.

Are you looking for the poll option? If so, its right next to the new topic button. Keep in mind, polls aren't really that useful for anything where a poll could be abused. People can vote for the same option on 20 different accounts and throw off your data. They work just fine for something basic like gauging interest for something though.

Well I do work with silver, but I'm mostly looking for broken or damaged things to avoid paying bullion premiums since I do my own refining anyway. I very may well pay premiums on hard to find exotics like Rhodium, Ruthenium, and Osmium, or annoying to alloy metals like Palladium Gold.

I was chuckling watching this. Any legitimate newbies that sign up and watch this thinking they will get a nice verbal layout of the rules will instead be confused by why they are being berated by a guy fed up with account farmers. Its a great explanation of the rules for the people who won't watch it because they don't care about the rules.

Then again, any real newbies that show up will probably read the threads you mentioned in Meta themselves, so I guess its not a problem.

~$2.50 + shipping apparently.

You are too kind!

https://wholesaler.alibaba.com/product-detail/24K-Gold-Plated-Bitcoin-Coin-with_60715773342.html?spm=a2700.7724838.2017115.1.3e301f1eLQjGRX

I don't think anyone has ever made a 29 gram 24kt gold coin. It isn't marked 24 KT, .999, or Fine Gold. Its gold plated.

Daily Bump

I think the important part to focus on was the bolded section. Its way too bad this needs to be said in the first place, and we couldn't leave the joke unreferenced.

Make sure you protect yourself as well. There are a lot of active legendary accounts around here that are worth far less than 1 BTC. Some shady account seller would probably love to sell you an account for 1 BTC.

Another absolute shot in the dark here, but I'm also looking for iridium if anyone just so happens to have any laying around.

Unless you are a merit source, you get 1 SMerit for every 2 Merit you receive from your posts. Merit sources regenerate SMerit every month.

The forum (Admins and Moderators) don't care about anything beside making sure that the posting environment here is such that people can have discussions without being distracted by spam. Besides that and keeping illegal activity off the site, everything else is community driven. We don't care what projects, bounties, etc people are involved in, whether they are corrupt, scammers, jerks, or saints. As long as they don't spam, or try to sell crack, moderators aren't going to intervene. So no, we aren't going to make anyone provide any information.

As a side note, this post sounds really aggressive, but its not meant to be, just meant to be general information without mincing words.

I fail to see what the concern is. People have been asking ridiculous things on here forever, whether its that you send them a difficult to trace and non refundable currency without any accountability, or for personal information. The answer is the same to both, don't. If all of the signature advertising managers decide to start requiring ID, don't join. There are so many ways to fake your identification, I don't think that it'll do them much good to try and restrict people that way anyway.

Are they allowed to ask anyone that wants to join for a 1 BTC deposit? Sure! Doesn't mean anyone will be gullible enough to give it to them. (at least I hope not)

Bump

I really should have a thread just for those who want to follow my overall project development. I'm in the process of building a water splitter + hydrogen torch, so those pesky platinum group metals won't be out of reach anymore. The Kiln is also in progress, though with St Patrick's Day weekend coming up, I'm afraid I'll be in no condition to deal with pyrometer temperatures. I'm also in the process of procuring some flat stock and wire milling equipment, because wearable private keys are also on my todo list. 4 Fingered Charlie may not be the only one with their private key on their ring much longer.

I have kind of always wanted to turn a 25 BTC Cas coin into a necklace, but I'll probably do something of my own design instead.

In short, In Progress:

Larger kiln for larger or more casts
Hydrogen torch for working with platinum group metals
Wearable Private keys