For several years I have been saying that copper is a good additional metal to hold as part of a diversified portfolio. It doesn't seem to have attracted much attention, although there have been a few instances of people selling copper ingots as investments.

The money GPS has just produced a video which raises the topic of copper as a wealth protection metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pI8XK-VZbs

I believe that with the new Belt and Road initiative, and various other projects, copper is likely to outpace gold ( but probably not Bitcoin ).

"Sir" and it's use is an interesting topic. It is a shortened form of the middle English word "sire" which was used to address a Knight or Baronet. It came to be used as a mark of respect for a worthy gentleman. "Gentleman" is another interesting concept, originally it described a man who didn't indulge in trade ie. a landowner, diplomat, military officer, or other person with independent means. One of the English traditions is for a gentleman to have 4 buttons on the sleeve of his jacket, and a servant would have 3. It always amused me that people would pay thousand for an off the peg suit by some fancy name, and wear the badge of a servant on their sleeve.

These days everything seems to have changed, and the old Stock Exchange motto of " My word is my bond " seems to have become " My word, have you got that much money, I'll see how much of it I can take". Sir is still used as a mark of respect in some instances, but it seems to be more of a sales ploy these days. You flatter the mark into thinking he is superior to you. It's a bit like the dog who rolls over to display his vulnerable underbelly because he wants something. Give him a kick, and you will soon see how subserviant he is in reality. It's even worse with cats.

That's a long post just to say that I don't think that "sir" has a place in board posting.

Yes - you don't know how to read the stickies and the announcements.  How can you not have noticed the multitude of threads about merits if you have any interest in the Bitcoin Talk forum?

I'll leave the current thread alone as a community resource. It's still self-moderated, but there doesn't seem to be much abuse, so I don't really want to start imposing my somewhat traditional views on the thread supporters.

It hasn't become the thread that I intended, but people seem to find it useful. If you plant a crab apple tree, and then find out that it is a Kingston Black, you don't want to rip it out by the roots.

The proposed sample thread is really a result of virtually no posts being submitted by the members who could benefit most from some helpful comments. I don't think it would help by including posting guidelines, as there are enough of those elsewhere.

They apply because they think they are superior and special.

The reality is that they are too stupid to understand why those restrictins are in place.

btw - I noticed that you are confirming that bounty campaigns are all about merits.

I agree with you, and it's even more annoying when you have put the OP on ignore for posting pictures without good reason. The best solution is to put the posters on ignore as well - they probably haven't got anything useful to say anyone.

Members will start to get the message soon I expect. The more people who put you on ignore, the fewer chances you have for gaining merits, and I expect the sig promoters will realise that if a member is on ignore, then his sig isn't displayed either.

Actully everybody "in the know" has been getting out of dollars. I closed my dollar account some months ago, and I'm pleased that I got out. The Petro-dollar is finished, and the US debt mountain is going to make it hard to protect the value of the dollar if it ceases to be a reserve currency.

My immediate thought was - If they are too cash strapped to hire a translator, then they may not have the money to pay affiliates.

Is it okay to quote posts from other threads and use them as an example? I'm not a pessimistic guy or anything but I feel that other users will not agree with this, especially if you pick a post with a lot of errors, what if that user whom you use an example is so sensitive? On their part, it's like you are discriminating which might lead you to be racist even if that's not your true intention.

However, I do think your idea is really good. The only thing that I can think of to avoid what I have stated above is not only you highlight their errors, but also the correct thing that they did. Also, don't fully restrict your thread. How about those members (who are not moderators) that are willing to share?
[/quote]

Good points - maybe I shouldn't include the member name or other details in the quote tag.
The problem with allowing other members to contribute is that the thread becomes a general help and advice thread. This is a good thing, but I have already started a thread which has developed into that resource.

I put an example in the test thread that I started here. Unfortunately I can't make that self-moderating, so I will wait for some feedback before I try that in the beginners forum.

I'm English born and educated, and I have a received English accent.

Unfortunately my English has been corrupted by the Internet.

It looks as if there are some problems with self-moderation on this board. so I have closed the thread.

Apologies for clogging the index.

I've started this thread here as a test for my alternative idea for english language improvement help. It is not intended to be a permanent thread, but is just an experiment to see if it is possible for me to create a single user thread. Once I have verified the potential, the thread can be allowed to drop, or deleted. If you would like to make any comments about it, then please post in the other thread that I started.
Here is the link - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3081618.0

Now for the test. It is a post by a new member who joined on 21st February this year, aand has made only the one post.
Date Registered:    February 21, 2018, 07:13:51 PM
Last Active:    February 21, 2018, 07:34:03 PM


Can anyone predict the life span of Bitcoin?
Do you think there is a chance that it will vanish from the Internet?
I would like to buy some Bitcoin, but I am concerned about the security aspects, can anyone give me some guidance?

Thank you in anticipation

I think it would be better to ask that question on one of the discussion boards. You will probably get replies from members with more knowledge than I have.

Marketing is the building of  brand, and if you have to ask that question, you won't be able to do it.

If you mean "How can I sell on Bitcoin Talk? ", then the first requirement is to be able to read the rules and the stickies, then you should visit the selling boards, and look at the threads there to get some ideas.

Bitcoin and other cryptos will only be useful to you if they can help you to keep out of debt.

But what is "normal", some people seem to think it is around $400.

Well the English language thread has been an interesting experiment, and it hasn't gone the way I hoped or expected. What I hoped for was contributions from a number of new members with secondary english skills. I thought we could help them to create productive posting which would benefit both the forum and their ranking potential. In fact, they have been conspicuous by their absence, and those who did post for advice were really not that bad with their skills. I got a lot of support from established members, and I am grateful for that, and I hope that some of the newbies will read through the thread and benefit from the advice.

In view of the fact that the thread failed in its original purpose, I have been trying to think of alternatives. The only one I can think of is a restricted thread, where I take posts from elsewhere in the forum, and I post comments about them. I would restrict the thread so that I am the only person who can post in it ( apart from mods of course), and I believe I have found a way to do this. Do you guys think this is a good and worthwhile idea?

That is completely against the whole concept of the merit system, and you should have your smerit taken away from you in my opinion.

btw - I put you on ignore in case I accidentally awarded you with merit.

I suspect that it will be difficult to implement a decay system for sMerit. Smerit is like a bucket of golf balls, you chuck some in, and you take some out, but it's still a load of balls ( whoops - did I meant to say that). How do you know which ball to decay, and are sMerit awarded on a LIFO or FIFO basis? What may happen is that anyone who keeps a lid on his bucket for too long, will have his bucket taken away from him.

From Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_(Indian_coin)

Now, wait for someine to create a DamCoin.