I think the signatures here, and all personalisation, is pleasantly restrained compared to many forums. I've seen some that gave me convulsions and require several seconds to figure out where the actual post is. This forum does a good job of making it palatable.

There are also some properly interesting links and thoughts in some non advertising signatures. It's not all noise.

Nobody needs 'guidance' here. What you need to be to progress is plain to see for everyone - just be a decent user who is interested, interesting and informative. You don't need to be an expert. You don't need to be virtuous. Just don't be yet another google translate zombie who writes nothingness.

It's not very demanding and many senior users have stated their preference to help rank up decent members rather than reward existing senior members. The newcomers don't half make it hard to do so.

Anyway, from my observations here's what people should do -

Be yourself. Don't write what you think others want to read. It'll be totally obvious and will reflect in the emptiness of your posts. If you treat it as some sort of grim task that MUST be accomplished you're not going to come over well.

A good question is just as worthy of attention as a good answer, and vastly more so than a clueless answer. Lots of times a total newcomer's point of view has made me think of things differently.

If you spend your entire life in the alt section the chances of ranking up are very low. Hardly anyone who'll be willing to merit you ever goes there.

If you haven't gotten anywhere in months it's obvious that your current approach isn't working. You can click on the merit scores of everyone. Read the posts that are merited and consider what's different about them compared to yours.

Making most excellent profitings is not a god given right here, but good on you if you can manage it as a total noob. Most of the time it's a privilege that's earned by being a worthwhile member. Becoming worthwhile is what comes first.

This is a sensible suggestion. I'd be having constant heart attacks at outages like this and extended absences.

If I were an owner I'd want to be long gone out of this set up but I'd want to be certain it was still possible if I chose to stay put.

I'm sure their domain is a juicy target for the scammily inclined so you've been sensible to hold off.

Is that the same email address you were in contact with before? I'd try and contact him through another channel such as linkedin as it's possible you were in touch with someone in control of the domain who shouldn't be.

I'll believe it when I see it. And I'm sure there is a much higher likelihood of them going down the eToro/ Revolut route of letting you buy 'Bitcoin' but never being able to deposit or withdraw it. You'll be buying price exposure or IOUs that they'll retain control over.

If I were Paypal raw Bitcoin is not an area I'd want to get involved in. The potential for scamminess and money laundering would make my head explode. And if I were already a Bitcoin user I'd want to see some evidence of their competence in handling it.

The important data is not your personal stuff, not that many owners are the first owners anyway, it's the ability to redeem a 2FA coin which is what you need the website for. I remember having the willies looking at it at the time. Depending on someone to keep a service that may be long dead going is not a position I'd want to put myself in.

Surely that's the prime likelihood rather than a possibility? There's tons of 'coins' on there that are nothing other than an entry in their database. All the people on that forum are their captives. I can't imagine they're going to let them go that easily.

You can't give equal treatment to people who won't respond in an equal way. What brings someone younger back from the brink kills someone older stone dead. It's the same as giving a heart transplant to a 100yr old. It's technically possible but the odds are extremely high they'll die during it and be debilitated after it if they survive.

Every day that more big hitter money goes into it makes it less likely. And Trump has rather bigger things on his plate than that, getting beyond November is one of them.

There's lots of things a few politicians don't like. That's a large leap to a whole administration doing anything about it.

I watched all of the congressional talk things about Facebookcoin. It was clear that many of them were aware that driving proper cryptocurrencies out of America could cost them big time in the long run.

Or, just maybe, your entire immune system going into a frenzy and eating your body is just a little bit harder on a body nearing the end of its useful life.

It's a crazy thought I know, but it could possibly be true?

The elderly can't take the extremely invasive interventions that the treatment needs. You're pretty much guaranteed to kill them. That's the essence of the triage taking place.

I'm sure more brutal policies are in place with weaker health systems and it happened in places with good systems that were overwhelmed, but in many a case an 80-90 yr old who is severely ill is looking at death from the virus or from the attempts to save them.

This is the wee film - https://twitter.com/LandRover_UK/status/1273177611032768514

It gathers up a slightly off the wall selection overall but I suppose it's all significant stuff in the great scheme of things.

This idea has been discussed in the past.

There's a few people here who've opined on it - https://cointelegraph.com/news/is-bitcoin-protected-as-speech-under-the-1st-amendment-experts-answer

The consensus appears to be largely no but it hasn't been put to the test. Ideally it never will be.

Of course you can uncover the opposite thoughts just as easily - https://law.fiu.edu/2019/02/26/bitcoin-will-find-no-first-amendment-refuge/

What's the fate of any money recovered? I don't recall any structure, group or process regarding this. Not sure I've ever read any summary about aggrieved customers or whether they've attempted to unite. I kind of got the impression everyone knew they were going to get raped when wex resurfaced.

I presume it's being treated as another Silk Road and all the money is automatically condemned as evil and kept to spend on training people to choke the innocent to death in a sneakier manner.

I wouldn't throw millions of hours or dollars at it but report it at least and keep googling the address. You never know, the hacker might be caught further down the line and if you're on record as having lost something you might get something back if they're linked to you as well. A very long shot indeed but it won't hurt to do it.

Australians say a Land Rover is what you need if you go into the outback. If you actually want to return from it then you need a Toyota Land Cruiser.

They are paragons of British build quality - ie horrifying.

Pretty cool ad but I seem to remember Land Rover 'partnering' with IOTA which is strangely appropriate.

I've honestly never heard of a private individual tracking down someone else and getting their money back. If your coins go to a known exchange address you could attempt to contact them and see what they say.

Most of the time only realistic chance is law enforcement getting involved and a large enough number of victims to interest them. Even then they may come up with nothing.

https://twitter.com/molllliy/status/1274876386147045377

Micree Thingy has now listed all of Our Jihan's crimes over the years. China being China I dunno whether he'll get a pat on the back or be stripped of his organs and have his hollowed out torso sold in a seafoord market.

Weiss ratings, the operation that rated Cardano as a sounder proposition than Bitcoin. I'd be more inclined to pull the clinkers off my arse, throw them in the air and 'interpret' the pattern they make on landing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html

You'd never catch me doing such a thing.

And bank vaults are a dying breed at least where I am. The nearest one to me is about 150 miles away and they're closing at a fast rate.

I may well go back to paper wallets for funds that have no intention of moving for a long time. They worked for me in the past. I get the feeling hardware wallets will get ever more holes uncovered.