Wow, that is a good way to look at it. It makes a lot more sense that way too. Noted it down. It is really a great analogy.

Thanks for the reply. And what I was asking at the top is... when I run my client I can see what my balance is. The paper wallet wouldn't have the same benefit. But thinking about it more, you could just put the address into an explorer and see what its current balance is, right?

This is an awesome explanation. Does anyone have any ideas of other things? I'm going to try and run this information through someone today and see if they have any more confusion.

What I want to do is after everything is "clear," create an explanation that can easily be shared to help out others. Even if it only helps bring on a few people, that's a great start!

This is a solid point. I agree that it'd be nice to have a side benefit (like protein folding or something) but what we're doing is acting like the bank. It means less fees since we handle all the work (er, our clients do), so don't think of it as "wasted energy," but rather "working for you."

I'm a bit lost. If you use paper wallets how do you get your payments updated for your records?

And if you use the paper wallet, do you just create a new one after you make your transfer (and get the new address for your remaining coins)?

The site isn't even up for me, lol.

For 1&2, you're right. Even with the "advanced searches" (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=search;advanced) it's still lacking pretty bad. I'd also love it to let you search for topics only, or only threads by certain people. It does let you search for things by authors, but it still just shows all their posts. Changing these two things would make the forums significantly better for searching.

See, that leads to even more problems. It's kind of making me wonder if maybe getting mainstream isn't going to be possible without getting people more educated on how computers work and ways to be safe.

I love you too!

And to MinerLT... you might as well add RobotSexcoin too, considering it's apparently what we're heading into.

Thanks ktttn and porcupine. Both of those are awesome.

How would one explain the "safety" of the coins? For example, a lot of people suggest storing the coins on your own computer. This means if people take in their PC for repairs or sell them, they are risking losing everything. Plus people can get viruses that take them.

I know it's a lot to think about, but I'm thinking about this as a newbie. We really need to get things into "layman's" terms in a way that people have confidence. If they don't have confidence, they won't jump on board.

It gets worse from there. When the protein folding is 99.97% finished, it will crash, sending an error message to Microsoft and forcing you to restart it from the beginning. Sometimes it will even BSOD, causing you to have to a full reboot of your PC.

Couple things (criticism) based on your steps:

1) Good point

2) This is something I hadn't thought of bringing up. The fact that if you are selling something, you can't have the person do a chargeback once you have the funds

3)This one may be a little tough. We need a real newbie-friendly exchange. Things can go wrong in the "local" exchanges (just like they do with people on Craigslist)

4) Transfers (ACH) should be free. A question is if these coins will cause prices of items to go down (since there's no longer the 3.9% + 0.xx fee credit card companies normally charge) over time. And while the value can go up, they can also go down...

He forgot the most important ones:

Hydrogencoin, Oxygencoin, Heliumcoin, Argoncoin, Iridiumcoin, Magnesiumcoin...

Rofl, from just's link:

-----
"So the new strategy is that whenever you're introducing Bitcoin to someone, don't try to explain how it works, or why it's so amazing. Just say, "it's magic computer money."

Also, when users open up the Satoshi desktop client software, there should be a new splash screen that flashes black and yellow real fast for about 5 seconds and it should say "MAGIC COMPUTER MONEY"
-----

Chet, I've tried that (especially explaining things like the almost no fees, which is great for stores and such). Then the question comes along to how it works. Making money out of thin air that (technically) has no value is a very tough thing to explain. I've used things like Native Americans trading pots as a form of currency as an example. The pots had no true monetary value, but there was a perceived value.

Glen, same issue here!

Gabi, this is definitely possible but we need to find a way to get it in an easy-to-understand way. The mainstream isn't that computer literate. People know how to use their computers for basic tasks (Facebook, email, etc.) but most don't go much further than that.

Can you please set up a nice site with tutorials (preferably in video form) on how to rage? I'm in the unfortunate position of not having this knowledge yet. In return, I will rage at you via video chat (after you supply your credit card information, of course). It will be the best raging you have ever gotten!

Here too please:

1ASdsZ1JUwtVXDfYBx7MRNMeHQ8J51pSRw

Thanks! Will be my first Devcoins, .

Hey all, I could use some help with this. I've worked on bringing more people on-board with the Bitcoin system because I believe in it. What I'm finding tough, though, is how to explain it to non-technical people.

Every time I try, I just get blank stares and an "I have no idea what you mean" type response. And from there, I really don't know how to break it down. I'm hoping someone here has been more successful than me and can help explain it.

Thanks guys.

I'm an impartial reader here, but keep in mind that exchanges are based on what one person, or a small group, wants to implement. Not what the majority wants.

With that said, I would think that since exchanges get a cut of all trades, there would be no reason NOT to add as many coins as possible. The more choices people have, the more likely they are to trade (and more often).

Edit: I accidentally a word

It would help immensely if you could also link the site in your post. Makes it much easier to find the site you're talking about, .

I think you are misunderstanding what "buy an idea" means. When people are on kickstarter, donating money, they are donating to the cause. They aren't really "buying" anything (although usually there are freebies given in return for certain donation amounts).

On the contrary, buying an idea would be like saying "I like your idea for how a brand new DevCoin crypto currency should work. Because of this, I will buy the entire idea off you." This means that you are permanently walking away from the idea of being able to create another thing like it (usually they include things in the contract like a non competitive agreement, meaning you can no longer use the idea to make another business. Sometimes this is not permanent -- set for a certain number of days or months, to allow them to be the first to market it -- but most of the time it is).

Donations (such as on kickstarter and other sites that are like it) work differently. Rather than you truly owning anything, you are allowing the person or company to use your money to bring their own ideas to life. This means that they own the entire idea, despite you (and others) doing all of the funding for them through the use of crowd sourcing. I will be honest... I still have no idea how kickstarter is doing so well. There are many things there that people pay for where they barely get anything in return, while whoever is requesting the money has the chance to make it big. It just seems a bit off to me.

If you were to earn a percentage of the company ("stake") as a result of your monetary contribution, that would be classified as buying into it. You will would not be buying the entire thing, and most of the time the owner or owners will keep the major controlling share of it, allowing them to make all of the important decisions and such.

Now, if you were able to buy controlling interest in the company or idea, that would be "buying it."

I also want to add that ideas really do not have much value. Everyone has ideas. The hard part is actually implementing them in a way that works. You can have the best idea in the world, for something nobody else has thought of (which is pretty rare, really. Most things have been thought of before but have not been followed through on), but if you do not have the ability to get the masses aware of the idea, it will not go anywhere. And even if they do become aware of it, there is also the problem of getting them to back it (purchase or use whatever you are creating). Because of this, there is a lot more to an idea than just thinking it up.

There are, of course, some ideas that take off quickly. If you can truly think of something that is not only brand new, but also benefits the majority of people in a way they can understand (and at a price point they can accept), the idea can skyrocket. The problem behind this is that the idea maker is, in most cases, not going to get much for their efforts. In a lot of cases, they will end up "leasing" the idea to someone else that has the ability to make it a reality and get it out on the market, and they will take a small share. This will usually be only a couple percent of the income, but it can add up pretty quickly if whoever you leased it to has the proper know how and connections. I always say "a few percent is better than nothing." And the best part about doing this is that you get to keep all rights to your idea. More or less you are just renting your idea out (so you do not lose it) to them for a specified period of time, and after that you can try to re-negotiate a new contract or use your money to continue on things by yourself. If you do this, it is important to do a non competitive agreement, otherwise if you choose not to re new the contract, the company will be able to continue producing like products (they can not be a direct copy, but the company can produce very similar things).

If you really have a good idea, like the OP thinks he does, the best thing he can do is to rent it out. This gives him full control over it should he decide to go on his own (as long as the contract is expired), while in the mean time obtaining rewards while not having to take part in it anymore (which can be used to fund future ideas or adapt the current one).

In relation to the idea of kickstarter, the reasons above explain why I do not quite get the point of it, nor why it is so successful. I understand the prospect of “crowd sourcing” to obtain money, but I have a hard time following why people would choose to throw their money into a project that may or may not make it, without even getting a big enough share of it (any at all, really) to make the risk rewarding. Even if someone there ends up raising their requested amount of capital, there is nothing that ensures they are raising the right amount. For example, a lot of businesses that go for funding ask for a certain amount, and then in the future realize that they were not even asking for what they needed. I have no idea what would happen if a kickstarter campaign was fully funded and ended up needing more money than they got, but I see it as a big risk with such a little reward. Sure, discounted final products (or early releases) can be good, but when deciding if to put money on the line or not, I do not see the point.