Sent mine. This is great! All the right people are starting to accept bitcoin donations.

That's about the same fee as for the purchase of foreign currency (in tourist quantities), although the exchangers present that as a "spread" rather than as a "fee". So I don't think it's too high at all.

What's missing from current Bitcoin exchanges is convenience, not cheapness.

A transaction fee of around a US cent ($0.01) is never going to be a problem. Just compare it with all of the alternative payment systems!

I favor a transaction fee of BTC 0.01 on every transaction. Sure, it's more expensive than "free", but human psychology is a funny thing. Something purchased can be more highly valued than something being given away for free.

I just sent 10BTC. Maybe it's time for Gavin to lower the payout to 0.03 BTC.

An important part of a future coin selection algorithm should be the ability to spend self-generated coins (which have no history) when that is important.

No. If you refund a PayPal transaction within 60 days, the fees get refunded too.

The "Pay with Bitcoin" button generates a bitcoin address, so you can send her a donation without needing a MyBitcoin account.

Did some test transactions, kept the rest for a while, then when I had more bitcoins made some donations to the Faucet because it's such a great service.

Excellent! I can't remember whether I posted my pledge yet, but here are the details:

I pledge 200 bitcoins if you make it coast-to-coast. I'll pay the first 100 when you make it half way. My only requirement is that you document the journey. If you end up paying for some things with USD instead of BTC, I may proportionally reduce the pledge amount, but it won't invalidate the pledge as a whole.

Just turn off "load images" in your browser, and these forums load fast with minimum bandwidth. I regularly browse the Bitcoin Forum on my phone. Even with image loading turned on, the pages are fast unless it's one of those few pages where people post big images.

No, sorry, as stated in the original post the offer closed at the end of February. When I looked at ad revenue versus hosting costs, it didn't work out for me. And with Google's increased emphasis on author qualifications and credentials, making money from articles sites is getting harder.

We could skip the blockchain stuff and just use amputated human toes as money. Maybe teeth would work better because they're not so messy.

Stefan hasn't discovered the freedom of Linux yet either. Give him time and he'll eventually come around to both.

Is that actually right, or do all clients use the new difficulty that was calculated by the node that generated the first block at that new difficulty?

In the latter case, different nodes could calculate slightly different difficulty-adjustments due to lack of perfect time synchronization, but only the "winning" node's calculation is used going forwards.

Suppose I accept the premise that deflation would make people hold on to their stuff longer.

Of course it's good for the environment, as you point out. But why is it "bad economically"? If people hold on to their stuff longer, fewer things are needed, and we all get more leisure time because we're not frantically working to replace stuff that we can hold on to for longer.

Remember, there's no such thing as "the economy". There is just people doing stuff. And if people prefer to work half as long and hold on to their stuff twice as long, it's not a problem. We don't owe slavery to "the economy".

Here's one underhanded way it could be done:

1. Get a stencil made which says "We Now Accept Bitcoins" and apply it to every advertising billboard you can find.

2. Customers ask these businesses about how to pay with Bitcoins.

3. Businesses recognize the demand and support Bitcoins.

4. Success!

And thank you Jed for all you've done for Bitcoin, and for the prompt and helpful support you've always given me.

Yes, you can get away with this once, but then your action can be displayed for all to see.

Nothing in the world is totally scam-proof. Even the state court system is manipulated for private gain sometimes (e.g. Lord Archer's case).

Exactly. So as a community we should build ways of transacting that minimise the risk of scams, rather than building a culture that says "yeah you're likely to get scammed with bitcoin, but you can always try to get it back through the courts, good luck with that".

The way Bitcoin works is very different to what people are used to when they transact with credit cards. It's also very different from making a cash purchase in a shop where you get a receipt, and the same shop is likely to be in the same place if you want to find it again to sort out a problem. So different ways of transacting are needed.

ClearCoin is a great step in the right direction, although I haven't used it yet myself because neither party has wanted to carry the cost. But it's free under 100 BTC, so it's ideal for things like Atlas's purchases.

It's not fantasy. I apply it successfully in my own working life.

I own a web research business. We offer an automated refund process for any customer who is not satisfied. All they do is click a link and they get their money back, no questions asked.

Of course we get the occasional jerk who exploits this by taking the work we do, then clicking "refund" to get their money back, and running away. But this is less than 0.5% of the turnover. We don't resort to the courts. We just refuse to have anything to do with the rogue customer again.

And you know what? The regular customers appreciate it. They like how we don't hold their cash hostage, and they like it that if they're not satisfied they can get their money back without having to grovel or threaten. It makes everything more satisfying for them, and for us too.

So no, the pacifist approach is not fantasy. It's good business, and good karma too.

No way it's fantasy. I apply it successfully in my own working life.

I own a web research business. We offer an automated refund process for any customer who is not satisfied. All they do is click a link and they get their money back, no questions asked.

Of course we get the occasional jerk who exploits this by taking the work we do, then clicking "refund" to get their money back, and running away. But this is less than 0.5% of the turnover. We don't resort to the courts. We just refuse to have anything to do with the rogue customer again.

And you know what? The regular customers appreciate it. They like how we don't hold their cash hostage, and they like it that if they're not satisfied they can get their money back without having to grovel or threaten. It makes everything more satisfying for them, and for us too.

So no, the pacifist approach is not fantasy. It's good business, and good karma too.