If I'm not mistaken, signature bans were always rare and were implemented as a way to be merciful to members who committed a serious infraction of the rules but who might not necessarily deserve a permaban--like with those members who've contributed significantly to the forum.  I could be wrong about that, but I've only seen them handed out very occasionally.

As for permabans, there do seem to be far fewer of them in the past year or two, and I remember commenting on that a while back.  As for the reason, I could only speculate.  The forum as a whole has been much cleaner since 2020 or so (or at least since the start of the merit system), so maybe there just haven't been as many cases of plagiarism or members hunting plagiarists down.  Who knows?

I don't know a whole lot about how the Mexican cartels operate (aside from their extreme brutality), but I'd have to assume that killing random tourists from the US would bring unwanted attention to them from law enforcement, and as bold as they are that's something they wouldn't do.  Nor would they really have a reason to kill random tourists who pose no threat to them whatsoever.

By the way OP, I don't follow the news and thus don't know anything about what happened.  Perhaps linking to a source to the incident you're referencing would help ignoramusses like me (derp) understand things better without having to google-ize it.

And as to your question, the only thing I've heard is that folks from the US go there who want very odd surgeries that American doctors won't perform because of ethical or other reasons.  I don't know how common it is.  I think way more Americans go there for the drugs that are available over the counter.  Viva la Mexican pharmacies!

Jesus H. Christ, I hate to think back to the early days of the pandemic.  I downloaded a few news videos from youtube when the lockdowns were started, which I just rewatched recently.  The absolute seriousness of the tone about how dire a situation the world was in blew my mind after seeing how the last three years have gone and how COVID seemed to just drop right out of the news when the Russia/Ukraine war began.

I'm basically a crusty ol' misanthropic hermit, so having to stay away from people and places didn't really affect me much.  I did (and still do) hate seeing people wearing masks, and I never wear one unless I'm forced to. 

But in any case, where I live wasn't subjected to nearly the same level of oppression by government that other countries were.  We didn't have to stay at home for the most part.  In the beginning I thought all the stores were going to close, and food was disappearing off the shelves like crazy.  And the most bizarre thing I saw was my local grocery store making all of the shopping aisles one-way streets, if you know what I mean.  They put signs on the floor indicating which way you should go down the aisle.  That drove me nuts and I always disobeyed that when I shopped.

I don't know how old you are, but do you happen to remember 2008-9 by any chance?  Because if you do, you'd also have to recall all of the cries from financial and other media that the banking system was on the verge of collapse--and back then it really did look as though the entire economy was in danger of imploding.

But now?  There might be banks failing, but from what I see it's nothing like it was just over a decade ago (although I don't think we've yet seen the consequences of all the cheap money that's been available for so long).  So I think your premise is a flawed assumption.

I'm not even sure if bitcoin is in any kind of trending market, either bearish or bullish.  There was a big pop up to where we are now, but who's to say that it won't drop back down to $15k or lower?  I do think there's a possibility of seeing bitcoin at $1 million, but I'm not sure if that's going to be in my lifetime or not.  Note: I said the same thing about 1 BTC=$10k, and boy was I wrong about that!

I didn't give any help, but I'm glad the harsh initial replies didn't turn you off to the forum.  It's just that whenever a member like you, who's been here for a while and presumably should know how the merit system works starts up a thread asking about the basics, it arouses everyone's suspicions.  There have been so many instances of merit begging threads and all sorts of other nonsense crap since 2018, it's unbelievable.

Also: if you've got all your answers now, you ought to lock the thread.

I'm not even sure what it is OP is trying to accomplish with this thread.  I understand the words that were written, but when someone who's been here less than a year creates a thread that seems to be putting Legendary members on a pedestal, I'm skeptical of their motivation if you know what I mean. 

Not that I'm trying to diss Lida93.  I've given him merits before, and I don't think this is a case of some idiot begging for merits.  Maybe I, as a Legendary member, have become way too jaded after all the years I've been here.  And seriously, I can't imagine anyone who's a Legendary and who's spent a significant amount of time on the forum wouldn't just make assumptions based on all the BS that goes on here.  That could be a personal problem of mine or a negative consequence of being a *relative* old-timer.

OP, as always thank you for updating this thread and congrats on all the newly ranked-up members!  Seems like there are a lot more of them this time around.  Either way, there's a lot and that's good to see.

OP isn't going to get tagged by any reputable DT member for simply changing his password and e-mail.  There would have to be much more convincing evidence than that, like a change in writing style or a language change and that sort of thing.

If OP wants to prove he's the original owner (which he certainly doesn't have to do), the accepted way to do that is to sign a message from an address he'd previously staked.  Other than that I wouldn't worry about community reaction unless the account really did change hands, because I'm sure after announcing a return like this somebody's going to look into it.

I had to check that thread to see if I posted in it, because I completely forgot this was a thing--but I did:


Being on DT means a hell of a lot less to me now than it did some years ago, but seeing my standing in the all-time stats kinda warms my heart and I'm still grateful for everyone who trusts me (for whatever that's worth).

Love the data presentation!

Oh snap, I didn't realize there were only 5 in his furry highness's campaign!  I knew there weren't many, but dang.

If you were in the Chipmixer campaign, you probably shouldn't even have to list all your forum accomplishments to get interested advertisers, because that campaign was just so damn selective for quality posters that any prospective renter of your sig space ought to assume it's worth the money spent.

Good luck with this, GazetaBitcoin.  I thought of making a thread similar to this one, but after looking at it I feel as small as a neutron.  If you asked me what I've accomplished on bitcointalk since becoming a member I'd probably just stare stupidly off into space.  Derrp.

I've definitely seen things like this, though not in the crypto industry.  All sorts of debt is, can be, and has been monetized and there's always been a thriving market for it.  I have no idea who'd want to take the risk of being the counterparty side of the trade who winds up with the debt, but there always seems to be such a counterparty. 

I suspect this guy really thinks money "stuck on exchanges" can be recovered, when most likely nothing is ever going to be.  It's either that or this is just a straight-up scam, but whatever the case might be, I bet you a lot of people who've gotten screwed by various exchanges would be willing to try OPNX.  I probably won't follow its progress, but I do wonder if a thing like this has a chance to succeed.

I just spit a mouthful of coffee right onto my monitor reading that.  You old comedian, you.

I get where OP's confusion and frustration comes from; I'd be wigged out if I saw I couldn't access a website because I had some tally of "units of evil" against me.  Before I'd discovered bitcointalk I'd never even heard a phrase like that one, and even if it has a legitimate meaning I think whoever thought of it (Theymos?) might have a bit of a sadistic streak--or at least was just a tiny bit insensitive to how it might come off to newbies.

Eh.  Most newbies here are just in it for whatever they can earn or scam, and that's been true for years.  Guess I'm not going to lose any sleep over evil units, but nor should you, OP.

I would recommend everyone check out a really good documentary just put up on Youtube a few days ago--it's all about the Fed, all of this stimulus shit and endless money printing, and I seriously hope as many people see it as possible.

The feeling I get when I venture out into the world is that things like the inflation spike and supply chain shortages are harbingers of really, really fucking bad things to come, specifically all the consequences of the US's fiscal policy since 2009 or so.  It might have taken time for the machinery to break down, but it's becoming harder to believe that it's not ready to crack apart completely.

Not for nothing, but I'm stocking up on non-perishables with any spare money I've got.  Cat food, man.

I've seen so many posts like OP's here where they say things like they "want to do bitcoin(talk) full time" and it's a bizarre statement because it's so vague. 

Why in the world would you quit a stable job even if it pays shit in order to spend all your time on a discussion forum?  Even if you're in a signature campaign, you can do that in your spare time if you're a decent writer and you can still make a decent amount of dough.

OP, as they say, don't quit your day job.

Xanax and benzos....horrible detox.  Lol at the Versed.  I'd have to keep injecting myself every 30 seconds just to get through a standard party, and then I'd never remember anything anyway.  Ambien is blech.  And Diprivan?  Also milk of amnesia, and I'm not looking to get to a deep anesthetic plane.  Something makes me think that might be your specialty.

And hey.  What happened to the party, boys?

I'm nearly almost relatively 86.72% convinced that if law enforcement needed to track down a member of bitcointalk, they wouldn't need a trail of pizza-sized breadcrumbs to do it (except for Satoshi, apparently).  Nor does Chipmixer even stand out in my mind as anything special in terms of crypto debacles aside from the fact that I and many others didn't know what was *apparently* happening, or what would happen.

Part of me thinks this has become such a big deal on the forum because their signature campaign was extremely selective and had a lot of not only excellent posters but trusted members as well, and they like to see them get a sort-of comeuppance.  Like Schadenfreude, you know?

Or maybe that's me just being my misanthropic self again.  Nasty mindset to get out of, let me tell you.

OK, I scanned the first page of this thread quickly to see if Trendon Shavers' Bitcoin Savings & Trust scandal was mentioned, but it wasn't.  That happened a little before I got interested in bitcoin (I think), so I don't know all the details, but if I'm not mistaken he was trying to do exactly what OP's asking about, i.e., running a bank based on bitcoin.  Note: interestingly enough, I guess he landed back in the slammer.

I'm not going to read all the replies here, because I'm 99% sure the whole de-fi thing is crypto banking and that there's never going to be a "bitcoin bank".  Ever. 

That's a good question, and I'd been wondering about that myself--briefly.  I haven't checked the Services section or anybody's signatures, but I'd imagine all the old Chipmixer campaigners aren't going to give up on sig campaigns altogether.  Why would they? 

So if you wanted to do a little data analysis for yourself, you'd probably start by seeing who's applying to campaigns right now.  And even those who aren't might not have a significant drop in post count, since many of them are senior members who've been here for years and had been posting quality stuff well before Chipmixer.  Just my 2 sats.

I haven't browsed through this entire thread, but I created an account because of an interest in Verus, and it's mentioned in your ToS that there are restricted locations, but I can't find out what countries they are for the life of me.

You've got the fees all laid out as well as the minimum withdrawal amount for each coin, but what frustrates me about many exchanges is that you can rarely find out the minimum trading amount until after you've deposited some coins and tried to do a trade.  It would be nice if you made mention of that somewhere.

Also, your "Media Kit" and "Voting" links appear to be broken.  That does not inspire confidence, just saying.

Well I'm sure some alphabet agency would have the authority to go after internet forum members if the government wanted to go that far, but as has been pointed out the funds that were used to advertise Chipmixer were minuscule in comparison to what they've already seized.  And frankly I just don't think that's going to happen.  Campaign participants rented out their signature space to a company that presumably they believed was doing business legally--but that's my opinion, and I don't have a good grasp of what the law is for stuff like this.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of defense the accused owner puts up.  Hopefully he's got enough money to hire a good lawyer after all those assets got ganked by the cabal of governments behind the investigation.  I say let justice take its course, but I'm also aware that defense attorneys are there for a reason, i.e., to challenge accusations that may or may not be true.

But it ain't looking good right now.