May this post serve as a notice and warning to other forum members.

Anyway, I believe we all aware on how big of a scam EOSgas airdrop was. It promised to aidrop 10, 000 EOSgas (which is worth $500) to anyone who will sign up. Moreover, they required oarticipants to download an alpha wallet and to pass a KYC using a link directing to your MEW (which of course is a phishing link), thus, allowing them to steal your coins/tokens.

Now, I have come accross this new airdrop called EOSlend. It promises 10, 000 EOSlend tokens to participants (worth $250) and offers additional $25 for every referrla. Anyway, to make the story short, I registered for the said airdrop and they e-mailed me my "supposed-to-be" referral link. To my surprise, I saw this:



As you can see, the referral link given to me is the same as  the referral link of the scam EOSgas airdrop, thus, making me believe that the peiple behind it chose to change the name only to scam other people once again. Let us be wary of this and be careful with airdrops we signed for.

[yopmail account]

After being away for a few days in the forum, it was a surprise to receive an e-mail from the forum. However, this e-mail, which I received today, and which I just read an hour ago was very serious and alarming. It had stated in the e-mail that my account's e-mail and my password was accessed and was changed by someone from a certain IP address. I panicked and tried to log in to my account, which of course, I can no longer access. I thought that maybe I have mistyped my password but I didn't. I tried using the "Forgot Password" setting but it didn't work, it stated that there's no account associated with my email address.



I searched for any related threads that may help me regain my account but to my dismay, the only thing I found was by means of contacting the admin, which of course, will take some time. I was losing hope, then, and so I reread the e-mail sent to me and saw the link from which I can lock my account. I was on the verge of doing so, when I decided to check the "new" e-mail that was used to change my email address. It lead me to a yopmail account , which I found out is accessible to anyone. And since it is accessible to everyone, I decided to use it to recover my account.


How did I recover my account?

1. I logged into my account using the "forgot password" setting. Then, a recovery link was sent to the "yopmail account" which can be used to change the password of your account.
2. After changing the password of my account, I also changed my email address, and added a new security question for additional security.
3. Afterwards, I deleted all the forum's messages in the yopmail account so as to prevent the hacker from undoing my change password nor locking my account.

I also found similar threads regarding hacks and email address change using yopmail account. I even found one, which was hacked using the same IP address.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4678021.0   >> This one was hacked using the same IP address used in hacking my account.


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4542446.0   >> In this thread, the account was also hacked by means of changing the email address with a temporary yopmail account.

Furthermore, I also used a google authenticator so as to help me in securing my email address.

Spamming, trolling, and account farming has been some of the major problems here in the forum. From time to time, ideas which are thought to be the solution to these problems are implemented and introduced; which, of course, the latest was the merit system.

The implementation of the merit system was effective in combatting a wide-range use of account farming, as well as the use of multiple accounts in the forum. Yes, it was effective, but it also has a downside.

With the introduction of the merit system, most of the members were disheartened due to the fact that they can no longer rank up, not only because of the requirement for a high quality post but also due to some limitations.

First off, the language barrier. We all know the fact that English is the universal language, but it is NOT the only language there is. Therefore, creating a high quality post in English is too difficult for a non-English native, thus, they are having difficulty with their grammar and syntax. Sometimes, the language barrier is just too strong and English is not something one can learn in an overnight.

Now, one may say that, there are local boards where they can earn some good merits. But taking into consideration the relation between the merit source and the number of user in a local board, it is simply not enough. In my local board, no matter how constructive or great some of their posts are, it is simply not enough to earn a merit due to the lack of merit sources.

Third, I find the merit system more prone to spam since a lot of people are trying to post more, hoping for a merit source to spot their posts. I also noticed more and more threads are being created because of this reason as well. Although, it is nice to see that the quality of most of the member's post have improve.

Now, I am not proposing that the implementation of the merit ranking should be dissolve (as I also don't have any other solution or suggestion to solve the dilemna). But I only do wish to voice out my sentiments in hope that these reflects some of the sentiments of other users, especially those in the local boards, in view of the current merit system.

It is true, indeed. Medicine does taste bitter. As much as it is good for the forum, to the member's lips, it is still bitter.

Hindi ko alam kung ako lang ba ang nakakapansin nito o marahil ay napansin na rin ng iba ang patungkol sa mga bagong threads na ginagawa ng mga newbie dito sa forum. Ang ilan lamang sa mga ito ay may mga title tulad ng:

Paano kumita ng bitcoin? Newbie here
Paano sumali sa signature campaign ang newbie?
Ano ang mgandang bounties para sa mga newbie?

Kung inyong mapapansin, napakaraming threads na rin ang na-i-publish ng may kaparehong konspeto at mga kaparehong katanungan. Ilang beses na rin naman itong nasagot at halos paulit-ulit na rin lang. Pero kung ating titingnan at susuriing mabuti, hindi ba at nakakapagtaka ang pinakafocus ng mga bagong miyembrong ito dito sa forum ay ang kumita ng cryptocurrency. Pero lagi nating tandaan, na ang forum, ay hindi lamang ginawa upang pagkakitaan, ginawa ito upang magbigay ng mga bagong impormasyon tungkol sa mga bagong ICO's, sa cryptocurrency, sa blockchain technology at iba pang mga bagay na relevant dito.

Kung kaya para sa mga newbie,ang maipapayo ko lang ay mag-umpisa tayo sa pagkuha ng mga kaalaman dito sa forum at hindi agad sa kung paano tayo kikita. Pag-aralan ang pasikot-sikot dito at ang mga impormasyon na kakailanganin mo dahil sa bawat araw na lilipas na nasa forum ka, dapat ay nadadagdagan ang iyong kaalaman dahil darating ang panahon na hindi ka na lang isang newbie. Patunayan mo na may sapat kang kaalaman para hindi mabansagan na spammer at shitposter ng forum tulad sa bansag sa atin ng ibang lahi dahil sa patuloy na pagpopost ng walang sapat na kaalaman.

Para sa atin na hindi na newbie, huwag natin sagutin ang mga katanungnan ng mga newbie patungkol sa pagsalit sa signature campaigns. Let us not tolerate them. Kung ang isang newbie ay sasali sa signature campaign, huwag natin basta isagot na "kailangan mo muna magparank at amgparami ng activities" instead, encourage natin sila na mag-aral at magbasa upang alam nila ang haharapin nila at isasagot sa bawat topics dito sa forum. Hindi lang basta generic na sagot na nagiging dahilan kung bakit tayo nababansagan na spammer, shitposter at minsan pa ay nabibigyan ng negative trust.

Wala namang mawawala kung araw-araw, dadagdagan natin ang ating kaalaman dito sa forum. Let us start with ourselves para maalis at mabawasan ang ilan sa mga misconceptions dito sa forum.

Everyone is hopeful that the market is now all green and the coins are increasing in price. However, as I look at the prices of the coins in the top 100 in coinmarket, I realized the fall of bitcoin cash compared to its boom last year. Now, it is in the price where there's only so little gap between it and ETH. Now, which do you think will reach the $1000 first? Any opinion?