[1) Seed Phrase2) Private Keys3) Master Private Keys4) Public keys5) Master Public Keys]

I made a thread recently How best to secure your Private Keys and/or Seed phrase and in it I briefly discussed; private keys, public keys and master public keys. Turned out I had so many misconceptions about these concepts  I did a little research to try and correct some of those misconceptions.

The concepts include:
1) Seed Phrase
2) Private Keys
3) Master Private Keys
4) Public keys
5) Master Public Keys

Introduction:
All of the above theories are related to wallets and asset security. They are also interdependent in specific wallet types like HD Wallets

- Seed Phrases: This is also commonly called; recovery phrase, recovery seed, mnemonic phrase etcetera. A Seed phrase is a collection of 12, 18, 24 words that are used to back up a wallet address. The words are generated using BIP 39 standard from a collection of 2048 words.
A degree of randomness (entropy) is used to secure the phrase and it approximately has the same strength as a private key. * this applies to a 12 word seed phrase: 2048^12 = 2^132 and the phrase would have 132 bits of security, but as the words are not entirely randomly chosen it's actual security level is 128 bits, corresponding to private key level. Any higher number of word combination has a higher level of security.

Code:

         red yellow green purple orange
Indigo violet brown pink grey white blue    

A seed phrase can be used to generate all the key pairs of a deterministic wallet and can be used to recover a wallet software in case of loss.

- The words used in a seed phrase can be accurately identified from the first four letters of the word,

"The wordlist can contain native characters, but they must be encoded in UTF-8 using Normalization Form Compatibility Decomposition (NFKD)"

Master extended private key/public key: This can be represented by the acronym; xpriv and xpub respectively. They can be derived from the seed phrase, however, they do not serve the same purpose. A master extended private key is used it generates multiple private keys, however, it can not be used to sign an address. Xpriv is also used to generate the xpub (master extended private key), which in turn generates all the public addresses in the bitcoin wallet. It is used (on its own) to create a "watch only" however, it can not be used to send bitcoin from a wallet. Combined with anyone's private key of an address, it can be used to generate all the other private keys of all related public addresses.

Private keys: This is a 256-bit number, it is a collection of alphanumeric characters *depending on the encoding. They are used to spend bitcoins in a wallet and also to sign a transaction. They are generated from the xpriv and in turn used to derive the public keys. This process can not, however, be reversed, i.e, public keys can not generate the private keys.
- Private keys should never be shared with anyone.
- They should be kept in a secured place and safely backed up.

Public keys: This is derived from the private keys multiplied by the curve generator. The sequence can not be reverse engineered, i.e, public keys cannot be used to generate private keys. It is used only for receiving funds and is displayed publicly whenever a transaction is made

As mentioned earlier all these features of an HD wallet are connected, this is the hierarchical system
*Seed phrase can generate the xpriv and all other key pairs of the wallet
*The Master extended private key can generate all private keys
*The Master extended public key can generate all public keys. Xpub + any private key (nP) can be used to generate all private keys of the other addresses.
*The private key generates the public key associated with it. 1 private key = 1 public key
*The public key can not be reversed to derive the private key. It is kept public and hence the algorithm does not support it generating any key/phrase to ensure security.

[if it's not your private keys, it's not your bitcoins]

In the blockchain technology, we are responsible for our own security and hence we have to take maximum measures to ensure that our assets are secure at all times.
Your wallet, which serves as your digital bank account, is (should be) fully under your control, this means that you have total autonomy over the assets stored on it. There are different types of wallets, but avoid storing your assets on a wallet that offers custodial services; this means the website will control the private keys to the wallet, and, if it's not your private keys, it's not your bitcoins.

So as stated above, it's advisable to own your private keys, but this is a huge responsibility and you have to know how to protect your private keys from other people as we as accidents and loss.
Private keys are an alphanumeric phrase that is used to send bitcoins from one wallet to another. They are randomly generated are linked to every address on the wallet, a wallet can have more than one private key, and hence hold multiple public addresses.

What differentiates a private key from a public key?

A private key is used to authenticate transactions from a wallet address, while a public address is similar to an account number of your bank. It's an alphanumeric key that is used to identify a specific address. Public addresses can change after each transaction, and it's advisable you change them to avoid your transactions being monitored and linked, as they're available to the public. Public addresses are derived from private keys. Private keys are not available to the public and do not change. They can not also be generated from the public addess. They usually start with the number 5 (on the main net and 9 on the test net)
Example of a private key: 5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

Private keys are usually not made available to the wallet owner, (although some wallets allow you to import it) rather you are given a seed phrase or recovery phrase. This is a set of words that are randomly generated and are as secure as the private keys. This phrase is used to recover your account should you use your device or wallet.
For example, red yellow green blue black brown purple grey orange indigo violet pink white

How best do you safeguard your recovery phrase?

Your private keys or seed phrase are too long to be memorized comfortably and you should never screenshot or keep a copy of it on your device. This exposes it to hackers and malware. When securing a recovery phrase, you have to consider online threats (hacks and malware), unforeseen circumstances/accidents; such as fire or water disasters, and keeping it away from other people. Simply writing it down in a piece of paper does not provide the needed level of security especially when you have a high amount of bitcoins.
There are a few ways you can securely back up your private keys and recovery phrases;

Use a hard drive: you can store your private keys or recovery phrase in a hard drive, which should preferably be permanently offline. This way it is not exposed to online attacks and can be easily recovered. You can also secure the drive with a password and store it in a vault to protect it from others.

Paper wallet: a paper wallet is primarily designed to store private keys. The details (which may include QR code are imprinted on a price of paper). This can then be laminated and stored in a vault.

Using a steel wallet: Your private keys can be engraved and stored in a steel wallet, such as cryptosteel. Designers of these products claim it is resistant to hazards such as fire, water, corrosion, etc. This would make it an effective way to store your private keys and/or recovery phrase

Note that when using any of these measures, you should always have multiple copies securely stored.
How do you safeguard your private keys and seed phrases? Also, how would you ensure the bequeathing of your assets to your next of kin(s), besides adding it to your will?

Bitcointalk is an extension of the asset bitcoin and as such, it is filled with scams and fraud attempts. And every user has to protect themselves and their assets.
Scams are unmoderated by the forum, but there are the trust and a flag system in place to protect users from falling victim to scams.
Suspected scams are posted on the scam accusation board.
While proven scam requires direct action like a negative feedback or a flag against that account.
(Check out my guide for the flag system- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5156835.msg51544945#msg51544945).

When checking the trust feedback of a user to determine their overall trustworthiness and reputation, it is important to check the dates which are recorded on every feedback. Then do further research on the account activity and also the activity of the member who left the feedback

Feedbacks could be appropriate at a time, but become irrelevant or misleading at a later period. For example, if a user received positive feedback in 2015 and went into a period of inactivity, and the account woke up sometime this year, that positive feedback should be taken with bags of salt or completely disregarded as:
The account could have changed hands
The user could have gone through a real-life situation that would change their reactions to certain situations etc.
Also, users who give negative/positive feedback could have become inactive and would not be able to update it should there be any update on the account.

Instead of going into trades with such users on the basis of their trust rating;
Do basic research on the relevant ratings
Monitor the account and apply extreme caution. Even if an account does not have a negative rating: always apply extreme caution when dealing with a user on the internet.
Stay safe when dealing with cryptocurrency

In was recently reported that the number of unique Bitcoin addresses holding an excess of 0 bitcoins i.e more than zero bitcoin in them just got to an all time high

Bitcoin recently hit a new milestone and an all-time high for its addresses. It currently has more addresses with BTC in it than at any other time in its history...

...Bitcoin now boasts some 28.39M addresses with more than 0 BTC in them. This tops the previous all-time high seen in January 2018 when the network hit 28.384M active addresses. The story was first reported by analyst Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins)...

Full article: https://beincrypto.com/bitcoin-addresses-hit-a-new-all-time-high/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

This shows an evident increase in the adoption of Bitcoin all over the world, although unique addresses does not necessarily translate to unique users of the network, it shows the growth of the network.
Is this evidence of Bitcoin going mainstream?
Would an ATH in addresses lead to a new ATH in the price?

[effort]

Lots of threads similar to this have been made recently, and while it's a little cliche, it's also evidence of the fact that the merit system is working and it's possible to rank up organically if you put effort into what post and try to be helpful to others while being relevant

A little over four months ago I became a full member on the forum, and I now earned enough merits to become a Sr. Member. Mine is not the fastest rise to this rank, nor is the rank the highest, but it is a milestone achievement in my Bitcoin and bitcointalk journey. This journey has been very beneficial and has improved my knowledge of various aspects of the technology and has allowed me to explore many many other areas of it. I could make a long-winded post about my ranking up, but newbies should recognize the keyword which is effort.

I use the phrase: forum made, even though all my merits are earned, because I recognize the contribution of the community members towards mine and the ranking up of so many other members and also because what I post is gotten from what I learn when I read the post of others.

The obvious next target is Hero Member, but first I'll have to learn more, improve on my discussions and also explore the other areas of the forum.

[Read and research]

Trading can be very complicated especially for newbies. Lots of people are still split on whether it's down to luck or skills on the analysis (technical and fundamental). As a trader, there are bery simple steps you can take to improve your chances of gaining and also minimize your losses and they can be useful for day traders as well as long term traders (investors)

1) Read and research: This is important for both newbies and experienced traders. The internet is a repository for information and lots of knowledge can be gotten from reading through it (this also includes watching helpful videos). Also do your research, knowing what is happening on what exchange or what currency is planning a fork or a halving can help shape your decisions.

- Practice: Through regular practice, you will find the strategy that suits you, this can be done through demo trading.
One important point to note is that during g practice you have to treat it like it's the real thing. Use only the lot size, capital, leverage, etc that you will use during an actual trade.

- Start small: There is no hurry in trading and as a newbie, you should start small and grow with time. Losses are ineluctable, so a small capital will reduce your losses.
At every point, only invest what you can afford to loss

- Be patient: Every trader should have the quality of patience and also timing.
It is important to know how to control your emotions and only act on your analysis. This would also help you handle losses and profits.

- Explore every option: There are lots of tools at your disposal, signals, technical and fundamental analysis, etc, not every one of them would be helpful to you, discard those which are not and stick to your strenghts. Bitcointalk can also be a useful tool, it's an interactive forum where you can ask questions.

This thread is for discussion, and also to correct or validate some historical facts. If it's not fit for this section, I'll have it locked.

There are are many historical paths to the origin of the Ivory Tower and it's being a representation of an elite coterie. One of them can be traced to the origin of malaria:
The word malaria is gotten from two Italian words, 'mal' and 'aria' and it literally translates to bad air. In the early days, it was associated with the air which was thought to be the vector and wet grounds the source of the epidemic. To escape the disease, the elite group built ivory towers to escape the wet grounds and be at a height where they can breathe clear air. They were not entirely wrong and the towers provided a sort of protection from the outbreak. Until science disproved the bad air theory and identified mosquitoes as the source.

Could this be likened to what the Ivory Tower here on BT represents, an elite group created to escape the spam and bad air nearer to the ground?
There are many theories to the origin of the phrase Ivory Tower and it's representation, which do you accept?
Where would you rather be, at the top of the tower or the lower grounds?

I've come across quite a couple of scams and scam attempts all involving email addresses.
To protect your address first step is you'll want to keep it private, if it doesn't get leaked then you can not get targeted by hackers/scammers keep it hidden on any site you regularly use. However, there are those who run businesses here and choose to transactions through email. In this case;

Always have a unique address: this specific address should not be connected to any other website or platform. The makes it easier to filter the mails and sort out the spam inboxes.

Have dispensable addresses: We regularly want to try out or experiment on certain platforms. Do not use any of you main email accounts, rather use a random one and if possible a random password for it. You could also use a temporary email address pending when you're ready to make your profile permanent. This prevents you from leaving a pattern which can be used to breach your accounts.

Dismiss unsolicited mails and never click links: This is very popular advise here, do not click on links in unsolicited mails, whether or not they appear in the spam section. Also mute spam messages to stop getting such messages.

If an account you did not make public keeps getting flooded with spam messages, there is a huge possibility that it has been leaked. Avoid using it for any major account and change it from the ones it's already connected to.

Also, use two factor authentication on your account, this would serve as an extra measure of security should there ever be an attempted breach.
Also add your personal security measures which others can adopt to protect themselves.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in a bid to encourage a cashless society, introduced a project to dissuade users fron using cash, by charging a certain percentage on withdrawals and deposits above a certain amount daily.
Link: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/cashless/

There are many clauses and terms, but the summary is individuals would pay a fee on withdrawals and deposits above N500,000 and above N3,000,000 for cooperations.

This has caused quite an uproar among the citizenry, bemoaning the high cost on transactions involving cash, and the Senate has requested the bill be suspended in the states it is currently in effect- https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/cashless-policy-reps-ask-cbn-to-suspend-charges-on-deposits/amp/

Some proactive entrepreneurs has set up agencies to circumvent the charges, by offering to deposit amount in batches as a service i.e. if an individual wanted to transfer 1.5 million naira in a day which is above the minimum, they would pay it into three different bank accounts and the send it via mobile money into one.

This could also open up options in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin could be an effective tool to move large amounts without having your transactions monitored.

What do you think about a policy which places a penalty on transactions involving physical cash to encourage cashless ones?

[The most effective way to avoid spam is to read before you post]

As a member of BT, you would most likely have come across discussions on spam and ways to curb it. As a newbie you would have to understand what constitutes spam in order to best avoid it.

What is Spam?
Conventionally, it is used to refer to unsolicited messages sent out electronically and in bulk. Example would be emails in your spam folder which you did not request or authorize.
Here on the forum spam could be used interchangeably with low value content, poorly constructed replies/post, repetition of a particular idea, it could also be the use of a crude means to convert a text into a different language to post on a particular board. In essence, spam are contents which adds no value, reason why they are deleted by moderators on sight.

There are other consequences of spam, besides getting your posts deleted:
- Spam reduces the quality of your post history. Having a good post history is vital in growing an account. If an account repeatedly posts low value content, any post of value would be viewed with reservations by some members and some would be prompted to check for possible plagiarism.

- Repeated spam contents could get you on the ignore list of other forum members (and merit sources) reducing your chances of ranking up.

- Newbie accounts with less than 30 activities could get nuked for low value contents, and all posts deleted.

- In extreme cases, it could get you a temporary or even a permanent ban:

Campaign Participants:

Staff do not want to hand out bans for unconstructive posts but if we feel that you as a user are continually making very poor or unsubstantial posts due to your paid signature the following bans will be issued:

First offence: 7 days
Second offence: 14 days
Third offence: 30 days
Fourth: Permanent ban

How to know if you are spamming?

Spamming is NOT heavily dependent on the length of your posts or replies, a one line which contains relevant points to the specific discussion is more important than a long, rambling post which may be off topic and offer zero value to the discussion.

If you reply to threads without going through the previous discussion with the sole aim of making a post to count in a bounty requirement or to boost your activity, then you very likely would be spamming or posting similar replies to what has already been posted.

If you reply to threads without actual understanding of the topic being discussed, then you very likely are spamming.

If you post in a language you don't have a fair command of (to be at the very least understandable), or use translators then you are spamming.

If you make posts/replies with the sole aim of increasing your post count. That would count as spam.

Accounts created to advertise for a website with links and repeated contents also constitutes spam.

Ways to avoid spam?

The most effective way to avoid spam is to read before you post: This could be previous discussions or external articles related to the discussion. It's best to read more than you post.

Use the SEARCH option before starting a topic. This way you know how your idea has been posted previously (if at all it has been) and how best to present your post in a new and relevant form.

Do not post in topics or boards you're not familiar with: the forum has numerous boards and also local sections to allow everyone to find a niche where they can be more helpful to the entire community. Find the sections that best suits you and stick to it.

Read the requirements of any bounty if you wish to join: almost all bounties has rules and regulations, ranging from how many posts to make in a specific period and what sections you should and should not post in. Only take up bounties which you can comfortably manage without the value of your content dropping significantly..

Avoid using multiple accounts: alt accounts are allowed on the forum for a variety of reasons, one of which is to alienate yourself (on one account) from an idea you might have and post it on another account. Using it for financial reasons could reduce the quality of your content and also increases the risk of your posting similar content on different accounts which could constitute plagiarism.


Do not make posts with the sole aim of agreeing or commending a previous post, with contents like: 'I agree' or 'Nice one'. That is the reason merits were implemented.
If you do not have any smerits at the time you could bookmark the post for later or suggest it on any of the forums merit giveaway threads, such as;
Merit for Crypto (and other) Knowledge (no guide threads)
Merits holding you back? Am giving them to most qualitative Newbie / Jr / Member

In addition to improving the quality of your posts, you can also help curb spam by reporting low value contents. Look up this thread:
[Guide] Reporting effectively

[So view every prospect as a scam, until proven otherwise]

Over the past couple of months, cryptocurrency returned marginally back to the good times. This affects almost every sector of this space. Forum activity increases, as people get more interested, up starts try to take advantage of the surge to launch their projects, and scams also increases as Bitcoin ans cryptocurrency becomes a more frequent discussion across social medias, and the target is usually newbies.

If you are new to this, or joined because of the hype, one thing to note is that there are different levels of scams and it's not always easily detectable.
So view every prospect as a scam, until proven otherwise.
It's easy to avoid basic scam attempts like the use of fake accounts or ICO imitations. But, there can be scams hidden beneath legitimate projects.

- Always be skeptical; do not trust a project on first glance. Always look for a hidden threat, by assuming there is one, this makes you dig further into the fundamentals of that project.
- The fact that the project has been successful so far, does not mean it can not still be a hoax; never get too comfortable when you've out your money in an investment. Always be on the lookout for developments and stay close to the process involved.
- Never fully rely on recommendations; always to your own diligent research on any prospect. Do not simply follow the ideas of "experts" or "influencers".
- There is no guarantee;  no investment is a hundred percent fool proof. Even Bitcoin which I would say is the safest cryptocurrency investment does not guarantee profits.
Always keep tabs on your portfolio.

Industrialization can simply be defined as the mechanisation of labour. Going from manual and human driven to independent machines.
Technology has been growing in leaps and bounds and we keep inventing more innovative ways to get work done.

There are some who are pessimistic about the use of machines to do jobs previously done by humans. But, this is surely not a new ideology, all technological innovations has been met with a degree of skepticism.
People assumed cars would steal jobs of chariot and carriage riders
The telephone, many said would make letters unnecessary.
While this innovations did what people feared, it also opened opportunities. And the savvy grabbed them quickly. They moved with the trend.

Industrialization is a trend, and it could be seen as an threat to human jobs or as an opportunity to create jobs in different fields. Grabbing this opportunity would require work from people, to analyse the situation, and reposition themselves so as not to get washed away by the new trend.
Change is inevitable. Adjust to it.

I have come across cases of users choosing not to post in certain boards to avoid their posts getting buried under sea of new posts, and also users having to bump their posts repeatedly to keep it active.

Each section has had thousands of posts made and only a few are at the disposal of users, as it is painstaking to navigate through all the pages of posts made on a specific section. Can we have a pop up icon recommending quality posts for users as they scroll through the forum, the recommendations could be based on number of merits giving to the OP, and also subsequent comments under it.
It could also work for newer posts; if a post gets a certain number of merits (doesn't have to be too high) within a certain number of hours upon posting then it would be recommended to users on the forum.

This way, members can come across old, relevant posts, which otherwise they may not have been able to dig up, and also newer posts which may have slipped down below the first page.
The algorithm could be designed to randomly pick across all the boards, excluding boards ignored by the user and local boards (which are not the users locality).

Education is a prominent aspect of every individuals' life. This could be acquired through, imitation, training, apprenticeship, self teaching. It could also be formal, informal, semi formal or non formal.
All forms of education boils down to a certain career path, i.e, what would you be doing for the rest of your life?
This question is an ineluctable one, and often one has to answer it at a very young age.
Of course, there are a number of people who from their wee days are certain of what they want to do and what brings them fulfillment. But I risk saying, majority of people do not have a certain career which they want to pursue, and if they do they have little idea of what that path entails when making that decision.

I'm of the believe that a career path should not be rigid, one is free to take detours when it appears necessary. The 'rest if your life's is a long time, and do mot be afraid to return to school, get a second degree, take up that passion.

Life is not a straight jacket and there are many limitations to a such quantum shift; age, finances, family, finances and to an extent society.
But, no career path should be simply endured. Find a balance and compromise that benefits all aspects of you.

Also, a stressful job does not mean a wrong career, people still take long vacations and sabbaticals from their passion and dream jobs. Find a Balance.

[What are privacy coins?]

Bitcoin was created to offer decentralization and anonymity to asset holders to enable transaction between two individuals without the direct intervention of a third party. This transactions are direct and unregulated, but are visible and traceable as the blockchain is an open ledger. While there is no real identity behind addresses, it's possible to link transaction together and have this provides a level of security risk.
This is the problem that privacy coins tackle.

What are privacy coins?

Privacy coins offer private transactions which are not transparent. It blurs certain information, such as amount transferred, address of individuals invloved or amounts held  in the wallets. This provides coin holders with a level of privacy and security.
Privacy coins is not a new technology, Monero; one of the most popular privacy coin was created in 2014 as a fork of bytecoin.
Check out this thread: [ANN][BMR] Bitmonero - a new coin based on CryptoNote technology - LAUNCHED. It was previously known as Bitmonero. Other privacy coins include, DASH, ZCASH and the more recently launched BEAM.

On the downsides, privacy coins has been identified by some as a medium for corrupt practices and money laundering with transactions that are difficult or impossible to trace. Although this has been a popular criticism for all other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. Considering that fiat currency can also be (and is) used for illegal activities as well,

Another con is the problem of scalability. It takes a lot of data to obfuscate transactions and some privacy coin networks also mixes up the transactions being confirmed by miners to make it more difficult to trace at the cost of scalability.
There's also the problem of the security of the network, and it's imperviousness to attacks.

Which is your favorite privacy coin?
Would you, or do you use privacy coins over utility and security coins?

This topic has been moved to Serious discussion.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5155563.0 I would like more interactions and discussions and rate this to somewhat a serious topic.

[What are trust flags?]

I decided to do brief research into the new trust system, to make it easier for users to understand the system all in one thread.

All accounts referenced are only used for examples, and I do not support or oppose the accusations.

What are trust flags?

Trust flags were introduced to diversify the trust system.
Introductory thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5153344.0
And to warn members that a certain user may be a scammer and is alleged to have violated written or implied contracts.
The previous trust system would provide an evaluation of the trust history of a user. It would give a general perspective into the trustworthiness or otherwise of forum users.
The trust system can be used for negative, positive or neutral feedback. Trust flags are only for negative feedback. Trust can be deleted, flags cannot be once active.

Trust flags need at least three more members supporting than opposing for it to be active. Only supports from your trust group is counted, for guests, the default trust is used.

Types of flags
- Newbie warning flags: This is given based on evidence suggested by others about a users untrustworthiness i.e actions not directly connected to you.

It is displayed above the user's topics and is only visible to newbies guests and members with less than 7 days log in time. While other users only see '#' beside the user's trust score.
Let's consider this user, The-One-Above-All. The account got has a newbie warming flag displayed above his/her profile


-: Contract-violation flags: This is given based on activity directly connected with you. For example, user NLNico activated a flag on the user SafeDice and got more support than opposition (>3). The flag is displayed on the users' (alleged scammer) trust summary and also above his topics (visible to all members)

You can also access it through the sent feedback of NLNico

Logged out users would also get a warning

Logged-out users will now see a warning in trust-enabled sections if more DT members neg-trust the topic starter than positive-trust  ;)him.

Active flags display yellow color.
When it also includes a red trust. It displays red. And this activates the: "Warning: Trade with extreme caution" on the user's trust score
Newbie warning flags above threads also displays in yellow and red colors.

Who can start a flag?

Anyone can start a newbie warning flag, it needs more supporters than opposers to be visible.

Anyone who is scammed by another user can also start a contract violation flag. You only view those created by users in your trust network. It needs at least three more supporters than opposers to be active.
Trusts flags can be created through a link on the users' profile


How long would a flag be visible when active?

In the spirit of forgiveness/redemption, scammer flags expire 3 years after the incident if the contract was casual/implied, and 10 years after the incident if the contract was written. These expiration times might be administratively changed in specific cases.

There are limits to flags created by a user:

[These limits are in place:
 - Per 180 days, you can only give 1 flag of each type to a given user. So you can't give someone multiple written-contract-violation flags in 180 days, for example.
 - Globally, per year you can only create 1 flag per activity point you have, but at least 1/year.

Does the flag system invalidate all previous negative trusts?

Negative trusts from the pre-flag system are not converted to trusts flags but

- If the number of pre-flags-system negative trust ratings is greater than the number of all positive trust ratings, a warning banner is shown for guests & low-login-time newbies.

Please drop your suggestions, additions and possible corrections.

Useful links -
• LoyceV's (Personal) Trust Flag viewer [daily updates]

Translations -
• Pilipinas

According to the UN population division, there are currently 7,713,468,000 on our planet Earth. And those figures are expected to grow fast to 8.5 billion by 2030, and at the end of the century we would be almost 11 billion.


Not we though, most of us would have passed on by then. How habitable would the world be for 'them', future generations?

Food production would be critical in the survival of our species, and climate change, land degradation, loss of fertility, loss of lands and gradually shift from agriculture doesn't help our chances.

Most of population growth would be happening in developing countries, such as mine Nigeria.
Couple of decades back, agriculture was the main source of livelihood, and each family produced what they consumed, then colonization happened, and brought with it Western Civilization. Now this opened multiple opportunities in industry, and with the discovery of oil, and other minerals, farming moved to the background, now it's the responsibility of a few to feed the whole. This scenario played out in many countries. We all have to take up this responsibility to produce food or at least help sustain the fertility of the earth, especially the oceans.

Internally displaced persons, refugees, and immigrants are also on the rise. Results of war, riots, natural disasters and lack of opportunities due to corruption in many countries. This puts pressure on available land for food and shelter.



One of the upsides of population growth is increase in labour force. If we put our hands together; there maybe a chance.
I believe the deciding factor would be the people in power. We NEED to get them to act.

I have been pondering the effect of scams on the cryptocurrency market. Are investors who fall victim to ICO scams more likely to move to Bitcoin or is it a case of 'once bitten twice shy' and they avoid cryptocurrency investments altogether?

From the 2nd quarter of 2018, there was a sharp drop in ICO investments, and during that period Bitcoin was deep in the bearish market which lasted all through last year and the first quarter of 2019.

The ICO market has failed to completely recover, but Bitcoin has been making surges, and still waxing strong.
This also asks the question, are we getting closer to the point where all other currencies would have fallen too far behind and  the Bitcoin network would stand more prominent and truly dominate the market? Of course, some altcoins would stand the test of time, but when we enter a dynamic phase in the cryptocurrency market, where it would be very difficult or impossible for scammy projects to spring up.

As an investor, how have you handled losses and scams in ICOs?

Just noticed subtle adjustments made to the links on the forums' dashboard.



Donations link has been removed and merged with copper membership purchasing (how to buy) on a new link,
MORE; https://bitcointalk.org/more.php
In addition to this I feel more helpful links can be added there in the near future to improve user experience.

Looks good to me, what do you think?