Ditto. Comment as you wish.

I always hated the fucking Coinbase. Just the lesser shit among all the Bitcoin ripoff bullshit.
Now I must use Authy even if I don't really want to use them. Yet another company which wants to sell my private data to the government.

How stupid can RichG be?

The sign of people (many of which used to be normal) turning into morons is IMHO when they all start posting pictures of their cats on their keyboards.

I mean, c'mon, it that the only way you can attempt to present yourselves as possibly really human and likeable?

http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/06/senate-passes-internet-sales-tax/

How will this affect BTC, any guesses?

Bitcoin will return to obscurity.

Disclaimer: not that I personally want it to happen. Just a theory based on some reading and observations.

IMO, beside the scammers, the incompetence of these kids is one of the biggest obstacles to solid Bitcoin services.

How about some industrial-strength Microsoft Web servers, ASP MVC, .NET and C++ programming of the adults?

Security is fine with me but you must be either Einstein or as confused as their security programmers to register with these guys.

Anybody figured out how Aussie brains function in this case?

Do not include merchants accepting crypto currency for goods here.

Rather, rate all your experiences with exchanging fiat for crypto, depositing, withdrawing, trading, exchanging one for another.
For example, rating may also include Web sites UI and tech support.

Q:So what can you tell us about the events in April 2013?

A:Well, as some know I had several millions of Bitcoins from the very get go, when they cost me 0.00001 of ... nothing, really.
  I didn't know what to do with it, I just kept them.

  Then Mt.Gox guys came to Japan and they wanted to start an exchange. They told me they think they can sell a lot of it,
  but they needed a source of a decent quantity of BTCs, for a good upfront price.

  So we made a deal.

  I would give them a million of BTCs, but in exchange they had to guarantee me that, when I decide to sell another part of my stash,
  they would honor my request, whatever the quantity it is and whatever the market price is at that time.

  I mean, I didn't want to sell just so that they can turn around, sell them for a much better price and get filthy rich from my hard work.

  And then it happened. I swear I didn't expect it to skyrocket! Not so fast anyway.
 
  So I had these issues:
  a) - people obviously wanted my BitCoins and I still had a good chunk of them. How was I to distribute my BitCoins to the people?
  b) - market needed a correction. A price had to stabilize. Somebody had to teach the kids that it is not real life. How was I to do that?
  c) - all these morons were making money, hand over fist, all from the fruits of my labor.
    
  I mean, if you think that I was greedy what would you think if I waited until the coin was, like, $1,000 USD?
  
  So you see, I had to do it. For the good of the people and for my own good.

Ditto

See Bitcoin buzz at:

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/bitcoin-the-encryption-standard

So the great kiddy script programmers employed at Coinbase have offered us a new option:

Commit to buy at a certain date in the future and you may actually manage to buy at this service, where using the service to buy is the tough issue.

Guess what:

You can click that button to commit all you want, you still have no idea if an idiot programmer (and that's probably a huge compliment for the retards involved) on the other side has actually wrote a valid code to acknowledge your selection.

These are the things that make me want all Bitcoin business to go burn down in Hell.

And yes, Satoshi Ponzi, dump all those 7 mil dormant BTCs on the market all at once and let's be done with this annoying crap.
Making these people die of hunger may be the best you could have come up with.

Worked at Coinbase == unemployable except at McDonalds

I am guessing that a small number a buyers, going through gargantuan struggles it takes to buy and keep BTC safe, could make demand pressure look much higher then it really is.

Goods costing 10 BTC mean you can pay up to $100 more or less in corresponding fiat?!
That doesn't make sense to me.

1) Never, never do trust a reputation of the service that you haven't thoroughly tested yourself. Your friends may tell you it is great. But when you ask them how many  Bitcoins have they actually purchased from a service they go quiet. I am not suggesting your friends suggesting you a good service are morons. But they are people. They may have a stake in Bitcoin (not necessarily a financial one, it may be an ideological one) and they may not be fully aware of the risk that you are about to undertake. Maybe they are just trying to impress a girl listening to the conversation with their 'knowledge' and making you look like a chickenshit. Granted, they are not really friends in that case, but you know...

2) Once you join a service/exchange/whatever first purchase only a few Bitcoins. 1-5 should be more than enough. Now try to 'abuse' the service, make all kinds of mistakes. Try to send a Bitcoin to your dead dog's email address. Or to Bitcoin address kIwanttoFuckyouintheAss. See where does it get you. See how does technical support respond to your 'stupidity'. If they are slow or arrogant in their responses, that is probably not a service that you wish to service you.

3) Once you have purchased Bitcoins try to cash some of them, and often. Buy, cash in. Eliminate the whole account and go in cash. Then get back and purchase more BTCs. See where does it get you. See how long do you have to wait for any of the services provided. Can you actually get cash back for the cash you put in and how fast?

4) Demand an extraordinarily good service and fast support responses. Keep in mind, many of Bitcoin services are startups. If they expect you to wait for 5-6 business days to respond, something is probably wrong. They are not American Express. If they behave like one, something is probably wrong with their entire work ethics - meaning your Bitcoins are endangered. They should be siting their asses online 24/7 to prove themselves worthy of your trust in this scam infested Bitcoin business.

I know that some will not agree, calling for a patience, but, well..  I disagree with that.

1) Never, never do trust a reputation of the service that you haven't thoroughly tested yourself. Your friends may tell you it is great. But when you ask them how many  Bitcoins have they actually purchased from a service they go quiet. I am not suggesting your friends suggesting you a good service are morons. But they are people. They may have a stake in Bitcoin (not necessarily a financial one, it may be an ideological one) and they may not be fully aware of the risk that you are about to undertake. Maybe they are just trying to impress a girl listening to the conversation with their 'knowledge' and making you look like a chickenshit. Granted, they are not really friends in that case, but you know...

2) Once you join a service/exchange/whatever first purchase only a few Bitcoins. 1-5 should be more than enough. Now try to 'abuse' the service, make all kinds of mistakes. Try to send a Bitcoin to your dead dog's email address. Or to Bitcoin address kIwanttoFuckyouintheAss. See where does it get you. See how does technical support respond to your 'stupidity'. If they are slow or arrogant in their responses, that is probably not a service that you wish to service you.

3) Once you have purchased Bitcoins try to cash some of them, and often. Buy, cash in. Eliminate the whole account and go in cash. Then get back and purchase more BTCs. See where does it get you. See how long do you have to wait for any of the services provided. Can you actually get cash back for the cash you put in and how fast?

4) Demand an extraordinarily good service and fast support responses. Keep in mind, many of Bitcoin services are startups. If they expect you to wait for 5-6 business days to respond, something is probably wrong. They are not American Express. If they behave like one, something is probably wrong with their entire work ethics - meaning your Bitcoins are endangered. They should be siting their asses online 24/7 to prove themselves worthy of your trust in this scam infested Bitcoin business.

So, I decided to test if I can actually transfer my BTCs from Coibase back to my checking account.

I started with the button saying Send money and it asked for an email address. I typed in my own email address.

At this point I can't, with absolute certainty, claim that I didn't misspell my email address. I just can't. I don't think I did, since I type is so often on a daily basis and it never happened so far. But can I honestly assert that it is a complete impossibility: no.

Then, what is the possibility that a user with a very uncommon variation on my real name at misspelled yahoo.com (like yaoho.com) really exists?
Note also that I never sent any BTC to an actual Bitcoin address.
 
Anyway, a Bitcoin address, somehow mysteriously corresponding to a misspelled email address, popped up from somewhere and spent my BTCs.

I am still waiting on response from an ever so busy Coinbase support. 

... that you have a higher chance of getting your goods if you order from some Canadian online pharmacy, or give your credit card number to 800 number from a TV ad at 2 AM.

I am sorry, but even after browsing a bunch of pages here, I can't seem to find any consensus even about the existence of such a service. Whatever I read elsewhere also indicates the state of confusion and uncertainty.

I am not seeking here a confrontation with some kiddo, who wants to explain me how things are great and how dare I even ask such a question. I've been through Apple versus Microsoft wars 15 years ago and don't seek repeating similar experiences here. I am not arguing something against BTC. I am merely appalled at the sate of available services.

Let me explain it on an example of my recent experience with Coinbase,which is apparently viewed by many as the great, respectable service.

It takes a week to buy a few BTCs. Three days after I notice that money was withdrawn from my bank I still see my BTC availability status as pending. Finally I get status as confirmed and, indeed, the price I got was the one at the time that I purchased it, not the price as of today. All fine. Ok, so now that I see it is not a complete scam  I try to purchase more but now I have to catch the system when it is willing to sell it to me. There is random daily limit (whatever makes sense to them, I can't understand it) so you can't just purchase it when you want. Implicit recommendation is that you may as well wake up in the middle of the night and try then.

For some teenager this all may seem ok, it may be a great fun purchasing BTC in the middle of the night, but I am a normal guy who actually works for a living, who occasionally trades stocks or bonds on market for other normal, working guys like me and this is a completely shocking, unacceptable experience.

Are any people with similar background and experiences on this forum and what can you, please, recommend to me?

Specifically I am talking about US based services, not EU or Japan based.

Thanks