This forum has collected a lot of donations. This, I am sure we will all agree, is a good thing.

However, I think there should be some transparency about donations. Cynical people might suggest that the forum moderation policy could be influenced by the weight of these donations.

I think that Theymos should reveal whether he has received donations from Butterfly Labs or any Butterfly Labs employees.

I would also like this thread to be home for general discussion about the transparency of donations to this forum.

In the last month or two there have been a few allegations going around of a pro-BFL bias in the moderating activities of the forum. I don't personally have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I do think that there is certainly some basis for these claims.

The Bitcoin community is still a reasonably small one. This means two things:

Firstly, the moderation team of this forum holds an incredibly powerful position. This is the main and original Bitcoin forum and the only one with a significant amount of activity. It's also worth noting that Theymos, the chief administrator of this forum, is also the chief administrator of the Bitcoin reddit, the only other Bitcoin forum with any reasonably amount of activity.

Secondly, it's not unfeasible that members of the moderation team would have a financial interest in various Bitcoin businesses. It's a small community, moderators tend to be reasonably prominent members of that community, and we're all entrepreneurial souls. This could lead to conflict of interest.

In the United Kingdom, members of parliament need to submit information to a "register of member's interests." This is a public, written record of the business interest of members of parliament. It records all of the companies they work for, have received gifts from, or have invested in. This helps prevent unfair practices under the table.

I propose a similar system for moderators of this forum. They should publicly reveal their Bitcoin business interests. This would help identify bias, as well as fend off false allegations of bias.

If moderators don't feel comfortable revealing which Bitcoin businesses they have a financial interest in succeeding, then they should reassess their suitability to be moderators.

Roger Ver has access to the Blockchain.info database and is prepared to abuse it in order to take revenge over a customer service dispute in one of his other businesses.

See this thread for more details:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=131574.0

[this user has a history of threatening to injure/kill Zhou Tong, and was attempting to gather the funds to do so.]

The user augustocroppo has a long history in this forum of violent, racist statements.

Let us review the past posts of the user.

I would strongly urge people not to give this person money.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=97215.0

This topic has been moved to Trashcan because this user has a history of threatening to injure/kill Zhou Tong, and was attempting to gather the funds to do so.

Why not?

Here, augustocroppo argues in the defense of collecting money to kill a 17 year old boy. He sees nothing wrong with threatening to injure or kill a minor, and he sees nothing wrong with gathering the funds to do so. As we can see, he is so morally repugnant that he can't even comprehend why someone wouldn't want to collect money to kill a young boy.

As if that wasn't vile enough, he then goes on to deny the Holocaust and speak out in favor of Adolf Hitler.

I do not feel embarrassed to be associated with Adolf Hitler

I do not support fictional Jewish storytelling.

I was as shocked to read this as you no doubt are. What kind of person would speak like this? It's an insult to our fathers and grandfathers who fought against the Nazis.

Further Anti-Semitism can be seen here, where he begins grilling a Jewish man on his ethnicity.

What are your origins? Your parents or grandparents migrated to Israel after Second World War or they were already established on the region when the state of Israel was formed?

This man is a Fascist in every sense of the word:

If rules suddenly become more strictly enforced when the person who breaks them criticizes the private business practices of the administrator, then we have an unfair situation, wouldn't you agree?

No, I would not.

The quotes speak for themselves.

I am posting today with regards to some important and influential historical evidence that I have unearthed regarding the Biblical figure Barrabas.

As you no doubt know, there is a large body of evidence which suggests that there was no tradition where prisoners were released upon popular demand during Passover. In this instance, the historical accuracy of the Gospel is questioned.

However, after looking through an ancient and little known Roman text (the Collectio Flagitiis, held in the collection at the Sopraintendenza agli Archivi di Stato in Palermo) which describes certain elements of custom and practice during the Roman occupation of Judea, I discovered that prisoners were occasionally set free due to popular demand during that period, but only those convicted of certain crimes were eligible for release. I was quite startled to find this included "culum vitium virginis", which roughly translates as "anal rape".

My curiosity was piqued by this interesting discovery, and I decided to travel to the Holy Land in order to investigate further. Working
with David Mevorah, Curator of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, I began a full search of any relevant documents or artifacts which might help uncover the truth. After almost a year of painstaking search, I came across a small
pottery fragment which lay almost forgotten in the museum archive.  On it was Aramaic text, translating as "Anal Rape". I was not shocked to find out that it fit together exactly with a pottery fragment bearing the name of Barrabas.

I thought maybe that this forum may be able to offer advice on how I can publicise this exciting discovery.

If I somehow gain unauthorized access to your wallet.dat, I can be arrested for computer crimes.

But suppose I somehow deceive you into transferring the coins to me yourself.

In the eyes of the law, have I committed a crime?

Personally I think that in most countries, if you reported it to the police, there is nothing they could do. However I am not a lawyer so I am interested to hear what some of the more legally knowledgeable people here think.

I know of one country where I think it would be a crime. South Korea has a "virtual crime" unit, and presumably virtual crime laws. This was set up to prosecute people who steal items and in-game currency in MMORPGs and similar games and I believe that many cases have come to court, although it's not regarded as a particularly serious crime.

There are also two countries where it may be a crime. In Japan a young man was arrested for "virtual mugging" in a game called Lineage 2. A Dutch teenager was also arrested for stealing virtual furniture in a visual chat environment called Habbo Hotel. However I can't find any information as to whether either of these arrests lead to prosecution and conviction. After the Dutch arrest a spokesperson for the company which developed Habbo Hotel said "It is theft because the items were bought with real money." So perhaps in Holland it is only illegal to steal coins which have been purchased and not mined.

What do you all think?

Hi everyone,

I am seeking an investor to go 50/50 in a joint venture with me. We would each put up 200 BTC each for seed capital. This is a medium risk, medium reward, long term business opportunity that will require effort and ideas to build as well as money. Building the business with me won't require any special skills other than business management and good judgement.

The reason I am looking for the investment rather than funding the whole operation myself is that I think it will run best as a two man team and I want someone who has the same financial interest as me in making it a success.

If you seriously interested in a new project and you have 200 BTC and a few hours a week to invest, then please send me a PM and I will explain the nature of the business.

Cheers,

Charlie

(Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, but I looked around and this seemed most suitable. I for one would support a subforum purely for discussion of this matter, as I am sure it pisses non-interested parties off.)

I've been chatting on IRC for the last week or so with a number of people in the Bitcoin community. A lot of you are on this forum, hi!

Now, one topic that frequently comes up is Pirateat40. An interesting rumor that I have heard from two people independently is that Pirateat40 used to be known on this forum as Lazlow, who as most of you know is famous for paying 10,000 BTC for some pizza, years ago.

I'm definitely not saying I have any proof or real knowledge of this, I am just reporting some hearsay and putting it out there for discussion. Has anyone else heard this?

Like many of you, I hold a substantial number of Bitcoins. I am interested in seeing the value of those coins go up vs. the USD so that I can sell my coins for USD in future. For me, there's no other reason to have them.

I actually think that the more able members of our society have a duty to help the weaker members, so I don't have any weird libertarian fantasies. I'm just in it for the money. The actual, folding, bank account, Visa card money.

So how can we push the price of Bitcoin up so that we can sell our coins for more? As everyone knows, in order to increase prices we need to spike demand. So why would anyone want a Bitcoin?

When Silk Road became popular last year, everyone saw how it pushed up the price of Bitcoin. I haven't actually seen many people on this forum acknowledge the fact that Silk Road is driving the Bitcoin economy. There's simply not much else to buy with Bitcoins, and unless you are a currency speculator or a Bitcoin devotee there is no other reason to turn your government backed cash into Bitcoins.

I sold a lot of coins last summer, and I made over $100,000 clear profit from an initial $1000 investment, and that was from only about half of the coins I bought for that $1000. I still have the rest. I am sure a lot of you cashed out too, for even bigger profits.

I am sure that the increase in price that I profited so much from is down, mostly, to demand spurred on by Silk Road.

There is only one reason for a normal person to want a Bitcoin - to break rules, laws, and regulations. This is the future of Bitcoin, this is what will drive the price up, and I think this is what we should all be focusing on.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts and ideas about this. I think that gambling in the USA is an untapped market but there may be other laws that we can help people break with Bitcoin too.

Hi guys,

I did a search for the file "wallet.dat" and can't find anything. I know the default location is in the Bitcoin folder in app support, there is no Bitcoin folder there.

I'd really like to back up, it's making me tense!

Can someone help?

If you want to buy quality copy that really builds sales with Bitcoins, then you’ve clicked on the right thread.

I’m a professional copywriter, based in London, with many years experience of writing for big clients. I’ve written for MTV, The British Army, Viacom International, Nickelodeon, and many other famous names, gaining experience across web, print and TV.

One company paid hundreds of thousands to put my words on TV again and again. Why? They converted, and generated a substantial return on investment. If you’ve been annoyed by a direct response TV ad in the UK in the last 5 years, there’s a decent chance it was one of mine. If you’ve ever bought a product or used a service because of one, there’s an even bigger chance that it was down to me.

Simply put: I sell words that make money, and my words can be put to work for you, too.

I’m currently on sabbatical from my job as a conceptual copywriter in a big London agency. I’m taking a year off to enjoy being a new father and support my wife, who sadly can’t afford the luxury of a long career break. I really want to keep my hand in (daytime TV is killing me! Too many of my old ads!) but the terms of my contract prohibit me from taking up any freelance work while I’m away. I think they won’t mind me hammering out a few thousand words for you guys though, just so long as I’m not doing work for their competitors.

My price is 10 BTC per 1000 words.

Now, before you spit out your coffee, think about what you’re getting: a 1 to 1 service with a professional copywriter who would usually charge a day rate of £200 GBP or more. For 10 BTC, you’ll get 1000 words of truly compelling content. Content that draws the reader in, pushes them to keep reading, educates, informs, entertains and, most importantly, CONVERTS INTO SALES!

If you need copy that’s a cut above, content of a quality that you wouldn’t even expect to find on this forum, then use me. I assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

I won’t mess you around on deadlines. If I say it’ll be a day, it’ll be a day. If I say a week, you know when to expect it. If I’m too busy to do it at all, then I’ll be totally straight with you. I’m looking to build some nice relationships here, so it’s in my best interests not to mess with your shit. If I do screw things up (we’re all human) I’ll put it right ASAP.

I’ll write anything, about anything. Articles, reviews, headlines, taglines, creative content like short stories, etc. etc. I also offer discounts for topics I’m interested in, or topics that I already know a bit about.

Payment terms are half up front, half on completion, unless you’re a super established Bitcoin Forum member. For you guys, the work is done first and you pay when you’re happy.

Any questions or comments, feel free to PM me, email me at charliecontent@gmail.com or post in the thread.

Looking forward to working with you soon.