The reason that you don't use it online is that the owner of the site could introduce a backdoor. But if you download it, then you're exposed to basically the same risk. If bitaddress.org is compromised when you download it, then the version you download could just as easily contain a backdoor. You don't even need to be online when you use it for the backdoor to be effective, since a smart attacker can mess with the crypto in such a way that you reveal your private key to them when you publish a signed transaction (eg. by using k values calculated such that they are predictable to the attacker, but not to anyone else).

Of course, software like Bitcoin Core also could contain a backdoor, but Bitcoin Core has a lot more (justified) paranoia surrounding this, so you probably at least verify Wladimir's signatures, and you could verify additional signatures via gitian.

Also, browsers and JavaScript have a history of poor security. Browser extensions are often found spying on users, policies which are supposed to isolate JS instances are sometimes found subtly flawed, JavaScript crypto is very often found to be broken, etc.

Do not use xor to combine random data. If one random source is compromised, then the whole scheme is compromised. Instead, put all random data into a string and hash it with a cryptographic hash; the result is your combined random data. Bitcoin Core does this when generating private keys.

See also: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Passphrase_generation


Using a website is insane, and even if you download it, I'd be very uneasy about using anything browser-based.

Removed. blockchain.com was in the past identified as a phishing site, but I guess that the real company got their hands on it at some point.

Electron Cash was created by forum user jonald_fyookball, who has a long record and an OK Trust history, so that's what I'd be inclined to use, though I'd still run it in a VM. And as ETFbitcoin suggested, you should empty and retire your BTC wallet before trying to claim the BCH.

I thought for a second you said "Cashbery Coin Signature/Roleplaying Campaign". That would've been more interesting.

This topic has been moved to Trashcan. Disallowed paid-to-post incentivization.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4180744.0

I think that a lot of Americans think that an invasion of Iran would be similar to Iraq because their names are just one letter apart. But in reality, Iran has a vastly larger economy. Conquering large amounts of territory could only be successful (maybe) if the US entered near-total-war mode, which isn't going to happen. Iran can't do much about airstrikes, though.


I guess that's what the US is hoping for, but I've heard that despite economic conditions, Iran does not suffer from severe social unrest yet.

I just got a ton of money from really liked the HoweyCoins initiative, and so I posted their advertisement took it upon myself to carefully write an honest ANN to fairly represent the HoweyCoins project. Certainly, my controllers I was happy with the results, and I'm glad to see so many suckers wise, intelligent, handsome investors taking an interest in this great project.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! Makes me want to make several more badges for different things, though I don't know what they'd be for.

For the original purpose, my favorites are:

I suspect that it will always be difficult to know what any mushroom cloud icon is if you don't already know, though.

I'll probably add it next week sometime. The icon can be changed easily either before or after it becomes public, though, so additional suggestions are welcome.

BTW, currently 195 users would have some icon, and only 9 users would have the highest-tier one.

I can't imagine that Satoshi didn't know about this, since it was one of the main ideas in achieving electronic cash before Bitcoin, but I can't find any references to it from him. Bitcoin is only very loosely similar to this system (called blinded bearer certificates or chaumian e-cash), though.

The forum sells ad space in the area beneath the first post of every topic page. This income is used primarily to cover hosting costs and to pay moderators for their work (there are many moderators, so each moderator gets only a small amount -- moderators should be seen as volunteers, not employees). Any leftover amount is typically either saved for future expenses or otherwise reinvested into the forum or the ecosystem.

Ads are allowed to contain any non-annoying HTML/CSS style. No images, JavaScript, or animation. Ads must appear 3 or fewer lines tall in my browser (Firefox, 900px wide). Ad text may not contain lies, misrepresentation, or inappropriate language. Ads may not link directly to any NSFW page. No ICOs^[1], banks, funds, or anything else that a person can be said to "invest" in; I may very rarely make exceptions if you convince me that you are ultra legit, but don't count on it. Ads may be rejected for other reasons, and I may remove ads even after they are accepted.

There are 10 total ad slots which are randomly rotated. So one ad slot has a one in ten chance of appearing. Nine of the slots are for sale here. Ads appear only on topic pages with more than one post, and only for people using the default theme.

Duration

- Your ads are guaranteed to be up for at least 7 days.
- I usually try to keep ads up for no more than 8 or 9 days.
- Sometimes ads might be up for longer, but hopefully no longer than 12 days. Even if past rounds sometimes lasted for long periods of time, you should not rely on this for your ads.

Stats

Exact historical impression counts per slot:
https://bitcointalk.org/adrotate.php?adstats

Info about the current ad slots:
https://bitcointalk.org/adrotate.php?adinfo

Ad blocking

Hero/Legendary members, Donators, VIPs, and moderators have the ability to disable ads. I don't expect many people to use this option. These people don't increase the impression stats for your ads.

I try to bypass Adblock Plus filters as much as possible, though this is not guaranteed. It is difficult or impossible for ABP filters to block the ad space itself without blocking posts. However, filters can match against the URLs in your links, your CSS classes and style attributes, and the HTML structure of your ads.

To prevent matches against URLs: I have some JavaScript which fixes links blocked by ABP. You must tell me if you want this for your ads. When someone with ABP and JavaScript enabled views your ads, your links are changed to a special randomized bitcointalk.org URL which redirects to your site when visited. People without ABP are unaffected, even if they don't have JavaScript enabled. The downsides are:
- ABP users will see the redirection link when they hover over the link, even if they disable ABP for the forum.
- Getting referral stats might become even more difficult.
- Some users might get a warning when redirecting from https to http.

To prevent matching on CSS classes/styles: Don't use inline CSS. I can give your ad a CSS class that is randomized on each pageload, but you must request this.

To prevent matching against your HTML structure: Use only one <a> and no other tags if possible. If your ads get blocked because of matching done on something inside of your ad, you are responsible for noticing this and giving me new ad HTML.

Designing ads

Make sure that your ads look good when you download and edit this test page:
https://bitcointalk.org/ad_test.html
Also read the comments in that file.

Images are not allowed no matter how they are created (CSS, SVG, or data URI). Occasionally I will make an exception for small logos and such, but you must get pre-approval from me first.

The maximum size of any one ad is 51200 bytes.

I will send you more detailed styling rules if you win slots in this auction (or upon request).

Auction rules

You must be at least a Jr Member to bid. If you are not a Jr Member and you really want to bid, you should PM me first. Tell me in the PM what you're going to advertise. You might be required to pay some amount in advance. Everyone else: Please quickly PM newbies who try to bid here to warn them against impersonation scammers.

If you have never purchased forum ad space before, and it is not blatantly obvious what you're going to advertise, say what you're going to advertise in your first bid, or tell me in a PM.

Post your bids in this thread. Prices must be stated in BTC per slot. You must state the maximum number of slots you want. When the auction ends, the highest bidders will have their slots filled until all nine slots are filled.

So if someone bids for 9 slots @ 5 BTC and this is the highest bid, then he'll get all 9 slots. If the two highest bids are 9 slots @ 4 BTC and 1 slot @ 5 BTC, then the first person will get 8 slots and the second person will get 1 slot.

The notation "2 @ 5" means 2 slots for 5 BTC each. Not 2 slots for 5 BTC total.

- When you post a bid, the bids in your previous posts are considered to be automatically canceled. You can put multiple bids in one post, however.
- All bid prices must be evenly divisible by 0.02.
- The bidding starts at 0.02.
- I will end the auction at an arbitrary time. Unless I say otherwise, I typically try to end auctions within a few days of 10 days from the time of this post, but unexpected circumstances may sometimes force me to end the auction anytime between 4 and 22 days from the start. I have a small bias toward ending auctions on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays.
- If two people bid at the same price, the person who bid first will have his slots filled first.
- Bids are considered invalid and will be ignored if they do not specify both a price and a max quantity, or if they could not possibly win any slots

If these rules are confusing, look at some of the past forum ad auctions to see how it's done.

I reserve the right to reject bids, even days after the bid is made.

You must pay for your slots within 24 hours of receiving the payment address. Otherwise your slots may be sold to someone else, and I might even give you a negative trust rating. I will send you the payment information via forum PM from this account ("theymos", user ID 35) after announcing the auction results in this thread. You might receive false payment information from scammers pretending to be me. They might even have somewhat similar usernames. Be careful.

---

[1]: For the purposes of forum ads, an ICO is any token, altcoin, or other altcoin-like thing which meets any of the following criteria: it is primarily run/backed by a company; it is substantially, fundamentally centralized in either operation or coin distribution; or it is not yet possible for two unprivileged users of the system to send coins directly to each other in a P2P way. The intention here is to allow community efforts to advertise things like Litecoin, but not to allow ICO funding, even when the ICO is disguised in various ways.

No idea what you're going to advertise.


No ICOs.

Auction ended, final result:
Slots BTC/Slot Person
2 0.16 bjnetbee
4 0.14 ChipMixer
2 0.14 FortuneJack
1 0.12 ColorlessK

I think that I'm going to add some badges for people who report a bunch of posts. Maybe one for 300 good reports, one of 1000, and one for 5000. Does anyone want to make or find these images? They have to be exactly 16x16 px (like ), and if you find them online, then they must be copyright-free.

Wow, I haven't been watching it, and I was surprised when I saw you say such a large number. In fact, there are currently 2470 copper members. I'm shocked that so many people have bought it. I thought that it was kind of boring -- I was expecting maybe one or two per week or something.

I wonder if the fluctuating BTC/USD price actually acts as a sort of marketing technique. Whenever the price falls, it's like the membership is on sale, and when it's rising people have a fear of missing out. (BTW, I get tons of comments from people expressing total wonder at how easy and magical-feeling the copper-member and unproxyban payments are, which I love.)

It was always an obvious witch-hunt. The only "manipulation" that's ever even been seriously suggested has been intelligence & propaganda by the Russians, which they're obviously doing all the time and you're never going to completely stop.

As someone who is far from a Trump fan, I've been finding it shocking how notable people are politically getting away with saying stuff like "Trump is a treasonous Russian agent who stole the election!" This sort of mainstream rejection of US legitimacy strikes me as unsustainable. If for example the anti-Trump faction in the DoJ drops some nasty-looking stuff just before the midterms and then it turns out to be largely fabricated (a very likely scenario IMO), then Republicans are going to consider this action to be manipulation far worse than anything that the Russians are accused of doing, probably leading to yet more escalation in both rhetoric and tactics.

That seems to strongly support Trump's position that Clinton, Obama, and many corrupt DoJ officials conspired to illegally spy on his campaign. It also lends some credence to the idea that the Trump-Russia investigation is largely driven by the same corrupt group of people.

I feel that Trump is not handling this at all effectively, though. He should really be able to use this stuff to totally clean house in the DoJ (his DoJ), but it seems that he's done very little, and in fact he's made several shocking political blunders in this area. Due to his failure to properly address it, I wouldn't be surprised if the probably-still-functional anti-Trump conspiracy within the DoJ acts against him just before the midterm elections

Doing a quick count, it looks like a total of about 11.4 XAU has been paid in security bounties since inception.

Twitter @bitcointalk is official, but I only use it for outage notices and such. If there are no problems, then there will be no @bitcointalk messages.

I don't use social media. If you think that some social media functionality would be useful (such as pointing to interesting posts), feel free to do it yourself. If it's an interesting project, I might be willing to create APIs to help you. But since I don't use these sites, I don't even know what people would want.

His account was compromised.


I'm not going to do reversals on mere abuse.