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1961  Bitcoin / Bitcoin Discussion / Re: 0.13.0 Binary Safety Warning on: August 18, 2016, 03:04:02 AM

That guide for verifying Bitcoin Core is also available here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1588906.0 . I added a news entry pointing there as well.

I recommend taking this threat very seriously. It's possible that bitcoin.org has received bad info, or maybe the attackers will give up now that they've been outed, but it's better to assume that it is a real, serious threat.

And it's not just bitcoin.org that could be targeted. bitcointalk.org, /r/Bitcoin, individual Core devs, etc. could also be targeted. Triple-check everything. If any major sites get taken over, try to spread the word as quickly and widely as you can.

Of course, you should always be very careful and verify Bitcoin Core software (and other software!), but this is a reason to be especially careful.

So just checking the hash is insufficient?

You have to check the hash against some reference hash. The most secure way to make sure that the reference hash is reliable is to check that it's signed by someone you trust.
1962  Other / Beginners & Help / Verifying Bitcoin Core on: August 18, 2016, 12:34:48 AM
It is important to verify the integrity of Bitcoin Core before running it. Depending on how you downloaded it, it may have been modified in transit to do something evil when run. The server hosting the download may also have been compromised.

Even if all of your favorite Bitcoin websites are yelling at you to immediately download something lest you lose all of your coins, you should NEVER run Bitcoin Core software without verifying it first.

Easy way 1

Final Windows and Mac installers are digitally signed by The Bitcoin Foundation. (Note that The Bitcoin Foundation is not actually strongly associated with Bitcoin development -- it is just convenient for them to sign the releases.) On Windows, you can check this by right clicking the installer, choosing properties, and then going to the Digital Signatures tab. Check that it is signed by The Bitcoin Foundation, Inc..

Prerelease versions are generally not signed.

Easy way 2

Get the sha256 hash of the Bitcoin Core release you downloaded. On Linux, you can run, for example, sha256sum bitcoin-0.16.3-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz. On Windows you can run (at a command prompt) certUtil -hashfile bitcoin-0.16.3-win32.zip SHA256. On Mac OS X, you can run shasum -a 256 bitcoin-0.16.3-osx.dmg.

The hashes of the most recent release and prerelease versions are below. Hashes for older versions are available here (SHA256SUMS.asc under each version is a text file that can be opened with any text editor). Simply verifying the hashes of the Bitcoin Core release you downloaded against the appropriate hash in the list here will provide some extra security, but ideally you should also use OpenPGP software such as gpg to verify that the hashes were signed by someone you trust.

0.16.3

Code:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

0768c6c15caffbaca6524824c9563b42c24f70633c681c2744649158aa3fd484  bitcoin-0.16.3-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
fb2818069854a6ad20ea03b28b55dbd35d8b1f7d453e90b83eace5d0098a2a87  bitcoin-0.16.3-arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz
75a537844313b0a84bdb61ffcdc5c4ce19a738f7ddf71007cd2edf664efd7c37  bitcoin-0.16.3-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.gz
78c3bff3b619a19aed575961ea43cc9e142959218835cf51aede7f0b764fc25d  bitcoin-0.16.3-osx64.tar.gz
c67e382b05c26640d95d8dddd9f5203f7c5344f1e1bb1b0ce629e93882dbb416  bitcoin-0.16.3-osx.dmg
836eed97dfc79cff09f356e8fbd6a6ef2de840fb9ff20ebffb51ccffdb100218  bitcoin-0.16.3.tar.gz
1fe280a78b8796ca02824c6e49d7873ec71886722021871bdd489cbddc37b1f3  bitcoin-0.16.3-win32-setup.exe
e3d6a962a4c2cbbd4798f7257a0f85d54cec095e80d9b0f543f4c707b06c8839  bitcoin-0.16.3-win32.zip
bd48ec4b7e701b19f993098db70d69f2bdc03473d403db2438aca5e67a86e446  bitcoin-0.16.3-win64-setup.exe
52469c56222c1b5344065ef2d3ce6fc58ae42939a7b80643a7e3ee75ec237da9  bitcoin-0.16.3-win64.zip
5d422a9d544742bc0df12427383f9c2517433ce7b58cf672b9a9b17c2ef51e4f  bitcoin-0.16.3-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
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=/Gqy
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

To verify the signatures, first install GPG. Then import the necessary PGP public keys (see below). Then get to a command prompt and do this:

Code:
gpg --verify
# Paste the signature here, like:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
...
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
# Enter Ctrl-D (Linux) or Ctrl-Z (Windows) to signal the end
# You'll get something like this if the signature is OK:
gpg: Signature made 09/29/14 09:44:14 Central Daylight Time
using RSA key ID 2346C9A6
gpg: Good signature from "Wladimir J. van der Laan <...>"

Gitian signature verification

Bitcoin developers and other interested people sign every release of Bitcoin Core using gitian. To verify a downloaded version:

  • Go to the gitian sigs page and choose the correct version. Versions that end in "rc1" are older prerelease versions of versions without any rc suffix. Choose the link that ends with "-win" for Windows, "-osx" for Mac OS X, or "-linux" for Linux.
  • Once you're at the correct version, there are links for all of the different people who signed that release. Choose a few people who you trust. You will need their PGP public keys (see below).
  • For each person, download the raw version of both files. With both files in the same directory, run gpg --verify *.assert.sig. Verify that the signature is OK.
  • Open the .assert file in a text editor. This is a list of SHA-256 hashes for a bunch of files. You should verify that the Bitcoin Core download you're going to use exists in the "out_manifest" section and has a matching hash. In some cases, you may need to check several files if the out_manifest contains the contents of an archive that you downloaded. Note that Windows and OS X installers generally will not have matching hashes due to issues with embedded signatures in the installers -- use the zip/tar.gz releases instead.

Building gitian releases

You can personally build Bitcoin Core and check that it matches the official release. See here.

Note that the digitally signed installers cannot be verified in this way because you would need to know the private key of the digital signature signing key in order to reproduce the installer.

Common PGP keys

Here are a few PGP public keys that you might need. You can usually just paste the whole thing into a command prompt:
https://bitcointalk.org/verify_pubkeys.txt

If you're using the default trust model, and you've already created a key for yourself with gpg --gen-key, then you'll also want to locally sign these keys. Do that like this for each key-id, saying yes if it asks whether you want to sign all user IDs:

Code:
gpg --lsign 0x71A3B16735405025D447E8F274810B012346C9A6

With bash on Linux, this will lsign all of the public keys in that file:

Code:
for k in \
0x71A3B16735405025D447E8F274810B012346C9A6 \
0x01EA5486DE18A882D4C2684590C8019E36C2E964 \
0xDE47BC9E6D2DA6B02DC610B1AC859362B0413BFA \
0x5E6B3F3BA961193C5C9B4435C6555693DAB591E7 \
0xE463A93F5F3117EEDE6C7316BD02942421F4889F \
0x152812300785C96444D3334D17565732E08E5E41
do gpg --lsign $k
done

Note that it isn't the greatest to trust random pages on the Internet when importing keys. For example, a bitcointalk.org moderator could replace the above keys with different keys that are all under his control and then post an emergency "urgent upgrade required!" link somewhere pointing to wallet-stealing malware signed by the keys that he placed here. PGP has the concept of a "PGP Web of Trust" that people are theoretically supposed to use to prevent this sort of thing, but it's complicated and doesn't work very well, so pretty much no one actually uses it. If you're not already familiar with PGP, then it's best to just import and use these keys, which will at least protect you from attacks carried out in the future. But if you're serious about security, you should probably read a few guides on PGP and at least try to get verification from several different sites/people about a key's authenticity in the future. For example, many of these keys are also available on bitcoin.org. (All of the Bitcoin Core download/verification info has been republished on bitcointalk.org partly to provide some protection/redundancy in the case of bitcoin.org being compromised.)
1963  Economy / Auctions / Advertise on this forum - Round 183 on: August 17, 2016, 05:23:11 PM
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. 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.

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 0.05.
- The bidding starts at 0.25.
- 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.
- 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.
1964  Economy / Auctions / Re: Advertise on this forum - Round 182 on: August 17, 2016, 05:19:41 PM
1 @ 0.3

You're too new, PM me first next time.

Auction ended. Final result:
4 0.30 Stunna
5 0.30 bit.news
1965  Other / Meta / Re: Abuse of links it trust feedback on: August 16, 2016, 04:25:47 PM
I removed them and banned this person.
1966  Other / Meta / Re: Forum Ad gone wild on: August 12, 2016, 03:01:13 PM
Fixed, thanks.
1967  Economy / Service Announcements / Re: [ANN] Deribit.com: BTC Options and Futures Exchange launched on: August 11, 2016, 01:13:39 PM
I tried this out briefly. The software looks pretty good, but there's basically nobody trading, which is a shame. Due to this, and because they said on the trollbox that they're not going to allow US customers in the future, I didn't actually do any trading. Deposits and withdrawals work.

I'd really like to see more option trading in the Bitcoin universe, since the "insurance" aspect of options is very useful for removing risk from end-users.
1968  Economy / Auctions / Advertise on this forum - Round 182 on: August 09, 2016, 03:16:21 PM
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. 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.

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 0.05.
- The bidding starts at 0.25.
- 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.
- 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.
1969  Economy / Auctions / Re: Advertise on this forum - Round 181 on: August 09, 2016, 03:10:57 PM
Auction ended. Final result:
Slots BTC/Slot Person
1 0.60 DogecoinMachine
3 0.60 Randian Hero
5 0.55 YoBit
1970  Other / Meta / Re: paraipan's coins on the move on: August 06, 2016, 01:57:19 PM
paraipan died recently or what? I see him inactive since June 02, 2014.

No, he died some years ago, but these coins didn't move until recently.
1971  Other / Meta / paraipan's coins on the move on: August 06, 2016, 01:43:12 PM
paraipan was holding 250 BTC for the forum when he sadly died. Now it looks like someone found his wallet, since these coins are on the move. If anyone is able to trace these coins and recover any of them for the forum, you can keep 25% of the recovered amount.
1972  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 06, 2016, 12:32:16 PM
what if someone is doing a giveaway and writing the dox as a "Public Note:" in the transactions.

Not allowed.

what if someone is doing a giveaway and writing the dox as a "Public Note:" in the transactions.

That's unusual, and would probably depend on the situation.
1973  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 06, 2016, 03:50:55 AM
Thanks. What about trust feedback? I know those are not googleable but visible to users below Member (which is the threshold for "Investigations"). Is doxing allowed there?

No. Report that by posting to Meta.

So when newbies (or juniors) post stuff that would go into the Investiation board, what's the right move for that?

It has to be moved to Investigations. Unfortunately, there's no way that I can easily make the forum allow them to see just their own thread, which would be ideal. I guess they'll have to work through a Member+ mediator. It might be helpful if some people would volunteer to act as mediators in these cases, and then I could list them in a sticky.
1974  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 11:17:44 PM
How will the new regime affect this sort of post?   

For non-local content of that sort, please post it in Investigations and then export any conclusions to scam accusations.
1975  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 11:14:13 PM
Is that reportable too?

Yes. They'll at least be nuked, and then maybe I will rename the user.
1976  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 08:52:33 PM
OK, I changed the text.
1977  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 08:15:28 PM
The search page encourages people to use the google search. So if a person who is a full member, were to be doing a trade with "John Smith" from "Springfield" and this person is sending a Western Union payment and expects to receive Bitcoin in return, then this person might use the custom Google search to search for "John Smith Springfield" then the Custom Google search will come back with no results, even if there is a thread in investigations warning people that "John Smith" from Springfield has scammed many people for smallish amounts each (all adding up to a large sum).

Yeah, only public sections are indexed by Google. If you're looking for something in Investigations, you'll have to use the forum's built-in search.
1978  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 05:06:08 PM
Do you think this would meet this criteria (also this thread should probably be moved)? Would this ("...go away or I post your dox...")?

I don't know enough about those cases to say. If you think so, create a new topic in Meta with your reasoning.


I would argue that this probably meets the criteria for an exception -- this guy has scammed many people for a large total amount over a very long time.

For now, I'm thinking that maybe the whole idea of publishing dox should be reexamined. What does it really gain? If people are going to use the dox to illegally harass this person, then that's not a good result. If people are using the information for legal cases and police reports, then that is good, but I think that in most cases this can be done from the non-public Investigations board.

On a case-by-case basis, I'd like to see a utilitarian argument in Meta about exactly what is gained by publishing specific bits of uncovered info. For example, maybe there is significant utility in publishing this person's name and general location, to warn others, but not his full address. Another thing which must be addressed is how we can be sure that the person being doxxed is the person who did the scamming, and that they are actually guilty of the scamming. I certainly don't want to return to the scammer tag era of me single-handedly deciding these things. After a few of these cases are hammered out in Meta, perhaps a uniform policy will emerge.

Theymos
Say there is a thread in "Service Announcements" promoting a scheme which appears suspicious, posted by username XYZ.
A bit of research done perfectly legally by searching publically available data linked to XYZ and his scheme on company names, addresses and other info provided in that thread shows that in real life XYZ is John Doe, with an MO of questionable practices/outright scams/failed enterprises.
Will this new initiative prevent posts in that thread linking XYZ to John Doe and asking whether or not this is him and his history?
Instead, should I post a new thread in "Investigations" and crosslinks in the two threads? Will this be acceptable?

Yes, cross-linking is good. Post your conclusions in Scam Accusations (eg. x is an alt of y, x has a history of scamming, etc.), but keep the investigations themselves in Investigations. My idea is that trustworthy members will export any important information about alts, trustworthiness, etc. from Investigations, while keeping the actual private information in a non-public section.

Quote
Is this an indication of your personal view of the (lack of) importance and desirability of these type of posts?

No, that's just where it ontologically belongs.

If someone has dox in their signature do we report one post or all posts and how will moderators deal with that?

Report one of their posts. If they don't have any posts, post in Meta about it.

When a user is autobanned (ie. a specific type of permaban initiated by moderators, but then put in place automatically), their signature is cleared. If a user doesn't deserve a permaban, then either they can be autobanned and unbanned by one of the mods with manual-ban permissions, or else an admin can adjust their signature directly.

How will the custom Google search (found in between help and donate) handle threads in the investigations section?

They'll be deindexed a while after being moved.
1979  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 05:03:45 AM
However, on the other hand I think it's also beneficial to have accurate dox information publicly accessible for everyone, especially potential employers of these scammers.

My first draft of this policy was 3x longer and had a process for moving info out of Investigations, but the other mods and I were thinking that this was too complex.

Let's wait and see how much demand for moving stuff out of Investigations there really is.
1980  Other / Meta / Re: New investigations board & restrictions on posting personal information on: August 05, 2016, 04:44:46 AM
Would it be beneficial to report posts/threads that aren't in the Investigation section yet but should be located there?

Yes. In fact, reporting is especially important for this because you often have to follow these cases pretty closely to notice doxxing. I was only able to quickly find a handful of threads that should be moved.

I'm also curious about protecting the innocent when attempting to dox scammers. If a dox is made of the wrong person (for example, someone with the same name as the scammer, or living at the same address as the scammer) will this information be removed from the website if proof is given that the information is inaccurate?

No, that's the point of the Investigations board. I was receiving many reports from people who were apparently incorrectly identified in this way, or from people who may have actually been innocent, and it just seemed unreasonable to leave the posts where Google can index them. However, in the interest of free speech and open debate, they can exist (even if incorrect) in the Investigations section.
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