Silver bars just arrived today, a day ahead of USPS' original estimate. Bars are beautiful and in great condition. I definitely plan on buying from Amagi again!

From CNN:


Full article: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/03/25/online-currency-regulations/

In the immortal words of Ron White: you can't fix stupid. You're absolutely right: some people are just going to make terrible decisions like that, and we can't help them.

But we can make it more difficult for that scammer to claim another victim, and we can make it so members have less excuses when falling for obvious scams. I think both of these things can be done without a heavy burden on the community.

I think the simplest idea (which is also in my topic) would be putting a post requirement to access the lending subforum, which is where most of our scams originate. Putting a 150 post count requirement would increase the amount of time needed for a scammer to place his trap in that section. It would also give both scammers and legitimate members a larger pool of posts for potentials lenders to review before committing to a deal. If the scammer simply fills up his count with off-topic or short, pointless messages, a smart lender will think twice before parting with his money. Members who give their money away without doing their own research will have less of an excuse when they cry foul: 13 posts are hard to judge, but 150 will give you a good idea. Since the restriction would only affect that subforum, it would place no burden on newly registered members.

Hand-in-hand with that idea, or alternatively to it, would be placing a time restriction on the lending forum: accounts that are not older than, say, three months are not allowed to post there.

Both of those ideas would increase the time it would take a scammer to place a topic and get a victim. If he has to go through that wait for every account he creates, the "reward" he gets may not be worth the time he could have spent elsewhere. The scammer could always increase his target amount, but high-dollar scams are less likely to claim victims (especially if, with the posting requirement, the scammer has mostly useless posts).

Like you said: that scam is easy money. Quick changes like those can make it hard money. Scammers usually don't want hard money.

My topic also mentions possible changes to the newbie requirements that could help, but the balance would need to be in making reasonable restrictions that help prevent scams without burdening the community.

EDIT: Another good thing, I think, about these changes is how simple it would be to implement them. I've never been the admin of a forum, but I would think it'd be something like changing a setting on the forum control panel. It would, at the least, result in less work for theymos and the mods to take care of.

You make an excellent point in your entire post: nothing will completely stop scammers 100%. But I think that the amount of scammers can be cut down considerably, or at least a good amount in relation to the little effort it would take.

I believe the same thing you do: a lot of our scammers can/will/do simply create new accounts and try again. Changing the newbie restrictions a bit would take very little effort and would make the process of getting a scam out there more difficult. It won't stop scams, but I think it would help prevent them. Scammers would likely have to go for bigger scams to make the reward worth the effort, and bigger scams would probably have fewer takers.

If it works? Less scams for a change that could probably be done in a handful of minutes, which means less work for theymos.
If it doesn't work? It still slows down the scams even if it doesn't reduce the total amount, which would also mean less (frequent) work for theymos.


To me it's less about "more scammer tags" and more about deterring the scammers. You (understandably) don't have the time to monitor every single scam topic, so the goal should be reducing the amount or frequency of the scams that cause them.

I posted a topic about that here over a month ago, but never got any kind of official response.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=142243.0

Kudos to you! Sounds like an exciting year ahead of you! Sounds like the dream, no? Start your own company from the ground up and pursue it full time. Mucho respeto!

Perfect! Thanks a ton! 

The toilets do seem to hint at possible toilet paper activity in the future... I think you're on to something there.

I've been trying to find a gif of the scene in the Simpsons' episode "I Am Furious (Yellow)" of Bart grabbing stock from a toilet paper roll. It's at 0:15 of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyM3HVdH1Kw

I'm beginning to think that one doesn't exist of that part, which is a shame. If someone is willing to donate their time to make one, I'd really appreciate it (I have no idea how to make gifs).

Thanks!

Well yeah, but with the eight decimal places it ends up being 2.1 quadrillion, right? I wouldn't worry about a lack of supply.

As for Defcad, the first thing I thought of when I saw the name was "Defcad For Cutie?" Not sure why.

$12,000 worth of BTC... probably around 250 or so?

The only thread I know of for forum rules is this one regarding moderation policy: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=20333.0
The list is more or less contains general guidelines, not all-inclusive rules. There's also a topic in the Meta section about off-topic replying. You'd probably have to ask theymos or a moderator for the specific details of your temporary ban.

Back on topic. I think I've mentioned this before, but I believe it still applies: it's not a scam even if your claim is true. What happened to you is that you paid TF for a website and he delivered a site that you're not happy with and that you claim was poorly designed. It's a case of buyer beware to me. You're well within your rights to give him a negative review if you're unhappy with his work (which you've already done), but claiming that he stole your money doesn't fit the situation.

If you had paid TF to design a website and he ran off with your money, then you'd have a good claim to label him a scammer.

Was this the survey posted a few weeks back in the newbie section (I think it was there)? I remember taking one with the guy saying he'd have the results soon. Very cool information.

It's all good. I had thought the same thing when I had my first account here.

Just ordered some 1oz silver bars from Amagi Metals. Good pricing, and paying with BTC was very easy. I'll update this post with further info once they've shipped/arrived.

Yup, that was the line.

Got an answer. Thanks!

Glad to hear it. And I do apologize to you and anyone offended by my comment yesterday. It was a poor joke.

There are a lot of things wrong with what I just read there... it's a bit astounding, really.

I have an AAS in Accounting and I work in an accounting office as an employee of business services. It's already what I do for a living. I'm currently working on my four year degree in accounting as well.


Been busy with work. Tax season is hectic, and I didn't think to check this thread.


I use accounting software, not Excel. And I usually work with small business owners and startups who want someone with knowledge, not just a trusted friend. If Bitcoin businesses are happy with their record keeping or want to use someone close to home, that's great! But online bookkeepers are not uncommon.

And hey, who wouldn't like to buy BTC for $1 each? I can dream of a lot of things. Sorry to make you hostel over such a comment.

EDIT: You made a fair point about not getting back to that inquiry quickly, so I updated the OP to reflect my schedule with tax season.