Can we talk about the rampant account trading in the local forums?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Are people really stupid enough to do this in the open?

Yes, but usually they do it with throwaway accounts so that they don't risk getting their main account tagged.

I'd love to tag local board account sellers, but I don't speak those languages and don't feel comfortable doing so without verification that a post is actually an account deal.  However, if someone I trust were to send me a PM with some sort of translation, I would be more than happy to make a call on whether to hand out feedback.

Didn't think it was that big a deal on the local boards.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, especially now that the merit system is in place.

[coin8coin8]

Russian board: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=236.0
It is absolutely flooded with account traders. This has become normalized.

Turkish board: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=155.0
This is slightly less account-oriented than the Russian board but is still widespread.

I'm not sure how it is in the other Local boards (briefly checked Chinese and French, and there weren't a lot) but this kind of open trading just shows how ingrained the account trading business is in the boards. Not trying to target the countries at all but this seems like a case of isolated ignorance due to the board having a consensus that "account trading is not against the rules" and the fact that few DT members will ever enter the boards. Something something confirmation bias, I assume.Thoughts?

If you are willing to spend some of your time to leave a negative trust rating on those account buyers and account sellers who are dealing on threads started on the Chinese local board, I would be glad to provide you on the translation of their conversations, if you are unsure about their conversations on account dealing threads written in Chinese, just write me a pm, and I will provide you with the proper translation.

I just turned over 3 pages and found so many, DT members please mark them at will.


我要bitciontalk账号若干个，能发贴，能回复。卖者请留下QQ  translation： I want a number of bitciontalk accounts, can post, can reply. Seller please leave QQ
Account buyer/seller in this thread：wang4036，relee2, rongyanjusou, rongwang, adasd83

大量出15年注册的新手号，JR号，价格美丽包您满意 translation：Sell A large number of newbie/JR accounts registered at 2015, the price is beautiful, you will satisfied.
Account buyer/seller/Inquirer in this thread： itweb1010, mmbt9908, noldor74, sphoininfo, apd23,   artapon, Myart, PackquiaoWeather, adasd83, MDLife

我需要优点和JR账号，有出售的加我QQ582743411  translation：I need merits and JR account, there are sales join me QQ582743411.
Account/Merits buyer in this thread：ppppph35

新手撸币必备jr账号   translation：Newbie need JR account.
Account buyer/seller in this thread：adasd83, lantan81383628

长期低价出niwbie, JR 级别账号       translation： Long-term low price sell niwbie/JR accounts.
Account buyer/seller in this thread：snik777, Mvp_nlthhelp

5块收newbie号    translation： 5 CNY to buy newbie accounts.
Account buyer/seller in this thread：tommyjlier,  tuigezi

8000一个sr账号有人要吗   translation：8000 CNY to sell an Sr account.
Account buyer/seller in this thread：guoqiang126, nianqing58


I have only listed a small amount of content, I have not listed the members who replied in the account transaction thread but did not ask for the price. For those members who asked about the price, I have listed them all.

[actmyname]

It has always been normalised here. If we allow it then why wouldn't people do it? There's some serious money to be made from account farming and high-ranked accounts are worth more than ever right now especially when Hero and Legendaries are going to become very, very rare to achieve with the merit requirements. -snip-

^{(oof, that's a mighty wall)}

I would have expected a sharp decline when the whole "emails can reset passwords for up to 2 weeks" security addition was implemented. The fact that account trades would then need to take at least 2 (+ some time) weeks for a safe transaction (including/excluding escrow) should have dissuaded a lot of users from entering the market.

However, it seems that with the merit requirements, users have stopped caring and have decided to farm Jr. Member accounts. A lot of them. And this is essentially a form of merit selling (users wait 2 to 4 weeks in this case).I believe that the account-trading community/market isn't actually too interested in Hero/Legendary accounts (for now). It seems that the primary form of trading is with Jr. Member and Member accounts, in which the users will subsequently enter a large number of bounties (this is why we see those massive lists of bounty-abuse alts) and spam the forum because they won't have time to post quality content.

This, added with the fact that social media accounts are also exchanged without much thought, only further drives the bitcointalk account market.

[hilariousetc]

However, it seems that with the merit requirements, users have stopped caring and have decided to farm Jr. Member accounts. A lot of them.

People were already really just farming Juniors because that's all they needed to join bounties. To maximise profits they just created dozens of them and this was big business hence why we needed some merit requirement to stop this abuse. It's been made a little harder now but one merit still isn't much and is too easy to abuse, hence why I think we should make it ten.

And this is essentially a form of merit selling (users wait 2 to 4 weeks in this case).I believe that the account-trading community/market isn't actually too interested in Hero/Legendary accounts (for now).

Well they don't really have a choice. 'Farming' high ranked accounts in any significant number has become practically impossible. Nobody is going to waste 1.4 years trying to farm Heroes, especially when the chances of them getting the merit is going to be incredibly difficult. The only people who will become Heroes now are those that are committed to just one or two accounts and can make great posts. Prior to the merit system any shitposter who had the time and energy could farm as many accounts as they liked because as long as you made the shitposts over time then you'd hit the rank eventually. Farming accounts industrially is out of the question now really, but shitposting with Juniors and Member ranks isn't.