A thesis about Bitcoin

[psybits]

I'm still happy to help if I can 

[BCmale]

I'm still happy to help if I can 

I really appreciate that. If you can persuade people to answer my questionnaire, it would be more than enough of help.  The rest is up to me.

[BCmale]

9 people have so far answered my questionnaire about Bitcoin. I just sent reminder to 4 users, who have volunteered to answer, but have not still completed the questionnaire. I'd also hope to get some more volunteers to answer the questionnaire. PM me, if you have time to spend 5-15 minutes doing it.

[John (John K.)]

Sent my questionnaire in - the first was inadvertently lost under the mountainous pile of my email, sorry about that.

[BCmale]

Sent my questionnaire in - the first was inadvertently lost under the mountainous pile of my email, sorry about that.

Thanks! Better late than never, eh? 
Losing certain email under piles of email, tends to happen. I once lost/didn't notice a shipment notification, so in the end, I didn't get the goods that I ordered.

Also, another user answered. Thanks for you too!

[BCmale]

Hi!

I haven't forgotten about that 2,5 BTC reward, which goes to the lucky one! Time has passed but also the value of bitcoins have skyrocketed since the last time I posted on this thread. When I started this thread, I think that 2,5 BTC was about 25 €. Right now it equals over 200 euros, so don't consider yourself unlucky, if I kept the reward hanging for so long. It was worth the waiting! And at least it's not been taking so long as BFL's production(?) of ASICs...

So, what I'm going to do RIGHT NOW, is to check my list of bitcointalk.org users who DID answer my questionnaire and PM everyone who answered, a randomly selected number. Then I will use excel to create an A4 size table with as much as cells as possible. Most of the cells will be empty. Those cells which are not empty, will contain the answerer's numbers. The thing about the empty cells is this that I'm gonna print the A4 and cut the cells to same size each. Then I will roll them all into paper balls and put them into a bowl. I'm gonna take a picture of that. Somehow, I think it puts more random aspect to the lottery when adding empty cells. Okay, I'll start now.

[CLains]

If you want to convince people of fairness, the simplest thing would be to point to a number outside of your control and use that as the decider, e.g. the Xth digit of the price of Y at time Z decides the winner.

[Rotsor]

If you want to convince people of fairness, the simplest thing would be to point to a number outside of your control and use that as the decider, e.g. the Xth digit of the price of Y at time Z decides the winner.

That. An even better seed would be the hash of the bitcoin block at a predetermined height in future. The technique proposed by BCmale is inherently insecure and is not appropriate for the crypto community.

[BCmale]

Blah...couldn't even print. Windows 7 has this eternal problem with network printers (it's a real issue, if you've ever googled it). Tried hours of fixing the issue, but it resists. I know that all the settings are fine. I'll just print the paper at work. Don't worry, you can trust my sincereness. I'll just continue tomorrow. Won't get enough sleep again. =(

[BCmale]

I forgot to take the excel file to the work, so I just used old school methods to make the table: a ruler and a pen. Here's the paper:

http://s21.postimg.org/phn51x7yb/IMG_0944.jpg

Then I just wrote the answerer's numbers to the cells and left most of the cells empty, as there weren't that many answerers. After that I scissored the cells and squashed them into paper balls. That took some time and it was boring, so I went to the gym. When I returned home, I finished up the paper balls and put them into a small bowl. Then I looked the other way, mixed the paper balls and took one paper ball out of the bowl at a time. This is how it turned out:

http://s21.postimg.org/e7z0kpsar/Bitcoin_yhdistetty.jpg

So, now we have a WINNER! Number 4292! Congratulations! You are now 2,5 BTC / >200 € richer (will be)! Although it was kind of lame that already the second one had a number in it. I'm kind of disappointed of that. But hey, now this thing is finally done! A big relief! I will now PM number 4292 and ask right away the address he (there wasn't a single "she" answering my questionnaire) wants the BTC sent out to. Also, thanks everyone for participating.  

[John (John K.)]

*Number 4292 rises his hands*

Thanks again for the lottery!

[BCmale]

Allright, the payment has been made. I don't remember if I've ever won this much money myself, but giving away that much kind of feels good...there's no reason to make a lottery where lots of people win pennies, not at all. Also, currency should be circulated at some point, not just hoarded. John, I really hope that you can put these BTCs in good use!  

http://s13.postimg.org/yodfmssur/bitcoin_transaction.jpg

(The interface is in Finnish language, I hope you don't mind)

[John (John K.)]

I confirm the receipt on my part, thanks again!

*John looks longingly at a tablet from Bitcoinstore  *

[weisoq]

Want to publish a paper about Bitcoin?

[doolittle]

Hi, how is the thesis going? Already published?

[Joshuar]

I'd like to participate, sent you pm. Nevermind, looks like someone already won xD.