What are the new rules for posting?

[Peter R]

With the recent removal of the "Gold Collapsing. Bitcoin UP" thread [my favourite thread to chat in], I've become unsure what the rules are for posting here at this forum.  In particular:

1.  Are we allowed to talk about non Bitcoin Core implementations of the protocol?

2.  Are we allowed to discuss proposals that, if adopted by >50% of the hash power, would result in a hard fork?

3.  Are we allowed to criticize the moderators?

4.  Can I post /u/raisethelimit's lasted comic?  [lol it involves a CONSENS-A-TRON^TM]

[SimpleIn]

With the recent removal of the "Gold Collapsing. Bitcoin UP" thread [my favourite thread to chat in], I've become unsure what the rules are for posting here at this forum.  In particular:

1.  Are we allowed to talk about non Bitcoin Core implementations of the protocol?

2.  Are we allowed to discuss proposals that, if adopted by >50% of the hash power, would result in a hard fork?

3.  Are we allowed to criticize the moderators?

4.  Can I post /u/raisethelimit's lasted comic?  [lol it involves a CONSENS-A-TRON^TM]

Good questions. I too would like to see the answers!

[Bardman]

With the recent removal of the "Gold Collapsing. Bitcoin UP" thread [my favourite thread to chat in], I've become unsure what the rules are for posting here at this forum.  In particular:

1.  Are we allowed to talk about non Bitcoin Core implementations of the protocol?

2.  Are we allowed to discuss proposals that, if adopted by >50% of the hash power, would result in a hard fork?

3.  Are we allowed to criticize the moderators?

4.  Can I post /u/raisethelimit's lasted comic?  [lol it involves a CONSENS-A-TRON^TM]

3. you are definitely allowed to criticize the mods, there have been plenty of posts about it.

4. on off-topic im pretty sure you could

im not sure about the others

[Lauda]

Okay let me simplify this. Read the list of rules that the forum has.
Other than that, you're pretty much allowed to post about anything as long as it is: A) In the right section; B) On topic. Depending on how often you read the Off-topic section of the forum, you would know that there is some pretty weird stuff.

[Slark]

With the recent removal of the "Gold Collapsing. Bitcoin UP" thread [my favourite thread to chat in], I've become unsure what the rules are for posting here at this forum.  In particular:

I did not know about this. That thread was very old. It was active for a years. Why it was removed?

[Lauda]

It was not removed, it was locked. Why is anyone even surprised? The thread became a XT trollfest and everyone went completely off-topic (discussing XT =/= price speculation).

[Quickseller]

That thread was locked because it had gotten horribly off topic. As a general rule, what you are posting about should be somehow related to what was posted in the OP and/or the title of the thread. After reading the last 10 pages of the thread, there were exactly 0 posts about the relation of the price of gold to the price of bitcoin (or anything about prices of either) (or anything even remotely related to the OP) (or even anything even remotely related to speculation about prices).

You should not discuss the moderation of the forum in any thread except those in meta. If you are posting about the moderation of a thread in that thread then it if off-topic and should be deleted. If you wish to criticize the moderators then you should open a thread in meta (or reply to an existing thread in meta).

[Peter R]

Thank you everyone for your responses.  The feeling I'm getting is that it comes down to the definition of what is and what isn't "off topic."

The "Gold Collapsing. Bitcoin UP" thread served as a sort of lounge where many of us would discuss varied topics related to all things that affected Bitcoin's long-term potential as a store of value (displacing gold).  The breadth of that topic meant that changes to the protocol such as a larger block size limit or support for sidechains was very much relevant.  The ongoing censorship at /r/bitcoin was also relevant: for example, the satirist /u/raisethelimit was band for 30 days for posting cartoons the raised eyebrows on the motives of influential Bitcoin companies such as Blockstream.  Based on the 1.4 million views and 30,000+ comments, Cypherdoc's thread was unquestionably popular too.  

Does a suitable section for the continuation of this diverse thread exist in this forum?  

[Quickseller]

Does a suitable section for the continuation of this diverse thread exist in this forum? 

The thread was probably a little bit too diverse in terms of what was being discussed. If I wanted to read about or discuss what was being discussed then I would have never thought to have looked in that thread.

You would probably want to make the topic of your thread a little bit more narrow and if you wanted to discuss multiple topics then someone should create various threads in the appropriate subforums.

[Peter R]

Does a suitable section for the continuation of this diverse thread exist in this forum?  

The thread was probably a little bit too diverse in terms of what was being discussed. If I wanted to read about or discuss what was being discussed then I would have never thought to have looked in that thread.

You would probably want to make the topic of your thread a little bit more narrow and if you wanted to discuss multiple topics then someone should create various threads in the appropriate subforums.

I find these policies very interesting.  It sounds like the Forum permits threads that are entirely off-topic (in the off-topic section); however, threads that are highly-relevant to Bitcoin but broad in scope are not permitted anywhere, regardless of their popularity.  

Based on the link to the forum rules posted by LaudaM, I do not believe this is clear.  I'm not trying to argue for or against a change--I'm just trying to determine what the policies actually are.  

On that topic, these were two of the recently-censored cartoons, which might be particularly relevant to the discussion in this thread:





Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoin_uncensored/comments/3h4naf/the_hypocrisy_of_a_thermos_bitcoin_political/ , https://imgur.com/ICFiTVO

[Quickseller]

The threads in the "off-topic" subform is somewhat like a miscellaneous sections where threads can be created that may be of interest to bitcoineers but would not be appropriate to be posted elsewhere. Posts in these threads still must be somehow related to the original post in the respective threads.

Note that the "off-topic" subform does not have any dedicated moderators, and there are few actual conversations with any substance there, so it is unlikely that posts that are off topic to the original thread will get noticed by the moderators.

As mentioned previously, you are free to make multiple threads about multiple topics and have the respective discussions in each of those threads.

[Peter R]

As mentioned previously, you are free to make multiple threads about multiple topics and have the respective discussions in each of those threads.

Thank you for confirming that threads that are highly-relevant to Bitcoin but broad in scope are not permitted anywhere, regardless of their popularity. 

[BadBear]

I know you locked this thread, but I'm going to reply anyway.

I find these policies very interesting.  It sounds like the Forum permits threads that are entirely off-topic (in the off-topic section); however, threads that are highly-relevant to Bitcoin but broad in scope are not permitted anywhere, regardless of their popularity.  

The forum itself is about all things bitcoin, there shouldn't be a need to make a single thread for all things bitcoin.

What is it about the format you find compelling? I had some ideas that would help to replicate what you might gain from such a thread and improve the forum, such as a friends list (that requires confirmation, with an activity feed, etc) but thinking about it, it seems like it's mostly a groupthink phenomenon, and not a lacking feature of the forum.

[Zarathustra]

I know you locked this thread, but I'm going to reply anyway.

I find these policies very interesting.  It sounds like the Forum permits threads that are entirely off-topic (in the off-topic section); however, threads that are highly-relevant to Bitcoin but broad in scope are not permitted anywhere, regardless of their popularity.  

The forum itself is about all things bitcoin, there shouldn't be a need to make a single thread for all things bitcoin.

What is it about the format you find compelling? I had some ideas that would help to replicate what you might gain from such a thread and improve the forum, such as a friends list (that requires confirmation, with an activity feed, etc) but thinking about it, it seems like it's mostly a groupthink phenomenon, and not a lacking feature of the forum.

This forum is full of XT-threads, but the most popular one is the only one that has been locked.
And it is still locked! Is it still possible for you to look into the mirror?

[TPTB_need_war]

And yet new threads that may be both NARROW in scope and ON topic, but completely REDUNDANT, INNANE, and ZERO LASTING DISCUSSION VALUE because they essentially ask the SAME QUESTION OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, are allowed be created daily over and over and over again for YEARS, and live on forever with no removal, culling or censorship whatsover.

You are describing mega threads. BadBear is spot on with his logic on why to ban them unless they are focused on specific topic, e.g. "Economic Totalitarianism" and "Economic Devastation". When grown men can't contain their addictions and it is dragging the diversity and rebirth of the forum down into a blackhole of addiction, then the appropriate action is to force a rebirth. If you guys try again to congregate into the same groupthink morass, then the same needs to be done again. Even CoinCube and I don't post every 5 seconds in the Economic Devastation thread. You were trying to subsume the forum into your own groupthink thread. You even stated that others who have threads with less frequent bumps were to be ignored and were of worthless value (you all actually said that to me!).

You guys want some feeling of exclusivity and power. You want to feel you've joined some tribe that is superior to the other tribes. But it ends up as a circle jerk addiction and bumped every 5 seconds thus sucking more people into the groupthink morass. It is a metastasizing inertia of groupthink addiction "bitcointalk fix". Whereas you see I even destroyed my AnonyMint username. I didn't sell it. I shut down that inertia and started anew. Life requires death. Life requires diversity. Addiction is death.

That is because you are not capable of being an individual.

You are still stuck in your "primitive, post-paleozoic, hunter-gatherer" evolutionary instinct which shuts down your "rational thought in the pre-frontal cortex".

http://unheresy.com/Information%20Is%20Alive.html#Existential_Fear

The fear emotion is inherited from the primitive, post-paleozoic, hunter-gatherer time period when mortal danger was omnipresent. Fear stimulates a fight-or-flight adrenaline spike in response to extreme stress. Adrenaline rushes are thrilling and addictive, especially when the threat is low-grade, not thoroughly exhausting, and thus repeatable because it only exists in the imagination. Adrenaline (plus cortisol) shuts down rational thought in the pre-frontal cortex. Production of the steriod cortisol spikes to redistribute more energy to the muscles and nerves, depleting energy from the immune system, digestion, and toxic waste processing necessary to maintain health.

It is sad that most humans are stuck in this predicament. Tribal politics is all they know.

and just what is off topic in a thread that's lasted 4 years and has 1.45M views and 31K posts?  for the several days right before it got locked it was racking up about 7000 views per day.  that's how popular it was.  but that's the pt isn't it?  stop the popularity before it gets out of hand.

Yeah you proved you could stir up the worst trait in men: their ego (Bitcointalk "fix") addiction to circle jerking argument festivals where productivity falls into a black hole and no on the outside dares read lest they fall into the same pit.

Luckily I had the self-discipline to just tune out. Well I haven't watched TV for decades, don't drink alcohol, don't even eat carbohydrates, nor drink anything other than water. So I guess it must require a supernatural self-discipline to avoid your spell.

I feel pity for those here who continue wasting their time posting here. Don't these people have anything productive to do with their lives!

What a crying shame.

If the thread died with my post, that would be an amazing feat of humanity. I would be flabbergast. It won't.

[rebuilder]

If mega threads are not OK, how is it Adam's "wall observer" is still up and running, considering it must be the biggest and most off-topic thread on the entire forum?

[TPTB_need_war]

If mega threads are not OK, how is it Adam's "wall observer" is still up and running, considering it must be the biggest and most off-topic thread on the entire forum?

Maybe it is less divisive for the community thus tolerated? Maybe they don't run it like the Nazis and try to ridicule you if you aren't already an indoctrinated groupthink member of the thread?

[Gleb Gamow]

Does a suitable section for the continuation of this diverse thread exist in this forum?  

The thread was probably a little bit too diverse in terms of what was being discussed. If I wanted to read about or discuss what was being discussed then I would have never thought to have looked in that thread.

You would probably want to make the topic of your thread a little bit more narrow and if you wanted to discuss multiple topics then someone should create various threads in the appropriate subforums.

I find these policies very interesting.  It sounds like the Forum permits threads that are entirely off-topic (in the off-topic section); however, threads that are highly-relevant to Bitcoin but broad in scope are not permitted anywhere, regardless of their popularity.  

Based on the link to the forum rules posted by LaudaM, I do not believe this is clear.  I'm not trying to argue for or against a change--I'm just trying to determine what the policies actually are.  

On that topic, these were two of the recently-censored cartoons, which might be particularly relevant to the discussion in this thread:





Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoin_uncensored/comments/3h4naf/the_hypocrisy_of_a_thermos_bitcoin_political/ , https://imgur.com/ICFiTVO

"There... are... four... forks!"

[rocks]

It was not removed, it was locked. Why is anyone even surprised? The thread became a XT trollfest and everyone went completely off-topic (discussing XT =/= price speculation).

So because you disagreed with most of the views there that made it a troll fest.

Are you serious? You don't see how horrible that is.

And no it wasn't a troll fest. It was just people that disagreed with.

Unlock the thread, now.

[otrkid70]

With the recent removal of the "Gold Collapsing. Bitcoin UP" thread [my favourite thread to chat in], I've become unsure what the rules are for posting here at this forum.  In particular:

1.  Are we allowed to talk about non Bitcoin Core implementations of the protocol?

2.  Are we allowed to discuss proposals that, if adopted by >50% of the hash power, would result in a hard fork?

3.  Are we allowed to criticize the moderators?

4.  Can I post /u/raisethelimit's lasted comic?  [lol it involves a CONSENS-A-TRON^TM]

#3 I have openly Wrongly <---(Keyword) criticized the Mods including theymos and Badbear ......I wouldn't suggest it though.  Bear gets grumpy like being Woken out of hibernation and theymos doesn't respond when criticized he just sits silent...I think the silence is more threatening to me than a response. You don't know what to expect.

I would just be cool and don't go off the deep end and get banned like i did for Mouthing off. The Mods can be strict sometimes but you have to see their point of view....someone has to keep order around here.