What I have learned about BTC in 4 months.

[Bitconian]

Hi guys,

I was introduced to Bitcoins last September. I didn't know anything about that and I started studying more about that.

I also found this forum and learned A LOT from you guys, so, to thank you all and to give back, I thought about doing a small summary of what I have learned so maybe new guys can find this helpful.

I will post a lot of links from outside and to my own posts, so people with the same doubts that I had can look for the answers that I got there and maybe that may answer their question too.

I learned:

•     In September 2012, the very first thing I learned was from this video (like many of us ) : http://youtu.be/Um63OQz3bjo   and this website: http://www.weusecoins.com/
•     My friend introduced me to my first wallet and my first pool:  http://bitcoin.org/   and   http://bitminter.com/
•     I still didn't know what I was doing.
•     This amazing post resolve 99% of your doubts: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=9430.0
•     At the end September I found out that mining as we know it (or as I just knew) was about to end thanks to the ASIC machines. I didn't know what mining was and less idea of what ASIC was. So I started reading about that and I find many companies like Butterfly Labs, Avalon and BTCFPGA (http://bitcoinmagazine.com/tag/asic/)
•     I learned how awesome this forum is, willing to help a new guy like me
•     I was still learning how to mine, so I asked in this forum about that (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=114723.msg1236829#msg1236829) and they told me about pools, mining and I ended upgrading my graphic card (you can compare the speed of mining here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison and you can calculate how many bitcoins here: http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/)
•     I found out all the pools out there (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=104664.0)
•     In October I was looking for rigs to mine (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=114823.msg1238027#msg1238027) because I found this video: http://youtu.be/eLt8Se3vVNg
•     Then I didn't understand why pay fees when mining, but this forum was even greater than what I thought   https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=115260.msg1242456#msg1242456
•     So once I learned about mining, I download GUIminer and I started mining in 3 pools at the same time (https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=3878.0)
•     After 40 days I mined my first bitcoin YAY!  now, I wanted to know what I can do with that and I found places to buy with bitcoins like www.bitmit.net
•     I wanted to control my mining from my cellphone and I found Bitcare very useful (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cryptcoins.btcare&hl=en), and also Bitcoin Wallet to have a new wallet in your phone (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImRlLnNjaGlsZGJhY2gud2FsbGV0Il0).
•     I wanted to buy more bitcoins, didn't know where. Dwolla https://www.dwolla.com/ and Mt.Gox https://mtgox.com/ were there for me. I found out that Dwolla is a pain in the ass. I had to wait 3 weeks to verify me and 3-5 days every time to make a deposit. But besides that, it works...althought I found this today: http://codinginmysleep.com/dwolla-begins-suspensions/
•     People who likes bitcoins don't usually likes PayPal
•     I also found places where they give bitcoins away...for free!   http://makebitcoinsfast.com/ and http://earnbitcoin.wikidot.com/
•     I was new and happy until I found what a block is and how it dropped from 50BTC to 25BTC https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Blocks and http://blockchain.info/
•     You can know when the new block will happen: http://bitcoinclock.com/
•     More companies started to use bitcoins like WordPress (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/11/16/whats-your-bitcoin-strategy-wordpress-now-accepts-bitcoin-across-the-planet/). You can even buy a house with btc! http://bitcoinmagazine.com/where-to-spend-your-bitcoins/
•     Cool sites that I still don't understand like: http://cognitivemining.com/ or http://bitcoinstatus.rowit.co.uk/
•     The biggest wallet so far had more than 613,000 BTC and its own site (http://1dkybekt5s2gdtv7aqw6rqepavnsryhoym.com/)
•     You can watch how bitcoins are going higher or lower in sites like here: http://bitcoinwatch.com/ and http://bitcoin.clarkmoody.com/
•     That a guru of Gold and Silver, is accepting Bitcoins in his web:  http://mogamboguru.blogspot.com/
•     They have more names than just bitcoins... Sub-units of a bitcoin such asmillibitcoins ("Millies") or microbitcoins ("Mikes"). The Bitcoin protocol uses a base unit of one hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin ("a Satoshi")
•     What 2013 has in store for bitcoins: http://bitcoinmagazine.com/the-next-year-in-bitcoin-what-2013-has-in-store/
•     Some companies are afraid of bitcoins like apple and why: www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/06/13/why-apple-is-afraid-of-bitcoin/
•     You can help others by crowd founding with btcs: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=118458.0
•     You can bet anything: http://betsofbitco.in/   or  http://bitbet.us/
•     And also short cut your wallet: http://payb.tc/
•     Hitler sells alls bitcoins: http://youtu.be/alc0gG0u48M
•     That if the bitcoin drops to $4 (it was my dream )... 82% of the people would buy all the btc they could https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137249.0
•     Casinos will make money....ALWAYS, any currency, any country: www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/01/22/bitcoin-casinos-release-2012-earnings/
•     There is wikipedia about bitcoins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin) and there is a wikipedia only of bitcoins: (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page)
•     Blogs keep growing to understand better about bitcoins: http://www.thebitcointrader.com/
•     I learned the hard way that if you have several wallets in your Bitcoin Wallet in your phone, it can crash and lose money. Be careful. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137785.msg1468748#msg1468748
•     You can have multiples wallets in your computer thanks to: https://multibit.org/
•     I thought a fork was for eating, but there are more https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=136802.msg1457287#msg1457287
•     There is no flaws in bitcoins: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=136740.msg1456910#msg1456910
•     Also, if you sign your account of the forum with your wallet, your nickname would be attached to it, always: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137667.msg1467500#msg1467500
•     You must create a SECURE wallet: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=17240.0

And that's it so far. I'm still learning but I can see how much I have learned in just 4 months. I got my wallets secured, with many bitcoins and waiting for an asic.


I hope this post can help anybody.


Thank you guys!

All the best.

[1715136263]

1715136263

[benjamindees]

Dwolla is a bunch of scammers.  There should probably be a warning somewhere about how worthless it is.

[hazek]

Wow what an amazing writeup. It's really interesting to get a glimpse into how someone completely new to Bitcoin learns about it and I thank you for taking the time and writing your post! 

[imanikin]

Dwolla is a bunch of scammers.  There should probably be a warning somewhere about how worthless it is.

+1 No one in the B community should forget that and how Dwolla led to the demise of TradeHill xchange...

For that and what continues i wish Dwolla the worst possible ending, and urge all B people to abandon it.

If the story below is true, unfortunately Dwolla's demise doesn't seem likely:
http://www.dgcmagazine.com/iowa-now-accepting-some-tax-payments-via-dwolla/#more-1117

[paraipan]

Nice one @Bitconian  

Btw, you learned how to get bitcoin tips? Because I don't see your address anywhere to send you some coins.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Wow what an amazing writeup. It's really interesting to get a glimpse into how someone completely new to Bitcoin learns about it and I thank you for taking the time and writing your post! 

+1

It's always interested to see other peoples' perspective of this community, and sometimes humbling and embarrassing when their write-up ends with "and then I was harassed regularly and left bitcoin forever because of the trolling".

@OP: You can now add to the list that on January 26th, 2013 you learned that Bitcoin had a Christmas Special. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGuD9ru27d0

[MPOE-PR]

Dwolla is a bunch of scammers.  There should probably be a warning somewhere about how worthless it is.

This.

Wow what an amazing writeup. It's really interesting to get a glimpse into how someone completely new to Bitcoin learns about it and I thank you for taking the time and writing your post! 

This as well. Thx OP.

[Carlton Banks]

•     I was new and happy until I found what a block is and how it dropped from 50BTC to 25BTC https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Blocks and http://blockchain.info/

You'll soon learn something else: that's a good thing right there. It's what makes them worth saving.

[Elwar]

Good overview. The bigger Bitcoin grows, the more people will know only a sliver of what it has to offer.

[Bitconian]

Nice one @Bitconian  

Btw, you learned how to get bitcoin tips? Because I don't see your address anywhere to send you some coins.

Thanks!  You can send any coins you want here:   1GEUEBTm6XfRuqAswrR6LbofnMq6VN5A5P

I still use that wallet, but now it's my old wallet. I got a new one, more secure, and more secret

and if you send some....I will appreciate your gesture

And thanks every one. I'm glad you like the post. You all helped (and still helping) me so in thanks for that, I wanted to give something back to the community.

B.

[paraipan]

Nice one @Bitconian  

Btw, you learned how to get bitcoin tips? Because I don't see your address anywhere to send you some coins.

Thanks!  You can send any coins you want here:   1GEUEBTm6XfRuqAswrR6LbofnMq6VN5A5P

I still use that wallet, but now it's my old wallet. I got a new one, more secure, and more secret

and if you send some....I will appreciate your gesture

And thanks every one. I'm glad you like the post. You all helped (and still helping) me so in thanks for that, I wanted to give something back to the community.

B.

There you go 07f1aac.... Visit me on Rugatu where I usually give out more coins for people that help out others.

[phelix]

my more detailed bitcoin mining profitability calculator - asic ready :]

[evoorhees]

•     People who likes bitcoins don't usually likes PayPal

Hahahaha yes that is correct!

Thanks for your post, very interesting to see the experience of new community members. And welcome to the greatest project on Earth.

[Elokane]

Nice write up. Fun to read. thanks.

[kokojie]

You haven't learned ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR WALLET? and also the golden rules of backups:
* if you have one back up, you actually have none.
* if you have two back up, you actually just have one.
* if all your backups are in a single physical location, you actually have no backups.

[nyusternie]

•     They have more names than just bitcoins... Sub-units of a bitcoin such asmillibitcoins ("Millies") or microbitcoins ("Mikes"). The
  

i've actually heard this mentioned elsewhere before. and i understand there is still no "official" standard, but does anyone know if this goes the other way too:

• "Killies"
• "Meggies"
• "Terries"

just curious

[Rassah]

Nice writeup. Been playing with these for years, and still learned something new

[payb.tc]

You haven't learned ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR WALLET? and also the golden rules of backups:
* if you have one back up, you actually have none.
* if you have two back up, you actually just have one.
* if all your backups are in a single physical location, you actually have no backups.

to add to that...

backups != archives
and
archives != backups

you probably want both, so understand the difference!

[mokahless]

Nice writeup. Been playing with these for years, and still learned something new

+1

[lettucebee]

I was hoping you were going to describe your home improvement project where you needed a cordless Ryobi 18v drill and how you found a way cool store offering it up for bitcoin...but no, you didn't.