A new name for mining

[jl2012]

I think the word "mining" does not really reflect the nature of the work. As we have moved to ASIC era, mining will become a more specialized activity and no longer a way to attract new users. To make it sounds more professional, I think we should rename it to "transaction validation"/"transaction processing", and miners to "transaction validators"/"transaction processors".

Any thought?

[misterbigg]

How about "mining?"

[VeeMiner]

How about "mining?"

I concur

[malevolent]

How about ''accountants''?

[herzmeister]

some have been proposing "auditing".

it seems to me that the term "mining" indeed has always been kind of unfortunate. It makes people suspicious ("what ?!? free money with the graphics card ?!?? "), especially gold bugs ("that crap is not _real_ money !!!1!! and they say _mine_ it !!! like gold !!!1! ridiculous !!!1!").

something like "auditing" is much more neutral, and it's more intuitive to understand that users get rewarded for running hardware and software that is auditing transactions.

[Parazyd]

How about

[Killdozer]

How about ... winning

[Akka]

Hmm...




Would this be better?

[Endgame]

'Transaction validation/processing' may be more accurate, but it lacks the simple appeal of 'mining' imo. Renaming such a widely used term would be extremely difficult in any case.

[Jaw3bmasters]

Lets try a new name for Satoshi while we're at it....................Oh, and the BTC logo, we SOoo need to change that too.

Hashing?........What!?.  "Sorry, I don't do drugs"

[thoughtfan]

some have been proposing "auditing".

Good approximation of a descriptor but the Scientology connotations...?

[Jaw3bmasters]

some have been proposing "auditing".

Good approximation of a descriptor but the Scientology connotations...?

This person has a point....

[hazek]

Mike Hearn want's us to believe it should be called "Heating, inefficient but with a few added benefits!" 

[BlackBison]

When talking to newbies I describe the network as a collection of independent auditors, who verify all the transactions in return for a small fee. Then later on I might use the word mining and compare it to gold/silver once they roughly understand the concept.

[hazek]

When talking to newbies I describe the network as a collection of independent auditors, who verify all the transactions in return for a small fee. Then later on I might use the word mining and compare it to gold/silver once they roughly understand the concept.

This really should be the go to phrase and way of introducing new people to mining, many say it and I agree that it's the easiest to grasp.

[Jaw3bmasters]

When talking to newbies I describe the network as a collection of independent auditors, who verify all the transactions in return for a small fee. Then later on I might use the word mining and compare it to gold/silver once they roughly understand the concept.

'Ok, that's good and all, but where do I get coins?'............From the independent auditors?

[Sukrim]

Currently there's still more than 10% inflation per year because of _mining_. Once this number falls below 1% or so, you might want to call it something else, but at the moment the main income of miners is creating NEW coins, not auditing transactions.

[hazek]

Currently there's still more than 10% inflation per year because of _mining_. Once this number falls below 1% or so, you might want to call it something else, but at the moment the main income of miners is creating NEW coins, not auditing transactions.

You miss what is important. Being allowed to issue coins does not matter to Bitcoin and with it alone Bitcoin fails miserably. It's the validating of transactions part which keeps Bitcoin functioning, the issuing of new bitcoins and fees are just the benefits.

[WiW]

When talking to newbies I describe the network as a collection of independent auditors, who verify all the transactions in return for a small fee. Then later on I might use the word mining and compare it to gold/silver once they roughly understand the concept.

'Ok, that's good and all, but where do I get coins?'............From the independent auditors?

Get someone to pay you for work.

[debianlinux]

Yeah makes perfect sense to give it a name we all know ahead of time will be antiquated, deprecated and require explanation about how it used to be forever and ever amen.