Seeking a team to develop Bitcointalk 2.0 forums (apply within)

[whydifficult]

Maybe you could keep an eye on Discourse. It's open source and it's from the people behind Stack Overflow, one of the biggest online programmer community.

Is there a forum software (like simple machines) which has a module that help to identify and remove sock puppets?

I don't know community software that does that. But according the one of the authors, Discourse does have a great way of keeping out trash:

Built in moderation and governance systems that let discussion communities protect themselves from trolls, spammers, and bad actors – even without official moderators.

(source)

[Viceroy]

Nice find superman, thanks!

[rme]

Please guys, install a new forum.

If you guys want to work, fork of some forum CMS like SMF in Github and offer bountys for doing some things.
If that is too much work, install last SMF version and install some plugins, install tapatalk, change some code and implement some Bitcoin features like a tip bot.

[SgtSpike]

I tried starting up a Bitcoin forum back in 2011.  It was largely unsuccessful, despite being the 2nd result in Google when searching anything like "Bitcoin forum".  I own bitcoin-forum.net, and would be game to try starting something up again, now that the Bitcoin userbase is much, much larger than it was in 2011.

I prefer more modern, web 2.0 stuff.  The forum software I ran was Xenforo, and, while it was neat and pretty, there are still some minor issues with it.  Because of this, I am pretty open-minded about what software to use, depending on what is necessary to integrate the features I'd want.

All of this said, I would be interested in being involved in a project to develop a new, better forum.  And here's what I'd do differently:  I'd charge a small amount of Bitcoin for each account, say, 0.02 or 0.05 BTC (no one could register or post without paying the Bitcoin first), and hand out bans liberally (though where appropriate, of course).  Sockpuppet?  You're banned.  Post something rude/disrespectful?  You get a warning, and get banned the next time you do it.  Etc, etc.  This would provide a small stream of revenue to support the forums, keep the forums useful and relevant, and keep all the trolls at bay (unless they just have a ton of money to blow on alt accounts).

[rme]

I tried starting up a Bitcoin forum back in 2011.  It was largely unsuccessful, despite being the 2nd result in Google when searching anything like "Bitcoin forum".  I own bitcoin-forum.net, and would be game to try starting something up again, now that the Bitcoin userbase is much, much larger than it was in 2011.

I prefer more modern, web 2.0 stuff.  The forum software I ran was Xenforo, and, while it was neat and pretty, there are still some minor issues with it.  Because of this, I am pretty open-minded about what software to use, depending on what is necessary to integrate the features I'd want.

All of this said, I would be interested in being involved in a project to develop a new, better forum.  And here's what I'd do differently:  I'd charge a small amount of Bitcoin for each account, say, 0.02 or 0.05 BTC (no one could register or post without paying the Bitcoin first), and hand out bans liberally (though where appropriate, of course).  Sockpuppet?  You're banned.  Post something rude/disrespectful?  You get a warning, and get banned the next time you do it.  Etc, etc.  This would provide a small stream of revenue to support the forums, keep the forums useful and relevant, and keep all the trolls at bay (unless they just have a ton of money to blow on alt accounts).

The only thing is that newbies would consider Bitcoin as a scam that requests money to write in a forum.

[jackjack]

I tried starting up a Bitcoin forum back in 2011.  It was largely unsuccessful, despite being the 2nd result in Google when searching anything like "Bitcoin forum".  I own bitcoin-forum.net, and would be game to try starting something up again, now that the Bitcoin userbase is much, much larger than it was in 2011.

I prefer more modern, web 2.0 stuff.  The forum software I ran was Xenforo, and, while it was neat and pretty, there are still some minor issues with it.  Because of this, I am pretty open-minded about what software to use, depending on what is necessary to integrate the features I'd want.

All of this said, I would be interested in being involved in a project to develop a new, better forum.  And here's what I'd do differently:  I'd charge a small amount of Bitcoin for each account, say, 0.02 or 0.05 BTC (no one could register or post without paying the Bitcoin first), and hand out bans liberally (though where appropriate, of course).  Sockpuppet?  You're banned.  Post something rude/disrespectful?  You get a warning, and get banned the next time you do it.  Etc, etc.  This would provide a small stream of revenue to support the forums, keep the forums useful and relevant, and keep all the trolls at bay (unless they just have a ton of money to blow on alt accounts).

So students or poor people can't register but scammers who got money scamming can?

[SgtSpike]

The only thing is that newbies would consider Bitcoin as a scam that requests money to write in a forum.

That's ok.  Newbies can discuss topics elsewhere.  It's not that I don't like them, but many of them ask elementary questions that truly do "clog up the system" with posts that most others have zero interest in seeing.  Have a FAQ page to address the easy questions, then leave the rest of discussion up to people who are already familiar enough with Bitcoin to be able to send/receive transactions using it.

So students or poor people can't register but scammers who got money scamming can?

Scammers would be banned, or prevented from registering in the first place if they are known scammers.  Students and poor people can read along, find a different place to discuss Bitcoin, or scrounge around until they can find $3 of BTC.  The idea is to make the bank of information and discussions stored in said forum useful for more advanced users.

[Gordon Bleu]

I tried starting up a Bitcoin forum back in 2011.  It was largely unsuccessful, despite being the 2nd result in Google when searching anything like "Bitcoin forum".  I own bitcoin-forum.net, and would be game to try starting something up again, now that the Bitcoin userbase is much, much larger than it was in 2011.

I prefer more modern, web 2.0 stuff.  The forum software I ran was Xenforo, and, while it was neat and pretty, there are still some minor issues with it.  Because of this, I am pretty open-minded about what software to use, depending on what is necessary to integrate the features I'd want.

All of this said, I would be interested in being involved in a project to develop a new, better forum.  And here's what I'd do differently:  I'd charge a small amount of Bitcoin for each account, say, 0.02 or 0.05 BTC (no one could register or post without paying the Bitcoin first), and hand out bans liberally (though where appropriate, of course).  Sockpuppet?  You're banned.  Post something rude/disrespectful?  You get a warning, and get banned the next time you do it.  Etc, etc.  This would provide a small stream of revenue to support the forums, keep the forums useful and relevant, and keep all the trolls at bay (unless they just have a ton of money to blow on alt accounts).

Maybe too much Facism ? Adolf

[SgtSpike]

I tried starting up a Bitcoin forum back in 2011.  It was largely unsuccessful, despite being the 2nd result in Google when searching anything like "Bitcoin forum".  I own bitcoin-forum.net, and would be game to try starting something up again, now that the Bitcoin userbase is much, much larger than it was in 2011.

I prefer more modern, web 2.0 stuff.  The forum software I ran was Xenforo, and, while it was neat and pretty, there are still some minor issues with it.  Because of this, I am pretty open-minded about what software to use, depending on what is necessary to integrate the features I'd want.

All of this said, I would be interested in being involved in a project to develop a new, better forum.  And here's what I'd do differently:  I'd charge a small amount of Bitcoin for each account, say, 0.02 or 0.05 BTC (no one could register or post without paying the Bitcoin first), and hand out bans liberally (though where appropriate, of course).  Sockpuppet?  You're banned.  Post something rude/disrespectful?  You get a warning, and get banned the next time you do it.  Etc, etc.  This would provide a small stream of revenue to support the forums, keep the forums useful and relevant, and keep all the trolls at bay (unless they just have a ton of money to blow on alt accounts).

Maybe too much Facism ? Adolf

Well, there's a dang lot of freedom here, and look what happens?  If people want a clean forum with useless stuff gone, it's only going to happen with some set rules that are strictly abided by.  If you think a decentralized self-moderating solution would work, just look at reddit to see that it doesn't (not saying that reddit is bad, only that it rewards the bottom-of-the-barrel sorts of discussions).

[eroxors]

Things that interest me regarding the topic:

Alternative ownership models... non-profit preference, cooperative
non-anonymous ... for those who are willing to interact without hiding behind anonymity

I'm happy with bitcointalk, except changes to the site have been slow, it's ugly, and scammers are literally everywhere.

[Viceroy]

That is a curious approach, a non profit.  How could that improve things?  I'm generally not a fan of nonprofits but I'm curious to know how that could improve things.

[Inedible]

Unless everything is defined upfront (before the new forum begins) it'll lead to discontent and then disillusionment.

Sounds like we'll be swapping some pros and cons with a different set of pros and cons.

[Viceroy]

We can't know without exploring this.  I imagine the current forum was a reaction to a need rather than a well thought out approach.  If we start with a well-thought-out approach it's likely we'll come up with a better forum.

[Inedible]

We can't know without exploring this.  I imagine the current forum was a reaction to a need rather than a well thought out approach.  If we start with a well-thought-out approach it's likely we'll come up with a better forum.

I agree that some degree of exploration will be required but I think there are some big issues that need to be discussed first e.g. payments, what justifies a ban, etc.

[Viceroy]

Let's list them without defining them yet.

what constitutes a ban?
what form of company is the forum?
should new forum allow sock puppets?
what terms of service exist?
how can a new forum better interact with smart phones?
what forum software exists that might work?
what country should host the forum?
should it be anonymous or transparent?
does it integrate with Facebook or other services?


what other questions might we address?

[Inedible]

Let's list them without defining them yet.

what constitutes a ban?
what form of company is the forum?
should new forum allow sock puppets?
what terms of service exist?
how can a new forum better interact with smart phones?
what forum software exists that might work?
what country should host the forum?
should it be anonymous or transparent?
does it integrate with Facebook or other services?


what other questions might we address?

I don't imagine some of these will affect user signup dramatically but all useful.

Also, it seems that additional competition to Bitcointalk would actually strengthen the community and it would certainly speed up development here too.

My additional questions:

What is the policy on moderator choice?
Is there recourse against moderators?
Who pays for costs?
Who would own the domain name?

[Viceroy]

I had a similar though with regard to bitcoin vs other coins.  When this forum was created there was only bitcoin.  Now litecoin has made some headway and it seems there may be some other coin that might show up.  So the question is...

Should it be about all crypto coins which are basically just forks of bitcoin anyway?

Personally I think litecoin has the power to grow.  I don't think it should be an "alt coin" as much as a different flavor of crypto coin.   

[Dabs]

VBulletin ? Looks like good forum software, also paid.

[worldinacoin]

Better to get a paid forum software such as Xenforo

[escrow.ms]

VBulletin ? Looks like good forum software, also paid.

Vbulletin became shit after 4x version.

Currently Xenforo is best paid software and mybb is best free one.