If you guys want Bitcoin to heat up again ....

[lacedwithkerosene]

You're going to have to stop bending over and taking stagnation up the butt:

A) Spend some - preferably buying from one of the bigger merchants
-Someone's got to make money besides the exchanges. There needs to be success stories from VENDORS.
-Meze Grill accepting bitcoins is a success story to forumites, but it's not a success story to businesses. A follow-up article saying that they are getting 20% more sales now because bitcoin users in New York go out of their way to eat there, is a success story. So go out of your way and eat there. If you live in another big city, try talking to a local business owner.
-The 'bottom line' of most people here is to get BTC accepted in more places. Business owners' bottom line is MONEY. They want to know that they will get more business, they don't care about your utopia.
-Existing business owners will only be convinced to start accepting BTC as payment when they hear that others have had success with it. Enter a problem: the sales figures of our business are low. Is anyone making A LIVING? I'm as much for competition as the next capitalist, but honestly, no one's going to make money if what little BTC people are spending gets divided amongst a ton of small merchants. We need to prop up the 'bigger' merchants who have the best track record and know how to scale up. Get them PAID. They'll get press.
-Don't kid yourself - you shouldn't try to start your own unless you know what you're doing. Try offering your time to an existing one instead. Convincing one existing, already profitable business to accept payment in BTC would be worth more than 100 bitcoin startups from people who have no experience, connections, or face in the public. They are just going to get lost on the internet.

B) Draw attention    
-Don't be annoying, don't be a train-wreck - be entertaining. You can be ridiculous without looking like a lunatic. That dude who put the videos of himself dancing around in a costume on youtube (is he still here?) was confusing as all get up, but he wasn't an embarrassment to the community.
-If you don't have programming skills, try being a local consultant or an online entertainer (just not with crazy conspiracy political posts).
-Mass orchestrated stunts, anyone? Can ANYONE orchestrate something?

The price isn't the only boring thing right now - the whole energy level is low. It's like people coming to the forums right now are watching a made-for-TV-movie and don't know why they haven't changed the channel yet. Even Something Awful is bored by this forum, despite plenty of awful posts.

The media is not going to do it for you; we haven't given them any reason to care for the past few weeks. If bitcoin is to only be for a niche community, it still has only reached a fraction of its potential user base. Critical mass is only right around the corner, if the existing user base would just spend enough of their hoarded stashes on business, whose success will fuel awareness.

Even something like a tattoo race raises awareness. Your trading bot will not raise awareness.

Bottom line, this is the part that seems to fly over people's heads: long-term, you are not going to get yours unless you help others get theirs.

Signed, one lackadaisical motherfucker to another.

[1714814064]

1714814064

[1714814064]

1714814064

[1714814064]

1714814064

[geek-trader]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.   

Which has not been allowed this whole past week.

[GeniuSxBoY]

bitcoins isn't going to be good for vendors until most of the population knows what it is.

[error]

bitcoins isn't going to be good for vendors until most of the population knows what it is.

OK, and what are you doing about it?

[lacedwithkerosene]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.   

Which has not been allowed this whole past week.

Participation outside of the US is absolutely vital (and will probably be responsible for the next growth wave).

But the problem is the rhetoric of "bitcoin is only fake money based on speculation only" will only get buried with sales figures from merchants, not profits by exchanges.
The percent of people who are buying bitcoins to buy goods with them needs to climb dramatically.

[error]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.   

Which has not been allowed this whole past week.

Participation outside of the US is absolutely vital (and will probably be responsible for the next growth wave).

But the problem is the rhetoric of "bitcoin is only fake money based on speculation only" will only get buried with sales figures from merchants, not profits by exchanges.
The percent of people who are buying bitcoins to buy goods with them needs to climb dramatically.

Agreed. This is why I'm spending a lot of time on making it possible for merchants to securely deploy Bitcoin. The SELinux policy is just the start. I'll have more announcements to make in the next few days.

[wareen]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.   

+1

That and reinstating trading fees would probably get the price moving again.

I'm not so sure about the "bored community" though - true, it seems attention span is somewhat rare these days but good projects need some time to develop. Just because not everyday some great new thing comes around doesn't mean there aren't many people working on their Bitcoin-related projects. The large influx of new people we've seen a few weeks ago will probably result in some great new projects, but that takes some time. People need to first wrap their head around the system, develop ideas and implement them.
Especially starting new sound businesses is something which shouldn't be done quickly over the weekend.

Patience my friends

[kiba]

That and reinstating trading fees would probably get the price moving again.

We need less trading fees, not more.

I'm not so sure about the "bored community" though - true, it seems attention span is somewhat rare these days but good projects need some time to develop. Just because not everyday some great new thing comes around doesn't mean there aren't many people working on their Bitcoin-related projects. The large influx of new people we've seen a few weeks ago will probably result in some great new projects, but that takes some time. People need to first wrap their head around the system, develop ideas and implement them.
Especially starting new sound businesses is something which shouldn't be done quickly over the weekend.

Patience my friends

The important thing is that we are trying many things at once. Many will fail, some will succeed, and a few will drive massive adoption.

[Vladimir]

after 10x growth recently we all need some quiet time... to 'consolidate' and 'reflect' .. no rush... please let me mine a few more blocks before this thing goes to stratosphere again...

That and reinstating trading fees would probably get the price moving again.

We need less trading fees, not more.

Yep this is a good one. Even I would get a few Mt.Gox accounts and start doing some high frequency trading if fees are reduced to some negative value (i.e. exchange is paying a few % to anyone who is making a trade)

[wareen]

That and reinstating trading fees would probably get the price moving again.

We need less trading fees, not more.

Less than 0?

I agree that trading without fees is nice for an individual but the bots quickly take the steam out of any movement of the market as long as there are no fees.

[kiba]

Less than 0?

I agree that trading without fees is nice for an individual but the bots quickly take steam out of any movement of the market as long as there are no fees.

Sounds like a perfectly good thing.

[ercolinux]

One way to do it is try to convince retailers to accept bitcoin and put on a sign in their shop. if retailers do that, even if no one has asked to pay with bitcoin before, is probably that some customer ask what bitcoins are and maybe start to use them. I'm trying to do this with non tech shops (a drugstore, a cheese shop, a small fast food): the have a lot of transaction a day too low to accept a credit card or other non cash payment form but ideal for a bitcoin payment
 
No cost for them, maybe a little of time loose when a customer ask info but a lot of possible revenue in near future.
Just my satoshi

[kiba]

Folks, remember that practically almost everything in the bitcoin economy and community is a few months old at most. The speed of activities that we are used to are extremely fast.

Right now, we are merely in a lull. Develop some patience and the pace of the bitcoin world will quicken as we recuperate.

[cypherdoc]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.   

Which has not been allowed this whole past week.

why not?

[error]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.  

Which has not been allowed this whole past week.

why not?

MtGox is switching from their crappy old French bank which has been delaying and screwing up lots of people's transfers to a shiny new bank which may or may not provide better service.

[cypherdoc]

Or, let Europeans transfer Euros to MtGox.  

Which has not been allowed this whole past week.

why not?

MtGox is switching from their crappy old French bank which has been delaying and screwing up lots of people's transfers to a shiny new bank which may or may not provide better service.

every wire i've made to mtgox has been to Matsushita Bank, Japan

[nazgulnarsil]

what bitcoins really needs is for people to stop trying to pump it up.  healthy economies grow naturally.  not from get rich quick hysteria.

[bracek]

there are no workers that get paid in btc,
they would boost btc economy,

now "economy" consists of only merchants,
so we have to wait for the real entrepreneurs that would hire and pay people in btc

problem is that if u want to buy with btc, first u have to buy btc, then buy ur desired stuff,
and first step is still not an easy one...

also, when u finally get hold of btc, u start thinkin' it might go up in value, and then u tighten ur
wallet

[Anonymous]

If existing businesses dont want to support bitcoin maybe we need to buy or invest in companies and use it as a lever to get bitcoin adoption.

[GeniuSxBoY]

You can tell from the chart that a major percentage of the (small order) trading population has simply stopped trading. This is terrible.

I haven't made a trade in 4 days. It's futile against bots and the rich who manipulate the chart the way they want it. Nobody has been able to challenge the order at $13.50 for days. I surmise we'll have the same problem when we want to increase the price when he's ready to sell.