Let's retire the Bitcoin Discussion > Press sub-forum

[odolvlobo]

The purpose of the Bitcoin Discussion > Press forum is to post links to notable articles that mention Bitcoin. In the past, such articles were relatively rare and it was helpful to have a forum that would collect them. I valued the forum because it was interesting to see where Bitcoin would pop up in the mainstream media, and these links were provided good indicators about how the rest of the world perceived and reacted to the Bitcoin phenomenon.

These days, Bitcoin is mentioned constantly in the mainstream media, and there are now many media outlets devoted to articles about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Thus, the original benefits of the forum have largely evaporated. If mentions of Bitcoin are common, then they are no longer notable. If there are media sites dedicated to the subject, then there is less benefit to collecting links because the majority always point to these sites. The value of linking to articles mentioning Bitcoin has dropped. I note all of the links in the posts, but I only read a few of them now.

My suggestion is to retire the forum. Links to articles about Bitcoin could be posted in the Bitcoin discussion forum instead.

I would like to mention that there is a problem with the forum's moderation (in my opinion), but that is not part of my reasons for retiring the forum. I don't think that fixing that problem would improve the forum's relevance.

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[Last of the V8s]

Agree. It has lost its cachet entirely and is now just an easy place to copy and paste some text and a link thereby upping one's post count for sig campaigns. Often sig spammers will post about a story that has already been linked exactly, or the same story from a different outlet. Often the links are to disreputable sites that try to steal your coins. The coverage is very sketchy and important stories are missed or seized on very late.

[pixie85]

Agree. It has lost its cachet entirely and is now just an easy place to copy and paste some text and a link thereby upping one's post count for sig campaigns. Often sig spammers will post about a story that has already been linked exactly, or the same story from a different outlet. Often the links are to disreputable sites that try to steal your coins. The coverage is very sketchy and important stories are missed or seized on very late.

The most common thing that I see is people posting links to the same article from different sites at the same time. It happens that a site like coindesk quotes another source of the news, like a mainstream media outlet, and people post 1 thread with the coindesk link and another with the source because they know that they can get away with it.
They also start a thread about the article, but this time posting it without the press press section format, in the main bitcoin discussion thread. As a result we get 3 or more threads about the same thing.

[DooMAD]

I find Press is one of the few havens left on the boards where you can actually have an intelligent conversation about recent events.  At least the replies there have a tendency to be mostly on topic.  Please don't destroy what tends to be one of the more sane parts of the forum.  I don't want to have to sift through 10 pages of "Who is Satoshi" if press articles end up in the general Bitcoin Discussion cesspool.

That said, it could do with a bit of an overhaul and generally being more strictly regulated.  I wouldn't be opposed to cutting out the crypto-devoted sites, so it's just articles from those "outside" the community.  Duplicate threads should be nuked on sight and if there are articles from two different sources about the same thing, ideally people should endeavor to put them in an existing thread to keep things organised.

I'd also appreciate it if there was a requirement to actually start the conversation about the article(s) in the OP itself, so that the OP isn't just an excuse to copy/paste an article for free activity or a paid post, which some users clearly see it as an excuse for.  It's not enough just to post the article, you should also be providing some insightful comments of your own to get the ball rolling.

[squatter]

These days, Bitcoin is mentioned constantly in the mainstream media, and there are now many media outlets devoted to articles about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Thus, the original benefits of the forum have largely evaporated. If mentions of Bitcoin are common, then they are no longer notable. If there are media sites dedicated to the subject, then there is less benefit to collecting links because the majority always point to these sites. The value of linking to articles mentioning Bitcoin has dropped. I note all of the links in the posts, but I only read a few of them now.

My suggestion is to retire the forum. Links to articles about Bitcoin could be posted in the Bitcoin discussion forum instead.

I actually like the Press sub-forum. I read through it almost every day. I hate social media (especially as feeds become more algorithm-based), so Press is extremely useful for catching up on news. I really couldn't disagree more with the OP.

Theymos, please don't make us peruse Bitcoin Discussion to find press hits. Bitcoin Discussion is a total cesspool. It shouldn't just swallow up previously useful boards.

I'd also appreciate it if there was a requirement to actually start the conversation about the article(s) in the OP itself, so that the OP isn't just an excuse to copy/paste an article for free activity or a paid post, which some users clearly see it as an excuse for.  It's not enough just to post the article, you should also be providing some insightful comments of your own to get the ball rolling.

I think that's a good idea.

[Abal Abal]

The purpose of the Bitcoin Discussion > Press forum is to post links to notable articles that mention Bitcoin. In the past, such articles were relatively rare and it was helpful to have a forum that would collect them. I valued the forum because it was interesting to see where Bitcoin would pop up in the mainstream media, and these links were provided good indicators about how the rest of the world perceived and reacted to the Bitcoin phenomenon.

These days, Bitcoin is mentioned constantly in the mainstream media, and there are now many media outlets devoted to articles about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Thus, the original benefits of the forum have largely evaporated. If mentions of Bitcoin are common, then they are no longer notable. If there are media sites dedicated to the subject, then there is less benefit to collecting links because the majority always point to these sites. The value of linking to articles mentioning Bitcoin has dropped. I note all of the links in the posts, but I only read a few of them now.

My suggestion is to retire the forum. Links to articles about Bitcoin could be posted in the Bitcoin discussion forum instead.

I would like to mention that there is a problem with the forum's moderation (in my opinion), but that is not part of my reasons for retiring the forum. I don't think that fixing that problem would improve the forum's relevance.

interesting topics
 
I really like the discussion forum because it is very helpful to our knowledge and has become the needs of everyone. (In my opinion)

but as the number of social media that preach false news and sources that are not clear, can reduce public confidence.
it is not very good.

[leowonderful]

We could also possibly get additional moderation for the section to save it, but I agree that the easy solution would be just to remove the subforum altogether. In my years on the Bitcointalk forum starting in late 2014 all I've seen there was low-quality posts, broken-english posts or pasted responses that repeat themselves every few pages on the largest threads. The Altcoin Discussion subforum also suffers from the same problem but to a lesser extent.