Hi! I'm a graduate student studying the bitcoin community.

[clustig]

Hi everyone,

I want to introduce myself: my name is Caitie Lustig and I am a graduate student in the Informatics department at the University of California, Irvine.  I am just beginning my research on the bitcoin community and am excited to be a member of this forum.  It seems like there's a lot of research about the bitcoin community that's been focused on the technical aspects of bitcoin but not the community aspect, and there's been a lot of news articles about bitcoin that are a bit sensationalist.

So, I want to do something different.  I really want to learn from you guys about what's actually happening in the community and why you're drawn to bitcoin.  I really want to hear your stories and what you like about it.

Anyway, I'll also be making another post in the next day or two that links to my survey about bitcoin.  It's for the first part of my research project and if you have a chance to fill it out, it'll help me a lot.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you here

[greyhawk]

Hi everyone,

I want to introduce myself: my name is Caitie Lustig and I am a graduate student in the Informatics department at the University of California, Irvine.  I am just beginning my research on the bitcoin community and am excited to be a member of this forum.  It seems like there's a lot of research about the bitcoin community that's been focused on the technical aspects of bitcoin but not the community aspect, and there's been a lot of news articles about bitcoin that are a bit sensationalist.

So, I want to do something different.  I really want to learn from you guys about what's actually happening in the community and why you're drawn to bitcoin.  I really want to hear your stories and what you like about it.

Anyway, I'll also be making another post in the next day or two that links to my survey about bitcoin.  It's for the first part of my research project and if you have a chance to fill it out, it'll help me a lot.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you here

There is no "community". There is however a pack of starving wolves fighting tooth and flesh to get the first bite out of a cute widdle adorable baby girl dangling over the pit of wolves.

[milone]

[User705]

With that last name you'll fit right in. 

[gweedo]

Let me give a real answer to one your questions. What drew me to bitcoins in the beginning was how easy it was to start accepting payments on a web site. With credit cards it is very difficult to accept them, and if you use a framework you are at the mercy of them. Bitcoins gets rid of that, I can freely and very easy programmatically send and get bitcoins. Also another headache is saving all that credit card information, if you get hacked you just let your whole community be exploited. Bitcoins I can save an address in a database link it to an account and that hacker can't do anything with that information, as long as my private keys are safe in cold storage. Credits cards require a bank account and bitcoins don't, this allows younger developers to get paid for their work. I had a great idea at 14 or 15 that I didn't build out cause I couldn't get all the accounts that would be required for me to accept payments, due to my age. These are very small yet things that impact greatly on a community.

[hoewer4what]

I really want to learn from you guys about what's actually happening in the community and why you're drawn to bitcoin.

Idealism (freedom) or greed (finance) or both.

[b!z]

Hello Caitie Lustig, we are currently monitoring and researching your activities on the forum.

[superresistant]

Lord of the Flies

[knight22]

Welcome here.

Here a survey you can use to start with. (a bit old though)

http://simulacrum.cc/2013/02/26/the-demographics-of-bitcoin-part-1/

[Qu1ck$1Lv3r]

Welcome here.

Here a survey you can use to start with. (a bit old though)

http://simulacrum.cc/2013/02/26/the-demographics-of-bitcoin-part-1/

I am astonished to discover I have somehow overlooked this survey...thanks for the link.

[int3ractivodular]

Welcome here.

Here a survey you can use to start with. (a bit old though)

http://simulacrum.cc/2013/02/26/the-demographics-of-bitcoin-part-1/

Thanks for the link! I'm writing a paper for one of my courses as well, and this was really helpful!

[clustig]

Welcome here.

Here a survey you can use to start with. (a bit old though)

http://simulacrum.cc/2013/02/26/the-demographics-of-bitcoin-part-1/

Thanks!  I actually ran across that post a week or so ago and found it really interesting and helpful.

[clustig]

Let me give a real answer to one your questions. What drew me to bitcoins in the beginning was how easy it was to start accepting payments on a web site. With credit cards it is very difficult to accept them, and if you use a framework you are at the mercy of them. Bitcoins gets rid of that, I can freely and very easy programmatically send and get bitcoins. Also another headache is saving all that credit card information, if you get hacked you just let your whole community be exploited. Bitcoins I can save an address in a database link it to an account and that hacker can't do anything with that information, as long as my private keys are safe in cold storage. Credits cards require a bank account and bitcoins don't, this allows younger developers to get paid for their work. I had a great idea at 14 or 15 that I didn't build out cause I couldn't get all the accounts that would be required for me to accept payments, due to my age. These are very small yet things that impact greatly on a community.

Hi!  Thanks for the input, that's very interesting.  I hadn't really considered how bitcoin might be more accessible for young people than other forms of online payment!

[viboracecata]

what a nice funny picture.

[galbros]

Wow, there really is a department of infomatics at UC-Irvine! 

I like bitcoin because of its use in micropayments and its potential for anonymity.  I also think as a deflationary currency it will be a good store of value.

Good Luck with your research!

[tspacepilot]

Good luck with your studies Catie Lustig.

[b!z]

Wow, there really is a department of infomatics at UC-Irvine! 

I like bitcoin because of its use in micropayments and its potential for anonymity.  I also think as a deflationary currency it will be a good store of value.

Good Luck with your research!

I don't think it's great for anonymity. It's only pseudonymous. The gov managed to catch the criminals in SR, so you CAN be tracked.

[just_me]

Lord of the Flies

From pennies to $260 in a relatively short time period.

The hunt was real good, and now all the hunters are coming.

[furgano]

Well Mrs Lustig (funny) i guess in the Bitcoin Community you will find people who are interested in technology or people who are interested in free money and free speach.For me a very interesting study,just suggestion,would be that media all over the world calls bitcoin "hacker money",that is obviously used for Platforms like Silkroad.The interesting thing is,last week US shot down Silkroad,a platform where hundreds of millions of dollar in bitcoins were used to trade.So if the theory would be right the bitcoin price must go down now,but in fact the price is rasing the last days

[pand70]

Well Mrs Lustig

Oops i just noticed that she is actually a girl... And she is really interested in bitcoins! Imo thats a milestone.