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November 12, 2013, 12:30:29 PM |
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I was reading the thread about the size on the Blockchain and as I write this one of my old laptops is downloading the Blockchain for the first time, from around "200 weeks behind". This has got got me thinking about the user experience of Bitcoin and how newbies might react to all the potential steps necessary to getting their first BTC. In this instance I refer to a newbie as a user without prior knowledge, or informed help/encouragement from a friend already active in the Bitcoin community. This is a user who has just stumbled upon Bitcoin and pretty much sees it like some kind of digital software transaction thingy.
This might sound like a strange idea but perhaps it would be interesting to get some accounts of complete newbies trying to figure out Bitcoin for the first time? Video would be a great for instance, to see where the user gets confused, where they get stuck and potentially why they never end up using Bitcoin. If you were to ask your newb parents or friend to setup Bitcoin, without helping or encouraging them how far would they get? I suspect many at some point would drop off, not even completing the blockchain download and others giving up at the exchanges. Obviously there are different types of wallet and ways to get Bitcoin but what is most important is streamlining the more secure and efficient tools/services relevant to new users.
I actually "dropped off" almost a year ago myself, and like many other software programs I have downloaded I never really bothered using it in the end. Back then Bitcoin was just a program on my HDD to me so perhaps Bitcoin could gain more traction if developers and designers made greater efforts to prevent this?
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