Can someone explain altcoin mining to me like I'm an idiot?

[TheTelephone]

I am one of the least tech-savvy people that I know. I think there's just some chemical imbalance in my brain, because I literally cannot understand what the hell people are talking about when it comes to computers. BUT! I really, really genuinely want to build my first computer next year and I really want to get into building my own miners as soon as possible. Can anyone explain mining, building a rig and joining a pool to me like I'm a total moron?

[Skoupi]

Why don't you just buy bitcoins instead of going in all the trouble of mining? Especially since you are not tech savvy.

[michielnl]

mining -> solve difficult puzzles and get reward
building a rig -> build super calculator to help solve puzzles
joining a pool -> solve difficult puzzles together so you solve more per day

if i were you, i would just play sudoku and buy/sell btc / altcoins

[jimcoins]

I agree, the tech skills needed to do any sort of mining are just far beyond that of most people.  Even I have to rely on my more tech skilled business partner to make this all work.

But it sounds like you are ready to get more involved with the currencies just the same.  In this case, I would absolutely encourage you to join in the excitement.  You can do this by first reading some of the posts here about opening a bitcoin wallet and buying bitcoins.  Then you have some BTC and can use that to go and buy alternative currencies.  You can have fun trading them buy and sell just like you would any other stock.  You can try to buy low and sell high while supporting the market and the people who are working to make it a real force in the economy.

I hope that helps.

Oh, and you can always buy and sell things for BTC to be involved that way.