Bitcoin Expert status

[deepceleron]

I award a to Vitalik Buterin (author: http://bitcoinmagazine.com/author/vitalik-buterin/). He may have been 14 at the time of the genesis block, but it is sufficient to say if he says something about Bitcoin, it is probably correct.

I'm not a member of the illuminati that can hand out forum icons though.

[deepceleron]

The feature was added, and a few people were given the icon, and then it was never addressed again...

[qwk]

I award a to Vitalik Buterin (author: http://bitcoinmagazine.com/author/vitalik-buterin/). He may have been 14 at the time of the genesis block, but it is sufficient to say if he says something about Bitcoin, it is probably correct.
I'm not a member of the illuminati that can hand out forum icons though.

Here's an (incomplete) list of Bitcoin experts I found so far (in no particular order):
Sergio_Demian_Lerner
Mike Hearn
Hal
theymos
Peter Todd
ByteCoin
MagicalTux
Meni Rosenfeld
Luke-Jr
genjix
piuk

You'll probably miss a s***load of names on that list whom you'd consider an expert.
E.g. I just noticed that adam3us is not an expert. I mean, seriously?

With theymos being in charge of a completely deliberately chosen list (and also probably being lazy), you can't expect it to be complete or make sense

BTW: gmaxwell, jgarzik, wumpus, Pieter Wuille, Gavin Andresen are just lowly "core developers", not even experts

This only appears in the Dev & Tech section.

Some users have additional icons and text below the coins. For example theymos: "Bitcoin expert"

It's just hover text, right?

Who determines who is a Bitcoin expert?

I do.

[malevolent]

I award a to Vitalik Buterin (author: http://bitcoinmagazine.com/author/vitalik-buterin/). He may have been 14 at the time of the genesis block, but it is sufficient to say if he says something about Bitcoin, it is probably correct.

I'm not a member of the illuminati that can hand out forum icons though.

I added a system of badges to SMF a while ago, though only two are defined now. Here are the current badges:

Bitcoin expert	Dev&Tech only. People with this badge know enough about the Bitcoin network to reimplement something very like it from scratch. They are capable of intelligently discussing the Bitcoin network: current protocol, possible attacks, proposed changes, etc. Criteria: Recommendation by an existing Bitcoin expert or core dev and approval by a forum administrator.
Bitcoin-Qt core developer	Dev&Tech only. These are the core developers of Satoshi's Bitcoin client. They are listed here. Core developers are among the top contributors to Bitcoin-Qt, and they are all bitcoin experts, though they don't also get that badge.

A core dev does not "outrank" a bitcoin expert (or vice-versa), and it's possible for someone without a badge to contribute meaningfully to a discussion with experts and core devs.

[Peter Todd]

I wholeheartedly recommend that adam3us be added to the Bitcoin expert list.

[qwk]

I wholeheartedly recommend that adam3us be added to the Bitcoin expert list.

Aaaand he's been promoted

Experts:
adam3us
etotheipi
ByteCoin
theymos
Mike Hearn
genjix
Sergio_Demian_Lerner
Peter Todd
Hal
MagicalTux
Luke-Jr
Meni Rosenfeld
piuk

Core Developers:
Pieter Wuille
Gavin Andresen
jgarzik
satoshi
gmaxwell
tcatm
wumpus

[theymos]

Experts:
adam3us
etotheipi
ByteCoin
theymos
Mike Hearn
genjix
Sergio_Demian_Lerner
Peter Todd
Hal
MagicalTux
Luke-Jr
Meni Rosenfeld
piuk

You're missing 3, though some of them post very rarely in Dev&Tech. See if you can find them all.

[qwk]

You're missing 3, though some of them post very rarely in Dev&Tech. See if you can find them all.

A challenge
Unfortunately, I only managed to find 2
Matt Corallo
forrestv

My search algorithm "search threads that were started by other Bitcoin Experts or Core Developers" turned out to be quite effective, but I had to give up after a while.
Now please, who's number 3? Curiosity will kill this cat if you don't tell

On a side note, two suggestions: casascius & Diapolo.

[qwk]

Bitcoin Expert Fun Fact:
forrestv hardly ever leaves the pool.



There are only 4 posts in 2 threads where you can actually spot his Expert Badge:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=46538.msg595940#msg595940
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=39088.msg478130#msg478130

[illdeletethis]

would Andreas Antonopoulos count as an expert?

[theymos]

Now please, who's number 3? Curiosity will kill this cat if you don't tell

dacoinminster. He posts in Dev&Tech very rarely (though not as rarely as forrestv, actually), so I'm not surprised that you didn't find him.

[makveezy]

IS THERE AN UPDATED LIST OF EXPERTS & DEV BADGE MEMBERS?

[qwk]

Just noticed that achow101, formerly known as knightdk(?) is an expert.
About time for a new list