BTC Story.

[wwzsocki]

... I will edit my post with my story on how this forum changed me ...

No problem take your time. This is worth to wait for another inspirational story. I hope this will be something spectacular.

Just joking, anybody is welcome to share his story. No matter if it is short, long, inspirational or not. I will be happy to read any story, just to know all of you a little bit better.

[ChefImGartenPavillion]

Hey wwzsocki,

very well written and interesting story, thanks for sharing, and good luck with your health issues.

I hope many more interesting stories will be shared here.

[DdmrDdmr]

This is a partial story in a sense, which I posted at the beginning of this year and just remembered now. What I depict here is not anything spectacular, nor my full story (which I wish to keep private), but rather more how a Newbie (me) entered the forum with a mindset to understand what all the hype was about. In order to do that, I undertook the task of performing some things which are against my nature, but that I took on as a sort of personal social experiment, on my quest to understanding a major aspect of the forum, albeit not the core intended one:

<…>
When I joined the forum, I did it during the great hype period, and was genuinely intrigued by all this virtual community world. Being myself rather an anti-social network sort of creature, I took it with an exploratory spirit, wanting to unveil both something about myself, and about what the forum was about and the surrounding mass hype.

Leaving my personal investment side apart, I thought that social tasks required by bounties were strange. One is mostly required to monkey copy/paste messages on to his social networks, and “spread the word” of a normally random ICO.
 
The first thing I noticed is that I had no Telegram, Twitter nor active Facebook (nor other lesser demanded social media channels). The second thought that came to mind was that, had I has those channels in use in my day to day life, why the hell should I be spamming relatives, friends, acquaintances with ICO promotional messages ?, which they :

-   a) would not understand.
-   b) would not appreciate.
-   c) Leave a wrong impression of who I am.
-   d) Get me on their ignore lists (real and virtual).

So the obvious next step was to create a dummy set of social accounts and use those to spam … others, that do exactly the same in turn. Of course, being a sort of experiment, I tried it for just a few social campaigns, and felt like a right twat monkeying my way through the social media channels.

From the ICO’s point of view, you get to spread your word, but likely in a “don’t shout at me because I can’t see you” kind of scenario. That is, people blast out the messages with little understanding on the receiver’s behalf, or interest whatsoever.

From my personal viewpoint, it seemed like a rather demeaning set of tasks, which I followed through to the end on a very reduced subset of occasions. Aside from that, the return on investment (ICO Token) is normally crap so that was it for me after a very brief test run.

Signatures on the other hand are more compelling, since they do not require you to monkey around a retweeted message, nor invade your social circle with spam. What one types in their posts is their own prerogative, and since typing crap is not in my nature, signature campaigns are something I can live with.
I’ve only been on two though: The first one was a fiasco, and although I joined because I thought that the project seemed decent enough and not some bullshit scam, I think I’ve yet to receive the (now rather) worthless token. The second one is the one I currently bear, and no complaint’s there. In between, I stayed off signatures for quite a number of months, since I did not want to be asked to perform a certain amount of posts per week. In addition, this being a hobby for me, and not a means of living (as seems to be for many - bad option in my opinion), helps to have a decent focus on things.

Having said all that, in short, social bounties more often than not do not pay off, neither in terms of tokens nor in personal esteem. Signatures are more compatible with my thought, so long as one does not spam their way through the forum to comply with quotas.

[wwzsocki]

...This is my short (and useless ) story of my life and the forum. How did the forum changed my mindset . Thanks

Great story, thank you for finally sharing the updated version. I was very happy to read it and I need more inspirational stories from other Bitcointalk members .

I encourage everyone, to share your story here. For every story, I will found useful and high quality, there will be a merit award and I have left a couple for this occasion  .

So, if you want merits, please share your story and there is a big chance, that you will be awarded for your efforts.

[wwzsocki]

I keep wondering why this thread was moved to off-topic section?

There are so many threads like this one in meta section and I see them there for a very long time and never moved.

I would do nothing but there are plenty of such stories about self-made senior, hero or legendary members and they are not removed from meta.

Why my thread is different and constantly moved to the off-topic section where is no activity at all?

[malevolent]

I keep wondering why this thread was moved to off-topic section?
There are so many threads like this one in meta section and I see them there for a very long time and never moved.
I would do nothing but there are plenty of such stories about self-made senior, hero or legendary members and they are not removed from meta.

Probably because Meta is supposed to be for discussions about the Bitcoin Forum, and other threads weren't reported yet.

Why my thread is different and constantly moved to the off-topic section where is no activity at all?

Off-topic is actually more active.

Off-topic
804232 Posts
28545 Topics

Meta
287803 Posts
16448 Topics

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Probably because Meta is supposed to be for discussions about the Bitcoin Forum, and other threads weren't reported yet.

Well, I think this thread ought to be in Meta and I'm glad it got moved back here--I have Off-Topic on ignore since I never post there and from what I've heard it's a mess.

OP, I think I told you before you have an amazing bitcoin story and thanks again for sharing it.  Our paths don't cross much on the forum, but I was familiar with your name and never realized you'd been into bitcoin for so long.

I remember sitting at my computer at some point in 2012 reading financial news, mostly about the stock market, and I remember reading some blurb about bitcoin and how fast it was rising.  When I read that it was some kind of internet currency, I figured it was the equivalent of Flooz, which I'd remembered from the early-ish days of the internet.  I assumed there were a bunch of suckers buying bitcoin, pushing it to the moon, and that they'd eventually get burned and that bitcoin would fall to zero.  I thought it was some sort of scam, like a Ponzi.

Sometime in 2013 I kept hearing about bitcoin because of how high the Mt. Gox fiasco was pushing it, and it was at that point I discovered bitcointalk--every time I searched for something about bitcoin, forum links were the first ones that popped up on Google.  I found the forum to be very interesting reading, especially all the scam accusations, which I took to mean that bitcoin was mostly a scam.  Eventually I just bookmarked a page from the forum so I could come back to it and continue reading about the dramas that were happening.

I saw how bitcoin had survived Mt. Gox, even though it crashed really hard, and that sort of dispelled my belief that bitcoin was a scam or that it was headed toward $0.  Reading more about it, I figured out why bitcoin is different from Flooz, that it's decentralized and completely different than what Whoopee Goldberg was shilling back in the day.  However, the technicals really confused me and I did not find it obvious how to buy any bitcoin, how to store it, how to send it, or anything else.

2015 came and I'd figured out how bitcoin ownership worked.  I started earning dust through faucets (there was one called Land of Bitcoins IIRC) and finally created a Coinbase account and bought my first coins.  Bitcoin was trading around $300-400 at that time, and boy I wish I knew then how crazy bitcoin was going to take off.  I never held onto what I bought, and that's one of my regrets. 

My story is absolutely boring compared to OP's, but I thought I'd just share it.  I was not an early adopter or a believer in it from the start--bitcoin kind of won me over as time passed.  Aside from not keeping my early purchases, I've no regrets about getting into crypto.  I don't write about my feelings on bitcoin and crypto much, but I'm a true supporter now.  And thanks for keeping this thread alive and in the right place.

[wwzsocki]

...My story is absolutely boring compared to OP's, but I thought I'd just share it.  I was not an early adopter or a believer in it from the start--bitcoin kind of won me over as time passed.  Aside from not keeping my early purchases, I've no regrets about getting into crypto.  I don't write about my feelings on bitcoin and crypto much, but I'm a true supporter now.

Your story is not boring at all. Is just an honest story and thank you very much for sharing it. Maybe this will encourage other members to this same.
They maybe think, just like you, that they have a boring story and nothing to say, but this is not true as we see.
Every member of this forum has his own BTC and Bitcointalk forum story and I will be very happy to read all of them. Merits are waiting for the best stories!!!

...Our paths don't cross much on the forum, but I was familiar with your name and never realized you'd been into bitcoin for so long...

This is true we haven't interacted together on the forum but maybe it would change in the future, I hope so. I am in Bitcoin almost from the start and after my first contact with BTC, I knew it would be something which would change the world. I just knew is the missing part of the internet. This is so funny that back in 2011 nobody wanted to listen about BTC and everybody had the exact same opinion as yours that this is a scam. This shows me clearly that from the start there were two groups of people. The first one the believers like me which after the first look at BTC, knew that this is something big, despite didn't understand the tech behind it fully also and had a lot of questions about it. Second group disbelievers which from the start treat BTC as a scam because there is too much fraud in the internet world. Some of them during the time get to know BTC better and joined the believers' club forces. Just like you @The Pharmacist.

...I started earning dust through faucets (there was one called Land of Bitcoins IIRC)...

Of course, I have used both of these faucets and even Freebitco.in I use to this day and have plenty of refs there, thanks to my signature. Today is not working so good because everybody already is familiar with this faucet, but back then I got hundreds of them every week. That was the time when I realized how strong such a signature is and how good ref links works on the forums. TBH back then faucets were paying a lot more like dust. I knew faucets which paid 0.5BTC just for signing up  . I like sometimes take a look at my BTC wallets history and my old transactions. Just yesterday I remind myself looking at my old transactions that I have won 3.5BTC in https://peerbet.org/. That was a raffle service back then where you put provably fair bets against each other. If I would only hold to this money it would be whooping 80.000$ if sold on ATH. I remember, I sold it only for 900$ and that was luckily my last transaction at Mr.Gox because the next day was hacked.

...I have Off-Topic on ignore since I never post there and from what I've heard it's a mess...

Exactly, despite there are more posts as in meta this section is a mess and a pure spam contest with no real activity. Even if somebody post there something never follow it further.
No real activity and real committed readers of that section. I would have nothing against off-topic but activity in this thread just died there.

[tranthidung]

Because there are overlaps inside the @wwzsocki's story, including his journey in real life and with bitcoin & blockchain technology. On the other hand, the story tells about his journey with merit system, from Senior Member rank to Hero Member rank now. That's is the main reason why the thread can be fitted with Meta board.
For other stories, for example, solely tell about rank achievements with merit system's challenges, I still think they are more fitted with the Beginners & Help board. Not sure, but I kept my story in that board, not in Meta.
Promotion with merit system and new rank requirements. It's possible.
Most of other stories are in Beginners & Help board, too: Inspirational stories from self-made promoted users
Any ideas (hope that I am not wrong with it)?

[wwzsocki]

...I still think they are more fitted with the Beginners & Help board. Not sure, but I kept my story in that board, not in Meta.
Promotion with merit system and new rank requirements. It's possible.
Most of other stories are in Beginners & Help board, too: Inspirational stories from self-made promoted users
Any ideas (hope that I am not wrong with it)?

I fully agree with you and don't mind the beginners' section. I just couldn't understand why my thread was moved to the off-topic section which is not related at all with my post.

[tranthidung]

I fully agree with you and don't mind the beginners' section. I just couldn't understand why my thread was moved to the off-topic section which is not related at all with my post.

I don't know too, but eventually it was moved back here.
Last time, I posted in the thread, I was a Senior Member, but now I am a Hero Member. I actually made it on 30 Jul. 2019.
I am on the way to Hero Member rank. Within less than 2 years from register day
Glad to stay on the same rank as yours.

[wwzsocki]

I don't know too, but eventually it was moved back here.

TBH I did by myself after members advised me to move it back to the meta section because it could be removed by mistake.

Mods are only humans too and make sometimes mistakes. My thread is still in the meta section so I assume that was the case.

[wwzsocki]

...You must really have time to be reporting thousands of post. Really comment you on that one. What were your gains? Were you rewarded heavily with merits at the end cos you can't do it for free...

Indeed reporting is very time consuming but finally, I have mastered it.

Never got single merit because of my reports and never wanted to be famous because of them. Never created special report threads in meta or reputation sections to get merits only used the "report button" even if I found a big bot farm or multiple plagiarism attempts. I am and always was against multiple report threads (there are already existing once) and against merit awards because of reports.

TBH even after so many reports, I have seen no changes in the forum. There was so much spam at the end of 2017 that a few thousand less (because of my reports) made no visible difference.

That was the reason why I stopped to spend my time to look for abuse, report spam on my own and joined the Spambusters Club from the very beginning, to report all kind of abuse more efficiently. We have reported multiple threads in this club and work until today, very closely with moderators on our reports, to get the most value from our work.

[redsn0w]

Fantastic story  , thanks for sharing it with us.

[wwzsocki]

Fantastic story  , thanks for sharing it with us.

I am very happy that you liked my story. I will be very happy to read yours. Thanks for honest merit award and this comment.

I hope I will encourage everyone to post this thread. I need more members to give a good example and to share their stories here.

[wwzsocki]

I have a couple of merits left so I encourage everyone to share your story and I will award the best once for sure.

No matter if the story is simple or you are a newbie here. Just share how you found BTC and Bitcointalk this will be enough.

[tranthidung]

I think you are refering to this thread. I don't mean to sound harsh, but this looks like what has been discussed around in some threads: merit fishing.

My latest story is someone whom are jealously with stories from self-made users, and don't like inspirational stories.

Hours ago, I updated my old story that written when I ranked up to a Senior Member from scratch, months ago. I just re-read the Welcome message written by admin, and saw that interesting part.
I think, it is once again, demonstrates that users should read forum rules, pinned threads, and helpful guides repeatedly, because the more times they read, the more probability that they will discover something interesting and valuable.

I updated OP with the point #7, from theymos. Admin clearly emphasize that post quality does not soley depends on your post-length and your English. They are componental factors, but minor ones. Ideas are more important, and writers have to put decent efforts to read, learn, have their own collections of good posts, threads, categorize them for later use. If you see a good posts, threads, but you don't note them down, next time you will have to search and it takes more time to find them (sometimes you don't remember exactly keywords should be used to search)

(7) Ideas that I took from theymos' Writing a welcome message

If you make ten thousand posts in a week, your activity will be capped and you will still be a Newbie. If you make ten thousand useless posts over any period of time, you will gain zero merit and you will still be a Newbie. You can rank up only by making good posts consistently. It's quality over quantity.

When trying to write quality posts, a lot of people act as though they're writing a book report for school: putting facts that we already know into their own words. Nobody wants to read that, and you will not get merit for it. Moreover, the length of your post and the quality of your English are only minor factors. In trying to write a quality post worthy of merit, you should offer new ideas, personal experiences, or perspectives that other forum users will actually find new and interesting.

[wwzsocki]

My latest story is...

Thank you for sharing this. Nice read I like such stories and ask for more.

[hd49728]

That is my story: Roadway from zero to hero
Yeah, with help from merit system, and supports from community, I am here, as a Senior member.
My plan? I would prefer to finish my current challenge to hero member and celebrate it before Bitcoin halving.

[wwzsocki]

That is my story: Roadway from zero to hero

Thanks for sharing your story in my thread. I was so happy that I will read a new story because lately, there were only a few publications here.

Unfortunately, I have already read this thread just after your publication and even shared a short commented wishing you luck.

Still, this is very good that you shared the link here and I encourage every member to this same if already has his story published somewhere.

Always the chance is bigger that somebody will find this link and read your content if links are widely spread on the forum, especially to quality content.