Bitcointalk forum holding 125 BTC

[sukbir]

I have been using this forum since 2019 but I haven't seen any changes to site. Forum has huge amount of bitcoin, I am thinking where they spend that bitcoin.


Source: https://bitcointalk.org/donate.html

Bitcointalk donation funds: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/17RTTUAiiPqUTKtEggJPec8RxLMi2n9EZ9

[1714782239]

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[DdmrDdmr]

Some of the forum’s summarized finance history is stated in this thread (2014 .. 2018):
Question about forum finances (again, 2017).

Asking for more information on the forum’s finances, be it in terms of detail or related to 2019/2020, is better suited in Meta.

Edit: The thread is now in Meta (as opposed to prior placemente Bitcoin Discussion).

[pugman]

Few things:

Forum holds more than 125 BTC. Multiple people have access to the forum funds via Multi-sig. For more info in detail,read : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155000.0

Forum spends most of the money of Epochtalk, and to pay out mods. Epochtalk is the new forum software which has been in development for ~8 years. The board for epochtalk is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=167.0

[OgNasty]

The funds raised to build a new forum as others have stated is much higher than 125 BTC.

If you'd like to track the progress being made on the new forum they have a github, but if you aren't into reviewing code you might find that there's a section of the forum dedicated to discussing this subject in detail and taking requests for features, etc...  Link is in the post above this.

[notblox1]

We are probably going to hodl this 125 bitcoins forever or until each member of bitcointalk becomes millionaire in dollar terms.
No changes are needed because people are using same old software and they don't want to see any changes that would requiere them to learn something new.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I have been using this forum since 2019 but I haven't seen any changes to site.

What kind of changes would you like to see? Sparkling buttons and stylish layouts? This is a serious forum bringing serious discussions about a serious world-changing project that is taken... seriously! There's no need to change anything that would spoil the spirit of this website.  

Forum has huge amount of bitcoin, I am thinking where they spend that bitcoin.

I'm sure that the web hosting and the moderation team are way too expensive. Both of them are really fast.

Not sure, but I remember reading that theymos keeps 750 bitcoins on a cold storage. I don't remember if they are for bitcointalk, though, or just for him.

[Quickseller]

Forum spends most of the money of Epochtalk, and to pay out mods. Epochtalk is the new forum software which has been in development for ~8 years. The board for epochtalk is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=167.0

The money spent on the mods actually comes out of the forum's ad revenue, unless something has semi-recently changed.

spends most of the money of Epochtal

We are still paying to have epochtalk developed?

[mindrust]

I have been using this forum since 2019 but I haven't seen any changes to site. Forum has huge amount of bitcoin, I am thinking where they spend that bitcoin.


Source: https://bitcointalk.org/donate.html

Bitcointalk donation funds: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/17RTTUAiiPqUTKtEggJPec8RxLMi2n9EZ9

The site is fine. What could you possibly add to this forum anyway? (I mean feature-wise) It is a damn internet forum and no matter how much you spend on it, it will still be an internet forum. The thing is forums are dead. Reddit is where it is at now.

Epochtalk or whatever it is like someone said above, is being developed for 8 years and it will probably go on another 8 years. That must tell you something: "Nobody cares."

spends most of the money of Epochtal

We are still paying to have epochtalk developed?

Who is that we?

I am not paying shit.

[actmyname]

We are still paying to have epochtalk developed?

I'm sure my great-grandchildren will love the grand opening party.

[Quickseller]

We are still paying to have epochtalk developed?

I'm sure my great-grandchildren will love the grand opening party.

I am not sure about that.

At one point, I would say that it might be time to dump the company that we hired and either go with someone new, or rely on the community to finish the development. I am not sure continuing to employ this company is money well spent.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Forum holds more than 125 BTC.

Holy shit, I didn't realize it was that much.  I actually thought it was much, much less--but then again, I don't pay much attention, since I never donated and it's none of my business what the forum does with its money.  

You said part of that gets paid to the mods, but I thought I also heard that they get paid very little and also that it depends on how much moderating they do.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on either of those points.  But jeez, with 125BTC the forum could afford to pay for a ton of moderators even if it paid well.  

And how much does it cost to upgrade the forum, anyway?  With bitcoin at $55k or so, you'd think 125BTC would more than cover it (but I won't complain about that either, since I'm kind of a fan of the way the forum is now).

The thing is forums are dead. Reddit is where it is at now.

I'd say this forum isn't dead even if the set of all forums is on the decline--and that's probably because of sig campaigns and bounties, but nevertheless bitcointalk is far from dead.  And what's Reddit anyway?  It's a collection of forums with heavy censorship.  I want no part of that, thanks.

[malevolent]

The site is fine. What could you possibly add to this forum anyway? (I mean feature-wise)

More advanced mod tools, forum stats, and U2F/FIDO2 authentication would be nice.

It is a damn internet forum and no matter how much you spend on it, it will still be an internet forum. The thing is forums are dead. Reddit is where it is at now.

Unfortunately true to a large extent, especially for English language content.

@Pharmacist

It's actually >10x as much.

[pugman]

Forum holds more than 125 BTC.

Holy shit, I didn't realize it was that much.  I actually thought it was much, much less--but then again, I don't pay much attention, since I never donated and it's none of my business what the forum does with its money.  

You said part of that gets paid to the mods, but I thought I also heard that they get paid very little and also that it depends on how much moderating they do.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on either of those points.  But jeez, with 125BTC the forum could afford to pay for a ton of moderators even if it paid well.  

And how much does it cost to upgrade the forum, anyway?  With bitcoin at $55k or so, you'd think 125BTC would more than cover it (but I won't complain about that either, since I'm kind of a fan of the way the forum is now).

I am pretty sure Forum at one point had earned/received around 6000 BTC, IIRC. One of the ref links: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=236325.0

The forum also has some amount of BCH and other forks I think? theymos said he will check some time in the future but don't know anything beyond that. Ref: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2044276.0

Furthermore, 250 bitcoins were lost due to pariapan's sudden death unfortunately. So if you want to get 62.5 BTC, better find out which motherfucker gained access to his/the forums coins. 

spends most of the money of Epochtal

We are still paying to have epochtalk developed?

I would hope not. But who knows? not me. @theymos wink wink.

[SFR10]

I have been using this forum since 2019 but I haven't seen any changes to site.

Here are some of the changes since 2019:
^{- I might've missed some but it doesn't matter.}

• DefaultTrust changes
• grin is now accepted for forum payments
• Minor selfmod enhancement
• Retention/privacy info
• Trust flags
• Bumping changes on some boards
• 10th anniversary art contest badges
• Domain name update

In addition to what others have said so far, we ^{[as "normal" users]} are only viewing the front-end of the product ^{[this forum]} as opposed to seeing all of the minor/major changes that are happening ^[regularly] in the back-end.
^{- I'm not a back-end coder by any means but I strongly believe that we've had a lot of modifications since then [we may not see or feel those, but they're part of our interactions].}

[aoluain]

True, the forum can appear to be static from a visual and developmental point of view
but there is of course a lot going on back-end.

I wasnt aware that the forum was holding 125BTC, I never gave any thought to where
or how the donations and Copper membership payments are held or spent, its not my
concern, I have FREE membership of the forum.

[UserU]

You said part of that gets paid to the mods, but I thought I also heard that they get paid very little and also that it depends on how much moderating they do.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on either of those points.  But jeez, with 125BTC the forum could afford to pay for a ton of moderators even if it paid well. 

And how much does it cost to upgrade the forum, anyway?  With bitcoin at $55k or so, you'd think 125BTC would more than cover it (but I won't complain about that either, since I'm kind of a fan of the way the forum is now).

125 BTC is more than enough to sustain the forum for generations to come. Even after Elon has launched his new space programs to cover Uranus and Pluto.

Not to mention that the weekly ad revenue from advertisers and the Copper membership can cover pretty much most of the hosting and domain expenditure, assuming that SMF renewal is not factored in as we've been stuck since 2019.

Sadly we won't know how much the mods get paid since that's part of the NDA. But as one myself, it's way less than a typical clerical job.

[eddie13]

125BTC

It's actually >10x as much.

I had a premonition the other day that some of these funds may be used to take 1st amendment battles to the Supreme Court some day..

Depending on where the way of the world goes, and how strictly theymos/this forum intend to hold on to the fundamental principles of its founding, bitcointalk could end up as a big player in future battles for liberty..

Maybe after another halving or 2..

Either that or this forum is eventually going to have to bow to the authoritarians, or seek safer refuge than the USA..

[Laudanum]

What? Much more than 125btc.

Who cares. People donated. This forum helped people many many many people become millionaires and even billionaires.
Lets not be ungrateful.
I don't see those that donated always going on about this.
I see zero need for a new forum.
So long as the forum is always here and has money to run that's all that really matters.

I mean with its current load it can run on a zx81 or something so I guess we dont have to worry lol

I mean if it came out theymos was spending some on fast cars and women or even wasting some on non essentials?

Go invest in some good projects and you'll see 125BTC isn't as unobtainable as you may think.

The forum is running now and forever let's not worry about it  
When theymos says he ran out of funds and bct is closing then we can freak out.

[Quickseller]

125BTC

It's actually >10x as much.

I had a premonition the other day that some of these funds may be used to take 1st amendment battles to the Supreme Court some day..

Theymos is not a fan of using the court system, as least as an agressor.

Maybe after another halving or 2..

I don't think it will take that long. I can see "disinformation" related laws being passed by the current congress that would very much affect how the forum operates.

[Pmalek]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on either of those points.  

You are not wrong. According to mexxer-2 post from 2016, a portion of the 25% of the bitcoin the forum generated through ads was intended for mod payments according to a formula. If the formula is correct, the most active moderators earned 0.3% or more per month, each. This was confirmed by Quickseller further down in the thread.