Is Bitcointalk.org losing user base?

[Rikafip]

I see on that thread that the YouTube channel is actually going to be launched shortly.
That idea had been posted here on the thread, so forum administrators are maybe reading lurking this thread.
This gives hope also to other good ideas surfaced here.
Keep contributing!

Yep, it looks like bitcointalk YouTube channel might go live very soon and I am really excited about it. People  nowadays spend shit load of time on YT (not just kids/teenagers, but grown ups too) so this might be a way to attract more people to bitcontalk, and even more to bitcoin!

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[BITCOIN4X]

Yep, it looks like bitcointalk YouTube channel might go live very soon and I am really excited about it. People  nowadays spend shit load of time on YT (not just kids/teenagers, but grown ups too) so this might be a way to attract more people to bitcontalk, and even more to bitcoin!

Many people will find this forum if they are interested in bitcoin. YouTube can help its users to find this forum if the user has an interest in bitcoin investing and the bitcointalk.org forum become an advertisement relevant to it. So far there are many videos on other users' private YouTube channels discussing forum issues and how forum can make money for their users. Most of them are bounty hunter and maybe they have invited quite a number of new users to the forum because of money or because they want to know a lot about bitcoin. Bitcointalk.org in YouTube may not be new, but if this is an official channel, then it deserve more support.

[shield132]

I think that the main reason why Bitcointalk is losing it's popularity is that Bitcoin went mainstream and other businesses/platforms used this opportunity very well.

1. Websites like Cointelegraph, Coindesk and others try to write and publish news as soon as possible, these websites are a great source of crypto-related news, they are the ones who search the information all the time and then show it to their audience.
2. Websites like Stackoverflow have an audience of developers and enthusiasts who are more likely to help each other and share the knowledge.
3. Reddit is one of the most popular social news website and it's not oriented on one task but there is a discussion and boards on almost every theme/subject and people prefer to use it because for that and also for the nice UI.

There are some other reasons to say too along with them. Also, at the same time, don't want to look rude but Theymos doesn't really take care of this forum. I don't judge it, I really appreciate bitcointalk and its role in my life, it completely changed my life for better but truth is truth, this forum looks like abandoned and the major life-giving power is the signature campaign at the moment.

Bitcointalk needs serious change, implementation of new features to make the website look like a comfortable all-in-one service.

[Welsh]

3. Reddit is one of the most popular social news website and it's not oriented on one task but there is a discussion and boards on almost every theme/subject and people prefer to use it because for that and also for the nice UI.

This is really the only one that comes close to comparable to Bitcointalk. However, its success isn't based on its quality, in fact I would say that its popularity is because of its lack of quality. The platform is designed mainly for lower quality content, and has a visibility feature which is easily abused. However, out of the ones you listed its the closest one that comes to Bitcointalk's goal, and that's quality based discussion. Don't get me wrong Reddit can have quality discussion, but because of its nature it tends to encourage lower based quality.

[skarais]

This is really the only one that comes close to comparable to Bitcointalk. However, its success isn't based on its quality, in fact I would say that its popularity is because of its lack of quality. The platform is designed mainly for lower quality content, and has a visibility feature which is easily abused. However, out of the ones you listed its the closest one that comes to Bitcointalk's goal, and that's quality based discussion. Don't get me wrong Reddit can have quality discussion, but because of its nature it tends to encourage lower based quality.

I don't use reddit, so I don't know if it's worth comparing to bitcointalk or not. For the best post quality, bitcointalk may still be at the top for online bitcoin forum compared to other forum. But in my opinion between Reddit and bitcointalk have a different rating system. A Reddit user doesn't need HQ quality post to earn karma, because fame and number of followers will have an impact on the amount of karma you get. I think the same post rating system applies in bitcointalk and that is a merit. There's an emphasis on post quality as a condition for getting merit, I think it's different on Reddit. If my assumption is wrong, please correct me.

[FIFA worldcup]

This is really the only one that comes close to comparable to Bitcointalk. However, its success isn't based on its quality, in fact I would say that its popularity is because of its lack of quality. The platform is designed mainly for lower quality content, and has a visibility feature which is easily abused. However, out of the ones you listed its the closest one that comes to Bitcointalk's goal, and that's quality based discussion. Don't get me wrong Reddit can have quality discussion, but because of its nature it tends to encourage lower based quality.

I don't use reddit, so I don't know if it's worth comparing to bitcointalk or not. For the best post quality, bitcointalk may still be at the top for online bitcoin forum compared to other forum. But in my opinion between Reddit and bitcointalk have a different rating system. A Reddit user doesn't need HQ quality post to earn karma, because fame and number of followers will have an impact on the amount of karma you get. I think the same post rating system applies in bitcointalk and that is a merit. There's an emphasis on post quality as a condition for getting merit, I think it's different on Reddit. If my assumption is wrong, please correct me.

We should compare Reddit or other social media platforms like Twitter with bitcointalk. The structure and nature of these platform is different when compared to bitcointalk forum. If you want to compare, the you compare it with other bitcoin forums and i can safely say that none of those forums is popular as bitcointalk.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

The Award system in Reddit is a better comparison than the rating/upvote system there.
You can upvote every single post in Reddit without being restricted, however in Award you're limited to how much Award you can give to a post and you need to buy them using Reddit Coins. That is pretty much close to sMerits as well except you don't buy them obviously.

They give free Award randomly sometimes and it is randomized on what Award they can let you give to a post. I commonly get the Bear Hug award, lol.

[Jazmin Leslie]

I guess it’s a trend that can’t be reversed anymore.

Let me disagree on this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have created this thread.

For sure there is some work to do, I don’t know still what, but this trend can be if not properly reversed, maybe mitigated.
Or at least it’s worth trying.

This post is really valuable. I read them one by one. I was very pleasantly surprised.It turns out that the forum is still very active.

I still feel that the content of the forum is more sincere than the content output of other forums. After all, the status of bitcointalk is the highest banner of the crypto community.
Since there is no survival problem, we should really consider the development problem. Mr. Nakamoto built a home for us, and we should pass the spirit of Bitcoin to more people.

[Welsh]

I don't use reddit, so I don't know if it's worth comparing to bitcointalk or not. For the best post quality, bitcointalk may still be at the top for online bitcoin forum compared to other forum. But in my opinion between Reddit and bitcointalk have a different rating system. A Reddit user doesn't need HQ quality post to earn karma, because fame and number of followers will have an impact on the amount of karma you get. I think the same post rating system applies in bitcointalk and that is a merit. There's an emphasis on post quality as a condition for getting merit, I think it's different on Reddit. If my assumption is wrong, please correct me.

Nah, its a pretty bad idea to compare Reddit's upvotes to Merit here on the forum. Reddit's system is fundamentally broken, and is very easy to abuse. Basically, if someone wanted to they could control what is seen by others on the subreddit by creating hundreds of accounts, and down voting whatever they want. Merit here on the forum is only given to those that have earned merit or have been selected by theymos for their merit distribution, and eye for spotting posts that align to his goal on Bitcointalk, which is usually the higher quality posts.

Upvoting isn't judging the posts quality, at least that's not its intended use. Its used to help upvote content that they think is relevant, and users should see, and down vote things that they shouldn't see. That's basically it, its not really tied to the quality of the post, at least not primarily, and is only loosely associated with it. However, its most definitely misused by many of the users over there.

[Kiley33]

I often mention this forum to my friends. I said that I learned a lot of useful knowledge in this forum. I recommended him to join the forum, but he had to pay when he registered, and then he gave up. Another friend entered our forum and thought it was a good place to learn about cryptocurrency, but he thought the forum was not as interesting as reddit. Maybe the things here are too "rigid", and the things that can be searched here can be searched on reddit. He said that reddit is now more suitable for young people because the content he discusses is richer and people are more interested. Compared with reddit, here can improve our encryption knowledge and let us know more about the cryptocurrency market. It is more suitable for calm people to read and think.

[Magicalking]

The fact that I am typing in a huge textbox is one of the reasons why the forum is not famous amongst youngsters. Also networks like reddit and telegram are good for chatting.  The icons on top are confusing and I haven't got used to them yet. I disagree with the notion that the rules are too strict and is the cause of the decline in new users. The rules is the only reason why the forum has order. Reedit, telegram and the other networks mention are easy target practice for scam.

[LoyceV]

The fact that I am typing in a huge textbox is one of the reasons why the forum is not famous amongst youngsters.

Why? Are they afraid of text?
You can of course make it smaller.

[skarais]

Nah, its a pretty bad idea to compare Reddit's upvotes to Merit here on the forum. Reddit's system is fundamentally broken, and is very easy to abuse. Basically, if someone wanted to they could control what is seen by others on the subreddit by creating hundreds of accounts, and down voting whatever they want. Merit here on the forum is only given to those that have earned merit or have been selected by theymos for their merit distribution, and eye for spotting posts that align to his goal on Bitcointalk, which is usually the higher quality posts.

Upvoting isn't judging the posts quality, at least that's not its intended use. Its used to help upvote content that they think is relevant, and users should see, and down vote things that they shouldn't see. That's basically it, its not really tied to the quality of the post, at least not primarily, and is only loosely associated with it. However, its most definitely misused by many of the users over there.

That's why I hesitate to make a comparison between the two. Since 2017 I still really enjoy my time on this forum even when people say this forum is outdated and need to be upgraded asap if users don't want to leave it.

As for the user base that looks down, I've actually had the same hunch since december 2019 so I created a special thread to find out why. As of December 3, 2019, this forum still has 133,934 active users according to bpip.org, but today we only have 98,669 logged-in profiles in the last 3 month. Obviously I can feel a lot of decline in term of the number of users. But if the orientation is on quality, I think this forum looks much better than before January 2018 or before the merit system was implemented.

[JohnBitCo]

The fact that I am typing in a huge textbox is one of the reasons why the forum is not famous amongst youngsters. Also networks like reddit and telegram are good for chatting.  The icons on top are confusing and I haven't got used to them yet. I disagree with the notion that the rules are too strict and is the cause of the decline in new users. The rules is the only reason why the forum has order. Reedit, telegram and the other networks mention are easy target practice for scam.

Bitcointalk may not be famous amoung the youngsters but it is famous for everyone who is involved in bitcoin and crypto.

You need to understand that twitter , reddit, telegram are not made only for the bitcoin discussions. You can discuss anything there and there you find them more popular overall.

For bitcoin and crytpo related stuff, you will not find any place more popular than bitcointalk.

[darklus123]

As for the user base that looks down, I've actually had the same hunch since december 2019 so I created a special thread to find out why. As of December 3, 2019, this forum still has 133,934 active users according to bpip.org, but today we only have 98,669 logged-in profiles in the last 3 month. Obviously I can feel a lot of decline in term of the number of users. But if the orientation is on quality, I think this forum looks much better than before January 2018 or before the merit system was implemented.

If you were saying that even if the numbers decline rapidly for the past years, but when the quality of posts increases does that mean that we are actually not using base users? 

If we are losing users who are actually not contributing with a single thing in this forum that is actually better for the community in the long run.

[fillippone]

I guess this thread can be read in parallel to this one:

What Would Be Your Reason to Leave Bitcointalk?

Asking current members why they would leave the forum could hint us what led past users to walk the same path...

[vapourminer]

I guess this thread can be read in parallel to this one:

What Would Be Your Reason to Leave Bitcointalk?

Asking current members why they would leave the forum could hint us what led past users to walk the same path...

as long as the WO exists i will never leave <sup>*

*</sup> offer void where prohibited

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Also, at the same time, don't want to look rude but Theymos doesn't really take care of this forum. I don't judge it, I really appreciate bitcointalk and its role in my life, it completely changed my life for better but truth is truth, this forum looks like abandoned and the major life-giving power is the signature campaign at the moment.

It's OK, you can be rude on this forum (which is one of the reasons I love it), and you can also speak the truth as you see it without fear of censorship by the moderators.  Sure, you might get flamed by other members, but that's the consequence of free speech.  Other forums/platforms are much more restrictive in that sense, so bitcointalk has that advantage at least.

Although I agree with you that Theymos doesn't seem to be giving much thought to improving the forum--or at least not showing any action to that effect--I happen to like it the way it is.  Younger people who've grown up with social media platforms probably see the forum as antiquated, and I get that.  But it serves its purpose as a place where people can just chat about bitcoin related topics, and it doesn't really need to be much more than that IMO.

And you are completely on point about signature campaigns keeping the forum alive.  If they ever went away, I have little doubt that it'd be like a ghost town around here.  Just look at the forums for some of the more popular altcoins--they're active when the coin is hot, then they just die out.  The truth is that most members here are incentivized to post, which accounts for why there are so many threads and posts within them.  As long as they're around, I doubt the forum is in danger of dying.

[Welsh]

There are some other reasons to say too along with them. Also, at the same time, don't want to look rude but Theymos doesn't really take care of this forum. I don't judge it, I really appreciate bitcointalk and its role in my life, it completely changed my life for better but truth is truth, this forum looks like abandoned and the major life-giving power is the signature campaign at the moment.

Bitcointalk needs serious change, implementation of new features to make the website look like a comfortable all-in-one service.

Also, I'm not sure I agree with your opinion here. theymos isn't very public about his work put toward the forum, unless it needs to be public. I think he's done a rather good job over the years. A lot of users would have become overzealous with their perceived power, and I don't think that's the case here. Lack of changes doesn't necessarily mean inactivity. There's a lot more going on behind the scenes than just changes. If anyone has ever ran a website with moderate success, they'll understand that there's general maintenance that needs to be done. Also, I suspect that theymos has a fairly active life outside the forum, which is also understandable.

I do agree with your view of signature campaigns, no doubt they are attracting a rather large part of the community. Fortunately, theymos' has decided up until this point to allow them, since they have caused quite some trouble in the past with spamming, and I believe theymos' has likely considered altering it before, but acknowledged the importance of them, and the eco system that it brings to the forum.

I think if signature campaigns were disallowed then there would likely only be those that are truly interested about discussing Bitcoin, and a few veterans users here.

[ShowOff]

I think if signature campaigns were disallowed then there would likely only be those that are truly interested about discussing Bitcoin, and a few veterans users here.

This is justifiable as there are a lot of users who are willing to stay on the forum as long as they can make something out of it. Signature campaign and bounty campaign are one of the reasons why many users are using this forum and therefore the user base of the forum is increasing.

We know most forum users have different goals to join this forum, there are only some users who are really interested in getting to know bitcoin technically while others are bounty hunters, traders, gamblers and spammers and other. If bounties and signature campaign are removed or banned, the user base will decline rapidly. I am very sure of that.