if they banned signature ads would this forum still exist?

[saddampbuh]

just wondering

[BlackHatCoiner]

It'd definitely disincentivize some, but obviously exist. It existed long before signature campaigns became a thing. I was a full member when I realized that you can get paid out of this forum. I just signed up, because I wanted to learn more about bitcoin and so I did.

I've never stopped recommending this forum to those who're interesting into bitcoin. It's a treasure when it comes to their knowledge.

[mk4]

It would, and the discussions in this forum would be concentrated to actual Bitcoin/crypto enthusiasts.

While this sounds great and all when talking about wanting actual great and near-zero spam conversations, it's obviously a really really bad business decision for Theymos. The demand for ad space would simply be really really low due to the dramatically less active users.

[Csmiami]

Yes, and it has a great potential of actually improving the overall quality of the forum; next question

[FatFork]

As far as I know, this forum is the oldest and probably the largest community of Bitcoin and crypto enthusiasts online. Thousands of similar communities exist on the Internet that bring together people who share a common interest in a particular subject. There is no reason this community should be any different or cease to exist just because there is no financial incentive for members to post.

Obviously, there would be fewer members and the discussions would be more productive, but that's another matter.

[Little Mouse]

I would at least visit the forum to get some like minded people or at least to get some people who are selling their bitcoin, usdt or any other cryptocurrency for local currency. Well, apart from this forum, I'm also active in some facebook groups including one I'm managing. For your info, I don’t get paid for saying use hardware waller for security, don't use centralize services to hold your asset, coinbase shouldn’t be your wallet to store your coin, custodial wallets are risky, why to use which wallet etc. These are some questions I have to answer everyday but without getting a single penny paid. So, this forum would be the same though the activity would be decreased a little sometime.

[Coin_trader]

Forum is getting financial from banner ads and donations. Considering the current value of Bitcoin and the amount of BTC that still on the forum treasury. It can support the forum needs for a very long time considering the value of Bitcoin will not go down to 4 digit. Removing signature campaign will minimize spam, low quality post, jeets poster and all sort of nonsense post.

[cabron]

With the information we get from the forum, it will exist and will still have good traffic. Search something on google aboiut bitcoin issues and I'm sure a link from this forum will come up.

Theymos could actually ban signature but why would he do that? There is a long term crypto party in this forum, why do it when everyone enjoys it.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Yes, the forum would still exist, though there certainly wouldn't be as much activity as there is at present.

But OP, you've apparently been here longer than I have, and this topic has been discussed multiple times over the years.  Why are you asking a question like this?  Did you miss all of the threads that discussed sig campaigns and the effect their removal would have on the forum?  Did you miss the conclusion that regardless of what would happen, Theymos has no plans on banning them?  Are you the original owner of your account?

Lol.  As I said, activity would decrease if sig campaigns and bounties suddenly went away--in fact, it would probably drop off a cliff since a huge proportion of members are financially incentivized to spend time here and post.  Look at other crypto forums that don't have sig campaigns (which would be all of them AFAIK).  Even if it's a popular coin, there's nowhere near the level of activity that bitcointalk has, and I don't think that has to do with bitcoin's dominance.

It's a moot point, though.  As I also said, this isn't something we have to worry about for now.

[Upgrade00]

About the platform existing; it definitely will. As has been pointed out, the forum existed before signature campaigns and would after it.
Would I be active if the forum did not have sig campaigns;

I'm sure I'll definitely not be as active as I am now, the forum is a repository of knowledge and serves as a source of solution which any crypto enthusiast has, so I'll have lots of reasons to remain on the forum, just not as much as I do now. Discussing about Bitcoin is rewarding of itself, but the actual perks of a dog campaign adds an extra incentive.
This can also be said for so many other members, most of which may not even log in at all anymore, leading to a drop in activity and a more comfortable place for users interested in the network to discuss.
If there were no signature campaigns probably threads would have only a couple of replies, rather than several pages of texts.

[tranthidung]

• Rules for Serious Discussion and Ivory Tower
• Two new no-signature boards
• Signature advertisers: suggestions?
• Ideas for improving post quality?

The forum has times when it did not have signature and theymos considered to ban it all globally if posters don't improve their post quality. Fortunately, merit system was kicked off and has proven that it works effectively so far.

The forum will exist even without signature from members.

What are everyone's ideas for improving post quality?

I have mostly ruled out:

 - Removing signatures or sig ads globally.
 - Requiring payment to wear sig ads.
 - Banning account sales.

[saddampbuh]

But OP, you've apparently been here longer than I have, and this topic has been discussed multiple times over the years.  Why are you asking a question like this?  Did you miss all of the threads that discussed sig campaigns and the effect their removal would have on the forum?  Did you miss the conclusion that regardless of what would happen, Theymos has no plans on banning them?  Are you the original owner of your account?

original owner yes, haven't paid much attention to crypto for a few years or read this forum in a while and it occurred to me that 99% of the posts contain this signature spam including people with join dates older than mine that i would expect to be rich and not need to, wondered if they are the thing keeping it alive as this type of oldschool forum has mostly died off with everyone moving to reddit/twitter/streams

[Pffrt]

But OP, you've apparently been here longer than I have, and this topic has been discussed multiple times over the years.  Why are you asking a question like this?  Did you miss all of the threads that discussed sig campaigns and the effect their removal would have on the forum?  Did you miss the conclusion that regardless of what would happen, Theymos has no plans on banning them?  Are you the original owner of your account?

Someone who is very active in the forum and is here for a longer time doesn't necessarily refer they have to be active in meta. There are a few buds I have from the forum who barely have visited the meta. But they have never broken any forum rules. They are here for their purpose and they got no problem with their activities. I don't think a lot of people visit the meta section either. If they are here to learn/discuss cryptocurrency, I doubt they would have a lot of problems with the rules while people here for the sole purpose of earning have to have faced a lot of problems with the rules.

[bL4nkcode]

I won't happen, theymos will not getting enough profit from forum ads. Kidding aside, as what already mentioned this forum will still be active, though not all boards since altcoin discussion will be completely not active due to zero bounty hunters. Expect active boards will be here, bitcoin discussion, mining, B&H, idk the others.

[LTU_btc]

I'm not sure what's the point asking such question which was already asked so many times in past. We aren't going to find new truth here.
Without any doubts, without signature campaigns forum would exist, it's only question, how active it would be. Actually I don't like ''what if'' questions and this one belongs to this category because it seems that theymos have no intentions to forbid signature campaigns.
Without sig. campaigns and bounties worst spammers and people who came here just for money would leave forum. I'm not sure how popular my opinion is, but I think that at the same time best forum members would become less active. Signature campaigns gives them extra motivation to share their valuable knowledge and I have some doubts that without getting paid they would be so active.

[The Cryptovator]

If the signature campaign is banned from the forum, then I believe it will not only continue, rather than we would discover a spam-free Bitcointalk. But yes, for that all kinds of bounty and airdrop thread should ban as well. If you deeply look, still you may find a few users here who have not been joining any signature campaign but are the best contributor to the forum. Baning the signature campaign means the forum will turn into its original face that it should be actually. A major part of users may leave the forum, but it doesn't mean the forum will be free of contributions. But at the end of the day, I admit that the signature campaign helps to keep the forum emphatic.

[LoyceV]

This forum existed before signature campaigns, I didn't know about them when I joined, and I didn't join because of signature campaigns. So yes, this forum will still exist.

I'd rather get rid of bounty spammers though. Paying in Bitcoin means someone puts some real value into advertising. Paying in made-up tokens means they have nothing to lose.

But what about Avatars?

[Igebotz]

Forum is getting financial from banner ads and donations. Considering the current value of Bitcoin and the amount of BTC that still on the forum treasury. It can support the forum needs for a very long time considering the value of Bitcoin will not go down to 4 digit. Removing signature campaign will minimize spam, low quality post, jeets poster and all sort of nonsense post.

Rather removing the signature will increase the number of low-quality posts and spam because no one would want to spend time writing quality posts in order to be eligible for weekly payout, they would see no point in writing or putting effort into whatever they are posting because they are not getting paid for it, nearly 96% of shit posters and spammers on the forum are users without signatures. They simply leave a one-liner sentence and leave.

Ads are the forum's primary source of revenue, and it needs to maintain a high level of traffic to stay ahead of the competition, which requires more activities on the forum. Removing the signature and avatar will have a negative impact on the forum.

But with or without a signature the forum will still exist.

[saddampbuh]

Ads are the forum's primary source of revenue

did not know this was a thing, never looked into it but always assumed the owners were billionaires since this forum has been around since way back

[icopress]

I know at least three sections whose regulars are those who do not care about the sig campaign, and there are at least 200 people like that.  

It'd definitely disincentivize some, but obviously exist. It existed long before signature campaigns became a thing. [...]

I would not say so ... since the sig campaigns originate almost from the moment the forum was founded (the first mention was literally 3 months after Satoshi published his last message). Since then, not much has changed, and as has already been said a couple of years ago, sig campaigns remain an important part of the forum ecosystem, even though this kind of advertising is terribly annoying for theymos, and until a counterbalance is introduced, he will continue get annoyed every time he think about sig campaigns. 

Yo, who wants to advertise in my signature space? I have insane posting rate, and I am the top forum poster. You guys got 7 days when this thread post was made to become the highest bidder and my new customer for one long month.

So how about it?

Bid: 5 BTC. Vladmir.