How important are you on this forum?

[Ucy]

Are you important enough to have Theymos and forum members close to him comment on your threads (or quote your posts) to have positive conversations with you? Well, that happened to me in the past and it gives me great joy considering how humble they were to then nobody. I often check out his/their comments & posts back then and I see alot of intelligent contributions I have seen no where else. I used to be regular visitor of Sci/Tech forums/platforms long before I knew Bitcoin/crypto and the conversations/brilliance compared to those from top members of this forum esp the one in charge of the forum is less awesome. I believe you can find potential World Leaders from forum superiors here. They seem to understand what people from different countries want and they approached it in relatively humane manner. Alot of times I ask our CREATOR to please not to harm them when I feel wronged because they have been so awesome... Which is part of my contributions/efforts in keeping the forum great. Do you think it's easy to understand and manage people from different countries all over the world? It's not! You have to be really careful and right at judging alot of cultures and mindset to help keep the forum great, despite the hugh differences in ways of life of people coming here. GOD Bless and have mercy on them, and bless their hearts to do right, for It's not easy.  
I hope everyone do what is right always to lessen the burden for them, and perhaps you will be visited to have good/positive conversations with them. I think my conversations with one or few of them were in my early days, about development of cities floating on water, using finger print for biometric on decentralized/crypto space to prevent to prevent people from cheating, doing something about corruption (I think that was part of my conversation with Mprep or Achow... Theymos was probably about floating cites and fingerprint biometric which he discouraged me due its flaws) etc . Hope they understand me and know I care alot about them. People who contribute something positive/good in Bitcoin space please me alot. They need to know i understand them alot and pray/"fight" for them every single day.
Grace to you.

[1715013209]

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[1715013209]

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[hd49728]

Are you important enough to have Theymos and forum members close to him comment on your threads (or quote your posts) to have positive conversations with you?

You don't have to be an important user to get replies from theymos, global moderators, staffs or legendary members. They will reply to your posts if your posts have something interesting to discuss.

It makes sense to discuss in an interesting topic with good question. This topic is not a good one and it is like a spam.

[Ucy]

Are you important enough to have Theymos and forum members close to him comment on your threads (or quote your posts) to have positive conversations with you?

You don't have to be an important user to get replies from theymos, global moderators, staffs or legendary members. They will reply to your posts if your posts have something interesting to discuss.

It makes sense to discuss in an interesting topic with good question. This topic is not a good one and it is like a spam.

Is it then opposite of Good = bad? If bad, what makes it bad?
I hope you understand the meaning of spam in order to be becareful, perhaps you are accusing me falsely.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

It makes sense to discuss in an interesting topic with good question. This topic is not a good one and it is like a spam.

Eh, I don't know about that.  

A lot of you know that I've offered (and still offer) post reviews on a monthly basis to any member of the community under Legendary rank and without enough merits to reach that rank already.  I always say just send me a PM requesting a post history review, and I'll be more than happy to do it.

You wouldn't believe how many members have phrased their PMs to me like I'm some kind of forum diety...!  They think that because I've been around for years and have that coveted Legendary rank that I'm something other than a regular guy who treats newer members just like peers (assuming they're not scamming/spamming/account-selling jackasses or idiots who want red trust removed when there's no basis to do so).  So you'd better believe that when a lot of members have personal interactions with Theymos--who was around during the days of Satoshi--they figuratively piss in their pants as if they got a phone call from Chris Pratt [or pick your celebrity].  

So anyway, how important am I to bitcointalk?  Not very.  99.5% of members are more helpful, knowledgeable, and smarter than me, and I'm probably underestimating that percentage so as not to go to bed tonight with my ego deflated like a used sex doll.  I'm not humblebragging *edit: fishing for a compliment, I mean*, either.  If I just disappeared tomorrow, I doubt there'd be much notice at all.

[Falconer]

So anyway, how important am I to bitcointalk?  Not very.  99.5% of members are more helpful, knowledgeable, and smarter than me, and I'm probably underestimating that percentage so as not to go to bed tonight with my ego deflated like a used sex doll.  I'm not humblebragging *edit: fishing for a compliment, I mean*, either.  If I just disappeared tomorrow, I doubt there'd be much notice at all.

Hahaha, I thought it would be better to say otherwise because I'm sure you weren't really telling the truth, right? You are humble, mate. 

I can probably say that I am an useful user on this forum. I don't have as many contributions here than most other contributors, they are more knowledgeable, experienced and have a great contribution to the forum. But I think I should be a little more confident to say that I am here to help, but I don't feel that I am important in this forum, but otherwise, this forum is important for me to learn a lot of things especially about bitcoin.

[marcotheminer]

Isn't it like Bitcoin, where no one person even 'matters' (as long as there is 1+ person.. I suppose)?

[Shamm]

Like what other users said, there are better users here in the forum who contributed well. Maybe if we rate all users like (Poor class, middle class, knowledgeable class, and highest knowledge class.)  Which is my situation is I am still in the middle class. But as we all know this is an open forum we can freely share our knowledge and learn as well so like falconer said this forum is more important to us.

[_BlackStar]

Are you important enough to have Theymos and forum members close to him comment on your threads (or quote your posts) to have positive conversations with you?

It really depends on the need. For example you are proposing a new board or maybe your proposal is important to get attention, then maybe you can hope they will appear in that thread. But you can't expect them to be eager to reply or quote the posts of thousands of spammers on forum just to be seen as friendly.

This forum is moderated by both admin and staff, but for things that are not important then I don't think they will respond. Look how much drama there is on the forum, they ignore it and probably prefer to be silent instead of saying something. So this has to be seen on a case by case basis, no generalizations.

[KingsDen]

A lot of you know that I've offered (and still offer) post reviews on a monthly basis to any member of the community under Legendary rank and without enough merits to reach that rank already.  I always say just send me a PM requesting a post history review, and I'll be more than happy to do it.

I am aware of this and I was a beneficiary of this gesture in my newbie days, but it didn't last long when I nearly ran into troubles. The first-time I sent pm asking for the review, you suspected I was one magic king and that was how I fell out of the nice gesture and you blocked me from sending you pm which I don't know if it's reversed now or not.

..I'm something other than a regular guy who treats newer members just like peers (assuming they're not scamming/spamming/account-selling jackasses or idiots who want red trust removed when there's no basis to do so).

Again, you scored high here. Your charisma and audacity projects you as a demi-god to people who haven't approached you or who has intentions to cheat or scam. But any newbie who has the opportunity to interact with you personally will attest that you treat newer members like peers and always willing to help newbies grow by advicing and handing out merits to deserving posts.

So anyway, how important am I to bitcointalk?... If I just disappeared tomorrow, I doubt there'd be much notice at all.

If you disappear tomorrow, bitcointalk might forget you, but there are individuals who will not forget you for goodness or maybe otherwise. But then, when you disappear, your case would exactly be like that of Lauda and Vod. I didn't meet them but I heard much about them. So, next-generation would remember you. Myself and the likes of Lovesmayfamilis would surely miss you and she will likely create a thread in reputation for you. She did it for Nutildah

[Benkbeny]

See everyone on the forum to be important because your post is meaninglessness if there is noe to learn from it. So everyone is import because we all are aiming towards one goal though from different phases of life.

[LTU_btc]

Personally, I don't exaggerate such things. Theymos, all moderators and other famous members isjust humans, like you and me. But yeah, it's good that most of them is down to earth people and it's not impossible to reach them. Offcourse, when I was still new here,there was strange feeling when theymos or some other famous forum member replied to my post or interacted with me in other way. But now there is no such feeling.
To answer question that you asked in thread title - well, it's not for me to answer, I can't judge from my own perspective. But I doubt that many will notice if I will disappear one day - I'm just one of many forum member, not somehow exceptional. Maybe only some folks from our gambling community would notice it.

[jackg]

So anyway, how important am I to bitcointalk?

"am" feels an odd thing to say exclusively, everything I've read here is something someone has written in the past (sometimes close to the past but other times a few years after - and based on the merit I've received before, others have read past/years ago versions of me every so often too).


On to the topic of this thread, I think a lot of people underestimate how valued they are generally and some don't want people to know - there's a lot to this forum that's more enigmatic than it might seem too...

Additionally, the good thing about this forum is there's a record of it (on multiple sites) - if someone important in any way leaves, the forum would be able to adapt to it, most people in the tech boards are able to learn from each other and it's easier when people explain things directly to you but not normally necessary.

[lovesmayfamilis]

OP, I've looked at your trust, and you're the one who probably lacks recognition. Isn't it? What do you want to hear from users here? An outburst of vanity? For someone to recognize themselves as an important person?
The strongest people are usually quiet and modest, they do not need to shout and exaggerate their strength, which is not the case by looking at your trust.
First, a person must respect himself, namely respect, and not seem respected. People see sincerity, a desire to help someone disinterestedly, and it is because of this that a person becomes important, as you put it, or rather useful. But this should be talked about by people who consider him as such and not by himself.

Myself and the likes of Lovesmayfamilis would surely miss you and she will likely create a thread in reputation for you. She did it for Nutildah

I really hope this doesn't happen, but if it does, I'll hand over the baton to you.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Even non popular or important person could get a response from theymos or any global moderator if their post needed those guys attention or something to talk too.

Yes it quite rare for them to comment on users post since they dont need too. But if they necessary to speak as part of their role here for that topic I guess whether a newbie or a higher ranking users will expect one.

(Maybe I posted its my birthday theymos could greet me.. Or mayne not)

[Poker Player]

In response to what the OP says, theymos is not known for responding much to posts. In my case he has responded in some thread of mine and also gave me some merit in another case.

Leaving theymos aside, I am happy with my performance on the forum. Without being in the top ten of best contributors by far, I think my contribution to the forum is clearly positive.

Regarding the rest of what the OP says, not much more to comment on from a person who says he can influence with his signature on the price of Bitcoin.

I am quite respectful of religious beliefs but the OP's thinking brings him closer to a pre-scientific magical world than to the world today.

[crwth]

I don't think it's about who you are, but it's what you put out in the forum. They would probably reply if it does make sense and not just spam posting anywhere. If it is about the conference and it's a very informative post that everyone would benefit from, then there's a high chance that theymos would reply.

This has just become a religious post or something, though.

[AbuBhakar]

I understand the main goal of this topic because there’s a bunch of user here in the forum that make thousand of post per day. It’s very rare to have a reply to someone reputable like theymos and other legendary user because most of them discussed advanced topic on Bitcoin which simple user like me and most of us here can’t attain that level of Bitcoin knowledge. It’s really an honor if one of your post catch the eyes of this users because it means that you have insight that they like or interested to answer.

For me, I will say that everyone here is important because we are part of community. Community is composed of different types of people such as dumb, normal, clever and other personalities. This what makes the forum balance. Without dumb there will be no smart people and vice versa. We are important in our own different way.

[yudi09]

Everything in this forum, in my opinion, is important, from the person to the discussion as long as the direction is positive. No exception whether it's you, me, him and all of them are important people who have various advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages that are in you are not necessarily in me. Likewise, the advantages possessed by them are not necessarily with us. That is, we are here to complement each other.
But if our existence here is just to create something that is not beneficial to all, even breaking the established rules, I think such a person is nothing more than trash.

[aysg76]

There are many useful members on the forum who shares their knowledge and experience with others making their importance on the forum but it doesn't imply that they are the only one's that matter.This forum is sort of community and we all have the same value but our knowledge levels can be different and our reach determine how well we are known across the forum.

Speaking for myself then I have shown progress in past few months ranking up on the forum but only with positive approach of giving our best contribution to the forum leaving aside the fact I am important or not because you need to do something really helpful and useful for the community to be recognised.

Now as you say about @theymos and other high rank members giving you reply makes you important then I would say it's not like that as you see his last reply was in the technical section to a full member so is he more important on the forum then others?

This is just our way of thinking the facts and we all must do our best on the forum and treat it as equal opportunity we all have to grow with our learning ability and knowledge over time.

[DooMAD]

Importance is going to be a largely subjective quality.  Everyone will have a different perception.  The way one particular user perceives someone may vary wildly to how another user sees that same person.  And the way we view ourselves may well differ to how others see us. 

Perhaps the problem is the word "important".  Some people may be taking different meanings for it.  If something is important, then it generally needs to be there in order for things to work.

As such, I don't see myself as important.  The forum would continue to function just fine if I wasn't around.  Others users may appreciate my contributions and it's conceivable some people might miss me if I were gone.  But, in my view, that's not the same as being important.  And even if I had frequent replies from administrators and staff members, I still wouldn't see myself as more important than others.

[ololajulo]

I dont know what question you posted but It must have been of the administrative purpose of the forum. It is nothing to boast about and I feel this should not be the reason you are here, To make yourself important or get response from forum administrator. I expect the forum to the first recipient of news coming in cryptocurrency. With the development of each state of cycle, the forum should have threads discussing the next building stages, marketing strategy and technical developments.

[Pmalek]

I see myself far from irreplaceable and wouldn't call myself essential or even important to the Bitcointalk way of life. I possess certain qualities, but they are nowhere close to what the top guns show here on a daily basis. Proper problem-solvers are the kind of people who would be sorely missed if they left. Everyone else is more or less replaceable.

Don't look at theymos and the mods as entities from other dimensions. They are just regular folks and they post in discussions that interest them. In all my years here, I have never checked where theymos is mostly active, but I did it now. I am actually surprised that most of his posts are in Meta. I don't come across them that often unless it's something very important to Bitcointalk. I imagined theymos being more of a P&S kind of guy and even though he posts there, it's not as frequent as I though.   

[Lucius]

I see myself far from irreplaceable and wouldn't call myself essential or even important to the Bitcointalk way of life. I possess certain qualities, but they are nowhere close to what the top guns show here on a daily basis. Proper problem-solvers are the kind of people who would be sorely missed if they left. Everyone else is more or less replaceable.

I think that there are very rare cases where the leaving/disappearance of some members turned out to be a great loss for the forum. Those who are active in their local board probably have some value at that level, so that should be taken into account as well.

I wouldn't say that there are more than 15-20 important members, or what you call them top guns, whose leaving/disappearance would be felt, and I also don't consider myself important in the sense that someone would ask about me in case I disappear from the forum for some reason.

[aylabadia05]

The lion never felt great even though he was nicknamed the king.
Healthy will feel important when the body is lying in the hospital.
The rice tree will bow when it is full to be harvested.
Maybe those are some quotes that can be a reflection of us in interacting.

Here, in the Bitcointalk forum there are various different characters. Basically all have good intentions. I learned a lot from the different characters that everyone here has.

[Mpamaegbu]

If I just disappeared tomorrow, I doubt there'd be much notice at all.

Well, maybe from those who're just joining this forum now but I doubt anyone from my days here will have a hard time forgetting you. You've been around here in reality and it's so far so good (from my assessment) because your prints have been felt. Do you know how many users here that are beneficiaries of your gesture? Quite a lot. However, I dare say you're as tough as you're soft. Those who've seen your soft side shouldn't wish to witness the tough side. Beyond all that, you're among users I consider highly useful here.

As for me, I think OP's question to rate oneself will produce a biased result. Users should allow others rate them and I think that's what the annual community award we've here does.

[nutildah]

I made this chart so everyone can better understand their significance to this forum.



I mean, its great if y'all want to contribute value to each other, but let's not get carried away here.

Hope this helps.

[Findingnemo]

If I am not wrong theymos mentioned multiple times that he replied to most of the PM sent by the newbies so obviously he will reply to anyone is there something to reply for. But I am not a special person here so even if I am not existing here anymore then nobody cares so basically I learn from here and it helped me a lot to increase my knowledge about money.

[Pmalek]

If I am not wrong theymos mentioned multiple times that he replied to most of the PM sent by the newbies so obviously he will reply to anyone is there something to reply for.

Exactly. If you ask the guy a legitimate question or you have some valid concerns, he isn't going to let you hang out to dry. If there are problems or bugs on the forum, anyone can talk to him. You can even get a bounty if it's something important. But if it's not something urgent or it it's a topic he cares very little about, you will be ignored. I wonder what he does if someone PMs him and breaks some rules in the process? Does he just ignore the person or bans them from the forum immediately?

[The Cryptovator]

In the beginning, even though I wasn't an established member, global moderators replied to me when I DM them for anything. I don't think it's related to how important we are to the forum. All members of the forum are important, they are part of the ecosystem. But everyone can't lead. So it would be who is leading position or a well-established member.

I have changed my Display name two times which is a record on the forum. Theymos hasn't refused me both times and replied so quickly. Also regarding merit source, he has DM me. So at least I can say I am a well-Established member here, but don't know how am I important this forum.

[ShowOff]

Are you important enough to have Theymos and forum members close to him comment on your threads (or quote your posts) to have positive conversations with you? Well, that happened to me in the past and it gives me great joy considering how humble they were to then nobody.

I often check out his/their comments & posts back then and I see alot of intelligent contributions I have seen no where else. I used to be regular visitor of Sci/Tech forums/platforms long before I knew Bitcoin/crypto and the conversations/brilliance compared to those from top members of this forum esp the one in charge of the forum is less awesome.

I believe you can find potential World Leaders from forum superiors here. They seem to understand what people from different countries want and they approached it in relatively humane manner. Alot of times I ask our CREATOR to please not to harm them when I feel wronged because they have been so awesome... Which is part of my contributions/efforts in keeping the forum great.

Do you think it's easy to understand and manage people from different countries all over the world? It's not! You have to be really careful and right at judging alot of cultures and mindset to help keep the forum great, despite the hugh differences in ways of life of people coming here. GOD Bless and have mercy on them, and bless their hearts to do right, for It's not easy.
 
I hope everyone do what is right always to lessen the burden for them, and perhaps you will be visited to have good/positive conversations with them. I think my conversations with one or few of them were in my early days, about development of cities floating on water, using finger print for biometric on decentralized/crypto space to prevent to prevent people from cheating, doing something about corruption (I think that was part of my conversation with Mprep or Achow...

Theymos was probably about floating cites and fingerprint biometric which he discouraged me due its flaws) etc . Hope they understand me and know I care alot about them. People who contribute something positive/good in Bitcoin space please me alot. They need to know i understand them alot and pray/"fight" for them every single day.

Grace to you.

I had to separate a few paragraphs from your wall of text to make it easier to understand what you mean.

The title is a bit misleading when I read the content of your topic. You really appreciate theymos about something he dedicated to this forum, but why the question how important are we to the forum?

Basically this community is important for the sustainability of the forum in the long term. Without the community this forum will not be as good as expected because it can die without much activity. Someone who has a big contribution is expected in the forum mainly because they can be a differentiator that will be very useful for the community. Imagine how important a merit source for forum today, they support the system and contribute greatly to users but you can't expect them to admit that they are important here.

Whether we are important or not depends on the perspective of other users, if they think LoyceV, DdmrDdmr, TryNinja, fillippone and all staff are gems then they will surely say all names are important for the forum. But otherwise, if you, me, and the others are spammers or something, you're less important and more likely to be ignored and forgotten.

[libert19]

I doubt it got anything to do with 'importance', if one has something to say about topic then one would reply. People look at topic, not the name.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

However, I dare say you're as tough as you're soft. Those who've seen your soft side shouldn't wish to witness the tough side.

In real life I have a very hard time suffering fools, and thus it makes it hard for me to interact with people 1) when I'm forced to, or 2) in medium-large groups, where there's always a bell curve of social worth (or tolerability), thereby making it nearly impossible to avoid idiots.

On the internet?  Yeah, I'll rain hellfire down on your ass if I don't take a liking to you--but the basic rule is to mirror the treatment people show me (or the forum).  I appreciate the feedback, you puppy dog.  *lol*

Sometimes on the rare occasion I visit BPIP and check my profile, my mind doth boggle at the stats.  This is my profile as of 30 seconds ago:



10th most recognized??  I know there's a formula for how those numbers are arrived at, but I seriously doubt Vod's math represents reality as we know it.

[348Judah]

In the beginning, even though I wasn't an established member, global moderators replied to me when I DM them for anything. I don't think it's related to how important we are to the forum. All members of the forum are important, they are part of the ecosystem. But everyone can't lead. So it would be who is leading position or a well-established member.

I have changed my Display name two times which is a record on the forum. Theymos hasn't refused me both times and replied so quickly. Also regarding merit source, he has DM me. So at least I can say I am a well-Established member here, but don't know how am I important this forum.

there must be a conviction in you that always gives the positive impression to go on with your normal life style in which you don't notice but the people see that great qualities in you, atimes you discover the influence of a lamp in lightening everywhere but can not see the dark in its underneath, but believe me where two or more people can attest to the reputation of a particular person, then there's fairness in the judgement, out of many that were called, few were chosen.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

How a user is important on this forum doesn't really matter, that is, getting a reply on mention from theymos or any of the other high ranking members of the forum doesn't make you more or less important on the forum.
We all are as important as the information, knowledge we pass or share on the forum, we are as important as the help we render to other users to help them become better in terms of knowledge in crypto currencies and other stuffs.

[_BlackStar]

After I read this one, I agree that all of us here are important to the forum but maybe not important to one or two users who don't like us. I admit that contributing to the forum is the best way to keep this forum good as a knowledge library about bitcoin. We are all not the same but here every user is important for the forum especially because the community is the base that keeps the forum alive.

Basically this community is important for the sustainability of the forum in the long term. Without the community this forum will not be as good as expected because it can die without much activity. Someone who has a big contribution is expected in the forum mainly because they can be a differentiator that will be very useful for the community. Imagine how important a merit source for forum today, they support the system and contribute greatly to users but you can't expect them to admit that they are important here.

Whether we are important or not depends on the perspective of other users, if they think LoyceV, DdmrDdmr, TryNinja, fillippone and all staff are gems then they will surely say all names are important for the forum. But otherwise, if you, me, and the others are spammers or something, you're less important and more likely to be ignored and forgotten.

[noormcs5]

I dont know what question you posted but It must have been of the administrative purpose of the forum. It is nothing to boast about and I feel this should not be the reason you are here, To make yourself important or get response from forum administrator. I expect the forum to the first recipient of news coming in cryptocurrency. With the development of each state of cycle, the forum should have threads discussing the next building stages, marketing strategy and technical developments.

We need to correct the definition of importance. If theymos or mods of the forums reply to us then it does not mean that we have become important. I have seen mods replying to the newbies and even to those whose accounts are banned, so it does not mean they have become important.

You and we are important if people want to read our posts and got help from our posts. That's should be the criteria of being important on the forum.

[mindrust]

You have serious ego problems if you think you are important just because the admin talked to you or somehow did you a small favor. (Like changing your username, unbanning/unlocking your account)

It is a regular thing here. If I remember this right, Not so long ago (like a million years ago) there was an issue about lauda and theymos pm’ed everybody and asked us to distrust her. Most people sided with lauda against theymos’s dumb call. LoL. Nobody had a ban because of this.

[KingsDen]

Once upon a time, in a certain community, the youths decided to kill all the elderly ones because they were so uncivilised and boring, and it was believed that the elders were the cause of their lack of growth. They succeeded in killing the elders and made a young boyy the king.
Few years later, a neighbouring community came to claim the entire community. In the court, the community that killed their elders was asked to bring their eldest citizen to speak in court, but their eldest was a 40yrs old young man  who knows nothing about the community boundaries. The youths eventually lost the community to their rivals because there was no elder to testify in the court.

I am thankful that we still have elders in the forum who could tell us stories like what I see below;

It is a regular thing here. If I remember this right, Not so long ago (like a million years ago) there was an issue about lauda and theymos pm’ed everybody and asked us to distrust her. Most people sided with lauda against theymos’s dumb call. LoL. Nobody had a ban because of this.

[balotelli]

If you think you important, you will. 

[so98nn]

I think as long as I am contributing something to the forum, having fun with some members and having debates with few of them, I keep enjoy reading their posts and getting along with the conversation. I keep reporting posts all the time and surely seen effects on it from moderators which means somehow somewhere one of the staff is also noticing me and doesn’t matter if they reply to me someday.

The only thing that matters to me a lot is, keep surfing and reading through forum everyday without fail.

Its vital part of my life, and there is no single day I haven’t been on forum whether I type something or not but I would be at least reading some random posts on phone, work pc mow and then.

I believe we are part of bitcointalk family already!

[ShowOff]

After I read this one, I agree that all of us here are important to the forum but maybe not important to one or two users who don't like us. I admit that contributing to the forum is the best way to keep this forum good as a knowledge library about bitcoin. We are all not the same but here every user is important for the forum especially because the community is the base that keeps the forum alive.

Each user has their own perspective on how they interpret that important word. It's not as simple as we're talking about, but anyway I've said that we're only important from a community point of view but not so much about what we are capable of providing for this forum.

Never consider yourself important just because an admin or moderator replied to or quoted your message, it should be interpreted differently. But any user willing to try to clear up any misconceptions about what bitcoin is, I believe their existence is important.

[nullius]

Are you important enough to have Theymos and forum members close to him comment on your threads (or quote your posts) to have positive conversations with you? Well, that happened to me in the past and it gives me great joy considering how humble they were to then nobody.  [...]  I believe you can find potential World Leaders from forum superiors here.  [...]  (I think that was part of my conversation with Mprep or Achow... Theymos was probably about

This is a thread for the purpose of name-dropping, salted with arse-kissing.  FYI, it is one of the reasons why people in VIP positions are sometimes reluctant to interact with people.  Take it as advice; more is below.

Sometimes, I wonder if theymos ever uses an alt account to engage with the forum as an ordinary user.  The problem is, of course, that he could not risk engaging in discussions very deeply, lest style and substance may reveal his identity.

An even bigger problem is nonpublic contacts.  If anyone in a high-profile position engages in casual PM or e-mail correspondence with someone relatively unknown, it runs the risk that some loser will go around gratuitously bragging, “Oh, I was just chatting with X,” as if suddenly they are pals.  Unless you really are close to someone, it is inappropriate—and you will never be close to someone famous (let alone famous yourself), unless you have sound judgment about such matters of social appropriateness, and moreover, privacy.  It is why I try to avoid even mentioning such things unless there is a reason to do so—even in one instance when the other party took the initiative of reaching out to me, then quoted my reply on Twitter (with my permission).  Well, that is obviously not private; but I will not pretend that I’m best buddies with X just because X took an interest in something I wrote, and we had some interesting chit-chat about a topic of mutual interest.

For referring to public discussions, context is important.  To illustrate by way of example:  If, in Lauda’s final thread, there were occasion to recount the origin of Lauda’s final avatar, it would be relevant to retrace the history of how I made a satirical thread in Lauda’s defence, and theymos was so amused that that inspired a little piece of his April Fools’ joke that year, and my satire became a kind of a meme for Lauda in some of her later posts, and she used a clip of a William Blake painting that I had made for that thread as her final avatar.  But it would be gauche to make a merit-seeking Meta thread about the times that OH MY GAWD, SO-AND-SO REPLIED TO ME (and that makes me so “important”) with a list of my past interactions with theymos, forum staff, Bitcoin Core developers, etc., etc.  As if that validated my existence.

Ucy, try flipping the question around:  How important are you to yourself?  People who are worth talking to, usually know it—so it feels natural and normal to talk to someone famous.

So you'd better believe that when a lot of members have personal interactions with Theymos--who was around during the days of Satoshi--they figuratively piss in their pants as if they got a phone call from Chris Pratt [or pick your celebrity].

Who is Chris Pratt?  (Seriously, I have never heard of him/her/it.)

If I just disappeared tomorrow, I doubt there'd be much notice at all.

So, why are you here?  If you are not connecting with anyone, and if you think your posts are of such ephemeral, negligible significance to everybody else, is there any purpose?

In some of my past disappearances, when it seemed I may not return, people have sometimes created threads asking what happened to me.  Without any intention to deprecate the VIPs, it frankly touched me much more on a personal level to find that relatively unknown people had been wondering about my fate than to have perfectly normal interactions with famous folks.


The Bitcoin Forum is not Bitcoin.  The forum is obviously centralized; and the central authority on this forum does matter.  Nonetheless, in a different way, this evokes an important point:

Isn't it like Bitcoin, where no one person even 'matters' (as long as there is 1+ person.. I suppose)?

One of my favourite quotes:  “Bitcoin’s greatest vulnerability was and always is that it can’t be any stronger than the people who use it.  It’s possible for the public to be just too dumb for Bitcoin.” — nullc on Redit (2021-12-30).  The context:  A proposition that if, hypothetically, CSW were really Satoshi, then it wouldn’t matter, because no one person matters to Bitcoin.

I think most people wouldn't give a hoot

I'm confident you're wrong. Too many people are hidebound authoritarians and simply can't wrap their head around a system that doesn't have a central authority.

The history of the public's interaction with Bitcoin has been a comedy of errors with people (press, organizations, etc) incorrectly fixating on one person or element of the system as being in charge of it... only to end up mired in confusion, oscillating between options, because they can't wrap their head around a named 'system' that has no central authority... even though there are plenty of other things in our lives that don't (e.g. the English language, to give an example we're all familiar with).

Bitcoin's greatest vulnerability was and always is that it can't be any stronger than the people who use it. It's possible for the public to be just too dumb for Bitcoin. I'm generally pretty positive about the world's ability on that front, but in a hypothetical dystopia where it turned out that somehow an incompetent narcissist conman created Bitcoin, one fixated on destroying its properties, confiscating coins for personal gain, and destroying its decentralization? ... in that world Bitcoin would be well outside of my personal risk tolerance. Wright would be way too much of a headwind.

This is even more true today because BSV exists so we don't have to speculate what a Bitcoin of the Craig believers looks like. It isn't pretty.

Although I disagree with him about some details, I agree with Cøbra’s proposition that Bitcoin is hyperpolitical money.  And in politics, these things matter:  Charismatic leaders, founders, VIPs—authority figures.  Bitcoin’s distributed database consensus is decentralized; its development consensus is largely decentralized, because the Bitcoin Core developers think in terms of decentralization; but its broader wetware-layer social consensus never can be.  And an ideal that contradicts human nature is worth no more than an idea that contradicts the laws of physics or of mathematics.

[aylabadia05]

Eh, I don't know about that.  

A lot of you know that I've offered (and still offer) post reviews on a monthly basis to any member of the community under Legendary rank and without enough merits to reach that rank already.  I always say just send me a PM requesting a post history review, and I'll be more than happy to do it.

At first I thought that establishing communication with members ranked above me was scary and until now I still refuse to send them PM even though when I follow high ranking members like you it feels very fun especially as your own confession says with will gladly serve every member below Legendary rank.

Therefore, if the question is how important am I in the forum, my answer is very clear that everything in the forum is important because something that I don't have is certainly in the people who are here because of the uniqueness of each different character.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

At first I thought that establishing communication with members ranked above me was scary and until now I still refuse to send them PM even though when I follow high ranking members like you it feels very fun especially as your own confession says with will gladly serve every member below Legendary rank.

I get the feeling a lot of members feel the same way as you do, i.e., a little bit intimidated by older members here.  You're going to feel however you're going to feel, but my advice is to treat everyone here as your equal.  When I joined the forum, I came in with the attitude of "fuck this place, and fuck these idiots".  Many of my early posts were deleted, probably for trolling, and it took a bit for me to settle in and actually grow a lasting fondness for bitcointalk.  But believe me, if you speak your mind you'll probably gain a bit of respect even if people don't care for what you've got to say.  Being respectful to others is a good attribute as well, assuming the respect is deserved--oftentimes it isn't.

Having said that, I wouldn't barge into the technical & development section and roll around with a cigar in my mouth like I'm a boss (LOL).  I know the limits of my knowledge and also know where to tread carefully.  Humility is admirable IMO, and it's appropriate in certain circumstances here, but I think what's even more important is to have a thick skin and to give solid, well-reasoned opinions and information.

Take everything I just said with a baseball-sized nugget of salt.  I've been out in the sun too long today digging holes in the ground.

[_BlackStar]

I get the feeling a lot of members feel the same way as you do, i.e., a little bit intimidated by older members here.  You're going to feel however you're going to feel, but my advice is to treat everyone here as your equal.

That feeling always seems to be with any of us when we join bitcointalk, myself included. Actually I've expressed those feelings to anyone when someone tagged me just because of the name when I was a newbie, but we really needed to go out and talk for that feeling to go away as knowledge and experience grew.

But believe me, if you speak your mind you'll probably gain a bit of respect even if people don't care for what you've got to say.  Being respectful to others is a good attribute as well, assuming the respect is deserved--oftentimes it isn't.

Exactly, I've proved it even when I had to ignore some slurs sent to me via pm when I managed to catch a cheater. But of course, I think respecting other people and their knowledge is an attitude that we really need to have, this will help us to never feel arrogant for whatever we already have, including the knowledge and reputation that we have gained.

[Franctoshi]

To me everyone that adds value in this community aside the spammer ,scammers trying to Scam others regardless of whomever that replies to your post to add value in my humble opinion is important and I don't think you're the one to determine how important you are to the community but others and people are important in various ways here.
NB: Theymos has a lot to do and cannot go about replying all post here to show how important people are by commenting/replying to their post ,I do think he attends to problems/posts that needs an answer at any given time that caught his attention. However in my general view of how important you are in this community comes from you adding value here.

[skarais]

That feeling always seems to be with any of us when we join bitcointalk, myself included. Actually I've expressed those feelings to anyone when someone tagged me just because of the name when I was a newbie, but we really needed to go out and talk for that feeling to go away as knowledge and experience grew.

Whether or not a newbie is intimidated depends on how they respond to other users' comments. If they know how and don't do anything wrong then I don't think they need to feel intimidated and I would advise them to have free speech.

I've found some newbies who come in just whining and complaining but basically they don't understand how to be a good user on the forum. His courage turned to trolling but proudly said that he was more correct than the other high ranking members. I don't understand why they have to have such an attitude because I think they should be directed to be a good user even with some unpleasant words. Not all responses should be addressed as some of them are also fine to ignore as long as they are not constructive and not needed. I just hope they don't get provoked easily, but it's better to learn to be the best by expressing their true thoughts.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Whether or not a newbie is intimidated depends on how they respond to other users' comments. If they know how and don't do anything wrong then I don't think they need to feel intimidated and I would advise them to have free speech.

By the way, by seeing how a person reacts to criticism, you can see what they are like in real life. Is it possible to be afraid of a stranger on the Internet? Why does it? Fear will appear when you yourself realize that you are doing something wrong. And as long as a person understands that they are honest, sincere, and really do not harm anyone, they should not be afraid of anyone. Everyone is equal on the forum. I think the admin understands this better than all of us. Everyone's opinion is welcome, no matter how ridiculous it may be. Here, even fraud is not moderated.