Why research is crucial to a good experience - Tips from a decade-old Bitcoiner

[20kevin20]

We’ve all been disappointed before and we’ve all made mistakes. Unfortunately, for some of us the costs we had to endure were significant. We should always take this as a hard life lesson and learn from it. Hence I’m making this thread to help you understand why exactly it’s important to do research by yourself and stop relying on what the shortest, quickest answer given by Google is.

This is advice from myself, who’s been around for 10 years. I’ve seen the highs and the lows, I made big mistakes along the way too. So, this is my advice for you:

1. Personal research, otherwise known as DYOR, isn’t all about looking for YouTube videos, fact checks and crypto rating websites

I noticed too many people rely on YouTube, articles and crypto rating websites. I get it, it’s so much easier to watch someone who’s made a video on Craig Wright, it’s just one click away after all. But nowadays, a lot of the crypto sphere is surrounded by big paychecks from shitcoins or people who want to change your mind. Craig would pay a lot of money to make you believe him. PEPE would pay a lot of money to make you think it’s the next big coin. And in fact, they’re actually paying (sponsoring) others to try and change your mind.

On the other hand, we’ve got YouTubers looking to clickbait. Craig Wright PROVES HE IS SATOSHI!!!!! - YouTube would be a good starter. It’s easy to create clickbait content so others can click your video, but 99% of the time you’ll have to mislead your audience. Same thing happens with articles too: stop reading titles only and always think twice about the text you’re reading. Is it a sponsored article? Could it have other purposes? I’ve seen “journalists” shit on too many people for the sake of fulfilling a hidden yet obvious purpose.

Crypto rating websites are even worse. I can never be sure they aren’t biased and sponsored by the coins they’re preaching the most. It’s a bag of money away from happening.

So yeah, DYOR is not about googling what others think. You have a brain, use it! The more you read from multiple sources, the bolder an idea becomes in your mind. And you should already know it: the more fantastic it sounds, the higher the chance it’s a scam. Look through Bitcointalk, look through other sources. Repetitive information isn’t helpful, try to look for new information.

2. Researching on your own is difficult, but it’s worth it.

Yup, it’s not as easy as 1-2-3. But if you understand who’s Craig, if you get why celebrities are trying to pump certain shitcoins and projects like NFTs, if you understand why the government’s trying to block and restrict privacy (surprise: it’s not about preventing illegal activity), you’ll start having a much clearer general vision about Bitcoin.

Learning however takes dedication and time. If you don’t have time for it, maybe it’s better to stay away from being influenced by what others think. Zuckerberg says Bitcoin’s gonna drop? Who’s he to tell us what the future holds for BTC? If you want to DCA, do it. Invest and all, but always remember wealthy people love manipulating markets and investors to their advantage. Don’t be that fool.

3. If I trusted mainstream media, I should’ve been out of BTC years ago and Bitcoin should’ve been buried 6 feet deep into the ground.

Did you know Bitcoin has been declared dead over 400 times? What do you think, does it look like it’s dying? Because to me it looks like it certainly hasn’t died ever before and is more alive than ever!

This is why DYOR is a very widespread idea here. Either you do research or you stop trusting anyone at all while planning things on your own. If you read what mainstream media has to say and trust their words, you’re over 50% likely to mess up because most of them have an agenda. Wanna use BTC? Stop it, it’s the deep web coin! Wanna have some privacy? FBI says Monero’s highly linked to illegal activity! Bisq? No way, give us your ID and we’ll give you clean BTC instead!

It’s all bullshit and you better stay out of it.

4. I trusted mainstream media before, and that’s my biggest mistake yet.

There was a time, back in 2015, when it was absolutely everywhere. TV channels, YouTubers, articles from the internet - I’m telling you, everywhere you looked! Bitcoin is dying and you can’t do anything about it. Get out, now or never!

And I did. I thought mainstream media was saying the truth only so I followed what they said. That’s the day I spent Bitcoin on the most expensive video game ever. A $60 (~0.35BTC) Call of Duty. Yes, you read that right, in today’s money it’s basically a ~$11k game I paid for. You know why?

• I was listening to mainstream media
• I haven’t done my own research
• Hence, I had to pay the price of my own laziness and stupidity.

They convinced me to stop buying Bitcoin too. Bitcoin was dying in 2015 at sub-$200. So 2016’s recovery was a thing I was laughing about. ”Look at those fools still buying BTC lmao” I was thinking, watching the markets about to die forever. Who’s the fool now, huh?

5. Unless you truly support an altcoin, stay out of that area. No shitcoins for you unless you understand what you’re doing

There was a time you bought shitcoins. Maybe it’s now. I’ve been there and done that too, and this was one of the mistakes I made.

• Especially nowadays, investing in shitcoins is a very bad idea. You need to be up to date 24/7 with it. Who knows? Tomorrow it could be a rug pull. Or they may be transitioning to a v2 contract. Or they’ve been hacked. It’s very simple - you stay behind, you lose your coins.
• Price matters, right? Because say the truth or not, we’re here for the money too - at least partially. How many times has your shitcoin made you money? How quickly does a bull run end, how abruptly? Now look at Bitcoin’s charts. If for a shitcoin you need immediate action or you lose the peak because most action happens in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin moves big but slow.

Now I’ll tell you a hurtful truth. How much shitcoin did you buy and when? Take a piece of paper and stick with me.

Write down how many shitcoins you bought and how much fiat you invested in it. Go to CoinMarketCap, find Bitcoin, go back on the chart to the same day you bought your shitcoin and write down the price. Calculate how much BTC you would’ve got if you bought BTC instead of your shitcoin.

Now compare how much fiat value you have now with your shitcoin vs how much fiat value you would’ve had if you chose Bitcoin instead. Do the same for your entire portfolio and I promise you, it wasn’t worth all the efforts of buying alts. If you stick to Bitcoin instead, maybe you move slower but you move certainly.


If you want to have a positive crypto experience, you need to be careful, dedicated, open-minded and less lazy. Otherwise, you’re prone to making costly mistakes you’ll later regret. So start now. Your favorite influencer might be the one person who’s blocking your progress. If I bought all the shitcoins influencers I’ve seem recommended me to, I’d be broke. If you bought BTC from the start, you’d be more rich. But money changes people. Want more positive results? Spend more time trying to find the best way. You’ve got a brain, you’re still ahead of many others who still haven’t even sparked an interest in Bitcoin, so start doing things better now.

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[_act_]

I will say people should not stress themselves much if they want to research about bitcoin, it is simple like 1 2 3, but what someone is ignorant of, that thing may not be simple unless he knows how to do it.

Anyone that wants to research about bitcoin, the person should read about bitcoin halving. After reading about bitcoin halving, checking the price chart in months is very important. The person should use halving to relate to it. The person should also try to know the best time to invest and when not to invest.

Other things is that the person should learn about CPI, SEC news, latest about bitcoin spot ETF, exchange inflow and outflow and things like that.

If bitcoin price increase to all-time-high and fall back, increasing to almost halve if the all-time-high or below price are good time to invest, in time like this. Be active on crypto related things on forums like Reddit.

Altcoins investment can require more research by looking for tokenomics of the coin, white paper, the developers behind the project, some known investors and things like that. But bitcoin investment is very different and simpler.

[Hyphen(-)]

The primary issue here is relying on crypto influencers since it makes us lazy, assuming that with only one watch from an influencer, we would have all the information we need about the project. Most people who believe in altcoins fail from time to time.

These influencers are paid to promote such projects, and the most of them are not investing anything in the project they are advertising; they do so just for financial gain, which is why they cannot be trusted.

To me, the main stream media promote fear among crypto users, which scares some investors and leads to them losing the money they invested or their possibility to profit, which they always regret after their actions.

Doing additional research before investing is very important; it gives hints on when to invest and when to take your profit, although for Altcoins, the research should be a bit more complex because investing in altcoins is more risky than Bitcoin because you need good information about the team behind the project as well as the project roadmap in order to be satisfied, and you can still be scammed even after knowing all of this.

[DaveF]

This really comes down to anything. It's just that there is so much more bad data sitting out there in the crypto world that it makes it a lot harder to sift though what is real and what is fake. YouTube / Twitter / Facebook all just make it worse since there are so many people out there looking to just make a buck.

You see it more and more with a lot of things and no matter what you just have to keep a more cynical attitude about what is real and what is not and deal with it on that basis. And if there is enough saying no, even if you want it to be yes then you have to be willing to accept that fact.

Even when getting involved in buying things in the physical world you have to dig though a lot more crap then you used to and be willing to accept that there are a lot of people out there pushing their own agenda.

-Dave

[Doan9269]

5. Unless you truly support an altcoin, stay out of that area. No shitcoins for you unless you understand what you’re doing

There was a time you bought shitcoins. Maybe it’s now. I’ve been there and done that too, and this was one of the mistakes I made.

• Especially nowadays, investing in shitcoins is a very bad idea. You need to be up to date 24/7 with it. Who knows? Tomorrow it could be a rug pull. Or they may be transitioning to a v2 contract. Or they’ve been hacked. It’s very simple - you stay behind, you lose your coins.

Those found investing with the so called shitcoins didn't know that's what will turn to be the outcome of thier decision to invest on any how project they have no information about, it's normal that you see a project and you have the interest to develop trust in them by what they say they are here to provide, it the project succeeded then you scale through and make your profits, if they fail in their project then you termed them a shitcoin, this now brings a conclusion of putting altcoins under two categories base on their inventors, the scam projects and the genuine ones but which turned a failure along the line, the truth is all these are not encountered if you choose bitcoin for an investment.

• Price matters, right? Because say the truth or not, we’re here for the money too - at least partially. How many times has your shitcoin made you money? How quickly does a bull run end, how abruptly? Now look at Bitcoin’s charts. If for a shitcoin you need immediate action or you lose the peak because most action happens in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin moves big but slow.

This is very true about other cryptocurrencies when they are fast rising, the quicker they rise the faster the fall the same direction, some to manage to escape this if they are very smart enough in knowing that their uptime is very short and they needed to take a quick action, those that tarry more with the mindset of hitting their utmost priority and target eventually end up loosing the more they are waiting, so why should we keep bothering ourselves on what has higher risk than the gain we are to benefit from it at the end, bitcoin is still the best to invest always because there's no fear of missing out, if it's drops today it will certainly rise the other time.

[Lorence.xD]

This really comes down to anything. It's just that there is so much more bad data sitting out there in the crypto world that it makes it a lot harder to sift though what is real and what is fake. YouTube / Twitter / Facebook all just make it worse since there are so many people out there looking to just make a buck.

Everything in the social media can be faked which is makes everything complicated for newbies. But if you are smart enough to what sources and information you will rely on, maybe you could know what to trust. You can't just rely on 1 information that you have read or watched for example in the Youtube, where it's commonly clickbait videos. There's a lot of opportunity that you can find online not only crypto but just be careful as people would take advantage of people would do anything to make a money. That's why these kind of forum exist so you could gather more reliable sources than being manipulated by paid people.

[Nhazwrath]

Before you can understand things like Bitcoin.   You need to understand how to think.   Most people have never Ever been shown or taught how to think.


A Good start is Socrates.   No I am not joking.  

Example.   Two very important things Socrates said.   First.   If theres one thing I know.   Its that I know Nothing.  

Second.   How do I Know What I Know?

Both of these statements Require Humility In order for their message to be really understood.  

Humanity has several problems.   We have limited time and we have to do things in the world.   So learning humility usually isn't in the cards.  We tend to not have time for it.   So men on average look for the shortest easiest answer to a problem they are trying to solve.

We do this by copying other peoples ideas.   Even if its bad idea and they sort of work.  Other people are more aware of this problem and they will pass you bad ideas in order to gain money and advantages since they also have the exact same problem of limited time and must act in the world.   Namely politicians and other various scam artists.   Note they are called Artists for a reason.  

Scamming is cheaper then Thinking on your own since all you have to do is fool people.  


EVEN IF think you do KNOW something.   You are probably wrong about a bunch of it.

So my message here is this.   Go study How to go about Thinking and assume you don't know how to Think.

[Z390]

I've never for once trusted the mainstream media, my parents are a strong believers that media is full of lies and buried truth, and when it comes to money media can be craft in such a way that will make everything look's perfect, Bitcoin is just a very strong asset you know, if not, media was powerful enough to ruin it but of cos, Bitcoin is decentralized and that will surely cause some stir up the mess in the world.

Thanks for the solid advice, especially about altcoins, I have be a victim of many bad altcoins before but learning never stops and now I am happy with very altcoins I have because I can tell the difference and also understand the risk, which is where many people failed to get right.

[rat03gopoh]

I started my journey by getting involved in a new altcoin promotion. Yeah, I used to make some mistakes out of laziness to find out the truth, it was quite a waste of precious time. But there are some positive things that I got from all of this, sometimes people have to make mistakes as experience and cover up curiosity so they won't make the same mistake again.
However, I'm not gonna cultivate hatred for altcoins. Just be more skeptical of their variations which could one day fail.

[CODE200]

I've never for once trusted the mainstream media, my parents are a strong believers that media is full of lies and buried truth, and when it comes to money media can be craft in such a way that will make everything look's perfect, Bitcoin is just a very strong asset you know, if not, media was powerful enough to ruin it but of cos, Bitcoin is decentralized and that will surely cause some stir up the mess in the world.

I have a question, what makes your parents more reliable than mainstream media? I know that the mainstream media is owned by the 1% which means that they also have a means to resource for information gathering so I don't see how being a skeptic on what's on the TV would be enough to not rely on them plus you blindly believing in your parents and relying on them for information meant you just switched to something pretty much the same or maybe I am wrong and you're smart enough to sift through the lies but I digress, research really is important but my only problem with that is research is time-consuming and most of us if not all, are living in a fast-paced world so it helps a lot if there's a concise and perfect article/video/vlog/blog that summarizes what you need to know in bitcoin but so far, none of the sites that I'm subscribed to have met my specifications.

[Die_empty]

I like this post because it was written out of experience and the OP poured out his heart. There might be genuine information out there but most of them are sponsored by the government and bitcoin haters. One of their strategy is that they amplify any negative news about the bitcoin space. Anytime an exchange has issues, it will make headlines in most news outlets. If any government makes make any unfriendly policy or there is any hack of a wallet, it will receive wide coverage. They will always analyze how a political or economic policy will affect the price of bitcoin negatively. This strategy is targeted at promoting FUD that will make people dispose of their coins. But any good about bitcoin will receive less publicity and limited coverage.

OP is right when he said we should invest time in quality research. Relying on a single or double information source might not be sufficient. We need to consult many reliable sources and we should analyze this information and make our decisions after critical thinking. The safest and easiest way to survive in this sector is to concentrate on bitcoin. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or guts to monitor these altcoins, just stick to bitcoin. Bitcointalk is also a reliable information bank. At least you can freely ask questions and get answers from experienced members. In conclusion, I have decided to back the media and face my plans and reliable community.

[Poker Player]

I usually say that it is better to be wrong about your mistakes than right about those of others, although I don't mean that literally. Hypothetically it would be preferable not to do any research at all and earn as much money as possible following what this Youtuber or the media says.

In the real world, however, doing research usually leads to some failure but implies a desire to improve oneself, improve knowledge, which ends up giving positive economic results, so I agree with the picture painted by the OP.

[hatshepsut93]

So yeah, DYOR is not about googling what others think. You have a brain, use it! The more you read from multiple sources, the bolder an idea becomes in your mind. And you should already know it: the more fantastic it sounds, the higher the chance it’s a scam. Look through Bitcointalk, look through other sources. Repetitive information isn’t helpful, try to look for new information.

People who want to start understanding Bitcoin should start with reading a few decent books about Bitcoin. Once they are familiar with the technology, they could spot the lies of altcoins and Bitcoin critics. Reading technical discussions on this forum could be a good next step for deepening the knowledge and understanding.

But this all could be too hard and too time-consuming for someone who just wants to invest in Bitcoin for long term. For that some sort of simple and general strategy is needed. Not trusting self-proclaimed experts who try to predict Bitcoin's future is a good start. Perhaps the best strategy is to lock-in your decision and not change it no matter what. For example, buying some amount and holding it for at least 4 years, regardless of the news.

[GreatArkansas]

2. Researching on your own is difficult, but it’s worth it.

I am very agree with this because I already experienced and tried to compare other people who are doing research to just following some social media handles like Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube.
When you do your own research, you will find a lot of sources along the way and it may give you difficulty to asses what's real, and what's not.

But at the end of the day, it's worth it because sometimes you discover other things beside on what you are looking for.

[BlackBoss_]

I am very agree with this because I already experienced and tried to compare other people who are doing research to just following some social media handles like Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube.

Many information from social media channels are not accurately informative and we need to verify information we got from them. Especially true for Youtube where many influencers only care about their views, traffics, bounce rate and not actually care about what they are talking in the videos.

Youtube? BitcointalkShow https://www.youtube.com/BitcoinTalkShow

When you do your own research, you will find a lot of sources along the way and it may give you difficulty to asses what's real, and what's not.

But at the end of the day, it's worth it because sometimes you discover other things beside on what you are looking for.

Practice makes perfect and repeating own due diligent research will help a newbie to become a more knowledgeable person and soon will become an intelligent investor.

[kryptqnick]

I agree with the op about the Youtube sponsored videos and other content on social media where influencers are sponsored to promote certain crypto projects. It's also true that the media often misrepresents Bitcoin by choosing to report very specific things at specific times, as well as publishing pure speculation, but not trusting the mainstream media is IMO dangerous because of being a part of the road toward conspiracy theories, radical left-wing or right-wing propaganda and just generally pseudoscience.
So it's important to both understand that media outlets are biased and that 'non-mainstream' media can be even worse in that regard.
Also, if not investing into altcoins is among the top advice, it basically just leaves people with Bitcoin, and one doesn't need to know much about Bitcoin to buy and hodl it.

[Blitzboy]

Its the ultimate "shoulda, woulda, coulda" story, and lets face it: we've all been there. If I had a nickel for every time I made a mistake, I'd have a lot of Bitcoin by now.

You bring up individual investigation as though it were a silver bullet, but buddy, let's face it: not everyone has the expertise to evaluate market patterns or anticipate the next big coin. We'd all be crypto experts if that were the case.

I wont deny that your Bitcoin loss is painful. But hey, you got Call of Duty, so who comes out on top? (Don't take this seriously; I'm only kidding around!) Though, it is unfortunate, but as they say, hindsight is always 20/20.

You warn against investing in alternative cryptocurrencies, but isn't it like laying money on a long shot in a race involving a thousand horses? Bitcoin may be in the lead, but the swiftest runner doesn't necessarily come out on top. Which side of the coin will surprise us next? Give these "shitcoins" a chance and let's keep an open mind about them, shall we?

[Hamza2424]

Everything in the social media can be faked which is makes everything complicated for newbies. But if you are smart enough to what sources and information you will rely on, maybe you could know what to trust. You can't just rely on 1 information that you have read or watched for example in the Youtube, where it's commonly clickbait videos. There's a lot of opportunity that you can find online not only crypto but just be careful as people would take advantage of people would do anything to make a money. That's why these kind of forum exist so you could gather more reliable sources than being manipulated by paid people.

I am not familiar with any sort of incident where a reputed Youtuber or crypto influencer intentionally took advantage of his follower, still in unintentional acts, and users' own mishandling of such incidents can happen, the rest depending on multiple sources I almost agree with it from any view because the single source can manipulate your learnings and distract you to invest in some sort of shity project as I had experienced it once where the person whom I was following suggest to invest in a meme token and maximum of the community members lost their funds.

But still, such cases are really rare because everyone wants to save his/her reputation by being double-faced no one can grow. Social media can be greatly helpful but if used properly else it can be a disaster for an investor and newbie.