What they used before Blockchain Explorer?

[lassdas]

Are you suggesting to creat a full wallet node instead of using SPV wallets?

Anytime, yes.
Even when using SPV wallets (like electrum) I would suggest to run your own (electrum-)server (which also requires to run a full node).
And if you're running your own full node + your own SPV-server already, it doesn't take much more to run your own BE too.

Of course most people don't do that and I get why, doesn't change the fact that it's the better choice though,
simply because you don't have to trust anyone.

Because if Blockchain Explorer is not trusted then things will get confusing for everyone. Because it just displays the data of blockchain even the validators and miners are increased so much since the inception of BTC so we should trust the BE.

Sure, the blockexplorer should just display the data of the blockchain,
but how can you be sure it's showing you the correct data? The operator could tamper that data in any way s/he wants.
I'm not saying s/he would, but you need to trust them anyway.

I do understand that everyone was running a full node but what I do not understand here is how that provides one information and history of transactional data in live time. Just like the BE do. Because AFAIK, the addition of new transactional data when occurred then that data is also upgraded in all the blockchains (means who have run a full node). But what happened in between that time who knows that live status's information?

You said it yourself,
the BE just displays the blockchain-data in a user-friendly way.
If you already have the blockchain, you already have all the data and what's not yet in the blockchain is waiting for you in the mempool to look for.
Running a full node, you've got all the data there is, no need to ask a third-party for information you already have.


Again, I'm not saying BEs are bad, or noone should use them, or anything like that, I'm using them myself.
But BEs have nothing todo with "trust in BTC".
If someone tells me, s/he send me coins and sends me a link to a BE as "proof", I still don't believe anything s/he says, or the BE shows.
If it's not on my copy of the blockchain, s/he didn't send me anything.


PS: I got those 5BTC from Gavins faucet, but I sent them back a couple of minutes later, just wanted to try if it works. 

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[pooya87]

I think back then it was not even private because you could literally point out the person who made that transaction considering the number of transactions.

A much more important factor is the number of full nodes. I doubt the number of full nodes in first year was even in double digits which means one entity (like a 3 letter agency) could have easily connected to all full nodes and see which one is sending the transaction out for the first time and keep a record of that.

Today that is extremely difficult because the number of full nodes is entering 4 digits and there are loads of privacy improvements that have been made in the P2P protocol.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Before the first block explorer was developed, Bitcoin community consisted almost entirely of highly skilled enthusiast who could analyse the raw data without BE. e.g. they could spot and fix anomalies like this one.

(...) Well, if that's true then how it is possible for people to trust on BTC at start (...)

Bitcoin was (almost) worthless at that time so it's hard to talk about any trust. We're talking about times when anyone could get 5 btc from the faucet and many didn't even bother to claim that.

I was surprised by the amount of seemingly experts that posted on the forums back when I joined. I can only imagine the years before that. The forum atmosphere has changed a lot over the years as the Bitcoin price increased and the focus became less about technology providing freedom and more about number go up.

You are very correct and I very much agree with you, but then, it's something that should be expected, those who started with Bitcoin in the beginning were mostly programmers and developer who probably wanted an adventure, and bitcoin was a good adventure for them at the time, so to them, it was about what bitcoin would become in the future in terms of value(monetary worth), it was more of them doing what they find passion and fulfillment in doing, and then watching how it goes..

With the passage of time and when bitcoin started gaining monetary value, it started to attract people who were not programmers, but hunters of opportunities and wealth, and bitcoin proving beyond every reasonable doubt to indeed be source of wealth creation, attracted even more like minded people who are all about making money, and today, I am not surprised that most of us don't talk or discus about the technology in bitcoin anymore, but care and talk about the numbers in it the more.

[icalical]

Blockchain.com wasn't the one who built the first blockexplorer. By the way, they were known as Blockchain.info prior to that. You are right; no one actually needed to see the balance of someone else's address and most of the information that you see on the blockexplorers are not essential to most.

The first blockexplorer was actually created by theymos: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1727.0. This was before blockexplorer.com and it led to the creation of that which was a lot more polished and with more detailed information.

Was this happened before or after theymos become the sole admin of this forum, I believe previously the admin of this forum is satoshi himself. I always wonder why theymos was chosen to be the admin (since he is not the one founded the forum,  --or maybe he is actually the one founded the forum, maybe he is satoshi--) but I if he was making the block explorer before everyone else then his contribution to bitcoin is what made him chosen to become the admin

[tbct_mt2]

Was this happened before or after theymos become the sole admin of this forum, I believe previously the admin of this forum is satoshi himself. I always wonder why theymos was chosen to be the admin (since he is not the one founded the forum,  --or maybe he is actually the one founded the forum, maybe he is satoshi--)

theymos was the third head administrator, after Satoshi Nakamoto and Sirius. You can see he described how and when he became a head administrator.

The first Bitcoin block explorer was created by theymos two years before he became a head administrator.

Why did he become a head administrator?

I guess it is because he one of first Bitcointalk members and has deep technical knowledge (his block explorer is an example for his technical skills) and contribution for Bitcoin and Bitcointalk communities.

So far theymos is the only people who code the forum.

It's surprising how well-documented history can become totally forgotten... Satoshi created the forum on Nov 22, 2009, and was head administrator until almost 2011. Then Sirius was head administrator until 2012, which is when I took over.

[ranochigo]

Why would we need a blockexplorer to trust in BTC?
And why should we trust the blockexplorer (instead of BTC?)?

Back in those days every user was running a "full node",
bitcoinQT was the only wallet around and "pruning" didn't exist, so everyone had his own copy of the complete blockchain.

Don't trust, verify!

You can't verify anything on a blockexplorers website, you have to trust the operator.
The only reliable source of information is the blockchain itself, so it's best to keep your own copy.

Sure, but it is easier said than done. You do trust the blockexplorers, but generally it is used as a secondary form of validation. Think, you wouldn't exactly trust (or should trust) a blockexplorer when it says that someone has sent you Bitcoins. You would check your own wallet.

Blockexplorers are good for indexing transactions, especially others. It is very resource intensive for most to do so, you need to index the transactions in addition to the blocks. This is regardless of pruning.

[Faisal2202]

And if you're running your own full node + your own SPV-server already, it doesn't take much more to run your own BE too.

I did not realized that, can you please provide some good readings on that I know search engines are there but to get your point technically I do need to read those articles which I am looking to get from you. I hope you won't mind me. Like how one can really run there own BE if they have full node or SPV server.

Wait a sec --> Are you saying when we have our own Node or SPV server we have access to all the previous blocks and transactional data and when new transaction is added in the node then it is shared to every other node which means you as a node will also get the details of that new transaction. Let's say that new transaction is yours. So, I get to know the live data of that transaction? because I never see the interface of how data of transactions and blocks looks when we have our own node or SPV server.

The operator could tamper that data in any way s/he wants.
I'm not saying s/he would, but you need to trust them anyway.

By operator you mean the operator of the websites like the mempool, the ethexplorers etc. Because such explorer have their own nodes and they are just broadcasting that data either its of transactions or blocks they are just broadcasting it as it is being put on the network. I mean to alter the data they really need to have fast computers and fast operators. Because changing some bits need full mining and then those changings of alternation needs to be confirm by others too but I do not think you are talking about underlying data instead the data which is just showcased by the operators on the UI.

PS: I think I got your point.