Request for a board of made-up stories

[SamReomo]

I agree with OP that there are so many such stories in Bitcoin discussion board but I believe some of those stories might be real and they might not be for merit fishing purposes. Well, it's better to have a separate board for such threads so the users who want to share their experiences with Bitcoin can post their thread on that board instead of positing it on Bitcoin discussion board.

[PytagoraZ]

Most of these threads are more or less crude attempts to get merit, which sometimes backfire on them. That's why I think it would be worthwhile to create a "Likely made-up stories" board and move them all there.

I just read the thread you attached. And it seems really crazy, selling land for bitcoin even though he just read the bitcoin whitepaper 2 months ago. That's a completely fake story, I don't think anyone would dare to speculate like that just because they knew about bitcoin 2 months ago. It turns out it's not just the reputation board where there's a lot of drama. Lol

But just agree, if there was a board for stories about bitcoin (real and fictional)

[Agbamoni]

Not a serious request but at least one thing I think is worth commenting on.

There are a lot of threads in the Bitcoin Discussion section that are probably made up, some simply by analyzing the OP's post history are proven false, and those that are not proven false due to lack of evidence at least smell made up. They are threads along the lines of "I convinced xxx to buy Bitcoin and today he is a millionaire" "Bitcoin has changed my life".

The latest installment of this saga is someone who claims to have sold his family's land, without their permission, to buy Bitcoin, and if we take into account that the Bitcoin was kept by him, he is confessing to a crime.

I don't think it's worth giving a separate board. There are other boards request that are more important. Since we have one for off-topic then this one is not really necessary. I think this situation or type of topics can be managed from now on by the moderators.

I sold our family land and used the money to invest on bitcoin.
...
My resolution to invest in bitcoin is final and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

Most of these threads are more or less crude attempts to get merit, which sometimes backfire on them.

This group of individuals has closed their minds to the idea that merit distribution is based on emotional attachments to posts, especially those related to Bitcoin and daily livelihood.

[suchmoon]

That's your opinion, but I wouldn't agree with it. Mods are very responsive to reports from that board, the only problem is that most of the members engage in these pointless discussions because it is more important for them to write a post than to click on the "report to moderator" button. The latter has been pushed into the category of "wasted time" for too long that it has finally become a rule, at least judging by the number of monthly reports.

Opinion it may be but it is supported by facts and experience. I tried reporting a lot of posts in BD, the utter garbage kind that contains some paragraph(s) of words, some of which may be vaguely related to the topic but it adds nothing to the discussion and/or just regurgitates other vague useless crap that's been posted multiple times earlier in the thread (often I would report in threads past 3-5 pages in length). Eventually it became abundantly clear that while I was spending time reading and actually trying to follow the thread to a point where I could see the uselessness of those posts, the moderator(s) didn't spent even a small fraction of that time and would just ignore most of the reports, particularly if the post looked like it had substance (e.g. was a couple of paragraphs long with some punctuation and grammar).

The fact that this issue comes up again and again and again clearly shows that the level of moderation in BD is out of touch with what many reasonable users expect BD to be. Ultimately it wouldn't be complicated to moderate that board without any reports... just spend an hour a day, possibly a lot less once it gets cleaned up and spammers realize it's no longer their playground, to read and follow the threads and delete the garbage, including responses to garbage posts/threads by otherwise not-totally-garbage users. How hard can it be. It looks like lack of will more than anything else.

[Mpamaegbu]

...
My resolution to invest in bitcoin is final and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

I find that part highly disgusting and it tells
a great deal how the user in quote, Justbillywitt, treats their family. How someone would sell what was collectively owned and made that type of statement, is simply unbelievable. It's appalling to say the least, and really saddening.

Those who start up incredible stories like that should've realized that there are now many threads for merit giveaways if they spent some time on the forum to peruse it enough. They should take up such offers than labour in vain to amaze us with their lack of ingenuity.

[Poker Player]

...

Please, theymos.

We could name it:

Request for a Board Request Board
A place where users can put in their earnest requests for a board, specifically designed for requests about requesting boards.

Please don't.

Good point, lol.

Almost all of them exploit emotion, as the popular topic Bitcoin and Me^[1] continues to get attention and views.

You're right, I hadn't thought about it.

It's a great place to pour all signature garbage into because any sane person has given up on reading it a long time ago and mods have given up on spending two seconds trying to determine if a post is "low value".

Well, I am one of the insane persons who visit the section and my reports for low value are usually handled quickly, deleting the post. What happens is that I am quite lenient in reporting and if I report for low value I am actually reporting for 0 value, because what is written in that post is a big mountain of horse shit.

Reward question - has anyone noticed where the members who serve the most stories like this are from?

I would say mostly from Nigeria, but that is not to say anything, we have a large Nigerian community on the forum with quite a few members who are great assets. The questionable stories come from lower ranked members, but I hope as they stay longer on the forum and rank up they will drop these stories and will find other legit ways to earn merits.

Those who start up incredible stories like that should've realized that there are now many threads for merit giveaways if they spent some time on the forum to peruse it enough. They should take up such offers than labour in vain to amaze us with their lack of ingenuity.

Yes, that is a good example.

I'm going to lock the thread because I had no intention other than to have a little relaxed conversation on the subject. If anyone feels the need to comment, PM me.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

"Likely made-up stories"

I would like a separate board to read fairy tails. Moral of the stories will be how bitcoin came to the earth and embraced the human beings. Make the centralized monetary system the bad guy which they are of-course. Teach the kids not to chase the job but to offer the job.

The question is, will theymos ever agree with adding anything new to the forum? He is still busy with the new forum software, don't forget that 😉

[NotATether]

Most of these threads are more or less crude attempts to get merit, which sometimes backfire on them. That's why I think it would be worthwhile to create a "Likely made-up stories" board and move them all there.

They can just be moved to the trash can. I don't see how such a board will ever be created, when more serious boards are facing long delays.

Playing devil's advocate here: what if made-up stories are part of someone's OPSEC?

I really don't think anyone (well, I guess 99% just to be on the safe side) posting here is smart enough to play 4D chess with anyone who is trying to track them down, so my take is that they are just crude attempts to gain merit.

[Fiatless]

Some of these stories can be simply identified as fake because they are not factual, sequential or meaningful. The original poster usually comes up with poorly written blatant lies concocted to earn merits. But I am glad that the community have started to identify that the target is to fish merit and many of these posts only get few or no merit. The number of these make-believe posts has reduced to some extent since these merit fishers are no longer getting merits.

Tagging these accounts might not be proper since there are no standard mechanisms to check the truthfulness or validity of these stories. We all know that it will reduce the number of these stories but it can also lead to wrong judgement. Some of these stories might be true because people can act in some strange manner or cannot express themselves in a readable manner. It will also discourage members from sharing their stories because they will be scared that it might lead to punishment.

For me the best solution should be to choose between ignoring the post, don't give merits, giving your comments or reporting the posts. A separate board is unnecessary because it will be filled with junk.

[Lucius]

Reward question - has anyone noticed where the members who serve the most stories like this are from?

I would say mostly from Nigeria, but that is not to say anything, we have a large Nigerian community on the forum with quite a few members who are great assets. The questionable stories come from lower ranked members, but I hope as they stay longer on the forum and rank up they will drop these stories and will find other legit ways to earn merits.

If I noticed it, you and many others did too, and if we know where such things come from, then we can ask that community (at least those older members) to influence beginners not to do such things. It's not just fictional stories, but also alt-farms created by members of that community and a very strange attitude towards the use of AI when creating posts.

[cafter]

If a story/post does not seem important, we can just ignore it.
Some stories only need a "congratulations" as a reply, so we can skip those. Someone might have already said congrats to the OP.
We should reply to Threads/stories that seems real and helpful to the OP and other forum members which will help to increase knowledge or teach something new.