Bitcointalk 2023 in retrospect

[SatoPrincess]

Happy New Year Bitcointalk! As we close the curtain on the year 2023, I thought it would be nice to revisit some of the events that made the year “interesting”. Most of the topics were selected from Reputation and Meta. If you think there’s any I missed, you can mention it in the comments. And I will add the topic to the list.

Date	|	Story	|	Thread	|
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January 5, 2023	|	It’s not common for bitcointalk members to change their username. Only a handful of users have had their username changed in the years I have been on this forum. On this day, the BSFL Sheriff, as he is popularly known finally got his username changed to Igebotz.	|	Change of Username
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January 9, 2023	|	Joker_josue makes a comprehensive list of users who changed their username in 2023.	|	Users Changed Name 2023
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February 1, 2023	|	GazetaBitcoin and icopress announce the winners of Bitcointalk Community Awards 2022.	|	Bitcointalk Community Awards 2022 Winners
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February 1, 2023	|	Despite the challenges of his poor merit allocation, The Sceptical Chymist once again resumes his post history review offer.	|	*Restarted* Post history review offer
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March 15,2022	|	On this faithful day, the unexpected happened. Chipmixer website was reportedly seized by the authorities. This was a big blow to the community and came as a shock to everyone. Chipmixer had been live on the forum since 2017 and was the highest paid campaign. After the website was seized, we soon learned that this was the beginning of an end for all mixers.	|	Chipmixer has been seized
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March 29, 2023	|	Due to the recent developments with mixers being on a constant crossfire with government agencies, Theymos requested that all staff of bitcointalk stop promoting mixers.	|	staff were asked to stop advertising mixing services
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April 1, 2023	|	It is a tradition to celebrate April Fools Day on Bitcointalk. Every year Theymos  comes up with a new April fools prank. Each year always better than the last. This year, Royse777 and TryNinja decided to join in the fun. This year, Theymos introduced the new Captcha system in order to reduce low quality post. PowerGlove was in on it as well, which made it believable. Newbies are the usual victims, older members remember the date and immediately recognize what’s happening. Based on the number of threads that were created about the new captcha system. I would say the prank was a successful one.	|	Topic: New CAPTCHA now required before posting
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April 1, 2023	|	In my opinion, Royse777 had the best April Fools joke. It isn’t common for a manager to prank the forum so no one saw this coming even older members who had not fallen for the captcha prank fell for it. Royse777 launched the highest paying campaign on the forum, one where campaign participants can earn up to $350/week. It didn’t take long for the thread to get page 5. Some were skeptical but didn’t want to risk not applying for the campaign. You can imagine the reactions when Royse777 said it was a prank. Pure Gold!	|	Re-Launch Sinbad Signature campaign | Reward up-to $350/w
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April 24, 2023	|	Due to the increasing number of newbies falling victim to phishing sites scams. @Gladitorcomeback made a list of phishing sites and where to report them.	|	POST ALL PHISING SITES HERE (2023
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May 11, 2023	|	Imgur was a popularly used image hosting site on the forum. For some reason, the site blocked bitcointalk which made users find other alternatives like talkimg.com.	|	Imgur images suddenly became invalid
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May 18, 2023	|	Imgur was used by many forum members so a lot of old threads with Imgur links were missing certain information and looked broken because the image links were now invalid. Thankfully, LoyceV came up with a solution for this problem.	|	Topic: [get yours] Images from imgur + All links to your own
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June 11, 2023	|	After investigations, t was found that John Abraham account (which was wearing one of the highest paying signatures at the time), was connected to naim027. John Abraham failed to convince the community that he wasn’t an alt of naim027 and was tagged as a result.	|	John Abraham ≈ naim027' Coincidence or Connection?
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June 24, 2023	|	PowerGlove writes a SMF patch for a 2FA implementation. In 2022, PowerGlove had complained about the forum lacking 2fa, he then decided to (in his own words) roll up his sleeves and do something about it. A lot of work was put into this and it took 80 hours to finish. PowerGlove is indeed a blessing.	|	A concise 2FA/TOTP implementation (SMF patch).
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July 11, 2023	|	BitcoinGirl.Club calls out Ratimov. I’m not sure what began the feud between this two but I know it goes back to the year 2022.	|	Ratimov - prove yourserlf at least the plagiarism accusation.
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July 30, 2023	|	When I was a newbie, some of the topics that caught my attention was OgNasty’s encrypted messages thread and [Merit] Hey Newbies! Can You Sign A Message?. This exposed newbies to other applications of bitcoin and we were interested because of the merits lol. Along the line, the merits stopped and the threads became less visible. I doubt newbies from this year know about those topics. So I was happy when BitcoinGirl.Club created a new thread to encourage members to stake their bitcoin adress.	|	Receive Merit - Post your PGP key, add an encrypted message, open for anyone.
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August 8, 2023	|	After Chipmixer was seized. A lot of mixers came to the forum to advertise their services. Whirlwind was one of them and it quickly gained popularity as the highest paying signature campaign. It was not until users began to complain of withdrawal issues that we found out the mixer was an exit scam.	|	Whirlwind withdrawals are not being processed
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August 24, 2023	|	The Bitcointalk Show releases a new episode on YouTube.	|	New Episode of TheBitcoinTalkShow.
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September 28, 2023	|	GazetaBitcoin questions Ratimov’s use of the Trust System and also highlights accusations of plagiarism. From this single thread, began a series of events that will lead to the fall of Ratimov. Ratimov changed his name to Symmetrick. Symmetrick went on to delete all his old topics including his famous guides for beginners.	|	Should Ratimov aka Symmetrick be in DT1?
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October 21, 2023	|	GazetaBitcoin makes a list of hilarious topics from Off topic board.	|	Most iconic erm... I mean most ridiculous topics from Off-topic board
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November 29, 2023		To the surprise of many, one of the most popular mixers, Sinbad mixer was seized by the authorities. Sinbad was so popular that were many clone sites that claimed to be Sinbad. Ironically sometime in May, JollyGood had raised the question on which mixer would be the next to be shutdown, who would have guessed it would actually happen in the same year. Sinbad was the third mixer to be added to the list. I think this was the one that broke the camels back and led to the ban of mixers on bitcointalk.	|	Sinbad has been shutdown
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December 1, 2023	|	Theymos announces mixer promotions is banned from the forum	|	Mixers to be Banned
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December 1, 2023	|	The Bitcointalk community Awards 2023 opens for voting. This year, the organizers added new rules that would prevent members from manipulating the voting process.	|	[Voting 2023] Bitcointalk Community Awards 🏆
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Dec 5, 2023	|	BlackHatCoiner sends a goodbye message to the forum. In his message, BlackHatCoiner  said he will be leaving the forum for a while to handle for personal business. This is not the first time a reputable member of the forum has taken time off and come back but still many users were worried about his leaving.	|	Goodbye bitcointalk
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December 8, 2023	|	The forum pay its respect to a fallen hero as icopress informs the forum of the passing of Light warrior.	|	Light Warrior/Memorial thread.
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December 12, 2023	|	In the spirit of Christmas, forum admin, Cyrus gives banned accounts a chance to redeem themselves.	|	Second Chances
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December 20, 2023	|	Since his farewell message, there have been speculations concerning the circumstances of BlackHatCoiner departure and how long it was going to be. So it brought so much calm when BlackHatCoiner returned.	|	BlackHatCoiner returns
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December 21, 2023	|	The much awaited 2-factor authentication feature was finally added to the forum. This feature will provide a extra layer of security to your forum account.	|	2fa added
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December 28, 2023	|	In the midst of the drama, Symmetrick declares the user Ratimov to be dead.	|	Symmetrick/Ratimov - Memorial Thread.

My memory may be a little fuzzy on the details of certain events, so feel free to make corrections. Thank you…

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[Hatchy]

Happy New Year in advance

I want to thank you for summarizing the important events of 2023 on Bitcointalk. It's great to look back on what happened throughout the year.Since I joined in April, I went through so many experience. At first, the forum was a bit confusing, but I gradually understood it better. The year was full of significant events, and I was particularly happy about Blackheart Coiner's return.
Sadly, the passing of @light_warrior was a sad moment. He was a member I admired, and I learned a lot from him. May he rest in peace.
it's just few hours to the new year 2024 and I know the year will bear more fruits for us Bitcointalkers and Bitcoiners. I will see you all in 2024 kodos

[NotATether]

Where is BitMixList in this timeline?

[un_rank]

Great compilation. I would have thought I was very active throughout the year but seems like I missed some big events this year.

This forum really shows how a group of people with a common goal can build a very functional community which can function almost independently. Cheers to everyone who contributed to the forum this year.

- Jay -

[BABY SHOES]

Did a great job at the end of the year, so we know what events are happening throughout 2023 with this list I know it all.

It turns out that the forum has so many impressive stories and dramas, but I'm glad to see this.

Happy new year everyone, my region is now 2024.

[digaran]

I'm pretty much certain that what you just posted was GB 2023 in retrospect. But that's just me, you know? 😉

[LTU_btc]

Thanks for putting lot of effort and summarizing what happened here in 2023. And it looks that there is lot of things happened this year, both positive and negative. And there is some events that I missed somehow until I saw review - I wasn't aware of Cyrus giving banned users second chance. And it looks that significant part of your post will be consored after few hours - we all know what will happen here from 1st January
P.S. Little detail - some links in your postdoesn't works, but it doesn't matters that much.
Happy New Year for everyone here!

[ajiz138]

I almost forgot what happened in 2023, I don't follow all of what happened in the 2023 forum but this summary will let everyone know what happened here and it's really amazing.

@SatoPrincess June 24, 2023 link (PowerGlove) is not working maybe you can fix it soon.

But anyway happy new year everyone.

[Popkon6]

The year 2023 has been very good, auspicious time in everyone's life.  
But at this time of the future, let the year 2024 be happy for everyone. It is now 2024 in my region. As the morning sun rises, we will see a new light in 2024. May everyone's life be beautiful.

Happy New year 2024...

[Queentoshi]

This is very good, I was not aware about a few of the events, most likely because I seldom visit the boards where these things happen, there are certainly others like me. This summary will also help forum members who joined later than the start of this year to know and have an idea of what has happened in this forum in this year before they became members.

Happy New year everyone.

[Nheer]

My favorite of them all is the Royse777 April fool prank it really got everyone and that day was really fun as everyone was trying to pull off a prank.

2023 was a year full of fun and activities, good and bad moment not to be forgotten, i think we should give glory to God for sparing our lives to witness all these moments and pray we be among those to witness the beginning and end of 2024. Some started the year with us but sadly they are not with us anymore (peace be upon them).

Good effort @SatoPrincess flashing our memories back through the moments of 2023 is really worth it. More fun, more drama and more knowledge. Happy new year 2k24

[SatoPrincess]

And it looks that significant part of your post will be consored after few hours - we all know what will happen here from 1st January

I don’t think I added url links to any mixer website. I’d have to take a look at that thread again to see if I’m breaking the rules.

 P.S. Little detail - some links in your postdoesn't works, but it doesn't matters that much.

Thanks for pointing that out. I have fixed the bugs.

I almost forgot what happened in 2023, I don't follow all of what happened in the 2023 forum but this summary will let everyone know what happened here and it's really amazing.

@SatoPrincess June 24, 2023 link (PowerGlove) is not working maybe you can fix it soon.

So many things happened this year that took us by surprise both the good and the bad. It’s hard to keep track of everything. Most of the threads in the OP are hard to miss.  
P.S. The links have been fixed.

[LTU_btc]

I don’t think I added url links to any mixer website. I’d have to take a look at that thread again to see if I’m breaking the rules.

That's my bad. I thought that word ''mixer'' will be blacklisted from 1st of January. But now I re-read theymos announcement again and I see that only url's will be blacklisted, posts were mixers are just mentioned won't be affected.

[FinePoine0]

It is really fun to see the light of the sun on this new day of 2024. In 2023 we have a lot to see and having a good time is really a pleasure. May the new day of 2024 bring good wishes in everyone's life, may everyone have good luck. 
Wishing everyone good health and best wishes again for this new day of 2024.

[sokani]

Happy new year Satoprincess and nice job putting some of the highlights of last year's event on the forum together. Many events and dramas went down last year, but I think the ones that stood out for me are the ban by Theymos and the fall of Ratimov, frankly speaking I never saw them coming.

A little correction, the date of xxx website seizure is 15 March 2022, I believe you wanted to write March 15, 2023. Also, the link to Bitcointalk Show is broken.

[joker_josue]

We missed mentioning the launch of TalkImg! 

Thank you for the list, some points I no longer remembered and others I will know.

[Sim_card]

I am adding this to the list.

December 12, a second chance was given to banned users for them to apply so that their account can be unbanned if they meet up to the criteria. Only 3 out of 17 applicants was unbanned. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5477510.0

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Nice recap, OP.  I can't remember if there's been a thread like this every year or not, but I enjoy having the interesting tidbits and important events all laid out for me and my gelatinous brain. 

All the mixer stuff was pretty major, though I don't think 2023 was the most event- or drama-filled year I've seen.  2018 probably beats it due to the merit system being created and all the ensuing madness that happened, but last year (2023) definitely had its share of changes and drama.

Ah well, let's hope this year is a positive one for the forum and all its members.  Cheers!

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I am old. Before reading the topic things I had in mind.
Ratimov lost everything
Whirlwind money never asked for the remaining balance
Sinbad received sanction
Mixers banned
Rollbit scamming but successfully maintaining a good reputation
holydarkness is a good forum member that I can trust.

[Coyster]

A little correction, the date of xxx website seizure is 15 March 2022, I believe you wanted to write March 15, 2023.

Lol, you can write the name of mixers and even discuss about them, so you don't have to filter the names of mixers the way you just did. What will get you banned is if you direct people to mixers (through links) or if you continue to advertise mixers.

To OP: the compilation is great, personally i didn't miss any of these events in real time actually, so i remember all of them, but it is good to have these events in one topic for users who missed a few of them or cannot remember about it, great effort mate.