Most technically knowledgeable forum users ..

[ChiBitCTy]

I’ve been around for what’s getting close to 10 years now but I still don’t know which forum users are considered the most knowledgeable in terms of cryptographic expertise/programming experts etc..basically the Mr Robot types.  

I’ve always wanted to know but wasn’t really sure how to find out so figure maybe this thread could help shine light on those users. Now I know GMaxwell is probably the pinnacle of such members (we are very lucky to have him here) Loyce (tho he’s AI so not sure they count), suchmoon, satoshighost, Rusbitcoin nullius, tryninja, o_e_l_e_o 💔, Nutildah, DdmrDdmr, theymos (obviously), pooya87, I believe (though we may not see eye to eye on certain topics of late, I respect them nonetheless ) etc etc.

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this? Reason I bring this up ..Yogg. He was my go to (outside of bugging Loyce from time to time)..Yogg would let me sit on the phone for hours pestering him with tech questions with no judgement and it really sucks to have lost that friendship/teacher. So it would be nice to know which members I can trust or at least know they’ve got a strong understanding of cryptography/programming knowledge that way I can learn from them without having doubts of them just “blowing smoke”.

The names I’ve listed are just some I believe fit in this category. Maybe I’m wrong on some of them too

For years I’ve always thought it would be great to be able to recognize three types somehow: I know Theymos (though maybe it was Sirius) assigned special badges to some of the OGs that fit this sorts criteria (like Hal I believe has one, and know there’s others).

 I think I recently had a back and forth with one of these types, not realizing I was talking with a high skill level user, and feel like a moron because while I have a strong background in finance and basic cryptocurrency knowledge, it’s at a script kiddie level no question. Maybe some list like this already exists ? If anyone with knowledge of these types wouldn’t mind sharing or “recognizing” them, it’d be greatly appreciated!

(Cyrus-hope this is okay to post and in the right section).

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[_act_]

achow101, DannyHamilton, pooya87, nc50lc, hosseinimr93, mocacinno, LoyceV, ABCbits, franky1, ranochigo, HCP, cygan, dkbit98, BlackHatCoiner, NotATether, Charles-Tim, NeuroticFish, stompix, OmegaStarScream, n0nce, bitmover, DireWolfM14 and some other people are the ones that I know that have bitcoin technical knowledge. Giving solutions to people that have problem with their coins and wallets.

[SamReomo]

I would say Bitmover is one of those users which you might know. There is no other member as knowledgeable as GMaxwell and we all know that Hal was a gem which we unfortunately lost. There are some users whom you could consider as programming experts but they might not have much cryptographic expertise.

If it comes to programming expertise then I'm very sure that TryNinja and PowerGlove are among those people whom we should know, however, I'm not sure how good they are at cryptographic expertise. O_e_l_e_o was another gem of the community and a true lover of open-source code as well as privacy.

I believe you'll be lucky if you could learn from GMaxwell without any doubts, but I'm not sure he has enough free time to teach, however from time to time he makes some good posts that we all should read and learn from those posts.

[FatFork]

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

If the members are regularly active in the "Technical Discussion" board, then yes, I think the top merit list is a pretty good indicator.  However, there are a few "bad apples", of course, that should no longer be trusted. For example, Symmetrick (formerly Ratimov). Although that account is now blocked, there may be other such members, so always check their trust ratings.

[LoyceV]

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

No.
But if you split it up per board, it starts to make more sense. A very clear example: gmaxwell earned 55% of his Merit on the Development & Technical Discussion board. On the other hand, there are users who earned more Merit, but don't even show up on the tech boards. I won't name them because that's not the point (and there's nothing wrong with it).

So it would be nice to know which members I can trust or at least know they’ve got a strong understanding of cryptography/programming knowledge

I wouldn't count myself in this category. I know my way around practical use, but I wouldn't know the inner workings of any of it. Luckily, that's not needed to be able to safely use Bitcoin.
I've seen users who know much more then I do. Or maybe they're just really good at Googling too

[bitmover]

So it would be nice to know which members I can trust or at least know they’ve got a strong understanding of cryptography/programming knowledge

I wouldn't count myself in this category. I know my way around practical use, but I wouldn't know the inner workings of any of it. Luckily, that's not needed to be able to safely use Bitcoin.
I've seen users who know much more then I do. Or maybe they're just really good at Googling too

It is impressive how much we can learn googling. I learned basic everything I know in bitcoin just from googling it. I just read one book about, Mastering Bitcoin.

[LoyceV]

I just read one book about, Mastering Bitcoin.

I went without any books. But it's also the good thing about Bitcoin: most people can use it without reading anything. It helps to know the basics to avoid doing stupid things, but other than that, the software is pretty much self-explanatory. Until something goes wrong, or when someone starts making up their own "system" to store Bitcoins.

[ABCbits]

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

No. I have many merit, but i only have little knowledge about cryptography or programming.

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

If the members are regularly active in the "Technical Discussion" board, then yes

I would say "not really". User like COBRAS active on such board[1], but doing shady stuff where that user earn 2 negative feedback.

[1] https://ninjastic.space/user/COBRAS

[FatFork]

It is impressive how much we can learn googling. I learned basic everything I know in bitcoin just from googling it. I just read one book about, Mastering Bitcoin.

There's nothing wrong with Googling, in fact, I still view it as an important part of the research and learning process. I do, however, have concerns about what will happen if the younger generation replaces traditional search engines, like Google, with generative pre-trained language models, like ChatGPT.

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

If the members are regularly active in the "Technical Discussion" board, then yes

I would say "not really". User like COBRAS active on such board[1], but doing shady stuff where that user earn 2 negative feedback.

That's a bad example. User COBRAS "earned" a total of 20 merits, so he doesn't really fit into the "top merited" category. Besides, I did mention the trust rating as another indicator.

[KingsDen]

achow101, DannyHamilton, pooya87, nc50lc, hosseinimr93, mocacinno, LoyceV, ABCbits, franky1, ranochigo, HCP, cygan, dkbit98, BlackHatCoiner, NotATether, Charles-Tim, NeuroticFish, stompix, OmegaStarScream, n0nce, bitmover, DireWolfM14 and some other people are the ones that I know that have bitcoin technical knowledge. Giving solutions to people that have problem with their coins and wallets.

Franky1, the highly underrated legend should be here.

[BabyBandit]

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

Merit doesn't say anything about your smartness or success in life what it say's is that you have a lot of free time to spend in a forum and that not a indicator for success.

[examplens]

I just read one book about, Mastering Bitcoin.

I went without any books. But it's also the good thing about Bitcoin: most people can use it without reading anything. It helps to know the basics to avoid doing stupid things, but other than that, the software is pretty much self-explanatory. Until something goes wrong, or when someone starts making up their own "system" to store Bitcoins.

I do not boast of significant knowledge in the field, but most of what I learned was through personal experience.
I certainly found help here or by searching through other sources, but what I think I've learned is what I've personally tried. Everything is fine when I read why and how something works, but it's completely different when I encounter a problem myself, so I'm looking for an understanding of why it happened and a possible solution.

[dkbit98]

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

Probably not, but I didn't check the list of most merited members recently.

You can't go wrong with asking member nc50lc about any bitcoin related question, that is why you can often see him posting in Bitcoin Technical Support board.

If we are talking about forum related coding skills than I can't miss mentioning member PowerGlove, who made 2FA patch with some other forum updates and bug fixes.

[DireWolfM14]

achow101, DannyHamilton, pooya87, nc50lc, hosseinimr93, mocacinno, LoyceV, ABCbits, franky1, ranochigo, HCP, cygan, dkbit98, BlackHatCoiner, NotATether, Charles-Tim, NeuroticFish, stompix, OmegaStarScream, n0nce, bitmover, DireWolfM14 and some other people are the ones that I know that have bitcoin technical knowledge. Giving solutions to people that have problem with their coins and wallets.

I appreciate you including me in this list, but in all honesty almost everything I know about the technical aspects of bitcoin I learned on this forum from many of the others you've mentioned.

[BITCOIN4X]

I guess lot of them who frequently post on Development & Technical Discussion. Most of them are technically knowledgeable users and I had to cut a lot of names out of them because there are more than 1000 users posting there. Let's take a look at the list of top 100 users on Development & Technical Discussion here;

Source: https://ninjastic.space/search?board=6

Code:

1. gmaxwell [3148]
2. ETFbitcoin [3009]
3. NotATether [2538]
4. achow101 [2525]
5. DannyHamilton [2107]
6. pooya87 [1996]
7. BlackHatCoiner [1828]
8. DeathAndTaxes [1508]
9. Wind_FURY [1449]
10. Mike Hearn [1384]
11. kjj [1299]
12. ranochigo [1262]
13. o_e_l_e_o [1248]
14. TierNolan [1214]
15. Gavin Andresen [1194]
16. n0nce [1187]
17. Carlton Banks [1154]
18. piotr_n [1118]
19. etotheipi [1043]
20. aliashraf [1040]
21. jgarzik [951]
22. theymos [934]
23. WanderingPhilospher [893]
24. CIYAM [861]
25. amaclin [839]
26. jl2012 [795]
27. DaveF [788]
28. HeRetiK [775]
29. bob123 [764]
30. Peter Todd [762]
31. COBRAS [751]
32. garlonicon [692]
33. Pieter Wuille [688]
34. LoyceV [669]
35. nc50lc [656]
36. HCP [654]
37. justusranvier [651]
38. jackjack [645]
39. larry_vw_1955 [602]
40. ShadowOfHarbringer [591]
41. grau [590]
42. odolvlobo [589]
43. casascius [587]
44. Luke-Jr [584]
45. MoonShadow [579]
46. PrimeNumber7 [575]
47. franky1 [572]
48. Jean_Luc [525]
49. vjudeu [520]
50. cr1776 [505]
51. Dabs [500]
52. 2112 [472]
53. DooMAD [466]
54. Sergio_Demian_Lerner [453]
55. d5000 [451]
56. maaku [438]
57. NeuroticFish [426]
58. genjix [418]
59. Coding Enthusiast [413]
60. cellard [412]
61. Anti-Cen [393]
62. wumpus [389]
63. shorena [387]
64. Come-from-Beyond [372]
65. bitmover [371]
66. Stephen Gornick [367]
67. fxsniper [364]
68. Matt Corallo [363]
69. grue [362]
70. mocacinno [360]
71. digaran [356]
72. Sukrim [353]
73. Pmalek [347]
74. jonald_fyookball [340]
75. FreeMoney [327]
76. deepceleron [326]
77. Charles-Tim [324]
78. Meni Rosenfeld [323]
79. jl777 [323]
80. arulbero [321]
81. jackg [320]
82. aleksej996 [317]
83. PawGo [316]
84. Cryddit [314]
85. cunicula [314]
86. tromp [314]
87. markm [312]
88. BurtW [311]
89. Nicolas Dorier [305]
90. ByteCoin [296]
91. dkbit98 [294]
92. satoshi [293]
93. Kakmakr [292]
94. Jet Cash [284]
95. grondilu [278]
96. Etar [272]
97. hhanh00 [269]
98. davout [268]
99. nullius [268]
100. Remember remember the 5th of November [262]

[Marvelman]

I guess lot of them who frequently post on Development & Technical Discussion. Most of them are technically knowledgeable users and I had to cut a lot of names out of them because there are more than 1000 users posting there.

Just because someone posts a lot on a technical board does not mean that they are technically knowledgeable forum users or that their posts are helpful and accurate. In this matter, I think that merits and trust feedback have more importance than the mere number of posts.

[BITCOIN4X]

I guess lot of them who frequently post on Development & Technical Discussion. Most of them are technically knowledgeable users and I had to cut a lot of names out of them because there are more than 1000 users posting there.

Just because someone posts a lot on a technical board does not mean that they are technically knowledgeable forum users or that their posts are helpful and accurate. In this matter, I think that merits and trust feedback have more importance than the mere number of posts.

I think you are right, but if you understand my post well then you don't need to explain it. On average or most of them are users who understand the technicalities of bitcoin, meaning I am not saying that all users who post there are users who understand the technicalities perfectly. So, I hope you understand it well.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I went without any books.

I went without any books either, but I'd argue that taking Mastering Bitcoin more seriously would have saved me a lot of hours. Andreas has made an excellent work on compressing a whole lot of Bitcoin stuff; a few pages of my topics started by me kind of stuff.

Code:

1. gmaxwell [3148]
2. ETFbitcoin [3009]
3. NotATether [2538]
4. achow101 [2525]
5. DannyHamilton [2107]
6. pooya87 [1996]
7. BlackHatCoiner [1828]

I remember myself asking these gentlemen a ton of questions when I was a newbie. And now... Now I'm top 7, baby. 

Just joking. All of them are far more knowledgeable and experienced in the Bitcoin space than I am.

[SamReomo]

On average or most of them are users who understand the technicalities of bitcoin, meaning I am not saying that all users who post there are users who understand the technicalities perfectly.

Yes, that's very true most members who are active on that board have good technical background and they're also aware of the different aspects of Bitcoin. But, surely no single person can be perfect at anything and that's why we're here as a community where everyone shares his/her knowledge to help others.

I have personally seen some very knowledgeable members at that board who deserve appreciation for their work. But if we observe closely then time after time we are losing some good members from this forum, whole others are so busy that they can't devote much time to the forum due to extra burden of work on their heads.

[ChiBitCTy]

I was chatting with Cyrus the other day about the forum vs twitter/reddit etc..& was telling him I can't imagine having started my path of bitcoin knowledge anywhere else online outside of btalk. But this isn't where I started period. I found out about bitcoin through Anonymous, more specifically my favorite hacktivist Jeremy Hammond (lulzsec used btc back when the gov had no idea how to track it..they were fighting a cause I deeply believed in and that's how I came to find orange coin). First I read Mastering Bitcoin, front to back, understood maybe 20% of it (even DL core which I think took an entire week  ).  Long story, but collectibles is what lead me to the forum finally.  Being in a close community/chat group with the likes of Charlie Lee, Fluff Pony and legit Mr Robots who understand cryptography like Rusbitcoin (scumbag), Satoshisghost, Yogg (scammer) and others..plus prob 75% of collectors are IT guys (who know a lot, but not cryptographers) I got lucky as they all guided me down the right path ..what wallets to use, best wallet practices etc. But that only goes so far in really learning the ins and outs like I want to. 

I also of course watched all of Andreas's stuff, but it's not like I can ask him questions when I don't understand parts of his books or videos. Rusbitcoin and Yogg are the two from here who spent hours teaching me and I ate it all up, but now they sub-humans are gone.  Not sure why such talented intelligent folks break bad. Neve will get that.

Satoshisghost many of you prob don't know, is the real deal..but he's not around much and I can't "bug" him like I would Yogg, Rusbit etc. Also that's the other thing, with cpunks and elite level guys..many don't have patience for fools like myself.  Gmax has been great and has taught me a lot, but he reaches a limit.  I get it though. I had a convo with Szabo a year or so ago that turned ugly pretty quickly & had to remind him I'm not a cpunk, didn't create bitgold nor did I coin the phrase smart contracts.  He laid off..but the convo ended there lol).  This is why I rarely post in btc tech dev..the few topics I've made have had good discussions but they seemingly fade pretty quickly or get locked (which I get, to a point), but feel some topics deserve further discussion so people like myself can keep trying to learn (my last post there https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5202083.0  is a good example. I now realize Gmax knows Steven Goldfeder (over the wknd I found that infamous roundtable photo and saw that they sat across the table from each other) whos a big ETH/shitcoin shill.. so doubt he has any interest going down the road discussing his character or the merits of the paper I was asking about that Goldfeder wrote.

But, the list of names everyone mentioned is a great start to knowing whom I can truly learn from and know it's not bs.  I don't google stuff much as how the heck do I know what's legit that pops up on google, like w/the aforementioned post about Goldfeder's paper on Satoshis proposed 2 party btc escrow).  Half the shit you find is from sites from dipshit nefarious turds like Ver, Calvin, CSW etc who paid corrupt ass google to get them towards the top (like the fake privnote keeps doing..google is corrupt and just cant be trusted, outside spelling stuff lol).

  I "know" franky1, ranochigo, cygan, dkbit98, BlackHatCoiner, NotATether, Charles-Tim, NeuroticFish, n0nce, and DireWolf (who I know well and will likely regret ya'll told me he's an expert lol..kidding) and they've all been helpful to me personally over the years. Plus others I mentioned and ones I'm forgetting.

I really really wish Theymos would consider a general tech discussion board.  Learning stuff there would greatly help with advancing my and others basic tech knowledge which is where you've got to start really.  I know it's a pain adding new boards and mods have their hands full as is..but I just think this would bring a whole new level to this forum and bring in new members which could grow the community, which isn't what it once way, as we all know (traffic wise anyhow).

If I can ever help anyone in terms of traditional finance, DM is open (I will never ever ask for a penny or anything in return).  If you're ever interested in collectible wallets, also feel free to reach out. These are areas I know well. Not much, but it's what I can offer.

Sorry for the novel..just had always wanted to share my thoughts on all this, as I know I'm not the only one w/these thoughts/feelings.

Is the most merited list a good indicator of this?

Merit doesn't say anything about your smartness or success in life what it say's is that you have a lot of free time to spend in a forum and that not a indicator for success.

I know this, my point was asking if it COULD be an indicator.  I've got a lot of earned merit because I help the community out in different ways (scam busting, running forum events/charity auctions, providing financial knowledge/assistance which actually helps a lot in this space as I often can easily read white papers and recognize scams typically within just a few paragraphs, as well as discussions on "investing" in btc/crypto (something Gmax has merited me for as well interacted in threads I've made in this area).  Though it also can be, big time...Nullius being the best example.. A Mr Robot with an elite level of cryptographic knowledge. Merit, or lack of.. CAN also help point out morons whom aren't worth anyone's times...like..um...yourself.