Is this forum getting worse and worse?

[TheUltraElite]

Well to be honest, bitcoin and its use cases have been small till date and governments are not doing anything conducive to make the acceptance skyrocket. So people come and go as they please and hence we can draw a correlation here that less interest in bitcoin = less users coming to this forum or more people leaving the forum.

The traffic to the site increases when the bull run happens and decreases during a bear market.

So for anyone reading the thread, instead of saying "I dont like the forum anymore" - do something yourself to make yourself involved in it and only then you will find it fun or engaging.

[Findingnemo]

Definitely, it is getting worse and the probable causes are

• We are running out of interesting topics to discuss.
• Newbies trying to teach how to be an expert.
• Merit sources ignored primary discussion boards because it's mostly filled with spam.
• Veterans left the forum for multiple reasons.
• Missing reporters like Actmyname.

What we can do to make it better, ban signature campaigns completely It will effectively stop the posts that are created to meet quota but it reduce the traffic into the forum drastically.

[philipma1957]

Definitely, it is getting worse and the probable causes are

• We are running out of interesting topics to discuss.
• Newbies trying to teach how to be an expert.
• Merit sources ignored primary discussion boards because it's mostly filled with spam.
• Veterans left the forum for multiple reasons.
• Missing reporters like Actmyname.

What we can do to make it better, ban signature campaigns completely It will effectively stop the posts that are created to meet quota but it reduce the traffic into the forum drastically.

I used to think we should have a two week signature free forum.

As I look at it now I realize forum members have earned millions in btc via signatures ending signatures is not the answer. Accepting the reality that BTC and all other coins are old news and less people are interested in the forum because it is repetitive.

[Findingnemo]

Accepting the reality that BTC and all other coins are old news and less people are interested in the forum because it is repetitive.

So we need to accept the fact, that BTC is what it is and we can't expect the information to be new in every post we post, merit sources should also have to look at the primary discussion boards and encourage posts that contribute something to the discussion which doesn't always necessarily to be exceptional, long and technical.

[Floxynice]

We're dealing with uninteresting topics. The "hottest" topic of discussion in the last months is Ordinals, followed by ETFs, and then an endless list of speculation-related threads, which were always a "thing" in the past, but gosh, that just seems like our sole concern nowadays.

I'm pretty new here, I don't really know how this place has been in the past years. But I have noticed that there were more quality posts in the past. This is why I visit older threads,  because I tend to learn more reading older threads.

Again,  I discovered that only a few boards like Bitcoin technical board and the Bitcoin technical support boards have real problem solving  topics.  Most of the other boards are generic topics which do not have deeper connections to bitcoin.

Okay what has happened is crypto btc or alts are old news.

So repetition is constantly happening.

BTC has been around for more than 15 years LTC and Doge for more than 12 years.

It is true that repetition is constantly happening. But also there should be a way to describe old ideas in a new way in order not to make it boring. And in BTC new technologies has been evolving as I read such as;
LN
Signature segregation
The one called taproot(which I don't understand)

So from the mining viewpoint of coins there is not much new news.
The one exception is if an alt coin becomes okay to gpu mine at 20 cent power.

And the Ordinals and Runes with congestion drama in the memory pool.

the LN for btc is helpful in third world countries with terrible banking.

The LN is more difficult to use than Bitcoin.  I don't think third world countries are using it enmass. They like CEX
[/quote]
[/quote

[Faisal2202]

Now, to that, add that we've lost valuable members, some of which were intellectually influential, and you have an Internet board filled with mostly crap. What's the problem?

You are right, after the ban of mixer many members have shifted there time and devotion to other forum ALTT so the quality there increased more then it decreased here. I think you are also there? Spending time here and there is not so hard but it affects the quality of the post. Besides this factor, posts on this forum are depend on the nature of the market. If its the trend of ETFs, then you will see relevant discussion. If its war, casinos, SEC, or seizure etc. whatever is being discussed on trending is being discussed here.

So, I won't say the quality has decreased, its just more newbies are coming day by day, some are spamming, and the remaining ones are not so active here with good topics I don't know why? Besides speculation threads, I only find good readable thread on development section of BTC or in local board. BTW what you think, is not being discussed here, or what should be the main goal of posts or what types of posts are not seen anymore here?

[Josefjix]

Accepting the reality that BTC and all other coins are old news and less people are interested in the forum because it is repetitive.

So we need to accept the fact, that BTC is what it is and we can't expect the information to be new in every post we post, merit sources should also have to look at the primary discussion boards and encourage posts that contribute something to the discussion which doesn't always necessarily to be exceptional, long and technical.

I feel everything that needed to be discussed on Bitcoin has been discussed over the years and old members on the Bitcoin board have grown bored and not so many found this place interesting anymore. We have Twitter where more Bitcoin Holder exists.

I also agree with you that Bitcoin is becoming old news, nobody comes online to learn about it anymore, and the information is everywhere on the street. What's left to discuss?

[OgNasty]

I agree in a sense.  Clearly this forum has taken a massive and steady decline since 2016.  You'd have to have your head in the ground to think otherwise.  I disagree wholeheartedly with your assumption that it has anything to do with the mixer ban though.  Mixers were paying people to come here and spout nonsense while defending each other's bad actions to the point the trust network is a joke.  That led to users attacking honest people who build things here, so actual useful members just take their talent and leave rather than bicker with idiots who are only stating nonsense to get more posts in and earn more.  Now that these paid to post troublemakers are starting to leave here, it's almost becoming bearable to have discussions and build on ideas again.  Maybe we'll see something of value built here by the community again at some point rather than leaving Bitcoiners to chase Ordinals and Runes for something to do.

[mindrust]

The forum is dead pretty much. There is nothing interesting to discuss. I'll be honest and I am trying hard to make posts and even then I can't fulfill my weekly post quota (that's 30 posts) sometimes. It is because there is almost nothing to talk about. The forum looks so abandoned, like a desert. I miss the ICO days somehow. (around ~2017) Those times were the peak of this forum. Yes there were lots of spam, lots of account farmers but now I see that was part of the fun. Catching all those scammers/farmers were creating lots of post activity&drama.

Now there are (probably) no cheaters, there is no drama, and almost zero activity.

Maybe theymos should remove the merit system 

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

When I joined this forum in 2022, the chipmixer campaign was still open, and there were so many legendary members who were creating many educational threads. The discussion on the forum was really great and eductive for newbies, but after the chipmixer campaign ended, I felt there was a little bit of a decline in the discussion. 

Most of the old, legendary members I know were mostly talking about Bitcoin privacy and security, but since mixers got banned on the forum and people are not talking freely and adding links to mixers without being word-filtered, I think that's what makes some people just lose interest too. 

Leo was really a reputable member that likes privacy and talks about privacy mostly; if he were still here today to see that mixers are banned on the forum, I wonder what he would have said. 

I know that this forum has not really become worse as some people think. Currently,  members are just sharing the knowledge they have, and most of the people who have already left or stopped being active were members who actually had a lot of quality knowledge about Bitcoin, tech, and development compared to so many of us here. 

[Wonder Work]

Now, to that, add that we've lost valuable members, some of which were intellectually influential, and you have an Internet board filled with mostly crap. What's the problem?

The only member that we lost recently is o_e_l_e_o, or who else? But I noticed that some members are not active like before on technical boards. Some people still see this forum educative and interesting. If mixers were not banned on this forum, many people will still later not post again. Be it as it may be now, there will surely be changes. Many people that were here in 2012 were not here in 2018 when Leo joined this forum. Many of us posting today also may no more be here in the next 5 to 10 years.

_act_ Bro, We didn't just lose o_e_l_e_o we lost some more essential people with whole experience. Among them, I found two people today: LAuda and Light_warrior. I saw they were also well-experienced, but they are no more; they left the forum long ago. Maybe someone died, or someone left the forum due to illness. You will not stay here, nor will we, because there will be a time when we cannot continue.

I was so sad to see this post of yours at first, but after a lot of searching, I found three people and whatnot. As a new member, I hope those who leave with the whole experience will create new members like them so that the forum will not be in a bad state.

[LTU_btc]

Wouldn't say that forums is getting worse, it's just getting boring. Wouldn't relate it with mixers ban because I noticed such trends long time before it. I only see ban of mixers as first signs of censorship.
Main reasons already mentioned. Most of things were already discussed already so many times that's difficult to find new topics to discuss. Technical things were already discussed a lot and it's thing not for everyone.
Many old time members who made this forum iconic already left forum for various reasons. Without them Bitcointalk isn't same. Another reason is Bitcoin and crypto turning into mainstream thing, previously lot of discussion were about how to introduce crypto to people and business.
I already miss old times when we have never ending drama in Reputation board or annoying trolls posting from alt accounts .

Why would they be?

It's not like they are doing anything wrong.

It'e easy to find reasons to ban casinos there. You probably know that most of them is registered in offshore countries like Curacao. They're not paying taxes in rest of countries where they're operating, they not always following all local regulations. Also, I guess fiat bookmakers also aren't very positive about their competition. If governments would start taking actions against them, theymos wouldn't have no other choice than banning casinos, same like he done with mixers.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Yes there were lots of spam, lots of account farmers but now I see that was part of the fun. Catching all those scammers/farmers were creating lots of post activity&drama.

Now there are (probably) no cheaters, there is no drama, and almost zero activity.

okay... Lemme get this straight; do you really wanna go back to the old times, when the forum had alot of trash post that you'd have to sort your way through just to find an interesting topic? Huh? I thought we all saw the incessant spamming/bounty cheating as a threat that could recreate an unruly and discoordinated forum?.. if you're serious about this (and if it's not just your usual way of joshing on substantial issues) That would mean the fight against all odds to eliminate spam was a mere formality to you?.

Maybe theymos should remove the merit system  

And that would definitely bring back the traffic and a couple of good posters that left for some unknown reasons ?
Edit:

As I look at it now I realize forum members have earned millions in btc via signatures ending signatures is not the answer. Accepting the reality that BTC and all other coins are old news and less people are interested in the forum because it is repetitive.

A time will surely come, where companies would either pay smidgens & cents for signature promotions or assume BTT as not fit enough to provide the desired traffic.

TIME!!
It's a major determinant for everything under the sun.

[nutildah]

So what will happen to the forum's reserves if there is no continuous development? +500 Bitcoin is enough to make the forum better.

I may ask him about this soon.

Sure, I don't mind the idea of making the forum "better" so long as it doesn't change the look and layout. Why?, you may ask. Because when people come here to read satoshi's old posts, I think they would prefer to read them in the same format in which they were written. It lends more credence to the idea that they were actually his posts. For me, this is where the true value of the forum lies.

If anything, I think it would be neat to be able to design a mobile version of Simple Machines Forum from scratch, from the ground up. It is true that most internet traffic is mobile these days, and it ain't so easy to read the forum from a mobile device.

[NotATether]

I would like to joke that many big websites are actually getting worse and worse, but not because of looks or aesthetics or unpopular decisions or anything, but because the stuff just keeps breaking. But then I don't think that would really be much of a joke at all.

Somehow it is becoming very easy for a website to have an outage. It is almost like websites are made of glass or something. And I'm not even talking about attacks or anything. Just operational crashes.

[mindrust]

Many people think facebook (which I stopped using more than 10 years ago) is completely crap compared to what it was 15 years ago and they are right about it but there is a difference between facebook and bitcointalk.

Facebook is always changing stuff. Changing the UI, changing-adding-removing features etc. bitcointalk has only made a few minimal additions (like the merit system) in the last 10 years and that’s actually one of the features I like about btt. I don’t like websites that change their look all the time.

If there is one thing I like about btt, it is how it kept its current look. I probably won’t like any changes they’ll ever make and I still use the old.reddit for the same reason.

[LoyceV]

Facebook is always changing stuff. Changing the UI, changing-adding-removing features etc. bitcointalk has only made a few minimal additions

Facebook and other social media have only one goal: earning money. It's safe to assume every change they make is designed to keep people hooked, not to actually improve the user experience.
I blocked social media from my hosts file years ago, and don't regret it.

[philipma1957]

Facebook is always changing stuff. Changing the UI, changing-adding-removing features etc. bitcointalk has only made a few minimal additions

Facebook and other social media have only one goal: earning money. It's safe to assume every change they make it designed to keep people hooked, not to actually improve the user experience.
I blocked social media from my hosts file years ago, and don't regret it.

I can’t say what I want to say about facebook. I will say the scroll is terrible.

[Bravut]

What I consider is, we can't compare how the forum was 10 years ago to how it should be now, it a natural cause of changes that occur, new members coming in to replace others who retire with a different view from the old members. It just circulate within this, it not worst we can use the word boring. The only remedy is just us coming together to uphold the original value of the forum, attribution of this fates won't add any value.
Just like most old members just chill in wall street observers and not check threads to also share views with upcoming members, we ain't sure wether 10 years from now, we will still be active in this forum so I can't say it getting worst, it a normal phase, and even Bitcointalk has stood out among forums in the world it applaudable.

[AYOBA]

They said that you won't know what some people's have contributed to this forum until after they have left, and when some of the people's stated that, I was not believing, but now I'm 100% agree with that. Because since the time they banned those mixers, this forum just hasnn't attracted well, unlike before when the mixers still existed in this wonderful forum and everything was moving steadily. Now,  if we look at this forum, there's a lot of good topics, like before, when everyone only chose and created any thread they wished.

But if I may ask, are only those mixers that have contributed good threads for this forum? Why I am confused is that after they get banned, they are supposed to continue from where they stopped and begin contributing better threads and the importance things that this forum deserves, but nothing like that is the only thing that has been surprising me about this forum.