Is this forum getting worse and worse?

[charrles]

Some members who were here only for high paying signature campaigns might have left and this leads to less activity. But the effect will be temporary. In the long run, it will be good for the forum only because such members will not be genuinely concerned with the growth of the forum. Now , we have more members who are here for discussions and genuine information related to crypto.

[DooMAD]

The internet as a whole is getting worse.  Human nature is getting worse.  It's difficult to have meaningful discussions these days because people cling to 'alternative facts' and just want to live in a dream world.  You certainly could have discussions with people who are brainwashed, but it's generally an exercise in futility.  Along with the issue of topics getting stale and repeating subjects I've already spoken about a dozen times, I find the main reason I'm posting less is because I now mostly put people on ignore when it's clear there's no reasoning with them.

We sadly live in a world where a significant proportion of the population simply aren't worth wasting your time talking to.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Human nature is getting worse.

What are your observations? From my perspective, human nature remains more or less the same. The tremendous growth we are seeing in AI might signal the beginning of a brand new epoch, but that essentially sums up the overall difference with the previous generation. Humans remain the same, with all their weaknesses.

[DooMAD]

Human nature is getting worse.

What are your observations? From my perspective, human nature remains more or less the same.

People are becoming more entrenched in their worldview.  There was a time, when presented with compelling evidence, reasonable people could change their mind.  But nowadays that's becoming an increasingly rare trait.  Now people just get defensive or hostile when presented with anything that contradicts their beliefs.  Populism frequently overrides truth and it's depressing. 

[Lucius]

It doesn't seem to me that the forum is any worse than it was a few years ago - although we have to admit that we lost some members who were very important for the forum (regardless of whether someone liked them or not). Perhaps I could describe it in a way that everyone can imagine - so let's say you have your favorite dish that you have been eating for years, but then over time you notice that the dish is no longer the same, but you cannot say with certainty what the problem actually is.

I think that people are what make a forum good or bad, and a forum without some people is simply like your favorite dish without a few key spices. Of course, some people think that sig campaigns are to blame for everything, but if someone left because he was not satisfied with the profit, then we shouldn't feel sorry for him too much.

[un_rank]

People are becoming more entrenched in their worldview.  There was a time, when presented with compelling evidence, reasonable people could change their mind.  But nowadays that's becoming an increasingly rare trait.  Now people just get defensive or hostile when presented with anything that contradicts their beliefs.  Populism frequently overrides truth and it's depressing. 

I was thinking the other day of how we look at times past and named different eras by what was predominant during that time, what would we be known for in the next 200-300 years? The scientific era? I think not, posterity may not think us so smart and the future is always better so whatever they have then would look to them like what horses do to the current automobile system. And what would they think of our collective ideologies?

Back to the topic, the forum for me is the same as it has been since I joined. For earlier users who may have formed a very good bond with the great posters of that time, they will miss them more and that will give the impression that the quality has dropped here. Everything else will look repeated and tiring.

- Jay -

[tranthidung]

Back to the topic, the forum for me is the same as it has been since I joined. For earlier users who may have formed a very good bond with the great posters of that time, they will miss them more and that will give the impression that the quality has dropped here. Everything else will look repeated and tiring

I am not a forum og and I was not here in early years but sometimes, I look at very old threads and see that people did not actually make quality posts in early years.

You know the difference is, in the past, there was no signature campaign and people wrote short posts, funny ones and used forum like a chit chat place. They post naturally, did not post for money and it's different than spamming nowadays because of money incentives.

Calling forum early users and their short, funny posts as spammers or not, people will argue but I don't consider them as spammers.

theymos wrote that forum ogs mean a lot for this forum, for Bitcoin because they belong to history with unmeasurable contributions as early adopters.

[un_rank]

You know the difference is, in the past, there was no signature campaign and people wrote short posts, funny ones and used forum like a chit chat place. They post naturally, did not post for money and it's different than spamming nowadays because of money incentives.

That is a good observation there. Could also be that without any motivation to post, only those with pure interest in Bitcoin communicated and that increased the general conversations we had here.

There were good posts then and there are now, but there is a lot of spam that almost drowns out the better discussions.

- Jay -

[tread93]

I don't want to correlate this forum's comedown with the mixer ban, even though I've thought of it and it's likely one major factor, but what's the current picture of Bitcointalk according to you? To me, it's declining in genuine interest.

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.

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?

I mean honestly maybe banning the mixers had a lot to do with it, but I think that shouldn't be considered the full reason for your allegations that the bitcoin talk forum is getting worse and worse. If anything this forum just offboarded a lot of unwanted attention should government authorities try to come after btalk for allowing it. Was that a breach of freedom & of privacy to lose this ability on the forum? Well, yes. But you can't blame the powers that be for making the decision that they made.

I think that this forum could honestly be a lot better by just adding a few features. Like for example the ability to mention someone like with an @ and their username and for that to give that user a notification. The reason that these posts are all so much and so compiling is because there is no differentiator like that unless you have like a telegram bot to help you but even so you have to keep track of which posts you're being referenced in and its just a lot of work lol... am I the only one who feels this way? There are just some really super basic things that could probably easily be implemented.

[Majestic-milf]

 I would say the ban on mixers also had an effect on the forum and gradually,  the quality is also diminishing. Just as the Op observed, this place used to be busy, like there was a competition for good posts being and it was rare to see repetitive posts being made except in the gambling section. Back then when I got registered, about two years ago, even when a newbie makes a post, you'd notice they took time and effort into making such posts and while it may not be hundred percent perfect, you'd   notice made concerted efforts to pass knowledge across and not what we see now.
 Merits for me where like a reward for a carefully articulated work and not a means to rank up but it's not the case these days.
Well, no need to cry over spilled milk because what we are experiencing here is something that happen everywhere. As time goes, a thing loses its value and if nothing is done to rectify the issue or bring back those things that once gave it it's allure, it will be forgotten or be living in it's past glory but the trick question right now is what can be done to restore the forum back to where we knew it?

[LoyceV]

People are becoming more entrenched in their worldview.  There was a time, when presented with compelling evidence, reasonable people could change their mind.  But nowadays that's becoming an increasingly rare trait.

I don't think that changed. What changed, is the attention given to the people you call brainwashed. Example: the flat earth guys. Everyone knows it started as a joke (after all, I've been told the earth is a cube), but they're still getting attention. Unfortunately, as always, drama sells.

[mindrust]

I am yet to see a compelling evidence that shows moon landing really happened but people still believe it happened, more than once. Crazy how brainwashed people can become when you think about it.

Imagine, they sent, alive people, to the ^fuckingmoon and brought them back, alive. And millions of people believe, that.

You would expect a healthy person to ask, "why don't they do it now?" But they never do.

Bots, lots of bots. I blame javascript.

[KingsDen]

You know the difference is, in the past, there was no signature campaign and people wrote short posts, funny ones and used forum like a chit chat place. They post naturally, did not post for money and it's different than spamming nowadays because of money incentives.

That is a good observation there. Could also be that without any motivation to post, only those with pure interest in Bitcoin communicated and that increased the general conversations we had here.

There were good posts then and there are now, but there is a lot of spam that almost drowns out the better discussions.

- Jay -

Also the newness of the Bitcoin technology was a good reason for quality conversations in the past. Barely knowing how to send and receive bitcoin was a great achievement then. I could make a short post on my experience trying to send bitcoin to my dad in Canada. This would make an interesting post then because the post was birthed out of real life experience.

But these days, a noob could show up from nowhere and make 5 paragraphs post describing how he sent bitcoin to his dad in Canada while in real life he/she doesn't own a fraction of bitcoin.

[BlackHatCoiner]

People are becoming more entrenched in their worldview.  There was a time, when presented with compelling evidence, reasonable people could change their mind.  But nowadays that's becoming an increasingly rare trait.

I don't think this is true. Have you considered that it might be the media portraying small minorities in this way? Drama sells, as said, and producing drama has become almost a science in itself. Unless you're talking out of experience from real life.

You know the difference is, in the past, there was no signature campaign and people wrote short posts, funny ones and used forum like a chit chat place.

Unpopular opinion: Spam was proportionally greater before signature campaigns. Just visit a Bitcoin Discussion from 2013, and tell me if what you see is constructive.

[...]

Not sure that's sarcasm, or you're serious. Based on your post history, I think you're being sarcastic here.

[Natalim]

It doesn't seem to me that the forum is any worse than it was a few years ago - although we have to admit that we lost some members who were very important for the forum (regardless of whether someone liked them or not). Perhaps I could describe it in a way that everyone can imagine - so let's say you have your favorite dish that you have been eating for years, but then over time you notice that the dish is no longer the same, but you cannot say with certainty what the problem actually is.

I think that people are what make a forum good or bad, and a forum without some people is simply like your favorite dish without a few key spices. Of course, some people think that sig campaigns are to blame for everything, but if someone left because he was not satisfied with the profit, then we shouldn't feel sorry for him too much.

Some highly reputable members may have leave but that’s the reality, not all people will stay and that’s everyone’s freedom. But with all those lost members, we also welcome new and highly motivated newbies that could hopefully turn into incredible posters in the future, so let’s not worry about that too much.

The forum may not be everyone’s favorite these days due to uninteresting and low valued posts, but for me, I don’t see it that way. Let’s just say there’s always a time to grow for everyone here, they can be newbies and inexperienced at first, but with profound interest to achieve consistent learning, in no time we can see everyone here becomes an asset to make the forum more educative and genuinely interactive.

[Gladitorcomeback]

It doesn't seem to me that the forum is any worse than it was a few years ago

Couldn't agree more. The forum had started to become a place for shitposters to post nonsense and earn a lot of money for it when bounty campaigns were at their peak, accepting all rank accounts and paying them tokens for making nonsensical posts all around the forum. The merit system came as a savior and we have seen the forum changing for good since then. Of course, there is no existence of perfection in anything in this world, but it's way better than before if you ask me.

Some sections of the forum such as Bitcoin Discussion and Altcoin Discussion were highly spammed during those times, you wouldn't even blink you eyes and there would be 2 pages of posts in a newly created thread in any of the two sections I've mentioned, that's how bad the situation had become.

[Ludmilla_rose1995]

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.

Maybe those who have made large contributions to the forum feel that they no longer have the enthusiasm or purpose of making posts on the forum since mixers were banned on this forum cmiiw

I see other forums accepting mixer campaigns but that is not enough to attract more visitors there, so in my opinion this forum is actually still the main destination for those who want to discuss and benefit from bitcoin and altcoins

but I doubt that in the next 5 to 10 years this forum will be quiet, from the data on the number of visitors to this forum it can actually be said to be still stable in the last few years and there are still paid BTC campaigns here, so this forum will still be busy

[Questat]

You know the difference is, in the past, there was no signature campaign and people wrote short posts, funny ones and used forum like a chit chat place. They post naturally, did not post for money and it's different than spamming nowadays because of money incentives.

That is a good observation there. Could also be that without any motivation to post, only those with pure interest in Bitcoin communicated and that increased the general conversations we had here.

There were good posts then and there are now, but there is a lot of spam that almost drowns out the better discussions.

- Jay -

Yes, that’s actually happening in the forum. Gone are the days where members are just having a genuine discussion where you can’t sense any pretentious members just to hunt merits while posting. Now, the whole forum is motivated by merits and incentives. And end up seeing a lot of spams that made the forum looks not informative and uneducative at all.

[muncuss]

Every trending Bitcoin discussion and development seems to be on X these days, I remember searching for the current attack on non-custodial and privacy by the US government on the Bitcoin discussion board and I didn't find anything related but took me only a few seconds to get all the info I needed on X and Reddit.

I am on mobile and bitcointalk is the last place in my head if i want to post a news or updates of something. If it is not because of the incentive im not even sure i will visit this forum regularly. Talk about stone age UI and the hassle of always need to zoom if i want to click something!

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The only member that we lost recently is o_e_l_e_o, or who else?

Recently, yes, but there have been some very colorful members of the forum who've left in the past few years, members who made this place much less dull than it has been as of late.  Lauda, TMAN, TECSHARE, Vod (sort of), and some of the chronic trolls like cryptohunter even.  Right now when I look at new threads I don't see a hell of a lot of interesting ones--although that might be because I have a taste for juicy drama.

Besides that, I'd say the quality of the average post has remained more or less the same, i.e., people are making mediocre posts for whatever signature campaign they're in, making very general comments that don't add much to the threads they're in, and either displaying an utter lack of proficiency in writing or generally being dull and uninteresting.  So yeah, I'd say bitcointalk is asymptotically approaching, albeit very very slowly, what cryptotalk.org was when Yobit started that abomination of a forum a few years ago.

OK, that last sentence is too harsh but I've got a toothache and am ready to strangle the internet.