o_e_l_e_o's 100 Most Merited Posts

o_e_l_e_o left Bitcointalk in January 2024 after revealing that he had health problems. He will forever remain one of the most technically knowledgeable individuals to have ever posted on the forum.

o_e_l_e_o has written over 16.000 posts and collected over 18.000 merits. It's difficult to single out only a few of his posts due to the general quality, logic, and technical know-how he displayed all the time. I decided to try. And for that, I used merits as the factor to create a list of 100 of his most merited posts. You can see them in the tables below. I haven't included some posts that were off-topic and/or were posted in Politics & Society.

This is only a small part of the contributions o_e_l_e_o made to Bitcointalk.

Let me know if you notice any mistakes.

Local Rules:

1. Kruw isn't allowed to mention or promote anything related to his coordinator or his wallet(s) of choice. If he does, it will be reported and deleted.
2. Spam and off-topic posts will be deleted.

\|	Thread Title	\|	Description	\|
\|	1. Recent events should make you withdraw all your coins to your own wallet: Part 2	\|	The dangers of holding your bitcoin in custodial services.	\|
\|	2. We are all Hodlonaut	\|	Information about the Hodlonaut vs Craig Wright trail and a call for donations.	\|
\|	3. Recent events should make everyone withdraw all their coins to their own wallets	\|	The importance of being in control of your keys and money.	\|
\|	4. Why beginners should pay attention to their privacy	\|	Why you should protect your privacy.	\|
\|	5. Multi-User transaction with Bitcoin	\|	An explanation of what SIGHASH_ALL \| SIGHASH_ANYONECANPAY does.	\|
\|	6. Full RBF	\|	Information about Full RBF being added to Bitcoin.	\|
\|	7. Updated List of Bitcointalk Hidden Pages/Post	\|	An explanation on how to customize patrol links.	\|
\|	8. Another day, another data leak - more phishing likely	\|	Information about the HubSpot data leak and potential effects.	\|
\|	9. Spend P2SH redeem script with Unlock Time.BOUNTY of 1000 $ for solution to work	\|	An explanation of the spending conditions of a script.	\|
\|	10. The PATRIOT Act comes to cryptocurrency	\|	An explanation of the threat of extending the Patriot Act on Bitcoin and privacy tools.	\|
\|	11. Proof of reserves? Insurance fund? Best I can do is a random number generator!	\|	An example of how centralized exchanges manipulate their Proof-of-Reserves numbers.	\|
\|	12. Is Iancoleman BIP39 Site Changed Domain from .io to .ch?	\|	An explanation of how a fake iancoleman website stores all generated seed phrases.	\|
\|	13. About FTX	\|	Celsius and Voyager lying about being safe days before they filled for bankruptcy.	\|
\|	14. Issue "operation not valid with the current stack size"	\|	An explanation of the error"operation not valid with the current stack size" in Electrum.	\|
\|	15. Goodbye, privacy, goodbye, it was nice while it lasted.	\|	Explaining how all "crypto-asset service providers" will be required to request KYC.	\|
\|	16. Help a newbie; why is hashing not done once but twice during Bitcoin transaction	\|	An explanation of how transactions with identical IDs destroyed 100 BTC from the supply.	\|
\|	17. Two person having the same seed phrase	\|	An explanation of how probable seed collisions are.	\|
\|	18. List of advertising shills. Mods please review and ban as appropriate.	\|	An investigation and request to ban shillers and spammers.	\|
\|	19. Recent events should make you withdraw all your coins to your own wallet: Part 3	\|	A warning to not keep your coins on centralized exchanges.	\|
\|	20. 300 MB or 300 vMB?	\|	Explaining dynamic memory usage of mempools.	\|
\|	21. Brute Forcing wallet.dat with BTCRecover need help	\|	A workaround solution to brute forcing with BTCRecover.	\|
\|	22. Quote posts from locked topics? Why it's not allowed?	\|	Explaining how to quote posts from locked topics.	\|
\|	23. Ledger Recovery - Send your (encrypted) recovery phrase to 3rd parties entities	\|	Explaining the dangers of the Ledger Recover service.	\|
\|	24. Any "new" news on wasabi wallet coinjoins?	\|	Showing examples of address reuse for Wasabi coinjoins.	\|
\|	25. Problem importing p2wpkh private key into mobile wallet - bluewallet	\|	An explanation of how Blue Wallet scans addresses connected to imported private keys.	\|
\|	26. [Q/A] Can Bitcoin And Eco-friendliness Go Together?	\|	Explaining the positive effect Bitcoin mining has for producers of renewable energy.	\|
\|	27. Idea for extremely paranoid people who want to create a bitcoin wallet	\|	A guide on how to use a custom Electrum wordlist to generate seed phrases.	\|
\|	28. Thinking of separating my holdings into two physical locations.	\|	An example of how to use multiple passphrases to protect your coins (plausible deniability).	\|
\|	29. Blockchain 2014 wallet recovery if any ?	\|	Instructions on recovering a blockchain.com wallet when missing a password and recovery phrase.	\|
\|	30. Interesting behaivor of TESTNET difficulty	\|	Explaining the difficulty epoch of Bitcoin testnet.	\|
\|	31. Hodlonaut Trial	\|	Additional information on the Hodlonaut trial.	\|
\|	32. Quick theft	\|	An explanation of how scammers steal bitcoin from insecure brain wallets.	\|
\|	33. Recovery process	\|	An explanation of how to use BTCRecover to recover lost private keys.	\|
\|	34. Why doesn't every hardware wallet support two-factor seed phrases?	\|	An explanation of what passphrases do and don't do.	\|
\|	35. [Tutorial] How To Mix bitcoin free	\|	An analogy showing how ridiculous it is to accept the demands centralized exchanges have for their users.	\|
\|	36. Privacy vs. anonymity	\|	Some insights into how o_e_l_e_o maintains his privacy online and in real life.	\|
\|	37. Marathon Digital Holdings failed experiment	\|	Explaining the order in which parent and child transactions must appear if in the same block.	\|
\|	38. Bitcoin’s unspent transaction outputs (UTXO) and its long-term implications	\|	Explaining how it's nodes and not miners that don't accept zero-fee transactions.	\|
\|	39. THIS CRASH IS DIFFERENT than previous crashes... The FEDERAL RESERVE is why....	\|	Making fun of an anti-Bitcoin troll.	\|
\|	40. yahoo62278 and Yobit	\|	Providing arguments why it's wrong to advertise YoBit and its products.	\|
\|	41. 12 Word Recovery Phrase - a security weakness? My (free and simple!) solution(s)	\|	Explaining the dangers of coming up with new methods of storing seed phrases and single points of failure.	\|
\|	42. Biometrics as private key?	\|	Explaining why biometrics aren't secure enough to protect private keys.	\|
\|	43. Have you seen Yobit's new signature design?	\|	An explanation of why Yobit's InvestBox is a Ponzi scheme.	\|
\|	44. Never argue with an idiot....	\|	Explaining why pointless arguments and unjustified red trust aren't worth it.	\|
\|	45. What if The Bitcoin Blockchain Stalls And Stops Producing Blocks?	\|	An explanation of the Poisson process of bitcoin mining.	\|
\|	46. An option to fix default trust	\|	Leo shares his thoughts on how DT2 members should be elected.	\|
\|	47. Bitcoin supply discrepancy	\|	Showing several examples of blocks where the miners failed to collect the rewards, and explaining the reasons why.	\|
\|	48. Import YPUB via descriptors to Bitcoin Core Watch Only	\|	Explaining how to convert a ypub to an xpub in Bitcoin Core.	\|
\|	49. Confusing SPV server spies?	\|	An example of how to query bitcoin addresses to confuse SPV servers and blockchain analysis.	\|
\|	50. I found a paper wallet on a beach ... seriously	\|	Explaining why multi-sig is better than Shamir's Secret Sharing Scheme.	\|
\|	51. Mempool if full, but what does that actually mean?	\|	Explaining the difference between the total transaction size and total RAM usage of mempools.	\|
\|	52. What will happen to the Bitcoin network if Russia blocks access to the internet?	\|	Explaining possible scenarios of what would happen to Bitcoin if Russia blocked access to the internet.	\|
\|	53. Why I am temporarily wearing an unpaid, unsolicited Chipmixer signature ad	\|	A post defending privacy-enhancing tools that some call evil.	\|
\|	54. [β] BPIP Extension: user info & extra features add-on/extension, Firefox/Chrome	\|	A guide on setting up the Firefox Nightly app, which supports the BPIP extension on Androids.	\|
\|	55. COPA just won its first hearing against Craig	\|	Leo explains what Craig Wright demands of the Core developers.	\|
\|	56. Pubkeys with even y coordinate correspond to privKeys that are less than n/2?	\|	Leo provides examples of when you can find out the public key of addresses who received but never spent bitcoin.	\|
\|	57. [Discussion] Bitcointalk Community Awards 🏆	\|	An argument for giving bitcoin as a reward instead of hardware wallets to protect your privacy.	\|
\|	58. First Bitcoin, then Blockstream Satellite. How about we go fully decentralized?	\|	An explanation of why 20 bitcoin confirmations is too excessive and how Opendimes work.	\|
\|	59. Foundation Passport Official Thread	\|	Leo makes several corrections to Foundation Passport's blog post: MAKE 12 WORDS THE STANDARD.	\|
\|	60. Matt Corallo advocating for censorship	\|	Leo's stance against censorship.	\|
\|	61. Multi-User transaction with Bitcoin.	\|	An example of how multiple users can use Electrum, watch wallets, and PSBTs to pay a third party.	\|
\|	62. New software wallet: SecureBTCWallet (feedback appreciated)	\|	Arguments against using new, closed-source, and non-trusted bitcoin wallets.	\|
\|	63. RoninDojo bans connections to Knots nodes	\|	An announcement of RoninDojo's ban on connections to Knots nodes.	\|
\|	64. What is Trust wallet and is it safe?	\|	Leo shows proof of how Trust Wallet is a closed-source software.	\|
\|	65. Winrar exploit - update now	\|	Leo shares information about a discovered vulnerability in WinRAR and a warning to update the software.	\|
\|	66. Calculating the size of a transaction	\|	Leo explains how to calculate the size of a Bitcoin transaction.	\|
\|	67. Craig "Faketoshi" Wright saga continues. His team turns against him.	\|	An explanation of how Craig Wright produced a fake signature to prove to Gavin Andresen that he is satoshi.	\|
\|	68. Electrum 4.3.1 I need HELP PLEASE	\|	Instructions on how to increase the gap limit of Electrum.	\|
\|	69. "Bitcoin’s Future Hinges on Donations, and That’s Got People Worried"	\|	Examples of open-source software that successfully rely on donations as funding.	\|
\|	70. Coinbase the most anti-Bitcoin organisation. Make #DeleteCoinbase great again	\|	Arguments against Coinbase and arguing how they are only interested in self-preservation.	\|
\|	71. Consolidation of mixed outputs	\|	Several ways to prevent creating change when sending bitcoin.	\|
\|	72. How recognized are you in the bitcointalk world?	\|	Explaining the difference between the "Bitcoin world" and the "Bitcointalk world."	\|
\|	73. Message signing/verification tool	\|	Leo explains the differences between signing/verifying messages and signing/verifying bitcoin transactions.	\|
\|	74. Wasabi blacklisting update - open letter / 24 questions discussion thread	\|	Leo explains the consequences on privacy when using TikTok and offers arguments against following Wasabi's TikTok profile.	\|
\|	75. To coinjoin or not?	\|	Arguments for coinjoining and its benefits.	\|
\|	76. Using someone else's legitimate company as a front for a scam	\|	Leo shows an example of how a scammer is using the name of another company as a front for their Ponzi.	\|
\|	77. How long to crack 24 word phrase if you know all 24 words out of order?	\|	Examples of how long it would take to discover the locations of known seed words in a 24-word seed.	\|
\|	78. I didn't get something	\|	An explanation of what a coinbase transaction includes.	\|
\|	79. Announcing Wasabi Wallet 2.0	\|	Leo shows several examples of Wasabi's anti-privacy and pro-censorship stance.	\|
\|	80. Antinalysis - free tool to check the dirtyness of bitcoin address	\|	Arguments against using bots to check the "dirtiness" of bitcoin addresses.	\|
\|	81. Asking about anonymity when I pay with Bitcoin	\|	Examples of how to break the link between your identity and the bitcoin you bought with a credit card.	\|
\|	82. Bittrex - source of funds	\|	An example of unethical behavior of a centralized exchange.	\|
\|	83. Blockchain Analytics is More of an Art Than Science	\|	An explanation as to why blockchain analysis is guesswork and shouldn't be trusted.	\|
\|	84. Can Atomic Swap be used to act the same way as/even better than Coin Mixing?	\|	Suggestions on how to anonymize coin swaps and atomic swaps.	\|
\|	85. Proof of work comes to Tor	\|	An announcement that TOR is introducing a PoW algorithm feature.	\|
\|	86. Reasons why I prefer Bitcoin over any other assets and dips don't panic me....	\|	Leo explains the reasons why bitcoin should be used as a currency, not just accumulated and held.	\|
\|	87. Scam accusation against user humanrightsfoundation	\|	Providing reasons as to why humanrightsfoundation is a scammer.	\|
\|	88. Searching for a tool that cracks a seed when i give it the right words [recovery	\|	Leo explains the difficulty of descrambling 18 words of a seed phrase.	\|
\|	89. Transferring a wallet from electrum (2fa)	\|	Instructions on importing a multi-sig 2FA wallet from Electrum to Bitcoin Core.	\|
\|	90. Wallet backup & encrypted question	\|	Leo explains the difference between an encrypted and unencrypted Bitcoin Core wallet file.	\|
\|	91. Stop animated images in FireFox / Tor browser	\|	An explanation on how configure Firefox/Tor to play through a GIF only once and then freeze it.	\|
\|	92. Why creating Vanity Segwit address is easier than Legacy address?	\|	Leo explains the difficulty of generating legacy and segwit vanity addresses.	\|
\|	93. Can timestamp be use for arrangement of blocks?	\|	An explanation of what timestamps in bitcoin blocks are.	\|
\|	94. Noob question: why do low-fee transactions ever get confirmed?	\|	Leo explains how segwit and the lightning network can mitigate the problem of high transaction fees.	\|
\|	95. Blockchain Backup Project: Torrent for Bitcoin Core!	\|	Leo explains why syncing the blockchain with Bitcoin Core is faster than downloading a torrent of the blockchain.	\|
\|	96. Effective & safe recovery of a wallet with multiple accounts	\|	Explaining how the "Detect existing accounts" feature in Electrum works.	\|
\|	97. Fed on brink of fifth(?) round of quantitative easing	\|	Information on how much money the FED has printed since COVID.	\|
\|	98. Help a newbie; why is hashing not done once but twice during Bitcoin transaction	\|	Examples showing that subsequent blocks can have out-of-order timestamps.	\|
\|	99. Hodlonaut Trial	\|	The translated closing argument of Hodlonaut's legal team in the case versus Craig Wright.	\|
\|	100. How much spam is needed before we ban someone?	\|	Leo provides arguments why a serial spammer should be banned.	\|

We certainly have writers of articles everywhere, but those who are true teachers and passers of the right information are few. Even though I hadn't joined this forum before o_e_l_e_o wrote his goodbye post, his work and legacy on this forum are clearly visible to me. I took my time checking some of his listed threads, and I saw quality. I hope to still dedicate some of my free time to going through his threads to learn things that might be of benefit. Moreover, I also like referring to good articles, and I hope I will always reference o_e_l_e_o's articles not just because he was a good writer, but also a good teacher.

Pmalek, I think you've done a great job here. o_e_l_e_o will always be part of us.

A legend... 👑 🕊️

An opportunity to grasp the secret to his successful career here. I most say, it's also nice you thought of it.

Quote from: Pmalek on Today at 01:24:54 PM

Let me know if you notice any mistakes.

I'm not really convinced with the board which this post is located or maybe I'm wrong.

Quote from: Churchillvv on Today at 02:50:32 PM

I'm not really convinced with the board which this post is located or maybe I'm wrong.

o_e_l_e_o was very active and, in my opinion, the best in the technical sections of our forum. Although, if you reference Ninjastic space to check which boards he mostly wrote in, you would see Bitcoin Discussion, Beginners & Help, and Meta at the top, followed by several technical boards. Since many of the posts in the list are also in the mentioned technical forums and this is generally a section with little spam, I wanted my thread to be here.

o_e_l_e_o was a very knowledgeable member on the forum and I benefited from his posts all the time. The guy was just a too good technical guy. It was as if he knew everything related to technical discussions and not just knowing them he had an experienced knowledge about it.

Infact my very first set of Merits came from o_e_l_e_o and a couple of active technical board members as he and a couple of forum members guided me on setting up a standard air gapped device as well as the differences and dangers of closed source and open source softwares. o_e_l_e_o I think having over 18,000 earned merit is enough to show his contributions to the forum as earning such huge amounts of Merits without actually merriting it will draw the attention of forum members negatively.

On top all of that o_e_l_e_o was quite a nice guy so painful to this space he had leave after fighting health issues for sometime. I think I wrote a Poem for him after he left Also, a +1 to you Pmalek for putting these together it will answer a couple of questions for forum members.

I believe this thread is self moderated because of kruw Cool

because when last I checked he has been , should I say o_e_l_e_o 's die hard hater Undecided

I haven't written any post for a while.
But for this one, I must say, good job Pmalek.
Thanks for gathering all this info. Leo is a great bitcoiner and his writings should be ready by all of us.

That is a very kind gesture. It's been almost half a year without Leo, and the forum has felt emptier since his departure. It was truly a privilege to have conversations with him. His explanations were direct, comprehensible to a wide audience, and always constructive.

He must have influenced everyone who discussed privacy with him. He frequently advised newcomers on protecting themselves from mass surveillance (KYC, chain analysis) and enhancing their Bitcoin privacy (through mixing, coin control, running a node), and even beyond that.

I am indebted to him for the countless times he helped me by answering my questions. I wouldn't have grown so quickly in my knowledge of Bitcoin if it weren't for Bitcointalk. This is a "thank you" not just to him, but to all of you.

May he rest in peace.

It's certain to me that Leo was a low-profile man in real life. His interests spanned science (if I recall correctly, he was a doctor), math, computer science, economics, and politics--essentially, he was a very curious person. Judging by his forum posts, it's clear he was deeply concerned about how the world works and courageous enough to strive for improvement.

I don't know his age, but if I had to guess, he must have been past his thirties. This is based on the time it takes to become a doctor in the US (assuming he started Uni at around 20), plus the (perhaps a lot) additional time required to accumulate, grasp, and confidently share all that knowledge. If he was around 40, it was far too young to pass away.

To me, Leo's lesson is that we cannot truly appreciate innovations like Bitcoin without proper education. We are all Bitcoin. There is no dedicated department responsible for educating and promoting good practices to newcomers. Therefore, it is our personal responsibility to challenge misinformation, educate others, and spread the right thing to do. We are, each one of us individually, responsible for the prosperity of Bitcoin.

Quote from: Nίκoς Kαζαντάκης (English translation by me)

Love responsibility.
Say, I alone
will save the world.
If it is lost, it will be my fault.

Quote from: BlackHatCoiner on Today at 04:40:11 PM

I am indebted to him for the countless times he helped me by answering my questions. I wouldn't have grown so quickly in my knowledge of Bitcoin if it weren't for Bitcointalk. This is a "thank you" not just to him, but to all of you.

Leo once sent me a DM, saying some nice things about me. I will obviously not share the DM, but, I mean... this is one of the greatest gifts I have ever got in this forum.

I thought this was going to be a Top 100 sorted from most Merited to least, if that is the case then I do not think it is properly sorted. I found many of the last few have a total of 14 Merits while there are other Posts ranked higher on your list with over 14.

On the other hand, I think it will be hard to sort these considering there are people who will only now see some of these 100 Posts and decide to send their Merits toward them.

Also I wonder, are these truly the Top 100 based on Merits? Considering the HUGE Merit count, I would think there are other Posts with even more than what you found so far.

-----

Quote from: BlackHatCoiner on Today at 04:40:11 PM

It's been almost half a year without Leo, and the forum has felt emptier since his departure.

It is for sure, I think all of us who knew him are missing him and all the discussions we had with him. If there is one person I rarely contradicted if ever, it was him and I learned so much from his great ability of sharing his knowledge in a way so easy to understand and hard to contradict.

We fortunately do have waves of new people coming in with a great passion for Privacy, but what is truly and evidently missing is his knowledge which ranged broadly.

Quote from: apogio on Today at 06:46:38 PM

Quote from: BlackHatCoiner on Today at 04:40:11 PM

Leo once sent me a DM, saying some nice things about me. I will obviously not share the DM, but, I mean... this is one of the greatest gifts I have ever got in this forum.

I`m quite jealous for those who knew Leo and where somewhat close to him, in as much as I always admire him and also from the fact I usually put his comment on every topic as priority since I guessed he was the most technically knowledgeable and his post are easier to understand than others.
He is a source of inspiration to many here especially those who are often in the technical board where I ought to be quite active but sadly hasn`t been since I`m busy outside BTT this time and need to improve my knowledge.

o_e_l_e_o farewell made me realized more that is not just to earn merit but who actually send you such merit matters, after his farewell message I was really sad he was leaving especially from the fact that I didn`t think I have ever got merited from him, since he was really among the most generous merit senders not receiving from him especially from the technical board was disappointing since there is no chance to earn from which ought to be a way of consolation for me but I thank God at least I got from him in my last year participation from the pizza contest but at least I can hold on to this as a consolation for one who inspire me a lot. Funny how he made see the essence of learning more of cryptography & mathematics.

Quote from: Pmalek on Today at 03:29:45 PM

Quote from: Churchillvv on Today at 02:50:32 PM

I'm not really convinced with the board which this post is located or maybe I'm wrong.

You may be right about o_e_l_e_o making more of his contribution in the forum in the technical discussion board but however, your post talks more of his personality during the time he spent with us here before he left us and created a topic about he departure so I also feel that the appropriate board should be the reputation board since you are referring to his achievements in the forum.

Within the short time I got to know o_e_l_e_o, at first i used to mistook him for the position of Theymos and I do admire his technicality in the technical board but I was just unfortunate not to have more knowledge about technical discussions in the forum. His announcement of his departure on 17th January 2024 shocked almost every one in the forum and it looks like a vacuum was created in the person of o_e_l_e_o

Even though I am not a poster of the technical board I have known leo to be a good and active poster of the technical board.
Based on his records, I don't think he could be forgotten anytime soon because there are a lot of good post of his that has thought a lot of people things that they don't know. But let's hope that we have someone like him sooner.

It's quite unfortunate that I didn't get the chance to have a personal experience with him on individual basis, as my account was barely few months old by January 2024 and I was still finding my way around the forum. But from the testimonies I have read about him from old members of the forum, has proven to me that he was such a good Man. A good fellow and a lover of peace who has contributed greatly to the growth of this forum. I have taken little time to go through some of his post history and of a truth he was a knowledgeable Man. There is no doubt his absence is already been felt in this forum. Strength and courage to his family and friends to keep bearing his loss, as it is clear that nobody can fill the void he has left.
Keep resting in peace o_e_l_e_o!!

Great thread man. Leo was a great guy, very knowledgeable and was great to communicate with too. I many times used the advanced search option and included him as the "by user" for what I was looking for, to see when he has talked about that subject and it was very helpful more often than not.

Quote from: Mia Chloe on Today at 03:55:38 PM

because when last I checked he has been , should I say o_e_l_e_o 's die hard hater Undecided

o_e_l_e_o was an expertise and a connoisseur of bitcoin technical and software related discussions, and from the way he provides answers and solution's to technical questions you can literally conclude it gave him joy with each moment he does that.

o_e_l_e_o, as I know was mostly giving merits to posts that dealt on technical discussion about bitcoin than anywhere else, for it was after his departure from the forum I started contemplating, maybe it was that he saw what the future held in front for him, because I realized that, what he was doing was a way of encouraging and attracting more forum members to grow desire and interest in technical aspect of bitcoin discussions more than the common non-technical areas because it's obvious that the forum has a lot of members involved on the other side than in the technical.

	Author	Topic: o_e_l_e_o's 100 Most Merited Posts (Read 188 times)
This is a self-moderated topic. If you do not want to be moderated by the person who started this topic, create a new topic.