After I stopped getting paid, here is some food for thought...

[Ultegra134]

Yes, I would still be around, and I've been through phases without being in a campaign; I'm not in one right now either, as BetPanda had some major cuts in their campaign and only a few remained. I'm still here, posting, and will continue to. Yes, I'm not as active but that's because I'm taking the opportunity to rest from my computer and internet for a while. Work has been quite stressful as well, and I've taken up repairing a "project car" as a part-time wanna-be mechanic, so I'm spending a lot of time after work there.

I will still continue hunting AI spammers, despite me not getting paid for my posts anymore. I also don't understand why you're not in a campaign for lawful reasons, who cares about taxation in Greece? It's not like they're being put for good use, so why should I declare it as income?

[Findingnemo]

Since I first entered into a paid campaign I was like been paid every week in all these years and I started going with the own phase and honestly I made some changes in my posting habits that align with the interest of what I promote but if I stop getting paid then I will take a break like a week then will continue on my own phase again, not sure the same number of posts will be there but my online period will just same as now because visting bitcointalk and reading stuffs became my regular routine so it's hard for me to change now.

[PrivacyG]

Here is some food for thought derived straight from the subject raised by apogio.

The way Bitcoin Talk users change their habit based on incentive or the lack thereof is in my opinion pretty strong proof why Nodes or any other parts of Bitcoin other than  should never be incentivized.  It does not matter if the change in behavior comes from a fear of being kicked out of a Campaign, the motivation to get your self into a Campaign, the respect for a Campaign Manager or any other motive.  What is important is that a change happens.

And this is definitely not limited only to this Forum.  You can see similar things in real life where people would share way more information than they should only for a couple pennies or Dollars at most.  Has any of you seen the 'World Coin' booths where people voluntarily scan their retinas for a bag of Shit Coins?  It is nothing but crazy.  If I set up the same booth but did free scans, people would simply walk by.  When there is temptation however, things change.  Mentality and behavior changes.

Therefore, this monetization of Posts is an actually interesting experiment.  In fact.  When you look at Bitcoin Talk from a distance, being an older Member you can see that it has interestingly become a community generally split in two kinds of Members.  The ones who post useless Replies only for the sake of the Campaign count and the rest who almost instinctively ignore all of them while giving their own, much more useful answers.

I find it really interesting how I can scroll a page for a matter of seconds and already know which Replies are worth reading with out wasting my time on B S.  And to see what I meant by the split community, when the Altcoin version of the Forum launched and people started cloning their Bitcoin Talk accounts over there you could see that there is almost NO BOARD to Reply to and it is not worth it to bother reading the Replies because most of the Members made their own account on there only for the monetized part of it.  I could set up a version of Bitcoin Talk where only AI accounts are active and I could probably get a more lively and interesting Forum than that Shitcoin Talk.

Now the curiosity that remains in my mind is how Bitcoin Talk would look if all the people who are here only for the monetized part of it would suddenly be gone.  And I doubt the activity will disappear but it would be much more quiet over here.  Although I would argue that I at least almost always avoid Topics that grow larger than 5 to 7 pages because most of them are bloated up by garbage.  But a lot of the actually interesting and important Topics are almost always quiet, a handful of Members share their view and their comments and then it gets buried and never seen again.

On the other hand.  I love that Bitcoin Talk is incentivized and particularly that great people like fillippone, LoyceV, o_e_l_e_o who I can never not bring up and greatly miss and many others are being paid a decent portion of Bitcoin for their work.  Although none of us mere mortals really know what must be done to join the cult of the Fox.  I am sure that many of them would have been probably way less active here if the ChipM Campaign was not around paying that well and for that I can only be proud to have them around.

After all, Signature Campaigns create a lot of garbage but also incentivize the people who actually deserve it.  And with out them, we would have had less quality work and knowledge shared here.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I did not register on this forum nearly 11 years ago so I could join a campaign, nor did I know what one was until I became aware of them in the context of figuring out why most members sounded like lifeless zombies when they posted.  Suffice to say I'm not here for the money and if campaigns went away tomorrow I'd still be posting. 

Newbies coming here solely to earn money is not a new thing.  At this point it's a very old thing, so old in fact that it's become the norm.  The difference between 2025's noobs and those of 2015's are that these days it's damn hard to figure out who's using AI to "buff" their English or otherwise write posts for them.  That's been a maddening development to a phenomenon I didn't think could get any worse.  When I see a newcomer making what appears to be a thoughtful, eloquently-written post....all the red flags go off in my head, when that should be the exact opposite of what happens.  Sad.

[sleepfirefly]

• Newbies: The majority of newbies want to get paid, so they whine that the Legendary members don't give them chances and don't give them merits. It's such a poor argument, that they believe we were born legendaries, without passing all the stages and ranks ourselves as well.

personally and honestly sometimes it does sting a little when we make posts that we put a lot of effort and thoughts into but do not get appreciated but i do not take it as an offense since i know that if someone really did find my post helpful and good then they will give merits it just makes me think that maybe i have to do better and be more active on the forum and learn more

[Sticky Bomb]

Food for thought (some questions that I have):
1. If you stopped getting paid today, for any reason, would you post with the same zeal that you post today? And more importantly, if you weren't getting paid, would you really need to say all the things that you say when you get paid?

With the same zeal, yes but with a much reduced quantity of posts since I would be spending more time reading and exposing myself to lots of relevant topics especially in the technical board which drives my interest the more. I love reading and learning here as a new guy in this space but sometimes I quickly cut off from spending lots of time doing that because I have a weekly quota to meet and also I have workloads offline to attend to and clients calls keep reminding me that I have deadlines to honor. I have been without campaign for some time in the past and I was still contributing.

2. Would you support the forum to the outsiders, who would rationally wonder: "what on earth do all these people do there everyday?".

Yeah, I do that but on a controlled note since my country is far from being safe, mostly introduced the forum to my close friends of which most of them ran away because they couldn't mix being here and their personal engagements. I've even invited my friend who just quit his job and has more time to himself now to come spend 48hrs with me so I can put him through on the forum proper.

3. Would you be actually interested in this forum's longevity and would you try to stop the scammers if you weren't getting paid? EDIT: I don't mean getting paid for moderation or tagging scammers, but I mean if you get paid and you need a sustainable payment resource through the forum, you gotta try to keep it safe, don't you?

I've been scammed before many times, seen people in hard conditions for being scammed and trust me, I hate scammers anywhere around me and would strangle them on sight without pay. The forum is the most beautiful online environment I've ever been to and where people express themselves without fear of being restricted in any kind of way. If I have the required skills to identify them, I wouldn't stay my hand to eliminate them from here.

4. Do you actually know (or use) the website or service that you promote? It's not a trap question, I just want you to think if you'd jump from campaing to campaign simply because of the money, or if there's also a tie with the service that you promote.

It is not really a must to use the service I promote, but for my current campaign, I use it for gambling since they earned my trust. I don't really jump from campaign to campaign because of money, I try to observe the team behind it and estimate the possibility of their longevity. I go with the policy that it is better to stay and promote a service you trust the more and get lesser payment for a longer time than jumping around because of money_{which might see you at a loss in the end}. I still earn a descent amount from my life off the forum, so it gives me the flexibility to promote only services I trust, the extra few $$ don't move me unless I trust the service too.

Disclaimers:
1. I liked getting paid as well and I'll probably try to join campaigns again, if the legislation in my country gets better, or if the payments from campaigns increase to justify me getting paid.

Sorry about that buddy, here in my country it is not the same, The taxes are not so high here and most people even escape not paying it without much consequences.

2. My post can be summarized in the following question: "If you weren't getting paid, would you still be around?". My answer to this question is "Yes! I will!".

Sure man, I will. This place has impacted in me a lot intellectually, I get involved in discussions and give relevant information to the admiration of my peers. The level of awareness created here against scams keeps me a step ahead of most social engineering attempts as I'm in the know and can recognize familiar patterns easily. Most of the things I learn here, I apply to my work offline for greater productivity.

The learning here is much more qualitative and which makes me want to be around for longer, although I wouldn't deny the fact that the stipends motivates too, it is a beautiful thing that people like me can earn from writing on the forum.

[babo]

2. My post can be summarized in the following question: "If you weren't getting paid, would you still be around?". My answer to this question is "Yes! I will!".

Very interesting post, which I read calmly while I'm preparing to choose and decide what to eat for lunch (for work, I'm at work)
I see myself a lot in your words, especially about the fact that if I wasn't paid I would still write?
The answer is yes because I write a lot, not only on the forum which is one of the media I have always used and loved (I have been using and managing some forums since 1997)
but I also write a lot on Telegram
I also write a lot on matrix and on irc

I'm a chatterbox with a speed of 300 characters per minute, so you can understand how fast I am at writing and translating what I think into words.
true, maybe I'm too verbose, but talking and discussing helps me understand so I can't give up on this thing
like programming, I've been programming since I was 9 years old, for me it's like breathing, I couldn't live without it

[LoyceV]

The other income in Greece works only if you receive up to 3 payments for the same "service" or "product". It's supposed to be the place where you declare your profits from selling one of your paintings (for example). But, if you decided to sell more than 3 paintings, you'd have to be a business. It's written officially that every transaction that occurs more than 3 times, is supposed to be business-related and doesn't fit in the other income section.

Is that per year? Would it work if you come to an arrangement with a campaign manager, to get paid at once after 6 months?

Sure, but why should I not care about a fine? I mean, why should I wanna do anything that's illegal.
I can almost guarrantee that I won't get "caught", but again, I want to be lawful, because in general I wanna have the minimum possible amount of interactions with the authorities. If I could simply not exist for them, I'd buy it easily, even if my intention is not to do anything illegal.

That's a good mindset. Many people are quite selective in which rules they think do or don't apply to them

I also don't have social media, none of them. But it's not because I hate them, I actually can't live with the fast pace that they promote. I want to be calm and rational, otherwise I'm lost and I don't thing straight.

Social media shouldn't even be called "social". I'm pretty sure that term was only added to increase the hype. I don't need a large corporation to show me pictures of someone's food, while everyone pretends to be something they're not.
Bonus points if people look at their social media on phones when they're actually together!
/rant
Block them from your hosts file: social media or malware/gambling/more.
/solution

Let's say you are going on a trip abroad and you are aware that there are physical stores where you can pay with BTC or that there are even physical exchanges where you can sell your coins without KYC.

Here's a different scenario: you pay with Bitcoin, and get questions you can't answer. Now you're in a foreign country with money you didn't declare in your home country. That's not a problem if you order a pizza, but chances are today's signature payments aren't just pizza money if you hold it for 20 years. It could be pizzeria money, and a paper trail, as much as I dislike it, is a necessity to spend it legally.
I pay taxes for peace of mind, not because I like (or even agree with) taxes.

It doesn't occur to me to pay any other taxes on cryptocurrencies

This no doubt varies largely per country.

But unfortunately crypto itself isn't legal here ~ I have been showing them as freelance work and paying tax.

I'm glad I'm not in that situation. Paying tax on earnings that aren't legal sounds like the very definition of money laundering. But again, this interpretation no doubt varies per country.

We have to pay a lot of tax, most case have to pay 25% after a limit.

Lol. If all you pay is 25%, you have no idea how lucky you are

[apogio]

I also don't understand why you're not in a campaign for lawful reasons, who cares about taxation in Greece? It's not like they're being put for good use, so why should I declare it as income?

I can't disagree that our taxes are a total waste in Greece, but doing things legally is a must for me 

Is that per year? Would it work if you come to an arrangement with a campaign manager, to get paid at once after 6 months?

No, it's per transaction nature. Meaning if I sell 4 paintings in my lifetime, it's considered a business. If I get paid 4 times for advertising, it's considered a business etc.

I can't say how much I agree on the comment about "social media".

Very interesting post, which I read calmly while I'm preparing to choose and decide what to eat for lunch (for work, I'm at work)
I see myself a lot in your words, especially about the fact that if I wasn't paid I would still write?
The answer is yes because I write a lot, not only on the forum which is one of the media I have always used and loved (I have been using and managing some forums since 1997)
but I also write a lot on Telegram
I also write a lot on matrix and on irc

I'm a chatterbox with a speed of 300 characters per minute, so you can understand how fast I am at writing and translating what I think into words.
true, maybe I'm too verbose, but talking and discussing helps me understand so I can't give up on this thing
like programming, I've been programming since I was 9 years old, for me it's like breathing, I couldn't live without it

Haha, it's funny because I'm the exact opposite. I type faster than I write, but I type too slowly. Imagine how slowly I write. 

The difference between 2025's noobs and those of 2015's are that these days it's damn hard to figure out who's using AI to "buff" their English or otherwise write posts for them.  That's been a maddening development to a phenomenon I didn't think could get any worse.  When I see a newcomer making what appears to be a thoughtful, eloquently-written post....all the red flags go off in my head, when that should be the exact opposite of what happens.  Sad.

Sure, but I still think you can spot them and ignore them easily I must have ignored users who aren't AI though lol

[Ultegra134]

personally and honestly sometimes it does sting a little when we make posts that we put a lot of effort and thoughts into but do not get appreciated but i do not take it as an offense since i know that if someone really did find my post helpful and good then they will give merits it just makes me think that maybe i have to do better and be more active on the forum and learn more

You're basically proving what @The Sceptical Chymist mentioned earlier, that newbies are coming here to get paid. You're indirectly complaining that you've put a lot of effort in your posts, but you aren't receiving the merit you believe you deseve. Trust me, in the first page of your post history, I don't see a single post that's worthy of meriting.

[Zoomic]

I also don't understand why you're not in a campaign for lawful reasons, who cares about taxation in Greece? It's not like they're being put for good use, so why should I declare it as income?

I can't disagree that our taxes are a total waste in Greece, but doing things legally is a must for me 

I was thinking and at the same time was surprised that you wouldn't know a way out of the mini or unnecessary taxes, not until I read that doing things legally is a must for you. You have clearly seen a loophole but you don't actually want to exploit it. That's a beautiful one for you.

Meanwhile, what's the tax system in your country like? Here we "Pay As You Earn" (PAYE). So, if your signature amount is $50 per week, you should pay what is taxable for $200 per month. Complications will start coming if you are operating alts ...

[Ultegra134]

I was thinking and at the same time was surprised that you wouldn't know a way out of the mini or unnecessary taxes, not until I read that doing things legally is a must for you. You have clearly seen a loophole but you don't actually want to exploit it. That's a beautiful one for you.

Meanwhile, what's the tax system in your country like? Here we "Pay As You Earn" (PAYE). So, if your signature amount is $50 per week, you should pay what is taxable for $200 per month. Complications will start coming if you are operating alts ...

There's no clear framework for cryptocurrencies in Greece. I'm guessing Apogio means declaring it as income, aka, declaring that you're a freelancer (staring business activity), paying an enormous amount of taxes for someone who's just "starting" out, even though it's a signature campaign. Am I right?

[joker_josue]

I would like to answer your questions, as I found your reflection interesting.

1. If you stopped getting paid today, for any reason, would you post with the same zeal that you post today? And more importantly, if you weren't getting paid, would you really need to say all the things that you say when you get paid?

Well, I've been in a similar situation. I've been on the forum since 2013. Although I was more absent from 2015-2017 and 2018-2020, don't forget to keep an eye on the forum, I used to participate occasionally.

I can say that the incentive payment helped increase my participation and involvement with the community. But now, I don't think I would reduce my activity much. Maybe I would skip one or two posts, but I do over 40 posts a week, well above what the campaigns ask for.

I'm already very involved with the community, so unless things change very radically (and I'm not talking about payments), I should stay around. I say this from experience, since I have participated very actively in other forums without any financial incentive.

2. Would you support the forum to the outsiders, who would rationally wonder: "what on earth do all these people do there everyday?".

I didn't quite understand the question.

But I'll answer with a question: what do people do spending hours on social media (Facebook or Instagram)? I can't understand it, because I'm not there and I don't want to be, so the feeling might be similar.

3. Would you be actually interested in this forum's longevity and would you try to stop the scammers if you weren't getting paid? EDIT: I don't mean getting paid for moderation or tagging scammers, but I mean if you get paid and you need a sustainable payment resource through the forum, you gotta try to keep it safe, don't you?

I think the history of this forum has already proven that. Bitcointalk, from day one, has always been a strong community fighting scammers. The difference today is that people who deal with Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) have stopped visiting the forum and using it as a research and protection tool.

Perhaps if they came to the forum more often, before participating in "wonderful projects," they would avoid many future problems.

Once again, I speak from experience. The forum helped me avoid falling victim to a major scam when I started dealing with Bitcoin. Unfortunately, I still I stumbled a bit, because I didn't take everything that was said seriously. Today I remain grateful for that and I haven't forgotten it.

4. Do you actually know (or use) the website or service that you promote? It's not a trap question, I just want you to think if you'd jump from campaing to campaign simply because of the money, or if there's also a tie with the service that you promote.

Well, I'm not a gambling guy. ^{(The reader should understand the answer I want to give.)}

I prefer campaigns that don't involve any kind of service, but I also value the trust that (some) campaign managers provide. Based on this, I decide whether or not to seek out other campaigns. Sometimes I might even be in a campaign I'd rather not be in, but because of my connection to the manager, I stay until one comes along where the change is significant.