BitcoinsForChristmas going mainstream -- lots of gifts!

[ssaCEO]

Great news -- BitcoinsForChristmas got tweeted by the Wall Street Journal! We've had over 3000 new hits since then. New gift orders are pouring in, and we'll be delivering them all day tomorrow to brand-new Bitcoin holders, who've never used the currency before.

On behalf of the site, and our sponsors, we're very proud to have been right at the front of the "second wave", just in time for the media's apologias for exaggerating Bitcoin's death; and we're glad to be doing something that reflects well on everyone in the community.

We're going to keep the site going for those late gifts, and possibly even turn it into a permanent free service. Why shouldn't you be able to send Bitcoins for Christmas in July? It costs us pennies now that it's up and running; it's great publicity for the currency, and it's obviously got value to the community.

So... Merry Christmas, enjoy the holidays, and thank you for helping us get the word out to so many new adopters. We'll be here in 2012, in one form or another, launching new sites and thinking of more ways to keep building on this amazing platform.

[1714025439]

1714025439

[1714025439]

1714025439

[N.Olmos]

This is great.

One thing. I was browsing the site and found the sponsor page outdated:

BTCOnTilt - site down - owner MIA?
RashGash - link broken
Bitcoin World Market - closed for business

[ssaCEO]

This is great.

One thing. I was browsing the site and found the sponsor page outdated:

BTCOnTilt - site down - owner MIA?
RashGash - link broken
Bitcoin World Market - closed for business

We haven't updated sponsor links for quite a bit -- didn't realize those sites were down now. Thank you for the info; we'll update it.

[bbit]

Really happy to hear this! 

[lonelyminer (Peter Šurda)]

How do I contact your support? I emailed to info@ but got no reply. Can I just assume you've been busy and will handle it eventually?

[bbit]

error on the sponsored page  

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@bitcoinsforchristmas.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[ssaCEO]

The sponsors page is back up -- just a permissions problem while we were reloading it.
@[ed]lonelyminer -- I think it must have been you, because we've had no other mail there yet -- just sent you back, we queued that gift to be re-sent.
We're moving fast tonight 

[dunand]

Good for you. Santa has been good for Bitcoin in the last week!

[lonelyminer (Peter Šurda)]

@[ed]lonelyminer -- I think it must have been you, because we've had no other mail there yet -- just sent you back, we queued that gift to be re-sent.

Thanks, got the reply, looks like it worked.

[dooglus]

http://www.bitcoinsforchristmas.com/sponsors.php has a link called 'bitcoinica' which takes me to http://www.mtgox.com/

Surely some mistake?

[ssaCEO]

http://www.bitcoinsforchristmas.com/sponsors.php has a link called 'bitcoinica' which takes me to http://www.mtgox.com/

Surely some mistake?

Thanks. Fixed. Juggling versions here.

[ThiagoCMC]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

[bitstarter]

So how did it all turn out for you then ?

[ssaCEO]

Well -- it's gone pretty well except for the gift pickups. We've got about 160 BTC in outstanding gifts that emails were sent to, but who haven't managed to get their gifts. [edit: Meaning, they haven't downloaded MultiBit or another client and actually claimed them]. I ran a bunch of gifts out myself on Christmas Eve, so I know we weren't getting spam boxed -- so if anyone who used the service hasn't had a note saying their friends picked up the gift, email them and help them out!

A month from now, we're going to send out notices to the senders of any unclaimed gifts, giving them an address to pick up the coins; and March 1st, whatever's leftover will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

All in all, we regard it as a success... it brought some good attention to the community, and got some new people involved.

[jimbobway]

Well -- it's gone pretty well except for the gift pickups. We've got about 160 BTC in outstanding gifts that emails were sent to, but who haven't managed to get their gifts. [edit: Meaning, they haven't downloaded MultiBit or another client and actually claimed them]. I ran a bunch of gifts out myself on Christmas Eve, so I know we weren't getting spam boxed -- so if anyone who used the service hasn't had a note saying their friends picked up the gift, email them and help them out!

A month from now, we're going to send out notices to the senders of any unclaimed gifts, giving them an address to pick up the coins; and March 1st, whatever's leftover will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

All in all, we regard it as a success... it brought some good attention to the community, and got some new people involved.

Thanks for your efforts.

[bbit]

Well -- it's gone pretty well except for the gift pickups. We've got about 160 BTC in outstanding gifts that emails were sent to, but who haven't managed to get their gifts. [edit: Meaning, they haven't downloaded MultiBit or another client and actually claimed them]. I ran a bunch of gifts out myself on Christmas Eve, so I know we weren't getting spam boxed -- so if anyone who used the service hasn't had a note saying their friends picked up the gift, email them and help them out!

A month from now, we're going to send out notices to the senders of any unclaimed gifts, giving them an address to pick up the coins; and March 1st, whatever's leftover will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

All in all, we regard it as a success... it brought some good attention to the community, and got some new people involved.

Thanks for the UPDATE.  This is really good news to hear!

[kjlimo]

How about a similar site named "Bitcoins for Birthdays" that could be used all year long?

[Seal]

Congrats, you deserve the press as you are providing a great service to the community.

How about a similar site named "Bitcoins for Birthdays" that could be used all year long?

+1, great idea.

When I saw this OP, I had to double check my calendar, Christmas is 9 months away!!! I looked at your site and saw the delivery schedule option so you can use this code to easily create a bitcoins for birthdays website but with a different stylesheet.

[Portnoy]

Congrats, you deserve the press as you are providing a great service to the community.

How about a similar site named "Bitcoins for Birthdays" that could be used all year long?

+1, great idea.

When I saw this OP, I had to double check my calendar, Christmas is 9 months away!!! I looked at your site and saw the delivery schedule option so you can use this code to easily create a bitcoins for birthdays website but with a different stylesheet.

Why stop at birthdays...  there is also: other holidays; anniversaries; weddings; graduations; valentines day; bar mitzvahs; etc. etc.

Imagine if we could get the tooth fairy interested in using bitcoins!