Quote from: GazetaBitcoin on February 18, 2020, 03:42:56 PM

I decided to start this topic - Gangs of ~~New York~~ BitcoinTalk - as a reaction towards the funny idea that the forum is full of gangs. I will update it in the future, hopefully with the help from the other members. Thank you xtraelv for inspiring me with this topic after seeing your threads about the forum history!

Please treat this topic as a pamphlet.

1. Foxpup Merit Cycling Club, also known as "The Dalton Gang" or "The Skull Gang". ~~Arguably~~ certainly, as already demonstrated, the sexiest gang from the forum (more info here).
Supreme Leader: Foxpup, also known as Capo di tutti capi, Capo dei capi, Padrino. Also known for time travelling ability.
Known members and adulators (wannabees): LoyceV, suchmoon, o_e_l_e_o, marlboroza, fillippone, bitmover, tranthidung, JollyGood, examplens, GazetaBitcoin, icopress, The Pharmacist, apogio, Black Hat Coiner.
Reputation: the gang became so notorious that it is spoken of it on other forums as well. Its power is also admitted here:

Activity: cycling and controlling the forum merits with a very strong hand.
ANN: none that I am aware of; the leader is recruiting her army through various posts (such as here or here).
First mention: March 27th, 2019, 19:11:27.
Misc: the gang runs in a closed circle and it's over-protective towards its members. Rumors say that the members aren't paid with minimum wage for their serving.

Emblems:

2. The Thick-Skinned Gang
Supreme Leader: LoyceV
Known members and adulators (wannabees): so far are known just lovesmayfamilis, LoyceMobile, mindrust, o_e_l_e_o, suchmoon, ~~Royse777~~, theymos; this gang might be a secret one, thus it may involve more members.
Reputation: this gang doesn't give a damn on others' opinions; they are cold blooded and they have iron hearts.
Activity: protecting the members from having their feelings hurt by any bad actor. Attracting merits like a magnet for the members.
ANN: none.
First mention: with the "official" name, on February 17th, 2020, 16:22:07; however, the gang leader slipped a word about the existence of this gang on February 14th, 2020, 18:48:04.
Misc: Motto - "Hurting someone's feelings is allowed. Grow a thicker skin, and stop caring. It's really that simple.". Allegedly, the leader "has the skin about as thick as the snow on top of Monterosa in February".
Emblem: none.

3. The Clowns Cartel, also known as "The Car Clowns"
Supreme Leader: unknown
Known members and adulators (wannabees): allegedly, all the DT members or, at least, those close to marlboroza.
Reputation: allegedly, nepotistic, abusive, arbitrary, and destructive to the overall community.
Activity: allegedly, keeping TECSHARE away from DT1.
ANN: none.
First mention: September 10th, 2019, 00:44:36.
Misc: apparently, these gang members like to travel crammed inside a small car. Generally, they have good relations with Cult of Lauda, as some members of the cartel serve also under Lauda.
Emblem: none.

4. The Mods Gang
Supreme Leader: theymos, also known as thermos
Known members and adulators (wannabees): Cyrus, hilariousandco, Mprep, rickbig41, Flying Hellfish, gmaxwell, achow101, frodocooper, MiningBuddy, Welsh, OmegaStarScream, dbshck, sapta, Barcode_, Halab, Anon11073, HostFat, malevolent, Adriano, xandry, Xal0lex, EFS.
Reputation: the oldest gang of this forum. Although the former leader - Satoshi - disappeared long time ago, followed by sirius' resignation (the second leader), the gang kept existing, similar to Borg.
Activity: moderating the forum with a strong hand. This gang has absolute power over the forum content. Not advisable to mess with them!
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5.msg28#msg28.
First Mention: November 22nd, 2009, 20:04:28.
Misc: besides keeping the forum clean, allegedly they "hunt" certain users and delete their posts, such as Timelord2067, TOAA etc. cases. It is known they constantly attack the Cheaters Gang and since July 2018 they multipled their forces as the SpamBusters Gang started also to have a beef with the Cheaters.
Emblem: none.

5. The Wall Observer Gang
Supreme Leader: unknown
Known members and adulators (wannabees): hordes as large as the ancient Persian hordes, spread among more than 26.073 pages of the WO.
Reputation: probably the people most bullish about BTC. Arguably, the members of this gang use to give many merits when they're drunk

They also seem to be attracted by memes.
Activity: permanent talk about BTC price.
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178336.0.
First Mention: April 17th, 2013, 00:32:22
Misc: this is a mother gang, containing also smaller ~~factions~~ cliques, such as The Hat Gang or The Slack Gang
Emblems: the Hat clique uses various hats as symbols of recognition. The greater WO Gang uses as emblem the letters "W" and "O" made in this fashion:

6. The SpamBusters Gang
Supreme Leader: iasenko
Known members and adulators (wannabees): bitart, buyinbtc, DarkStar_, digaran, Heisenberg_Hunter, Jet Cash, Lafu, LogitechMouse, LoyceV, mdayonliner, stompix, seoincorporation, Silent26, suchmoon, theyoungmillionaire, Welsh, wwzsocki, xtraelv, Rikafip, GazetaBitcoin, decodx and many others.
Reputation: members are very aggresive fighters; they atack at first sight any spam. Spammers, beware!
Activity: Busting rule-breakers for more than a year.
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4720640.0.
First Mention: July 22nd, 2019, 00:19:10
Misc: this gang is in good relations with Mods Gang. Although they don't have an alliance per se, they have a good collaboration on mutual interests. The forum served many times as their battlefield in their endless wars against the Cheaters Gang.
Emblem:

7. The Scam Busters Gang
Supreme Leader: ICOEthics - although the leader took a step behind lately, the gang is in good hands, being managed by his apprentices.
Known members and adulators (wannabees): TalkStar, Lafu, witcher_sense, dkbit98, xtraelv, Coolcryptovator, Rikafip, Raja_MBZ, masulum, tvplus006, DroomieChikito, morvillz7z, lovesmayfamilis, ScamViruS, mosprognoz, JollyGood, tmfp, Baofeng.
Reputation: merciless warriors, constantly attacking scammers in the wild.
Activity: although their ancestors settled their HQ since ancient times in the Scam Accusations board, this gang keeps pillaging the Scammers' territory. The group is very quiet, doing investigative work in the background. But as soon as they have evidence and proofs of scams (ICO projects with plagiarized whitepapers, fake teams, fake give-aways etc.), they are going to expose it. ~~Those accused~~ their victims can defend themselves, but 90% don't have the balls because they are caught with their pants down.
ANN: none.
First mention: September 22nd, 2011, 13:51:48.
Misc: everyone has own ways of finding those cyber criminals; the leader has shown some of his tactics and so has the rest of the gang. That's why the gang is slowly growing in numbers every year.
Emblem:

(not official)

8. The Collectors Gang
Supreme Leader: minerjones, which is involved also in the select group of forum escrows
Known members and adulators (wannabees): ChiBitCTy, Coblee, Vizique, Krogothmanhattan, Lesbian Cow, Buck Rodgers, Otoh, Greenplastic, Mitchell, Phishead, Chronicsky, Agrawas, Corrosive, Yogg, Anonymousminer, Dozers, Wheelz1200, Owlcatz, Actmyname, MonkeyNuts, JanEmil, tothemoonsands, Hox, Digicoinuser, bavicrypto, polymerbit, Hhampuz, TMAN, at101et, Hybridsole, Tweetious, ezeminer, BitCoinPenny, Kialara, Casascius, Smoothie, Anduck, OgNasty, CryptoImperator, BigTimeSpaghetti, Dolphriends and (allegedly) many others.
Reputation: recently, ChiBitCTy alleged "I think we may just be the biggest gang". Could this act of lèse-majesté trigger a war with other gangs which aspire for being the biggest here?
Activity: generally, an inoffensive gang, having the HQ in the Collectibles board, living peacefully among the other gangs. The members are constantly lurking for physical crypto-related objects, thus they don't interfere with the other gangs in the wars for influence and territory. Curiously, no other clique tried to conquer their lands.
ANN: none.
First mention: July 4th, 2014, 02:37:21, when theymos attempted to sell a physical Bitcoin.
Misc: none.
Emblem: none.

9. The Italian Brotherhood
Supreme Leader: fillippone, which is involved also in other shenanigans with Merit Cycling Club
Known members and adulators (wannabees): gbianchi, giammangiato, bitbollo, turtlecute, conilmionome, Paolo.Demidov, babo, Plutosky, hymperion, duesoldi, mendace, creep_o, Lillominato89, and the rest of the clan.
Reputation: in my opinion, the greatest brotherhood can be found inside Italian board. This gang looks so fearsome that even The Supreme Leader of The Thick-Skinned Gang said it's scary.
Activity: more research needed. The gang was just exposed, by an accidental mistake, and now it needs to be investigated properly in order to find out what interests its lieutenants have.
ANN: none.
First mention: February 4th, 2034, 16:40:34, when LoyceV exposed them (most likely, this was possible due to a fatal mistake of their leader, which mentioned their local mafia in plain sight).
Misc: their war cry is the following one: "3,2,1 all’ Italian mafia… si accettano scommesse…". In the end, wolwoo was right when he said that "the forum is run like a family, like the Corleone family"!
Emblem:

Defunct Gangs - gangs which got dissolved in the past due to various reasons (too few members to stand a chance in front of the strong gangs, integration in larger gangs, members fled away etc.)

1. Bitcointalk Gang - small gang, having only 3-4 members, which are now part of other gangs.

2. Anti DT Gang - a ridiculous group of tommies fighting with The Clowns Cartel. Obviously, they didn't stand a chance.

3. Union Trust - an inferior gang created for the sole purpose to fight against two lieutenants from Cult of Lauda, but also against this gang's leader. Of course they were smashed in pieces, without knowing who they're messing with!

4. TOAA (cryptohunter) Gang - a 1-man-army led by cryptohunter who courageously fought since ancient times against almost all the other gangs mentioned here, looking for a chunk of their pie. Driven by The Dark Side of the Force, he managed to fight for years, although he suffered a lot from a serious and incurable mental disease. Being overwhelmed, he disguised himself since 2019 as The-One-Above-All, maliciously called as The-Ass-Above-All, but the dexterous supreme leader of the Mods Gang exposed him. After suffering severe injuries, he fled the battlefield in January 2020, after almost 7 years of ferocious fights. Also known for deep self-respect, as he used manorial plural when he was talking about himself, saying "we" instead of "I". Allegedly, as the supreme leader of the Merit Cycling Club suspects (among many others), the great fighter returned once again inside the arena, as truth or dare. In case this will be proven, I'll move this gang in the upper sections, among the most reputable gangs.

5. Flat Earth Believers - ~~an inoffensive gang of people with a bizarre belief. They worst way they can harm you is by negative trust; if you don't care about that, you may try to have a beef with them.~~ Edit: as of February 26, 2020, notbatman - the Supreme Leader of this gang - closed the gates of his Church, without any explanation, leaving the believers lost under the (flat?) Sun. The terrible news were brought by suchmoon: "Unfortunately Bitcointalk's most famous flatearther locked his thread after merely ~800 pages without conclusively proving whether the Earth is flat or not". After almost 5 years of hard, scientific debates, everything appears to be lost. Not entirely though, thanks to suchmoon, which although declined her competences on this delicate matter, she generously offered a shelter for these poor people who lost their leader, but hopefully, not their faith. Thus, with her help, maybe the remains of what was once a prosperous gang, will raise again!

6. The Objective Standards Guild - ~~new gang of vigilantes, allegedly fighting for justice, also known as The Never Wrong Guild or NRG. But do they know about the principle "ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat"?~~ Edit: this gang can be considered officially defunct. The other gangs put it to sleep sooner than expected. There is no more Testimonium Libertatem Iustitia on this forum!

7. Polar91 Gang - the most powerful faction of the mother gang of The Cheaters
Supreme Leader: Polar81
Known members and adulators (wannabees): Ashong Salonga, criza, Magkirap, Blackdeath, julius caesar, White Christmas, agentx44, airdnasxela, ekans45, Gumpfire, Meowth05, Wintersoldier, alexsandria, Gladiator25, Drakula, jovs, wolfgang56, P60, Peashooter, Bowly88, Spontebob, sampalokmix, chromosomes, Ajinomoto40, tanginamoo, Raven91, wallstone, Larva14, Jessy Mediola, decoder88, Phyton76, Kersh768, blue_dragon, matanglawin, stephanirain, Lady Coquet, Bionicgalaxy, magmar, Shiversnow, Ingoats, Predator25, Baby Dragon, Kurokonobasuke, Bohxz M4p4gm4h4l25, Kuya Kim, Gondwanaland, roll on, JCO05, Maiscoinyelo, gokudera, bentong talong, Lomberjack, empoy, Wish 107.5, Punisherx100, potatocorner, kupido14, regnidorhcs, Magic Sarap, insurgent, android17, Nhobita, Rollex, SkyFlakes, Jupeter, Kim Domingo, SMAura, Apple Mac, Kita Kita, Nissan-GTR, Bella Thorne, Ad Baculum, tokensupermarket, Gramna, Watashi Yamashita, unknown-user, megatrix, Gagamboy, Oggy Pogi, Jake Virus, terbetet, Gandam23, trashvin, Pantastikman, dobladi, Bakugan, Specialforce, Pepito Manaloto, Sand King, thundercrystal, assyla, devil jin, Euroda, Krispin47, Chooroz, Jose Rizal, trojanx23, xoxo_ch@, Kokoy, Star_Bucks, oxidoreductase.
Reputation: this is the most strong clique of cheaters seen so far on these lands. Definitely, this gang earned its place in the history!
Activity: constantly cheating the signature campaigns since 2016.
First mention: April 7th, 2020, 02:23:21.
Misc: the mastermind behind the gang has to receive a proper recognition for what he managed to build through the past 5 years: a great army of clones, strong enough to compete with any opposition (as it can be seen in the picture below). The gang had 1 Hero member, 23 Sr. Members and hordes of lower ranked members. Fortunately, with the help of Bitcoin_Arena and cheater detector, who revealed the entire village of thieves; Lauda, who created the flags for all the accounts involved; and all the members which supported the flags, Polar91 was defeated! The battle took place between April 7th - April 29th, 2020 and it can be called also The BitcoinTalk Clones War.

Quote from: Yatsan on April 09, 2020, 12:19:19 PM

Dammnn, this one is amazing. LOL Huh

Emblems: none.

8. Cult of Lauda - probably the biggest gang of the forum
Supreme Leader: Lauda, also known as The Cat
Known members and adulators (wannabees): actmyname, Aerys2, Airtube, AleksandrKosov, amishmanish, Anduck, anonymousminer, Arpetuos, asche, asu, Avirunes, bias, BitcoinEXpress, BitcoinPenny, BitCryptex, Bitze, Blazed, blurryeyed, bones261, braga.ele, cabalism13, CanadaBits, CardVideo, catur_072, ColumbiaCrypto, condoras, crwth, Debonaire217, Dev, DiamondCardz, dishwara, elmanchez, EpicFail, ezeminer, finaleshot2016, Foxpup, Funny, Gambit_fr, GDragon, Gimpeline, gospodin, gmaxwell, Gunthar, gysca, hedgy73, Heisenberg_Hunter, Henkkaa, Hhampuz, hybridsole, ibminer, icopress, iluvpie60, JayJuanGee, jenia1, jimhsu, Joel_Jantsen, JohnUser, khaled0111, kken01, klaaas, KWH, leancuisine, lehuyaxib1, Limx, Little Mouse, Lutpin, marlboroza, Maus0728, mexxer-3 was chosen, mindrust, minerjones, Mitchell, Miyslovenic, mocacinno, monkeynuts, mubashar002, nakamura12, NeuroticFish, nullius, Operatr, owlcatz, P4ndoraBox7, pandukelana2712, Patatas, philipma1957, pirashki, Polar91, PrivacyLock, qwk, RafaelCrypto, roycilik, sapta, scutzi128, sheenshane, Silent26, skillscreating, Slow death, Soros Shorts, Squishy01, subSTRATA, suchmoon, sud, Strufmbae, sufferer123, TalkStar, tennozer, TheQuin, ThePharmacist, theymos (allegedly), theyoungmillionaire, TMAN, TradeRafael, Trofo, tweetbit, twiki, vizique, Vadi2323, Vod, webtricks, whywefight, yazher, yogg, Zepher, ZeusContent.
Reputation: power comes in numbers; this gang is a small army.
Activity: controlling the trust system.
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5098579.0.
First mention: January 17th, 2019, 11:54:06.
Misc: preferred worship - "The Queen of Cats guides us. The Queen of Cats teaches us. The Queen of Cats protects us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.". This gang has a friendly alliance with The Nullian Gang and with The Clowns Cartel (as some members of the cartel are also inside Lauda's cult); occasionally attacks The Wall Observer Gang.
Edit: since October 19th, 2020, the supreme leader of the gang made a step behind, retiring in a better place, away of the hard life of the forum where even the founder is banned! But who will lead the army of the followers now? And who will control the system from now on? Could that be Foxpup, which already controls the merits system? Would that be an overwhelm for this gang leader which is known though for being a strong one? Could Foxpup reunite the two gangs into a single one which would become a legion? Or will this gang be another defunct one and the followers will spread away...? Only time will tell.
Edit 2: the gang was disbanded and moved to the Defunct section, as per Grand Prophet's request. For more information about how to cherish the memory of Lauda please contact nullius, The Grand Prophet of the Cult of Lauda, or visit the appropriate Laudatory Lore, in memoriam topic. The Grand Prophet will guide all the gang members feeling lost after their leader retired.
Emblems:

9. The Nullian Cult, also known as "The Nullian Gang (TINNG)"
Supreme Leader: nullius
Known members and adulators (wannabees): although the leader said he is "too much of a lone wolf to form a gang", there are several adulators: amishmanish, BackBachvsUp, Cobalt9317, DarkStar_, ETFbitcoin, GazetaBitcoin, HCP, Husna QA, johhnyUA, mattcode, mindrust, nc50lc, ovcijisir, RGBKey, taikuri13, TMAN, TwitchySeal, Vod.
Reputation: the leader is known for being a convinced crypto-anarchist, very smart, well educated and for having a deep knowledge of cryptography. The leader has also his idols, such as the Cypherpunks or Satoshi Nakamoto.
Activity: spreading the word about Bitcoin, exposing the identity theft performed by CSW over Satoshi, teaching people about cryptography.
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2665019.0.
First mention: December 30th, 2017, 01:58:26.
Misc: the gang leader is a merit magnet - he earned 500 merits (necessary for being a Hero member) in 27 days, 8 hours, 16 minutes, 22 seconds. Many users are wondering so much about the identity of this gang leader, that they opened a thread on this matter. It was debated if he is Satoshi Nakamoto, Lauda, CSW, Hitler or even Stephen Hawking

The prize of this bounty is a Legendary rank for that user who will find out who nullius is.

Emblem:

Edit: This one-man-army gang is now defunct, as its leader, after a short come-back, vanished again from forum's badlands.

Obscure Gangs - gangs too small to count in front of the elites but which still exist, sharing a small part of the territory; generally, more or less peaceful cliques which are aware they don't stand a chance in case of war

1. The Monero Gang - small group, allegedly trying to destroy your altcoin picks and turn you into a Monero believer by the force. Their credo is: "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile. Buy Monero or die like the rest.".

2. The FUD Gang - dangerous gang with diabolique members; fortunately, it is too small to stand in front of greater gangs.

3. The Cheaters Gang - rogues of different cultures and philosophies, attacking you from ~~the bushes~~ where you expect less; usually, they are not organized and each one acts for himself, being spread through the entire ~~territory~~ forum. This gang acts also as a mother gang, containing various bands, such as The Merit Abusers (led by mdayonliner, himself being an astute cheater and Ponzi promoter, but, unfortunately for him, he crossed his way with a small pack of Clowns Cartel lieutenants which smashed him), The Thieves, Scam Gang Mafia etc. Their greatest enemies are The Mods, the SpamBusters and the Scam Busters gangs.

4. The Hardcore Bounty Hunter Gang - an erratic gang which evolved in a tribe, working on greed principles, with no leader.

5. The Baboons Gang
Supreme Leader: Vispilio
Known members and adulators (wannabees): wolwoo, Blacknavy, DragonDance, Cean, mhanbostanci, gumusi, BitcoinTurk, koincik, hacker1001101001, peloso.
Reputation: this band has a bad reputation inside the forum, constantly accusing that its members are subject of racist attacks. Although its members are mostly Ottomans, some with a different nationality affiliated to this culture, such as hacker1001101001 or peloso. While Vispilio is the true leader of the baboons, he has at least two very reliable lieutenants - wolwoo and DragonDance.
Activity: constantly trying to cheat the merit and trust system by various stupid actions, similar to those taken by their ancestors between 1299 and 1922, in order to gain influence, control The Clowns Cartel and access inside the ChipMixer campaign. Such actions include, but are not limited to: revolutionizing the forum by public offering reciprocal trust in Meta, attempting to rewrite the history, issuing repeatedly baseless accusation about other forum users (mostly Clown Cartel members, but not just them) for being racist or for abusing their power.
ANN: none.
First mention: around the year 1299.
Misc: for some reason, the gang members seem very scared when they see the picture below, acting like the vampires when they see the daylight

Emblem: none.

Nascent Gangs - groups which recently appeared, trying to affirm themselves in the turf battle for territories and for influence; must be observed if they manage to develop into true forces

1. The Moviemaniacs Gang
Supreme Leader: GazetaBitcoin
Known members and adulators (wannabees): peter0425 (lieutenant), Mttewndew (first recruit), Ahmed Abdelrahman, Ahmed Raafet, Ahmed-SH, Alamin1955, Alaric05, Alex.Wayne, alfredlachance, amonymous, ancoll, aymen1920, BADecker, Bazlur, boyptc, btc_love, btc78, bugsbuds, chihien531568, chirannew22, DappPromotion, Daveprofile, FaithInCrypto, famososMuertos, felicialee, GmAdvice, Goingmerry8393, Gopalwu, hilariousandco, iamsheikhadil, Intertek, Islamrony, Jawhead999, Jeremy Franklin, Jocuserious, KennyHJ, kpllvd, KonstantinosM, kotajikikox, Krillin61, kurame, LazerSMS, lienfaye, LoyceV, Luqueasaur, MadeinCoin, mostafa hussien, mr_kenshy, MikeGarden, Naida_BR, Negotiation, OgNasty, primarydumz, princehandsome, ricky789, Rikafip, rdluffy, rosa.daniel.2133, SCR Ambassador, shanwlars, shirlyne, Subbir, sweetbet, TopTort777, Tramirostronix, trysetya11, ubsuterr, XarXymtroa, xen1oph.
Reputation: currently, as being brand new, the gang has no reputation; however, it states that it is a peaceful entity, looking for good collaboration with all the other gangs.
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5235853.
First mention: February 19th, 2020, 12:59:45.
Misc: one of the few gangs which doesn't look for influence nor for territory and which doesn't want to have any beef with other cliques.
Emblem:

To be further researched.

Note: some users are part of more gangs, for greater security; it seems the leaders don't mind

It is also highly advisable for members to join at least one gang (and if they can, even more gangs), for their own protection! Power comes in cliques, everybody knows that.

What do you choose - family or famiglia?

Too many choices geez! Although honestly don't mind being indicted into the DGAF/Thick Skinned Gang lol.