Another great thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3358364.0
For forum nostalgics - how data show forum evolution

I am not seeing too many people on this thread confirming that they have been banned or seen others' banned. I think this person just wants other to not join twitter campaigns. There is a difference between direct advertisements and tweeting about things you like personally. I thought twitter's original announcement was foolish and short-sighted. I don't rely on twitter's board of directors to keep me safe from financial ruin. I rely on them to keep their friggin website up and running. Maybe add a new feature or something every now and then.

It is very hard to value bitcoin or eth right now. Many tokens especially are valued so far below their potential. I think the addition of new major funds that are well known that have said they will begin investing and trading in bitcoin will change the way crypto is viewed as an investment. For the most part, at the moment, most financial managers would never recommend bitcoin as an investment. It isn't well known enough and doesn't have any precedent. However, more professional funds trading in crypto will make it acceptable and that will lead to long-term gains.

Wow, I don't know if that will happen this year. I think the fall in the price of tokens + eth is so much bigger than the fall in bitcoin right now. So many fledgling companies that are going through a rough patch as a result of the bubble and so many ICOs that aren't getting any investors due to fear of regulations. I think that there is a possibility that eth will hit $2k, however I don't think it will happen until well known publicly traded managed funds start investing in ICOs on behalf of small investors. But by then the landscape of the entire crypto world will be different.

I think we had some very good news about bitcoin in the form of major investment funds like George Soros' fund saying they will begin investing and trading bitcoin. I think this will help bitcoin gain traction with banks and investors who do not have the time or the knowledge to invest in bitcoin themselves. I might even consider investing in these new funds because they might be better traders. Really because these big funds are buying in right now, there is a good argument to be made that they will profit from the people who are depressed about bitcoin's current price.

I don't understand why I keep getting these comments. I made this to help newbs. Newbs don't have merit to give. I can't farm merit from people who don't have any merit and as you see I haven't received much merit, yet I still am adding to this thread weekly.

I do agree it is upsetting that when people see something like my thread they look at it skeptically. If I do something to help someone get more merit, and then later on they decide they want to give me some merit for helping them, isn't that what the system is for? I help people save time and energy and they can decide if that is worth a merit or not. Am I missing something?

If you want some of the best stats on where merit is being awarded and such, I tried to link them on my thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2979706.0
    
Newb To Newbs: Gaining Merit Fast!

I can tell you I learned a lot from starting that topic

#1 People who genuinely need help appreciate having one place to look for good information. Instead of wading through all the BS.

#2 For some reason merit sources and old accounts absolutely hate it if you create a thread that organizes and links to other important threads. They've already read it all, and you aren't doing anything that specifically benefits them.

#3 Don't make threads to benefit #1 because they don't have any merit!

The quality of posts doesn't seem to matter much anyway. Eventually most people will have run out of merit to give and so the amount of merit you get for putting hours into a post will earn you nothing. Basically almost all the merit has already been given out. Now the only way to earn merit is to suck up to the merit sources and the few legendaries that actually have enough merit to give out still.

I do think spam is slowly going down though, but I have to wonder if that is more of a result of the altcoins crashing through the floor and most ICO coins becoming almost worthless as soon as they hit the exchanges. It is a hard world for bounty hunters right now.

There is nothing wrong with being defensive during bear markets. However, I do not even think the whales have any idea the possibilities bitcoin might hold. Despite how much they talk about how it is the future of currency, how many of those whales do you think really and truly believe that?

Let the whales sell. We need a more decentralized currency anyway for bitcoin to truly be trusted worldwide. We also need to get more people to hold so that the value of bitcoin can be more stable. Prices will never be stable with whales holding so much bitcoin.

I think 'gambling' really depends on your intent when it comes to bitcoin or any asset. For example, you could buy a house with the intention that it is an investment that you will make better through your own hard work and dedication. You will have that house for your family and maybe even their family. Or you could buy a house because you hope to profit off the rapid increase in property values in that area. If you were strictly religious, that might be too close to gambling for comfort.

It is interesting to watch how this thread has evolved since it first was posted. Back in the day people thought it was actually safe to buy drugs with bitcoin. However, most mixers have been shut down and they should never have been trusted in the first place. Of course now we have some very well used coins such as monero and plenty of other even better privacy coins on the market.

Unfortunately, anecdotally it seems that people who do not trust in crypto and only know what they see on the news still think bitcoin is primarily used to buy drugs. I think that sad truth will be with us for a long long time.

Really great info! You are definitely someone I need to follow for more statistical info on merits. I added this page to my thread where I am trying to centralize all the best posts about merit data to help out newbies interested in gaining merit. 

Since you have written what is without a doubt some of the best articles on merit, your almost 1/4 of all the topics I have on there right now.

Thank you for what you are doing to help out the community!!

Thank you for this information. It does actually bring to light some things about merit that might help the mods on this forum make the merit program more effective.

It looks like traditionally spam-filled sections of the forum are getting the least merit, which is a good thing. I hope that you will do another one of these analyses in a couple months and let us know if things have changed! It would be great news if spam is reduced and also those areas start getting posts worthy of merit. I think there is a lot of great altcoin discussion comments that currently get lost in the shitposts. Without a doubt the Hero/Legendary crowd know better than to waste their team reading there.

Huh? I wrote this thread a month ago btw. I did it to help weed out the good threads about merit from the bad ones. But hey, ya'll merit thread haters won't even read what I wrote, or look at the timestamp before shooting off some jerkoff comments about how annoyed you are that a noob might use *your* forum.

Did a merit source once give you some merit for complaining about all the merit threads?

Well, you wouldn't know it from the way the bitcoin miners blocked segwit2x, but "bitcoin" doesn't have to stay exactly the same. It can fork (soft fork even!) and the community can add code and features that will make it last forever. It *can* continue to be the one world currency. However, at the moment miners like that they can get insane fees sometimes. Basically taxing and rent-seeking while using up energy and destroying the environment. It is fun times we live in.

I think even crazier than the falling of bitcoin is the fall in ether. As long as people and companies are afraid of ICOs due to US government regulation, we will have to wait until the next bull run. Without a doubt we need clarification and standardization. Right now fear is holding everything back. It feels like 2014 again when I remember all this regulation talk causing a drop from around $750 to $400. That was a massive drop very much like the one that started in December. I think once everyone knows the deal things will get back to normal and we will see continued gains.

I will not even consider investing more into bitcoin now that I look into my tax bill. Holy crap did I get totally screwed.
I am having to sell bitcoins now just to pay my tax bill. It is nuts. I also can't find a tax advisor to do anything with me. They won't touch my taxes for less than $4k. I do not mind doing them myself, but we really need as lot more clarification, especially in the US, of how to deal with bitcoin gains. It doesn't help that coinbase decided to treat any deposits at having a cost basis of $0.

Yes, even free airdropped coins can definitely be a scam.

For example, imagine someone comes out with "Heaven Coin" a coin that promises that when you get enough coins to create a "Heaven node" you get to go to heaven and meet Jesus. They airdrop a bunch of coins and people start trading.

Maybe you didn't invest anything, but you trade your Heaven Coins on an exchange. Maybe you even tweet about it.

Now you are part of the scam. You created volume on the exchange and made it look like a legitimate project. Even if you didn't sell anything, you helped create the appearance of a decentralized project - which WILL suck in some foolish investors. You are part of the problem.

It is important morally to avoid scams. We are all in this world together and just because someone is a fool doesn't mean we all don't lose when someone steals that fool's money.

I added a new awesome thread to the list!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3082289.0
Merit Stat from theymos data

There are some great charts by zentdex and even better analysis. This thread is a great place to write a good opinion and earn some merit!

If you want to get some Merit, bother admins, staff and legendaries! But do it fast because the amount of merit being sent around has declined 90%+ and continues to drop! Hurry hurry hurry!

(Also newbies get more merit than Jr. Members  )