Difference between revisions of "Help talk:FAQ"

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(Why does my Bitcoin address keep changing?: new section)
(Why does my Bitcoin address keep changing?)
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Instead of telling lies that "bitcoin addresses are /designed/ to be used exactly once only", which definitely is not true, people should be informed about what are good and what are bad sides of address reuse. If disadvantages outweigh the advantages - people will stop reusing the addresses (at least in most situations) by themselves, and after a thoughtful consideration, rather than due to being lied to and misinformed.
 
Instead of telling lies that "bitcoin addresses are /designed/ to be used exactly once only", which definitely is not true, people should be informed about what are good and what are bad sides of address reuse. If disadvantages outweigh the advantages - people will stop reusing the addresses (at least in most situations) by themselves, and after a thoughtful consideration, rather than due to being lied to and misinformed.
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: Sounds like you're misinformed. Nothing in the Bitcoin protocol prevents address reuse because 1) there is no such thing as addresses in the Bitcoin protocol, and 2) preventing address reuse is not something that can realistically be done. Regardless of the excuses for reusing them, the reality is that when it works, it does so only by accident. Addresses are in fact designed to be single-use, and when people reuse them it breaks that assumption, which is why many negative effects (to both themselves and others) result from it. People have had bitcoins stolen because they reused addresses. --[[User:Luke-jr|Luke-jr]] ([[User talk:Luke-jr|talk]]) 00:02, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Revision as of 00:02, 28 October 2014

Remove SLL?

I want to suggest removing the "purchase Bitcoins via Paypal through virwox" suggestion from this page: faq#Can_I_buy_bitcoins_with_Paypal.3F

For the following reasons:

  1. .02 btc minimum purchase
  2. 24-48 hour btc withdraw hold for new accounts
  3. 5%+ fees for the two trades necessary
  4. Low volume / poor arbitrated markets (current buy/sell is ~547 / 535 with today's price being $513)
  5. Two trades needed means not easy to figure out buy/sell prices at a glance
  6. Arbitrarily limits on "fractions of USD" and SLL amounts means you will likely loose a dollar in their system (can't cash out completely).
  7. Not a good/straightforward experience for those new to Bitcoin

- Asperous (talk) 08:10, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Why does my Bitcoin address keep changing?

Can we make one thing clear?

"Unlike postal and email addresses, Bitcoin addresses are designed to be used exactly once only, for a single transaction."

is a blatant lie. Now - do we want to be a source of objective and reliable information here? Or do we want to be an outlet for privacy/anonymity zealots' propaganda?

Facts are:

- nothing in the bitcoin protocol prevents addresses reuse, which clearly implies that they were NOT single-use by design. <-- period The single-use is being encouraged for very different reasons than incompatibility with bitcoin design.

- address reuse has advantages in numerous situations, which include but are not limited to:

  • passing the address only once over secure channel towards entities who are not constantly capable of secured information exchange
  • publication of addresses on static or semi-static web pages, without any backend integration need
  • using "mnemonical" addresses, which are relatively hard to obtain
  • ..

Instead of telling lies that "bitcoin addresses are /designed/ to be used exactly once only", which definitely is not true, people should be informed about what are good and what are bad sides of address reuse. If disadvantages outweigh the advantages - people will stop reusing the addresses (at least in most situations) by themselves, and after a thoughtful consideration, rather than due to being lied to and misinformed.

Sounds like you're misinformed. Nothing in the Bitcoin protocol prevents address reuse because 1) there is no such thing as addresses in the Bitcoin protocol, and 2) preventing address reuse is not something that can realistically be done. Regardless of the excuses for reusing them, the reality is that when it works, it does so only by accident. Addresses are in fact designed to be single-use, and when people reuse them it breaks that assumption, which is why many negative effects (to both themselves and others) result from it. People have had bitcoins stolen because they reused addresses. --Luke-jr (talk) 00:02, 28 October 2014 (UTC)