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I joined SN one year ago today. I think I first read about it on the r/bitcoin subreddit. I was hooked from the start. I abandoned Facebook years ago. I never really embraced twitter. I really liked the idea that sats were taking the place of the traditional "like" or up vote. Stacker News was real value for value.
I began to learn a lot. High signal/low noise. My interest in bitcoin flowed naturally from my politics, the belief in freedom and a natural distrust of a powerful central government. I am a retired lawyer, so my expertise, to the extent I have any, was in law, politics, and economics. Math wasn't my strong suit in school. I got by, but was no wiz. I wasn't a techie either, though I always enjoyed messing around on a very basic level with computers for fun.
I am an older guy. I struggled, and still struggle with the technical aspects of bitcoin, but the people here helped me to learn more than I imagined I could learn. I had tried linux in the past, but soon I had completely abandoned windows for good, thanks to inspiration from fellow SNers. I had run an Umbrel node for a few months before joining, but now I began learning more about what was going on beyond simple plug and play. I started teaching myself python through youtube videos. Progress was slow, and competence is still far off, but I'm enjoying the journey. There are a lot of talented people here on SN who are generous with their time and knowledge.
Thanks to the frequent AMAs I was able to communicate with people with whom I would never have had the chance to speak. I particularly remember Lyn Alden, Anita Posch, Nik Bhatia, jb55, Alex Gladstein, and Alex Leishman. I had occasional interactions with Kevin Rooke, whose podcasts continue to educate me. DarthCoin berates and abuses me at least once a month. Jimmy Song frequently posts polls, fiatjaf discusses new nostr developments and offers bounties, and Odell and Gigi will sometimes post their own latest writings here. Guy Swann occasionally shows up too. I'm sure I'm forgetting many others. For a committed bitcoin fanatic, this is the big leagues.
Keyan Kousha, founder and fearless leader, also contributes posts and comments frequently. He is a very smart yet modest guy. Most users don't kiss his butt too much when they engage with him. Some of his posts even get ignored, just like some of mine. That's a wonderful thing about the SN culture. It's a level playing field.
Stacker News has come a long way in one year. Since I joined, there have been many improvements, including polls, an edit button, a referral program, NIP-05 support, bounties, the rare and valued cowboy hat, NIP-57 zap support, bookmarks, and a nostr sub, among others. I am sure there are many more in the pipeline.
I just want to express my appreciation for this site, and I look forward to learning more as our world moves to a bitcoin standard.
The stacker news experience is not quite complete unless Darthcoin spanks you here and there, is it?
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Proud of getting the "mindless slave" badge from Darth!
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Nice. I'm not sure I ever got those two words together, but I certainly have been called mindless and a slave.
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You will never be truly sovereign until you stop relying on the fiat toilet industrial complex and only shit on a hole that you have dug with your own hands.
Don't kill me Darth. I respect you a lot, I promise.
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Yep I was honoured to get a spanking. I was like “who’s this guy”?! 😂
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May The Bitcoin Be With You!
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I'm grateful for my year with you too siggy. ❤️
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Thanks for the great posts/discourse over the year!
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great to have you here!
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I joined SN one year ago today
Almost like your SN "cake day", isn't it?
I just want to express my appreciation for this site, and I look forward to learning more as our world moves to a bitcoin standard.
Couldn't agree more, even though I've only been here for a few months.
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I'm new here, please guide me if it won't waste your time.
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I'm here to learn too. It's a journey. I would suggest you explore some beginner videos on youtube and some bitcoin podcasts on Fountain. @DarthCoin has fantastic beginner guides. They have taught me a lot. Despite his gruff exterior, he is a generous and knowledgeable teacher (if you ask him right!)
Among podcasts, I would suggest Bitcoin Audible, The Kevin Rooke Show, What Bitcoin Did. Listen on Fountain and earn yourself some sats. Just dig through the episodes and find some beginner content.
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Thanks for recommending
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I agree, great site
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and it was @siggy47 who gave me the first zap, thank you again
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Loved reading this post and I agree. Stacker News is a special place and it's showing many the power of value 4 value!
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Sweet! I’m 6 months in
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gratitude is powerful!! Nice 👍
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I simultaneously live in fear and desirous anticipation of being unapologetically humiliated by Darthcoin.
Good post.
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Great post
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Thanks. It seems like a very long time ago.
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I love your conclusion: “as our world moves to a Bitcoin standard”. Which reminds me that I should set up BTC savings accounts for my children sooner rather than later
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Thanks for sharing your experience. I am new at SN. Learning so many things from you guys. Amazing experience to be here.
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Welcome! It is a great place to learn and have some fun too.
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Learning a lot with you guys. I believe this a great platform for learner. I definitely share this Platform with my family and friends so they also use their time to learn something great
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⚡🤯Blessid share🥏⚡
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I've seen SN many times as I delved into how it works, I visit it regularly now 💪🙂
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Bitcoin is hope, Stack sats, stay humble.
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Wouldn't have guessed you'd be a retired lawyer.
As a lawyer, what do you make of the people who go into the birth certificate thing, natural law, "free men on the land"? http://youarelaw.com for example. @Darthcoin linked to some similar videos at least once.
Happy one year anniversary!
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I made my living as a criminal defense lawyer. My personal attempt to protect individuals from the wrath of the state was rooted in the US Constitution. I did get involved in big L Libertarian Party politics for a while in the late 1980s through early 2000s. As a result, I was aware of the Natural Law Party and Dr. Hegelen. I saw them as compatriots. I'm not sure if that group is related to what you are referring to. In any event, I have not been involved in politics for years. I honestly lost faith in the electoral process. I have become more focused on carving out freedom for myself and my family on a more personal level.
I believe bitcoin can do more for freedom than any organized political party.
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Defending people against the state was very noble of you! As a programmer of computers, I once claimed lawyers were programmers of the law, bending that world through sheer will. I'm happy to never have entered a courtroom though so my analogy may be quite bad. :)
Never heard of the Natural Law Party and Dr. Hagelin. Their website is like a time capsule: https://natural-law.org/introduction/hagelin.html They seem to have referred to Natural Law from a slightly different angle. More quantum physics, unification.
What I've encountered more recently was more about getting to the base layer underneath man-made law. Natural law being "on-chain" while legislation being "L2/lightning" to force an even worse analogy.
Promoters say one should often try to answer questions from cops/lawyers with another question to avoid getting trapped. That "persons" are fictional entities similar to corporations, whom you should be careful to assume the identity of. There's this whole thing with upper-case names not being your real name as a man/woman. Some refer to Black's Law Dictionary as having subtly but very significantly different definitions of words, allowing their wielders to trick you into losing at their game without you even realizing. - Have they found the cheat-codes of the legal system or not? :)
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Interesting. I had a feeling we might have been speaking about two different ideas with similar names. In fact, I seem to recall differences between followers of natural law as a term and members of the political party. I will look more closely at your link.
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There seems to be some variations on this similar theme. Statistics don't look overly favourable in the phalanx calling themselves Freemen according to: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Freeman_on_the_land#Freeman_successes
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Darthcoin abuses everyone, it's his way of giving you room to grow
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Word brotha
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Great write up and great to have you here!
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Great post thanks . 😎🙏
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