7
$\begingroup$

This question is inspired by this recent comment.

My first thought in response to this was to create a cryptocurrency tag.

However, we have been receiving a lot of questions here about bitcoin/cryptocurrencies that are not so suitable for this site. Many have been closed/migrated.

So I am not sure if encouraging this is a good idea - after all, creating a "cryptocurrency" tag then promptly closing many/most questions about it seems like a poor situation.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ More of an aside: Those migrated mostly handled the individual currency itself, not its cryptographic internals. Cryptocurrency-related questions about the cryptographic internals tend to be well received and attract answers. So, the tag certainly seems to make sense (keeping @sejpm’s answer in mind). $\endgroup$
    – e-sushi Mod
    Commented Jan 21, 2018 at 10:39
  • $\begingroup$ If you have a cryptocurrency question and wonder where to post, please take a look this Q/A at the StackExhange meta site. $\endgroup$
    – Maarten Bodewes Mod
    Commented Sep 1, 2021 at 12:47

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
13
$\begingroup$

Do we want bitcoin/cryptocurrency related questions?

Questions about the cryptographic mechanisms are fine, questions about economy, usage, acquisition, ... are not!

What we do with the questions of the latter kind depends on the exact instance. If the question is of poor quality to begin with and can't / won't be salvaged by edits, then closing / deleting it is the way to go. If it is of good quality, then migrating it to the appropriate cryptocurrency site is what we should do. Our help center already has a helpful enumeration of dedicated cryptcurrency sites.

Actually, I think there isn't much more needed to be said (don't always need 10 paragraphs on Meta As).

As for the tag, we can have one and use it to group questions relating to the mechanisms, as all our other tags do (grouping things topically related).

Finally for the concrete question you asked about, it seems to ask about the cryptographic mechanisms and thus is fine here. Of course, anybody who opposes this position is free to write an opposing answer and / or VTC that particular question. Also I just went ahead and created and added a cryptocurrency tag to that question.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ I think this answer will need a substantial change, too. $\endgroup$
    – kelalaka
    Commented Mar 27, 2021 at 23:31
3
$\begingroup$

No, we don't want cryptocurrency-related questions, definitely so when they deal with these aspects of cryptocurrencies:

  • Practicalities: How do I…? Why does this website…? Why does this program…?
  • IT security: best protecting private key…
  • Programming, version, options, compatibility…
  • Theft, deception, social engineering, and other practices of the field.
  • Economics: Price (in)stability, Stock market, What's money…? How to make some…?
  • Sociology: What are the criteria that people use to decide what they do…?
  • Legals

Cryptocurrency-related questions with a strictly cryptographic core, but that (without explanation or linked reference) use non-standard terminology (e.g. use "public key" for the hash of a public key), or nondescript terms ("blockchain" is a favorite), should be closed for vagueness alone. That's a common kind.

It's hard to distinguish if a website is legit or a scam, that notoriously can change any time or according to criteria like origin of request, there are precedents in the field, thus linking to a website on cryptocurrency incurs a higher risk of involuntarily participating in a scam than linking usually does. *Update, with an illustratiop: I initially closed this question as off-topic; then bowed to the argument that the question was cryptographic in nature, reopened it, and started to write the present answer. After days of investigation, the best hypothesis, which I have no reason to doubt, is that one of the websites linked in the question is a scam.

Among less clear-cut reasons that (in my personal opinion) we don't want cryptocurrency-related questions:

  • Cryptocurrencies can be viewed as Ponzi or pyramid schemes, with cryptographic values possessing some arbitrary properties being the modern equivalent of tulip bulbs. There's no clear cut. Some of that may be illegal in some jurisdictions, and we don't want to participate in something that may be illegal.
  • Some cryptocurrencies are wasting natural resources, which should be discouraged, if not outlawed.
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ I'm fully agreeing with that last part, but using the part about natural resources as close reason would allow politics to enter the arena, and I'm also opposed to that. $\endgroup$
    – Maarten Bodewes Mod
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 13:38

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .