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Given that questions about Ripple and other crypto-currencies are considered on-topic: Should this SE also cover questions about Ripple?

I think this site should be renamed to something like "Crypto-currency" or "Digital currency".

Someone in the comments said "I wonder if Bitcoin will become a pseudonym for cryptocurrencies in the public mind? Similar to iPod for mp3 player. If so, then this is a good name." but that's something to avoid as long as possible, it only causes confusion.

I'm aware of the "Actually, before the launch of the Beta the proposal was called "Bitcoin & crypto-currency" but SE staff decided to name it just Bitcoin." comment there, but I think that's a bad idea for that reason.

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    At the time the decision was made to name the site "Bitcoin", Bitcoin was the dominant crypto-currency. That is still the case. So it really comes down to whether you agree with the original decision.
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Jul 13, 2013 at 20:10
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    Technically, since mp3 players can play other formats like .wav and .ogg, "mp3 player" is a pseudonym too.
    – Nick ODell
    Commented Jul 13, 2013 at 21:48
  • I say we keep the current title. "Digital Currency" would also apply to Paypal and E-Gold, and "cryptocurrency" is a term that's not widely understood outside the cryptocurrency community. For example, since Paypal uses SSL, does that make Paypal a cryptocurrency?
    – Nick ODell
    Commented Jul 13, 2013 at 21:54
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    "Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies" is a bit long
    – jobukkit
    Commented Jul 14, 2013 at 7:11
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    "Math-based currency" or "math-based payment systems" are fairly accurate and not overly-long, but they don't exactly roll off the tongue.
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Jul 15, 2013 at 3:22
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    Cryptocoins works well. With the rise of Litecoin and innovations on use seen in offshoots like Ripple and Namecoin, this is a legitimate point. Do we want to be an investor and troubleshooting support Q/A for Bitcoin or a technological Q/A for Cryptocoin movement?
    – Indolering
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 0:46
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    It has kinda annoyed me that the section is named "Bitcoin" yet deals with more than just Bitcoin questions.
    – John T
    Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 8:22
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    I agree it should be renamed. I was about to ask a similar meta question. Please rename to crypto or cryptocurrency or cryptocoin. Bitcoin isn't even 50% market cap any more.
    – Chloe
    Commented May 19, 2017 at 18:42

7 Answers 7

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I would suggest keeping Bitcoin in the name and perhaps adding a second keyword to communicate inclusiveness (keep it short). "Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies" for example. I would recommend against dropping Bitcoin at any time, for search-ability and 'brand recognition' reasons. It also helps a person confirm they are in the right place, and not in a one off subgroup that is less established or has a different focus.

P.S. Do you use the word 'kleenex' or tissue?

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  • But are we looking to be a support site for newbie Bitcoin users or attract developers and researchers more broadly? The latter users are the ones who stick around and make the place more interesting. It's akin to the difference between SE proper and security.se, I much prefer the latter.
    – Indolering
    Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 19:04
  • @Indolering "It's akin to the difference between SE proper and security.se", agreed. And yet there are both. I'd say this se has already established itself as the 'Bitcoin' 'proper' by answering quite a few 'newbie' questions, while something like cryptocurrency.se would be the security.se equivalent. At this point, several years in, what we are looking to be yields to what we are.
    – Joshua Kolden
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 7:18
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Since bitcoin is the first blockchain application, you should not consider a rebranding to Crypto-Currencies but rather to Blockchain. A blockchain Stack Exchange network site could benefit from a lot of professionals and experts working in financial technology and systems engineering which would not limit the scope to currencies at all.

That said, it might be a bit late to consider this drastic change. In my eyes, you should stay with the very clear scope (and name) of Bitcoin and work on promoting this site better on other platforms for the community.

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    What if another cryptocurrency doesn't use a block chain? There could be centralized tokens like Amazon Coins. I think they will all have cryptography in common though.
    – Chloe
    Commented May 19, 2017 at 18:45
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At the time the decision was made to name the site "Bitcoin", Bitcoin was the dominant crypto-currency. That is still the case. So it really comes down to whether you agree with the original decision. @DavidSchwartz

This rational pops up here and in related comments and I strongly disagree. Dogecoin, Litecoin, etc. are pump-n-dump sideshows but coins like ZeroCoin, Namecoin and Ethereum all experiment with new technologies and tackle new problems. Experimental currencies are very important proving grounds for new ideas which can be imported into Bitcoin proper and are thus important to the Bitcoin community as well.

The choice between bitcoin.se and crypos.se (or cryptocurrencies.se) comes down to whether you want this to be a Bitcoin only Q/A site or if you want to attract talent from a broad range of research currencies. While there will always be some overzealous marketers from new currencies, I think the change would improve the the depth and breadth of discussion here.

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  • I am a bit unhappy about the renaming as well, but it has been community consensus for a long time, that questions about all cryptocurrencies are on-topic. We have 70 questions with namecoin, and two questions with the word "zerocoin". Twelve questions mention "Ethereum". Perhaps they are just not as much of a topic for most users?
    – Murch Mod
    Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 22:43
  • @Murch, as a Namecoin dev, I can say with certainty that we would redirect all technical questions from the forum to this site if it was not Bitcoin specific. Being technically on-topic does not mean it's a normal topic of conversation.
    – Indolering
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 2:49
  • While most of our questions are about Bitcoin, I've been working towards making Bitcoin.SE more welcoming to other Cryptos. Experts on namecoin such as yourself could be a major help by subscribing to the tag, so that you get a notification if there is a new question about it. It's a bit of a catch-22 before that: People feel it is not on topic, means few questions, means few experts, leading to this conversation. ;) I would welcome your input on What can we do to better support questions about other cryptocurrencies?
    – Murch Mod
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 9:27
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Yes, this site must be renamed. I propose Cryptocurrency (or crypto-currencies or another small variation) with the url cryptocur.stackexchange.com because:

  1. We cannot retain the current name, which makes proponents of iota, sia, etc. think that they need their own site for their best currency since sliced bread, thus causing a cryptocurrency site bloat which is already clogging up the hot new proposals section of Area51. I'm sorry to say, I contributed to the problem by following iota, but I mainly did it because I didn't realize those questions were on-topic here and have their own tag. Case in point.
  2. We cannot name it Blockchain, because some currencies like iota do not use the blockchain.
  3. It might be imprudent to name it CryptoCoin because someone might make a new currency by that name (though they are unlikely to name one Crypto-Currencies!).
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When I speak with other persons, many times I use bitcoin as a pseudonym.

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency and many people only know this currency. The point of this is that although it could be good to be precise it would be worst in meaning of web search and so will make the site less visible and then less useful.

So I said that is better to maintain it as it is.

Of course this my opinion and based only in my experiences with it.

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As it is, this is the linked support destination for Bitcoin Core. There is nowhere else with a reasonable standard to go for support for the Bitcoin protocol apart from the bitcoin-discuss list, and I think they discourage support and refer people to bitcoin SE?

Apart from that, IMHO each altcoin should have its own SE as necessary. I know that this is more work, to maintain a separate SE each but, as it is, it is difficult to remain focused and the nuances, topics and, current issues of each altcoin are so unrelated and so varied. People looking for information about Bitcoin do not need to be distracted by unrelated information about altcoin, and I am sure that an amount of people interested in altcoin feel the same.

Or, keep bitcoin.se and create a seperate cryptocurrencies.se and see where people drift.

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It's like to say "StackOverflow" should be renamed, because it isn't only about "Stack Overflow"! It should be something like "Computer"!!

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    flawed analogy ​
    – Pacerier
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 11:37

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