Out of the Shell #2: @Turtle?

Welcome to the second installment of Out of the Shell, a series of interviews with the developers, designers, and doers behind TurtleCoin. This is @gigantomachia and I’ll be your host.

As word continues to spread about TurtleCoin and its awesome community, more and more people are finding their way to our discord server (as of Feb. 17, there were 6,944 members). One of the attractive things about the TurtleCoin community is that it’s naturally evolved into a welcoming place for people steeped in coding and those new to crypto and unfamiliar with the command line. So, it’s no surprise that many of the the new members soon find themselves in the #help channel, whether to ask how to get a CLI wallet set up or what it means to sync the blockchain. And when they do, many are lucky to encounter @Turtle?. An early member of the TurtleCoin community, @Turtle? stands vigil in the #help channel, ready to assist even the most dumbfounded new member. @Turtle? lives in the UK, where he runs a computer-repair business.

How did you first learn about TurtleCoin?

I first learned about TurtleCoin from /biz/ on 4chan. I was in their very first thread only a few hours after it had been posted.

Sounds like you’re a regular on /biz/, so I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of posts on various altcoins. What was it about the TurtleCoin post that made you get involved in the community and contribute?

The first thing that got my attention was a crude MS Paint drawing, to be honest with you. This wasn’t a coin that was trying hard with fancy marketing and lots of figures on how the coin can work for you. It was much more humble than that, inviting people to come and contribute no matter their skill level. The whole thing seemed very friendly and community-based, which is very rare these days.

As for contributing I just shared what I knew about setting things up from my own experience. At the start, it was only Linux based unless you knew how to compile it for Windows, so a majority of us were running it via virtual machines. As time went on it became slightly easier to set it up on all platforms, but it wasn’t a one-click solution. I tried to help out with common issues that I saw being repeated if I knew how to solve them, even going so far as to private message individuals and edit their GPU configs for mining manually.

What’s your work background? Are you a developer IRL?

I’m not a developer, no. I have some background in tech support, but that’s it really.

What do you do for work?

I would say I’m self employed. I run a computer-repair business, but that’d be overselling myself lol. I mainly repair friends’, family and friends of friends’ computers. Not huge, but it’s enough to pay the bills.

What’s your favorite type of pizza?

New Yorker/Meat feast

How long have you been into crypto? Is TurtleCoin the first crypto community you’ve actively contributed to?

I mined bitcoin in the really early days as it was a fun thing at the time. That hard drive is dead/overwritten and lost, unfortunately. I got back into crypto last year after hearing how well bitcoin was doing from a friend and started mining again as a hobby a few months after. This is the first time I’ve actively contributed to a crypto community and also the first time I’ve really done anything in the crypto scene besides mining and trading.

Now that the project has progressed beyond those early days, what type of things are you working on in the TurtleCoin community?

I’m not a developer or anything, so I’m mainly still answering questions and helping new people get on their feet fairly quickly without too many headaches.

People who help new members are very important to the growth of the community. From your vantage point, what are the most common stumbling blocks that new people face in getting up and running with TurtleCoin?

The biggest stumbling block would have to be the main wallet being command line only, and also the miner being command line too. Most of it is fairly straight forward, where you just have to enter in text commands, but a good chunk of people have been spoilt with fancy graphics and buttons that just do the things for them, so it’s a change not a lot of people are familiar with.

I’m not a developer either, so even I’m intimidated by the command line. There are GUI wallets now though, right?

There has been two GUI wallets around since the first few weeks I think, although they require you to either be on Linux or compile it yourself (which most people looking for a GUI wallet won’t know how to do). There has been some really good work going on with the Xamarin wallet in the last month though and most Windows users can get it up and running in under a minute, which is really nice! (This doesn’t count the time spent downloading the blockchain, but it’s a start.)

When you’re not fixing computers or hanging out in the TurtleCoin #help channel, what do you like to do for fun?

I’m not really the social type so it’s mostly hanging out with a few friends at home while playing games/watching films or going down the rabbit hole that is the internet and wondering where the last 5 hours went.

Sounds familiar. You mentioned getting involved in the TurtleCoin community because it seemed genuine, didn’t try too hard to market itself as the next bitcoin, etc. What hopes do you have for TurtleCoin? Is this just a fun project, or do you see real opportunity here?

For me, personally, I see it as a fun project as I’m not a developer nor a major contributor. However, I also think that the project as a whole will go really far if it keeps up the current pace and morale. The amount of time and effort that has gone into a project only two months old is astonishing.

Do you have any request for the reader? Or suggestions for how people can get involved if they want? Any projects you’re working on that could use input?

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to join the discord. Nobody bites and people are more than willing to help you! If you would like to develop something for TurtleCoin, jump in and introduce yourself. Even if you think you have no skills, I’m sure there’s something you could get your hands on and we’re more than happy to help you along the way.

And if anyone wants to come in and help out with new people, you’re more than welcome to. Means I can put my feet up for a little bit. aha!

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’d just like to say thanks to the devs for all their hard work, thanks to the community for being so warm and inviting and thanks to you for allowing me to be interviewed.

@gigantomachia

Tips for the author: TRTLuxvBFVNSxovAp3c9C8h8dUttA4sP8hHELDQJXsQZ7JcKfnn3sLkUPGQgQBkvvhXFfAErUqmf52BzyqFaHhEHicRNLnXYfRj

A note from RockSteady:

Turtle?, you’ve been an amazing part of this community, and I personally consider you the safety net that keeps people coming back and turns their frown upside down when things break. You’ve done so much to help us, and from all of your teammates, we thank you for that, sincerely.