Crypto Due Diligence #2: Using Bitcointalk.org to Check Out Projects

I am a bit late posting this; there's been a lot going on in my non-steemit life, sorry!

Quick Review

Last Crypto Due Diligence post we focused on using github to compare projects. The example projects were KoreCoin and PIVX.
A quick review of the principles is pictured below, using SYNX and PIVX, which will heavily feature in today's post. Today's post will also touch on using the github to verify what is said on Bitcointalk.
synx pivx 1.png
Note the activity over an extended time, the number of commits, and recent activity on PIVX, and the opposite on SYNX, limit time period of activity, 41 commits in a 3 month period, ending 9 months ago.

Bitcointalk

Bitcointalk is a forum used to discuss all things crypto. It's a centralized place for decentralized news. The search function that is in the header area is rather limited, it's much better to go to the search page, then use the Google search function.
Bitcointalk is essentially divided into various threads, which keeps conversations about various altcoins and other subjects organized.

At the Most Basic, We're Looking For:

Announcement
Details on the project
What the project is alleged to accomplish
Developers being actively engaged in the community
Dev activity announced and backed up by the Github
Activity

Announcement

Altcoin threads are generally started with an announcement. The announcement loosely follows what a traditional press release would: Who-What-When- Where-Why-How. This is where you might find links to the Github, social media, whitepaper, website, information on the team, and an introduction to the project, as well as some technical details, and a very broad timeline.
These pictures don't show the full announcement, just the very top part of it.Click the links above each picture for the full announcement
PIVX Announcement
pivx announce.png
SYNX Announcement
synx announce.png

Who Posted the Announcement

The first thing we do on the announcement is to click on the announcement poster's name, this can give you a wealth of information about the project's roots.
On this page you, examine the join dates relative to the announcement date found above. Other important things to note on this page are number of posts, when the announcer was last active, and at the bottom the link saying "show the latest posts for this person".
Announcer profile.png

Announcer's Activity

When you click the latest posts for each person, go to the very first posts they made (the highest numbered page). For SYNX announcer, it's the SYNX announcement. For PIVX announcer, it's other stuff in the community. There's a lot to be found in the posts of the announcers for the projects and you can read through everything they've posted. That is too much to detail for this post, but to sum it up, you want someone engaged in the community - responding to queries, providing information, introducing other team members, linking helpful resources, and so on. You also want someone who was actively in crypto prior to deciding to capitalize on the crypto craze with the launch of their own coin and someone who has stayed active in crypto. You can't say whether that was true for SYNX announcer or not, but you can confirm it's true for the PIVX announcer. Many people don't even get this far. They just read the most recent 5-6 posts and call it done. There's more to due diligence than reading what the latest hype or fud man has to say.

Announcement Content

Looking at the content of the announcements gives you links to official literature and social media, the GitHub repo's (and all of the information that it reveals!), and more. I click on all of these links. I note activity, communication, announcements, progress, or lack thereof.
In PIVX's case, the links are all gateways to an active and engaged community. In SYNX's case, they're all inactive. There's more to glean from the announcement in terms of marketing, and what the project is intending to do, but that goes into fundamental analysis and we are not tackling that subject today. At it's basics, if it's not something that specific, achievable, or relevant, then there's an issue. In the case of SYNX's case, the idea is to manage many aspects of your business through their platform. That's interesting and it's loaded with industry language, but stepping back and viewing objectively, where does SYNX come into that? What makes SYNX necessary to the platform? How does a blockchain improve their aims? The same questions for PIVX have very different answers. I'll let you check out the announcements I've linked above to read through them and think about the questions and answers you're looking for.

Project History and Other Information

This is the point where many people balk at doing due diligence. Reading through the entire Bitcointalk thread walks you through the history of the project and gives you a feel for the community. In reading through the PIVX thread, you see members help each other, links to official and unofficial resources, engagement, questions and answers, and announcements. In reading through the SYNX thread, you have a short window of people being really engaged and then you have questions and questions and questions and questions, talks of pumps, and more questions. No real answers, no announcements, mainly just a dead project people were curious about. In March, the coin was initially mentioned as a potential masternode pump, in later posts, the pump was confirmed, the group formed, and the price manipulated. The announcement was appended by a "new dev" who is trying to revive the project. He may or may not be affiliated with the pumps, but his announcements of development in progress in later posts have not been fulfilled according to the GitHub. There is a new twitter, potentially a new website, potentially a new dev, potentially a new GitHub. Nothing particularly concrete other than verifiable price manipulation activity.

Summary

I highly encourage you to read through the bitcointalk threads of projects. I know it seems daunting but it is there that you will find things that you need to know - inactivity, links to resources and news, updates, and much more. The announcement post and announcer alone are a huge source of information on the project, as are the links and material included in the announcement. Due diligence isn't easy and there is no one way to do it that will give you all the answers you need. Instead, there are multiple resources that you pull together to form a picture of the project, it's community, it's history, and potential.
Due diligence makes crypto safer and scams less rewarding. :)