Hi
While reading the discussion under Whats next at Stasher, what direction shall we move in?, I realized it was time to try something I've had on my mind for a while.
One thing stood out in the comments: people want content that's worth reading and worth bookmarking and coming back to. @monerostar (comment) talked about content good enough that people would bookmark the site, built around a Monero room and a practical one. @OldNorseAnarchist (comment) suggested making Stasher a great reference hub for finding useful how-to information. @AilliA (comment) and @SoulReaver (comment) stressed that what's written here has to be genuinely worth reading.
So I'm thinking of starting a series called The Stash. I'm not claiming I'll solve everything raised in that discussion. I just want to contribute what I can on the side of content that's worth reading and worth coming back to. But rather than deciding the topics alone, I'd like to hear your ideas. This post is less an announcement and more a "here's an idea, what do you think?" post.
Two ideas I have so far
- What Monero Hides, and What It Doesn't: We follow an ordinary Monero payment from start to finish and ask at every step: "who sees what here?" This one is finished, and I'll share it when the series starts. It will also show the series' template and style.
- Anatomy of a Monero Transaction: A technical post that explains what's inside a Monero transaction, with detailed diagrams anyone can follow. I definitely want to write this one, but it's the most labor-intensive, so it will take a while.
Other ideas
Classic guides could be on the list too, like running your own node or mining. @monerostar (comment) pointed to mining as a good way in, since a clean explainer is hard to find elsewhere. Honestly, I'm not sure how much they're actually needed, so I'd like to hear from you: would you want guides like these, even simple ones, and do you consider them necessary? If so, tell me what exactly you'd like to see.
I'd also like to write hands-on, step-by-step experiments where I use Monero for a real task. For example: can you open and use a Twitter (X) account without giving away any information about yourself? The rough plan: rent a temporary phone number with XMR, buy a VPN with XMR, and open the account with those two. Then, so the account doesn't get flagged as a bot and asked to verify a number again, I'd add 2FA using an old phone and a FOSS 2FA app, and remove the number from the account. It's a normal account used normally, no automation. I want to find out whether an account like this can really be opened and, if so, how long it lasts. If it works, the post doubles as a step-by-step tutorial for anyone who wants to try it. Experiments like this take real effort: doing it carefully, documenting every step, and writing it up properly. There's also a small cost (renting a number, buying a Mullvad VPN, a few dollars at most), but the main cost is the time and care. If there's no interest, I'd rather spend that effort elsewhere, so your feedback will decide whether I go ahead.
How it will work
Over the coming days, based on your feedback, I'll build up a buffer of at least 3-4 finished posts, then start publishing weekly. I'll announce the publishing day when I start. The buffer is there for a reason: this is entirely volunteer work. I have a daily life, and some weeks I may not make it, especially with long, image-heavy posts. I want the weekly rhythm to survive those weeks. The direction and pace will depend largely on your feedback.
Every post will follow the same template: level, reading time, last verified date, short summary, table of contents, and sources. I'll write with sources and support posts with visuals. If I get something wrong or leave something out, please tell me in the comments and I'll gladly fix it.
One more thing: I write the posts myself, not AI, but English isn't my native language. To keep them accurate, clear to everyone, and true to what I mean, I write in my native language first and translate with AI assistance. Don't worry, I don't trust the translation blindly: I can read English well, and I check every line myself, several times. I do this so the posts don't suffer from grammar or phrasing problems. Also, I'm slow at writing in English, and doubling the time each post takes would be a waste.
A few questions for you
- Would a series like this interest you, and do you think it's needed?
- Would experimental posts like this interest you, or would you prefer classic guides and explainers, or both?
- Is there an experiment, guide, or informational Monero topic you'd like to see?
Please leave your ideas and criticism in the comments. I'd really appreciate it. Based on what you say here, I'll decide whether to start the series and how to shape it.
Great idea! I like your programmatic approach. Making stasher a
store-of-knowledgemakes it probably more appetible than seeing it as a funvideo-game-arcade.Looking forward to reading your first post :)
Thank you for your interest and kind words! “Store of knowledge” is exactly what I have in mind.
Thanks for reading that thread, and for trying to put something on the site that people would come back to. One line of mine got read a bit sideways, and I want to straighten it before a series gets built on it.
The bookmark part is right. I said feed two rooms until they are why someone saves the site, ~monero and one practical one, and I named mining because a clean writeup is hard to find and the useful answer keeps changing. That was a reason to keep a room alive, not a request for weekly classic guides.
On whether those guides are needed, I land where you already hesitated. I don't think they are, not for people who already hold Monero. Node setup, mining 101, and a full walk through a transaction are written elsewhere, and a copy that isn't rechecked just goes stale. The part of the template worth keeping is the last-verified date and the sources, which is rarer than another explainer.
Who sees what on an ordinary payment could still be worth writing, if it names where the payment actually leaks, the exchange that sold the coins, the remote node that saw the IP, the timing, instead of the pamphlet that says the ledger is private. The hands-on experiment is more interesting than the classic guides, but one run is a story, and I would rather read what happened and how long it lasted than a step-by-step people can already find.
A lot of the comments are already wider than the coin, private life in general, and that is a different project than the two rooms I meant. I would keep this one on Monero, and on what is true this month. If nobody is asking for the guides, spending the time elsewhere is the right call.
Thanks for the correction, I understand what you mean. By the way, I’ve already built the first post in exactly the format you describe: I go through where a payment actually leaks, one step at a time. The exchange, the swap service, the remote node that can see your IP, timing analysis... At every step I stop and ask “who sees what here?” and I’ve supported the explanations with visuals as much as I could.
The experiment-style posts I mentioned will always stay tied to Monero and won’t drift from the main framework. And don’t worry, I won’t write them as dry tutorials: I won’t skip the goal of each step, the reasons behind it, or what it’s for. I’ll also track how long the experiment stays valid and share updates on its current status.
Honestly, I think extreme privacy would be a good topic. (Anonymous planet, watchman privacy level guides).
I could also use some guides on anonymously spawning email accounts. Living privately, etc.
I think IRL privacy is a good one too. Avoiding the pursuit of a dedicated stalker (from whatever origin) is a good one.
I didn't mention it before, but "getting started" for different topics would be cool too. I could probably throw together a "getting started with anarchism" with the help of some of my fellow anarchists on here (always a staple demographic in the monero community).
A step by step for buying monero privately with cash would be nice too. My understanding is it's a bit of a pain in the ass so a step by step guide would be nice.
Thanks for your suggestions, these are really nice post ideas. One thing I should mention: “getting started” posts for different topics and general real-life privacy are good ideas, but I’d like to keep the series closer to the Monero framework. So instead of including them in the series, I’ll keep them aside as independent posts that I’ll write when I find the time. For example, I have a few “tricks” of my own for anonymous email, and a post about them would be good content. But as I said, I’ll keep these separate from the series, as ideas I might write independently.
By the way, in the first post (and in any other privacy-related posts) I treat the observer as an actor with as much power as possible, so that what I describe also holds up against a strong observer.
A guide to buying Monero with cash is a valuable topic, but honestly, as you said yourself, it’s a real headache. Somewhere along the way something with KYC always comes into play, and the further you move away from KYC, the more niche the methods get and the fewer people can actually use them. The methods also differ from country to country (sometimes even from city to city), so it’s hard to produce a guide that is both safe and useful for most people. It’s not something I’m planning to write right now, and since it would be so time-consuming, I probably won’t write it any time soon, maybe not for a long while. Still, down the line it would be nice to have an “options” guide covering the methods with their pros, cons, and risks.
By the way, when you say “cash”, do you mean using cash in hand without any intermediary like a bank, or buying Monero with fiat money in general? I’m curious, because the perspective of the topic would change depending on that.
Sure, sounds good. For monero specifically, maybe standing up your own LWS server anonymously (using a VPS paid in monero). My understanding is that drastically improves the user experience, never done it before though. I'm interested to hear your tricks. I don't want to have to pay for 5 different tuta subscriptions that I connect to using a different source VPN ip just to properly segment my identity lol.
Great, that's the best model.
I would say maybe pick the US for one and Europe for the other. My understanding is it's a bit easier in Latin America and some other nations where they offer more bank privacy for transfers and some more robust services along that end. The Asian countries are all different enough to warrant individual guides I think, but that would likely be a huge PITA.
Yeah, I don't want to do some weird nested payment app bank transfer that's slightly obscure, but mostly serves to flag me as suspicious without actually hiding my activity from a subpoena. Physical cash in hand. Honestly someone could probably design a system though where you generate a new bank card that has credentials for it from the monero sender with an empty account and that empty account receives your physical cash deposit at an ATM. Then they send you the monero after the deposit is processed. Something like that would be cool too.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
Setting up your own LWS server on an anonymous VPS (paid for with XMR) is a great idea, and it would fit the series’ experiment posts really well. Noted.
As for email, I actually have a simple, small but effective method. Since I’m keeping it separate from the series, I’m planning to write it up as a standalone post whenever I find the time.
Thanks for clarifying the cash part, so physical cash in hand. A post from that angle could be written, but I won’t put it in the first batch. As I said, I’ll stock up a few posts at the start, and I don’t want working through that stock to take too long either. Still, I’ve noted it for later. The idea of depositing cash into an empty account at an ATM is interesting too, and I could cover it in that post.