Monero Forum

What it is. A self-hosted, community-run forum for Monero discussion. Threads, polls, RSS, a Tor mirror, and the kinds of features you'd want from a phpBB-era forum in 2026 (faucet, classifieds, services directory, price ticker, a built-in bull-or-bear vote). The interesting thing it has that Reddit doesn't is a Scam Reports subforum where users actively post receipts on services that withheld funds — which is the whole reason a Monero-specific forum is worth bookmarking.

Background. The forum has been running under the `monero.forum` domain since around mid-2025 (monerica.com lists its founding date as `2025-05-29` and the same record on monerica goes back to 2022-06-22, suggesting an earlier version of the project existed before the current launch). The admin operates under the handle `admin` and doesn't publish a personal identity, jurisdiction, or contact email anywhere on the site. The same admin has since spun up a sibling forum for Wownero on the same software stack — the announcement post calls it out plainly — so this is someone running niche-coin discussion spaces as a small portfolio rather than a one-off. The forum also keeps an X account at `@MoneroForum` — joined November 2025, low-hundreds of followers as of fold-time, blue check present (which since 2023 just means the account is paying for X Premium, not that anybody verified anyone's identity — but it's still a positive low-cost signal that the operator cares enough to maintain a paid public surface).

What you trust.

• The community is awake. Threads from the last 24 hours, real users at every level from new accounts to 15-year-old veterans, and visible engagement across mining help, FCMP++ GUI testing, no-KYC eSIM picks, and price discussion. It doesn't feel like a ghost forum.
• There's a Scam Reports board, and people actually post in it. Real threads about real services — recent examples reference Wagyu and several smaller swap providers — with users naming names and dates. That's exactly the watchdog function a privacy-coin forum exists to provide.
• The admin enforces moderation when it counts. Independent confirmation: the operator behind the HammerVM hosting service we recently rejected was, by their own published rebuttal elsewhere, banned from monero.forum for harassment. That kind of decisive moderation against bad actors is the most useful single thing a community can do.
• Monerica has it as ✅ Verified. The listing at `monerica.com/site/monero-forum` was last updated 2026-03-30 and tags it with *Email Not Required*, *JavaScript Optional*, *No KYC* — concrete privacy claims that match the experience of using the site.
• The site is JavaScript-optional and Tor-friendly. The `.onion` mirror works, the clearnet site renders without JavaScript, and the homepage doesn't push a registration interstitial — you can browse and read without ever creating an account.
• Registration matches the monerica tag. The form at `/auth/register` asks for username, password, and a text captcha; email is *explicitly optional* (the form copy reads: *'Optional. Add one if you want email recovery or email 2FA later.'*). No phone number, no SMS gate, no Google reCAPTCHA, no identity check. You can register fully anonymously.

Operational specs.

• Site. `https://monero.forum` (clearnet) and `http://monerokpw6inpkzm2yayp23t3llfu7wqgm46xvc55gbn3qiudxcpvmyd.onion/` (Tor v3 mirror, advertised in the clearnet `Onion-Location` header).
• Community size at fold-time. ~1,730 registered members, ~16 boards, a few hundred threads with steady recent activity. Not huge, but durable.
• Features beyond plain discussion. Built-in Monero faucet, classifieds board, services directory, XMR price ticker, RSS feed, and a "bull or bear" weekly vote.
• Public operator surface. The forum itself, the verified X account `@MoneroForum`, and that's it. No PGP key, no admin email, no Matrix room, no Telegram. If you need to reach the admin, you message them inside the forum.
• Registration. `/auth/register` — username + password + text captcha (in-house, not Google reCAPTCHA); email is optional and only used if you opt into recovery / 2FA later. CSRF-protected. Nothing else asked.
• Sibling project. The same admin runs a Wownero forum on the same stack. Worth knowing because it means the admin's attention is split, and any infrastructure issue on monero.forum will probably hit the Wownero one too.

Operator philosophy. There's no manifesto, no `/about` page, no pinned post about the mission. What you can read from the admin's actions: they keep the software up (editor upgrade, RSS, sibling-forum launch were all admin announcements), they let the community self-organize the boards, and they ban people who harass others rather than ride out the controversy for engagement. The forum exists to fill a gap — there isn't an official Monero forum, r/Monero is a Reddit fiefdom, and most of the rest of the Monero conversation happens on Matrix or Discord — both of which are fine for chat but lose long-form, searchable, persistent threads. monero.forum is what you'd want if you want a forum-shaped surface to discuss Monero. That's what it's optimized for, and it's done well enough that real discussion happens.

Grade rationale. Listed at Grade B. The community is genuinely active, the moderation is observably real, the privacy posture on the public surface is reasonable (no JS required, no email gate visible, Tor mirror with a proper `Onion-Location` header), and a peer directory we already cite (monerica) has verified the listing. What keeps it under A: the admin is pseudonymous with no fallback contact channel, there's no published privacy policy or written forum-rules thread, there's no `kycnot.me` review or other independent third-party audit, and the registration form's actual data requirements aren't documented anywhere public. Path to A — practical steps the operator can take: publish a short privacy policy (what's logged, IP retention, whether email is stored), pin a written forum-rules / moderation-policy thread (so users know what triggers a ban and how to appeal), expose a non-anonymous contact channel (a PGP-signed admin email or a Matrix room), and earn one additional independent peer-directory listing or third-party review.

Useful when:

• You want to read or post Monero discussion in a long-form, searchable, RSS-followable forum without joining Reddit or a Matrix room.
• You're considering a Monero service and want to see what other users have actually said about it — the Scam Reports and service-discussion boards are the directory's own kind of complementary signal.
• You want a forum reachable over Tor without compromising functionality — the onion mirror is real, the site is JavaScript-optional, and there's no email-gated signup wall on the public flow.
• You want to follow Monero classifieds, faucet activity, or the community's running price-sentiment vote in addition to the chatter.

Caveats.

• No written privacy policy, no published moderation policy. The forum doesn't tell you what it logs, whether registration requires an email, how long IP records are kept, or what triggers a ban. For a forum where users post wallet addresses and trade-quality reports, that's the single biggest trust gap.
• Pseudonymous admin, no fallback. The admin uses the handle *admin* with no further attribution. If the admin goes quiet, the forum goes with them — there's no co-maintainer, no documented succession plan, no community-controlled backup.
• Reputation is internal-only. Despite 1,730+ members, there's effectively zero external discussion of the forum on Reddit, Bitcointalk, or monero.town. You're trusting the forum's own evidence of its quality — which is fine for a community space, but it means a new visitor can't easily corroborate from outside.
• The admin runs a second forum. The Wownero forum announcement is on-record, which means the admin's attention is split. Not a disqualifier — most independent forum admins run more than one site — but it's worth knowing for risk-of-attention-drift purposes.
• No incident history. No publicly known data breach, admin abuse, content-takedown controversy, or spam wave. That's good as a current snapshot — but it also means operator response under stress is untested, so the next incident (whenever it comes) will be the first read on how the admin handles pressure.