In an effort to support organic workgroups, Monero has several resources that the community can use to meet and plan projects. Mattermost even has relays into the most popular Monero-related IRC channels.,
You are strongly advised to verify the hashes of the archive you downloaded. This will confirm that the files you downloaded perfectly match the files uploaded by the Monero development workgroup. Please don't underestimate this step, a corrupted archive could result in lost funds.
faq->a4
Monero uses three different privacy technologies: @ring-signatures, ring confidential transactions (@RingCT), and @stealth-addresses. These hide the sender, amount, and receiver in the @transaction, respectively. All transactions on the network are private by mandate; there is no way to accidentally send a transparent transaction. This feature is exclusive to Monero. You do not need to trust anyone else with your privacy.
Monero uses three different privacy technologies: @ring-signatures, ring confidential transactions (@RingCT), and @stealth-addresses. These hide the sender, amount, and receiver in the @transaction, respectively. All transactions on the network are private by mandate; there is no way to accidentally send a transparent transaction. This feature is exclusive to Monero. You do not need to trust anyone else with your privacy.
