> Yes. Anyone else who gets hold of those bills you used and exchanged with your bank will find them "burned" when they try to use them on Ellcrys.
There's going to be a problem of detecting counterfeit bills if you decide to take this route. As an alternative suggestion, how about using the same method of distribution some other cryptocurrencies have used in the past by taking a snapshot of a cryptocurrency at a certain future date and then having interested community members prove ownership of an address containing some cryptocurrency and using that to distribute the tokens? It wouldn't matter if someone buys cryptocurrency just for that purpose and then sells it afterwards.
The downside, is that you will be restricting distribution to only those who can gain access to cryptocurrency - which is also the same problem as taking a photo of dollar bills; the likelihood that those who will be using the platform will know/have access to cryptocurrency is high nevertheless.
Experience? Apparently SSH tunnels could be used for more than just allowing an external server gain access to a service running on an internal server.
Like @rakkhi said I think it really depends on your target audience. I've setup Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and Facebook Groups before. If you're targeting a more tech-savvy group, then Google Groups is it (non-techy people tend to think it is). For non tech-savvy groups, Yahoo Groups does just fine.
Facebook Groups in my opinion are a no-no even if all your group members are on Facebook and my reason for this is that it doesn't encourage active discussions. You always have to check with the group to know what's going on.
There's going to be a problem of detecting counterfeit bills if you decide to take this route. As an alternative suggestion, how about using the same method of distribution some other cryptocurrencies have used in the past by taking a snapshot of a cryptocurrency at a certain future date and then having interested community members prove ownership of an address containing some cryptocurrency and using that to distribute the tokens? It wouldn't matter if someone buys cryptocurrency just for that purpose and then sells it afterwards.
The downside, is that you will be restricting distribution to only those who can gain access to cryptocurrency - which is also the same problem as taking a photo of dollar bills; the likelihood that those who will be using the platform will know/have access to cryptocurrency is high nevertheless.