Topic: Kill the Politics forum - page 9. (Read 19963 times)

@Jessy:

Bitcoin is more than just a technology invented to solve some practical need, like the toothbrush.  Right from the start, the motivations for inventing and promoting Bitcoin were very ideological indeed.  The technology is inseparable from the ideology, at least so far in the short history of Bitcoin.

You can't really blame the bitcoin.org forums for their anarchist/libertarian roots. The would be like blaming CAFOD for its Catholic roots. When I came here about a year ago, almost all discussions (outside the technical sections) were philosophical in some shape or form, and the bitcoin technology was seen as an experiment to test those philosophical findings empirically. 

Then all of a sudden (perhaps to everyone's surprise) bitcoin took off and became something bigger than that.  The first time I came here I was also put off a little bit by all that absolutist ideology, but I could see there was tremendous value in the practical applications of bitcoin and decided to stay anyway. Not to mention that I enjoyed having my world view challenged by some very intelligent community members.  Tell your small business owner friends to keep an open mind.
 

I do agree with you though that the joe sixpack "consumer" of bitcoin is better off not learning about the ideological motivations of the orignial core community. Perhaps we need a different website than bitcoin.org to act as a  gateway.

Well, as you can see, the degree of political fervor is dropping, questionable threads are being culled, and given that overwhelming consensus is that politics should go elsewhere I would expect the forum to de-politicize in a month or so.

I also very strongly agree with making the "official" forums a more neutral place.  There are plenty of other places to discuss politics.

If you all want Bitcoin to succeed, you will support the removal of the Politics subforum.

Bitcoin will never be taken seriously with the number of posts advocating tax evasion, overthrowing the government, etc.  Businesses want no part of such activities, even if the business owner might even agree with such sentiments.  Businesses play by the rules, so that they can continue conducting business.

As a businessman, with investors considering Bitcoin, I'm glad to see this thread and hope that something positive comes from it.

As this is Bitcoin's flagship site, it needs to lose the majority of its political rhetoric quickly(while there is still a wave of media attention). It's nice to see that many devs agree.

Unless the ideologues just want to trade Bitcoins with themselves, they have to realize that most people are going to find their politics offensive. Make Bitcoin politically neutral, if you want it to see widespread adoption. If you want the market to rise to its potential, Bitcoin needs mainstream money. As things stand, much of the world is going to pass, based on Bitcoin's image.


I've also put my business and identity in the line of fire, speaking to legislators in Washington about Bitcoin's potential. I won't continue to do so, if I'm going to be labeled as part of a plot to take down the government. I don't currently recommend this site to any investors, for the same reason. That this site runs so slowly doesn't help, either.

I'm not anonymous. My real name and city of residence are public. It would be pretty easy to find me if you cared to do so.

It'd be interesting if Sirius replied in this thread. I've only heard second-hand things about how he thinks about the forum's state, never from him directly.

Ah no, there is a single nutter holding the Bitcoin.org domain name hostage to his ideology. He is a member of the Dev team, but openly advocates and protects illegal activity. This is the primary site associated with Bitcoin and the one given to the media- it matters.

You do not have your place of business listed in your profile. Your business does not accept, or advocate the use of Bitcoin. So it is reasonable for you to feel it's a non-issue- you are anonymous, as is theymos. Anonymous people are comfortable saying all sorts of goofy things because they risk nothing. Rules are different for those of us who do business in the real world and might be held accountable for our association with Bitcoin.

I suggest kindly that you do not overreact, since the offending material was eventually deemed deserving removal (LINK)

I've been thinking. The only way to REALLY resolve this is to restrict the forum to development and technical support discussions, and kill anything that smacks of politics, speculation about exchange rates, and anything else not directly relevant to Bitcoin.

I agree with john smith. Not just politics but also 17 different lotteries and ponzi schemes, trading, "is bitcoin going to burst, etc", signal to noise ratio is only going to get worse and it would be nice to have an "official" site that is purely about development. Feature requests on github are fine, but they don't go far enough in allowing discussion/debate IMHO.

I think there are few options left beyond making a new forum and getting that linked from the bitcoin.org site.

The hard part will be copying all the useful stuff over...

From: http://bitcoinstats.com/irc/bitcoin-dev/logs/2011/06/15/3


You have GOT to be shitting me. So that line you fed the media about SR was a load of horseshit- Bitcoin.org in fact actively condones and protects illegal activity because it's "Free Trade"! Okay good luck with that.

I can't jump ship fast enough, will get my Bitcoin links pulled first thing this morning.

There's currently a push to split these forums off from bitcoin.org and move them to their own domain:

http://bitcoinstats.com/irc/bitcoin-dev/logs/2011/06/15/2#l1062161 (starting at 3:28)

As one of the anarchist lunatics, I really wish that my fellow crazies would take Jessy Kang's advice.  Bitcoin will benefit the anarchist project merely by continuing to exist and grow.  There's no need to jeopardize that by trying to shove our ideology down the throats of the normals.

True, but forum members have met me in person at the last Meetup in NYC. But none verified my gender, I could have been in drag LOL

I would like to believe you are a girl but on the Internet…

The men are men.  The women are men.  And the children are FBI agents.

:-)

Um, I dunno, is it illegal to use logos made by individuals and then released under nonrestrictive licenses in your jurisdiction ?

And BTW, I'm curious, what is the license on the Huge Bitcoin Coin logo? 

What will your investors say when they find out the logo was made by... an individual. It's not official, it's just good.

Lol  It's indeed interesting. For all things money, it's the men that go into emo rage.

Reminds me of this http://www.marketwatch.com/story/women-are-better-investors-and-heres-why-2011-06-14

Truth be told, media attention did the coins no small amount of good  

However, methinks that the main forum would best steer clear of controversies and maintain maximum possible neutrality to all participants.
Controversies are more than capable of emerging on their own, and it would nice to have a place that will serve as a hub of ideological and political...moderation, of sorts, to draw in, and reinforce the trust of, "simple", non-controversial adopters.

So yeah, Jessy's right.

Politics discussion is best to migrate to other pastures.

Looks like we don't need to. None of the quotes suggest he intended it be used, or openly advocated as a political tool. It was discussed as a commercial tool with political implications. Even if you want to use it as a political tool- it will accomplish the same thing and is far more palatable to the masses if marketed as a purely commercial one. The Ops don't have a logical leg to stand on and they know it. It's just a face issue at this point.

How's that for a role change- the girl is talking about facts and logic and the guys are talking about wants and feelings LOL. "You have to love us BOTH, Bitcoin and Ideology 2GETHR4EVR! I've got the Bitcoin.org so I MAKE the RULES! If you don't love my ideology GO AWAY! *screech, door slam*"

Anyway, this will shortly fix itself. Just would have been better to stay ahead of the OODA loop and not be reactive to the media.