Topic: Roger Ver and Jon Matonis pushed aside now that Bitcoin is becoming mainstream - page 21. (Read 46544 times)

GNU didn't need the fluffy stuff. Linux didn't need the fluffy stuff. Bitcoin doesn't need the fluffy stuff. People looking to make some money or a name for themselves like to dish out the fluffy stuff. That's all fine and dandy as we're all free to make a living as long as we don't engage in force or fraud.

But let's not labor under the untrue notion that Bitcoin "needs" a PR department.

xD  With your permission, I will translate the text into Spanish for posting it on elbitcoin.org.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that his work was and isn't still very important. In my opinion it is. In general, someone's work may be very important, for example a scientist may be toiling his entire life finding out some basic principle about the universe, ideas that change technology and infrastructure forever. That doesn't mean that the masses will ever acknowledge that. Stallman isn't exactly out of a job either. There's always idealists to pitch to, too, and in the long run they may be more influential.

My point was that the people that communicate something to the masses are usually not the great thinkers that came up with the idea/implementation themselves, but people that are good at communicating and 'feeling' people. And yes that's fluffy...  But that's MSM and they have a lot of short-term influence. I was just trying to explain why first-day promoters of the principle are being ignored by MSM in favor of new talking heads as popularity increases, as that was the question in the OP.

Fedcoin: A centrally-issued alternative to peer-to-peer currencies

PM me. I'll invite you to my town for two days and you can post a public apology after your stay.

This is a serious offer. Put up or shut up.

If all you have left is namecalling, you ain't got shit.


I was wondering why the property rates went up.

Better yet, Let's put Ben Bernanke in charge of Bitcoin.

Why? Bitcoin will succeed with or without people paying taxes.


Bitcoin was created as a weapon and a balance against the power of banks and governments. You can use it however you like. I'll use it for its intended purpose.

Imagine a roomful of 100 people that know nothing about Bitcoin. I'll tell 50 people people why Bitcoin was created and what they can do with it. You tell 50 people they can use Bitcoin but only if they pay their taxes.

If I know humans, and I do, I'd be willing to bet some bitcoins who'd be able to sway more people to Bitcoin.

Well, not necessarily encouraging to pay taxes, but discouraging raving fanatics who have no concern for their fellow man and just want to watch the world burn because they hate some dudes at the top. There may be a country someplace where you would actively *disagree* with paying taxes too, like North Korea for example. For the USA though? Probably better to not say "don't pay taxes" and rather just "don't do anything stupid and don't be a loud mouthed anarchist who puts everyone around them in danger".

Afterall, don't like the US? Move. I did. Staying there and not following the law because "freedom" and all that is kind of dumb. Go kill some officials and overthrow the government, or spend your life changing the laws from the inside out, but just ignoring the laws that everyone else in your country agreed to put into place is just stupid. Go someplace where those laws that make you uncomfortable don't exist, change your citizenship like so many are doing, and get it over with. Why fight something you don't want to be a part of anyway, while selfishly living off of it's rewards at the same time?

(Not talking about you Luke, actually agreeing with you)

This is exactly the problem. If you want Bitcoin to succeed, you should be encouraging people to pay their taxes.
If all you care about is tax evasion, you are part of the problem.

The good journalists will find Matonis anyway, and the bad journalists will keep saying the usual BS, despite the likability of your spokesman.

So as I pointed out that there is no great quality content from the people you have chosen.


Also why do you have a google group, why not create a thread on the forum for this. I hate when people need secret meeting places to discuss bitcoins, this goes against an open community.

And Bitcoin probably might not exist but for some of the foundational work put down by Stallman. It doesn't matter what the mass of mediocrity that is mainstream culture thinks about Stallman or Bitcoin. Free software and Bitcoin keep on rolling, don't they?

Wanna know what sells Bitcoin to those in my life that come to me wanting to know about it? They can hide their money from banks and governments. That's what will sell Bitcoin to people, not the fluffy bullshit about "yes sir! so happy to be regulated" and "tax me, please!".

I remember that, too, from the early internet. Many mass media tried to trivialize and belittle the internet, its impact on society, and its users. And when the dotnet bubble burst it was all over, the internet was dead, we'd go back to the old ways. That mostly went away as years passed Good ideas won't go away when people are laughing at them. But there is an initial hostility toward new technologies, what Michio Kaku calls "The caveman principle": If it wouldn't appeal to our early ancestors, it won't appeal to random people now.

Anyway, the earlier advocated were very different from the latter ones. Take for example another idea that was severely belittled and underestimated in the beginning: free software. Though he was great at pitching the idea to software developers and idealists back in the day, most news outlets are not going to invite Richard Stallman to an interview about the subject. He's just too extreme.

As a latter-day advocate you need someone that is likable in the eyes of the masses, doesn't make them think too much, doesn't say anything too politically incorrect (or idealistic), wears a suit and tie and makes great promises, tells you why *thing* will make your friends and family love you more, makes your skin look younger, improve the taste of your food and improve your sex life. Only that, and generational shifts, will conquer the caveman principle.

Jesus, this is ridiculous.  I can barely even read it.  It's like a bunch of five-year-olds fighting over who gets to be the prettiest princess.  Ironically, if any of them should be kept far away from the media, it's Jeff Garzik.  He's the only one of those mentioned who repeatedly says stupid things to the press, and generally looks like a hobo while doing so.

I have been as skeptical about Matonis and Ver as anyone, probably moreso, but no one can deny that they are doing an effective job of representing Bitcoin in the media.  Hell, even Matthew, who is a complete idiot otherwise, would make a decent media spokesperson.  It's not a skillset that tends to coincide with software development.  It requires a quick wit, wide understanding of the topic at hand, and most importantly an alpha personality.

And, Luke-Jr, buddy... lol.  At least try to remember that you wouldn't even be on the dev team if it were a popularity contest, and keep the statist obstructionism to a minimum.

I am the one who pushed the press center without Roger Ver and John Matonis. If they were still on the page, the page wouldn't be online at all because there was legitimate discussions and disagreement on them. Not only from developers, most criticisms came as comments from contributors I don't know, and they presented good arguments. So I took action to make sure that this wouldn't block the whole project for two interviewees that we can add later if needed.

As said in the github issue, civilized criticisms and arguments are welcome. An issue for Roger Ver has been opened already.

However, choosing interviewees will always generate accusations and criticisms no matter what is the final choice. I don't mind being a target for criticisms. What matters to me is that we have a press center with great quality content for journalists and we didn't have it yesterday. We can continue to improve it. The current interviewees list is really just a beginning, we want much more.

If you want to participate in the press team, there it is : https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/bitcoin-press-team

There's little to any difference between slimy media and slimy government these days, especially in the US.


Anyone using Bitcoin is a kook by default to the mass media. Anyone with more than 100 posts on this board would be considered a kook in the mass perception.

I wonder if half of bitcoiners realize that arguments on reddit and other places caused by someone's inaccurate depictions of bitcoin aren't due to actual ignorance, but are in fact intentionally inaccurate to draw out the emotional and overly defensive crazies for comedic value. Bitcoin or not, crazy is never good.

A time progresses, advocacy needs to be watered-down and dumbed-down to appeal to an ever larger audience. Until at a certain point, Joe Sixpack can explain the advantages of using Bitcoin to Jane Sixpack without mentioning any technical detail. A lot of the early adopters and promoters will think this sucks but are drowned out in the noise of millions of new users.

Government and business people will come up with weird, far-fetched analogies such as series of pipes, and we'll know it's exactly like the internet in the 90's

Thank you for establishing that you should also not be on the list. No one said anything about governments. We were talking about press contacts for slimey news organizations who would take something you said and make us all look like kooks. Yes, I suppose it's possible that what's in the news has an affect on laws being created, but your obsession with governments and extremist tone makes me think that you'd be a perfect person for them to interview if their intention were to discredit bitcoin as a joke.

Governments don't care what the "official representatives" of bitcoin.org say, the only thing that matters to governments is whether they will be able to control Bitcoin. If not, they will say anything to discredit you, even if your "official spokesmen" are politically correct as well as immaculate saints. Deal with it.