What are your thoughts on BitCoin?

[Farm Boy]

Well said Mise.

 

[Leoreth]

@Leoreth: Well I'm quite sympathetic to arguments that criticise things that are inherent or unique to Bitcoins. However, the point of the Jamaican Dollar analogy is that most of the criticisms are not inherent or unique to Bitcoins. I don't think investing in bitcoins is as stupid as investing in Zimbabwe dollars. Moreover, I don't think that Zimbabwe dollars are stupid. It's just a currency that has been poorly managed. I'm happy to agree that Bitcoins are as stupid as Zimbabwe Dollars -- as long as we agree that Zimbabwe Dollars are not stupid. And I'm happy to agree that investing in Bitcoins is as stupid as making any kind of speculative bet on a paper asset with no underlying worth -- that is, it's as stupid as investing in Gold, or betting on sports or a card game. Finally, I'm happy to agree that Bitcoins would make a terrible currency, or a terrible replacement for the dollar, as long as we agree that "terrible" is in the context of other options such as a return to the gold standard. That is, it's about as bad as the gold standard, which in the grand scheme of things isn't all that stupid at all.

I don't disagree, and it seems to come down to what exactly you associate with the label "stupid".

It's true that you're not stupid if your speculating on bitcoins as long as you're aware of its volatile nature and make a conscious choice to take the risk inherent in it. I maintain that you're stupid if you invest your money into bitcoins because you're speculating on the collapse of the global monetary system, or if you waste electricity to mine them now that this isn't cost-effective anymore.

How much you want to take this out on the bitcoins themselves and not the people who use them is of course a personal choice, but I'm pretty sure that without the latter sort of people the whole thing wouldn't ever have gotten enough traction to be talked about outside of cryptography seminars.

 

[Zelig]

It's like someone walking into a Nazi thread, saying "why is Hitler evil? I don't get the irrational hate in here" and deflecting insinuations that they might be a nazi-sympathizer. You're a bitcoin sympathizer! Admit it, you turkey!

So straw men and Godwin.

As someone who doesn't really give a crap about bitcoins, I have to say that the arguments against bitcoins have been rather uninspiring. Yeah, I'm sure bitcoins can't replace USD, but so what? Lost of currencies can't replace the USD. Lots of currencies are volatile. Lots of currencies have deflation problems, or are poorly administered, or have massive fraud, or are terrible investments. In any currency, you can only buy stuff from other people who will accept that currency. If I have Jamaican Dollars, I can only use it to buy stuff from within the Jamaican economy. Nobody would criticise Jamaican Dollars because they have to convert from J$ to US$ if I want to buy something "in the real world" (i.e. in the USA, which for many Americans is the only thing that ever counts as "the real world"). But for people who live in Jamaica, and who accept and pay for things in Jamaican Dollars, it works fine. So where's the problem? Nobody calls Jamaican Dollars "bluntcoins" or something. Nobody says "I don't think the Jamaican Dollar should be illegal, or that it isn't useful if you want to buy things in Jamaica. I'm just saying that the Jamaican Dollar is stupid".

Yeah, sure, crazies go nuts over bitcoins and advocate them as the currency of the future. "Fine, whatever, man." Crazy people talk about the demise of the USD and the rise of the Rouble or the Yuan or whatever too. People stock up on gold and buy $3,000 worth of silver on ebay with their credit card because they think it will be the only form of currency after the inevitable USD collapse. Who cares? Crazies be cray cray. But in the case of Bitcoins, the hatred seems to have spilled over onto the thing itself, which is bizarre because the thing is just a thing. Nobody suggests that gold is stupid, or calls gold coins "cockcoins". I mean, gold as a currency really is stupid, but it's stupid for reasons that are independent of the people who buy gold because they think the world is going to end and the government is poisoning the water supply with flouride to prevent them from evolving. It's stupid for reasons Cutlass is talking about. But those are "weaker" arguments, because we've used gold as a currency for bloody ages and all it caused were a few depressions here and there. The fact that we can compare bitcoins to a currency that we've actually used, like, in real life, with real people and real countries basing their entire economies around them, to me tells me that bitcoins aren't quite as stupid as people are saying...

A lot of people here really do sound like massive pricks right now.

Voice of reason.

 

[shadowplay]

Mise is wise.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Your disingenuousity disgusts me.



It's like someone walking into a Nazi thread, saying "why is Hitler evil? I don't get the irrational hate in here" and deflecting insinuations that they might be a nazi-sympathizer. You're a bitcoin sympathizer! Admit it, you turkey!

I'm surprised we've made it this far without someone invoking a little law....

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Who actually uses bitcoins, in day to day transactions?

What companies accept them? At least other, official currencies are recognised.

I mentioned in the OP I saw where software developers had accepted them. To be more specific, here for the commercial usage:
http://www.implbits.com/HashTab.aspx

Also these guys do, as well:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

 

[Dachs]

But in the case of Bitcoins, the hatred seems to have spilled over onto the thing itself, which is bizarre because the thing is just a thing. Nobody suggests that gold is stupid, or calls gold coins "cockcoins". I mean, gold as a currency really is stupid, but it's stupid for reasons that are independent of the people who buy gold because they think the world is going to end and the government is poisoning the water supply with flouride to prevent them from evolving. It's stupid for reasons Cutlass is talking about. But those are "weaker" arguments, because we've used gold as a currency for bloody ages and all it caused were a few depressions here and there. The fact that we can compare bitcoins to a currency that we've actually used, like, in real life, with real people and real countries basing their entire economies around them, to me tells me that bitcoins aren't quite as stupid as people are saying...

A lot of people here really do sound like massive pricks right now.

It seems to me as though you're exaggerating the extent to which this is even a thing. I mean, "hatred"? What hatred?

I know that I, at least, frequently acknowledged that the idea of BTC as a medium of exchange isn't intrinsically stupid in the several posts I've made on the topic. And most of the people in this thread who share similar opinions have largely said the same sort of thing. It's not like there's some sort of crusade to stamp out BTC or whatever. Even the Goons never tried to destroy BTC. It's more like, "hey, here's an insular community of total lunatics united by their political ideology, lack of financial or business acumen, the Dunning-Kruger effect, and these BitCoin things; they're just begging us to have some laughs at their expense!"

So what's the objection to? The name-calling? Seriously? You'd begrudge people a few laughs because, uh, I don't even know. It's not like "Satoshi Nakamoto" cares about people making jokes about the name of "his" creation. It's not an example of unthinking bigotry, racism, classism, misogynism, or anything else that could be obvious grounds for complaint. Oh no, people are making fun of other people for doing something that's perceived to be stupid! What massive pricks they must be!

 

[hobbsyoyo]

A lot of people here really do sound like massive pricks right now.

To satisfy my own need to either be called to task or vindicated, I ask again:

Who exactly are you calling pricks?

 

[Kaitzilla]

Wow, so many pages about Bitcoins!

The little currency that could.


In other news, the chaps in charge of the US printing press will own 1 out of 20 houses in 6 more months and 1 out of 10 by fall 2014. Fiat is working as intended.

God forbid prices go down and people without the printing press want to buy houses. Keeping them expensive prevents deflation and strengthens the economy.

 

[Crezth]

So straw men and Godwin.

Nice logical fallacy.

Anyway, two bitcoins [sic] walk into a bar. One says to the other "we sure are useless, huh" and the other responds "hey man, why the irrational hate?"

No jokes.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I don't know why I am laughing at that, but I am.

 

[Farm Boy]

Perhaps the aggravation is more the constant drubbing. Between buttcoins and *******s and Ron Paul Funbux and we aren't making fun of the currency we're making fun of the people, and not you in particular mind you!, it's funny but it also gets grinding. As has been mentioned there were some scathing topics in December. You've never gotten tired of being amused at being classified as homo-worshiping immoral liberals because you don't want the state to execute people blacks or you aren't "conservative" on some tangentially related issue? Or a man-hating ******** for whatever reason? Or a "statist worshiping tyrant lover" because of how you vote?

Now, this shouldn't be taken as a condemnation of joking or that you shouldn't do it, but in this particular place most of those particular jokes have gotten stale enough that they're reading more like political slogans. Come up with some new ones. Dachs has already set your bar kinda high though, so it may be difficult.

 

[Crezth]

plz don't make fun of bitcoins guys

it makes u look like a prick

 

[Farm Boy]

Oooh Droopy! He was Hank Hill before there was Hank Hill!

 

[Crezth]

damnit bobby what did i tell you about investin in bitcoins

but dad, it's a decentralized currency!

 

[Zelig]

Nice logical fallacy.

Pointing out a logical fallacy is not a logical fallacy.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

This thread is getting fairly ridiculous.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Perhaps the aggravation is more the constant drubbing. Between buttcoins and *******s and Ron Paul Funbux and we aren't making fun of the currency we're making fun of the people, and not you in particular mind you!, it's funny but it also gets grinding. As has been mentioned there were some scathing topics in December. You've never gotten tired of being amused at being classified as homo-worshiping immoral liberals because you don't want the state to execute people blacks or you aren't "conservative" on some tangentially related issue? Or a man-hating ******** for whatever reason? Or a "statist worshiping tyrant lover" because of how you vote?

Now, this shouldn't be taken as a condemnation of joking or that you shouldn't do it, but in this particular place most of those particular jokes have gotten stale enough that they're reading more like political slogans. Come up with some new ones. Dachs has already set your bar kinda high though, so it may be difficult.

All I want to know is whether or not Mise is calling me a prick since he didn't seem to give people the courtesy of knowing who he was trully talking about. Given that these have been my contributions to this thread:

....on second though, naw, not going back there. December was such an awful month for OT.

Then you must have not been paying attention during the entire month of December where bitcoins were thrashed in multiple threads continuously.

I thought Dachs did a decent job of explaining why bitcoins themselves are useless and stupid on top of making fun of the bitcoiners. There was a lot of substance to that point but it seems all you got out of it is 'bitcoins are bad, bitcoiners are stupid'.

IIRC, there was not a single bitcoin-specific thread in December or ever. Rather, bitcoins came up at one point and the words RON PAUL FUN BUX were uttered. Given that this was at the height of some serious Ron Paul spam (and I blame myself as much for that as anyone else), RON PAUL FUN BUX (aka bitcoins) became a label that was spam-posted across many, many threads. I myself was told off by none less than JoanK for overusing the words and I was far from the only one who did so.

It was a bad time to frequent CFC OT if you wanted to discuss anything seriously because every other post was RON PAUL FUN BOX or SLAVERY WASN'T THAT BAD or TAXES ARE THEFT, etc etc.

It came up in more than one thread for sure though, I know I spammed about funbux like every other thread.

But obviously Zelig has no problems with any of that.

I thought cash offered the best anonymous purchasing power available?

Says the guy who walked out of a serious debate with /unsubscirbe
I would ask if you realize you are being hypocritical, but the whole debate in that other thread proves you don't.

Do tell who are the biggest pricks so we can compare e-peens, please.

Touche?

To satisfy my own need to either be called to task or vindicated, I ask again:

Who exactly are you calling pricks?

I don't know why I am laughing at that, but I am.

I feel pretty confident that I am not one of the pricks nor have I even taken a strong (much less trollish) stance on bitcoins. However, I'd like to clear the air as I was posting right when he was accusing nameless posters of being massive pricks. I have the right to call him out for being a puss if he's going to call out pricks.

That is all.

 

[Farm Boy]

Eh, he's probably being wise by addressing the tone rather than anyone specific.

More King of the Hill pictures plox!

 

[Crezth]

Pointing out a logical fallacy is not a logical fallacy.

More logical fallacies. When will you add some content to this thread?

zelig i got some advice for u. stop making bad posts and buy some bitcoin & bitcoin accessories!