Bitcoin Forum

23-minute interview by our old skeptical friend David Birch, haven't found time to listen to it yet but I'd assume it must be an interesting + thought-provoking + non-superficial discussion given the two individuals involved:

http://chyp.com/media/podcast/jon-matonis-bitcoin-foundation

Wow, that was absolutely brilliant!

Yes, it was a great example of two opposing opinions being debated and argued in a professional, competent and respectful manner.

Additionally, it is a good example of why Jon Matonis should be included in the Press Center (as discussed in this thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=181168.0)) if the goal the goal of this Press Center should be to make the press's job easier and the standard used for inclusion should be competence and professionalism along with established reputations in the Bitcoin community. I do not see why political ideology is relevant or should be used for any type of test or standard for inclusion. This interview is a good example of where using political ideology as a test or standard for inclusion will be a disservice to the journalists who visit this page seeking guests or commentators for pieces they are writing or segments they are producing.

For those unaware, verification of the positions of three long-standing developers, jgarzik, gmaxwell and LukeJR, regarding the need for a political ideology test for inclusion as a Potential Interviewee is easily found with clear and succinct statements found here (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.org/pull/139):

LukeJR: "NACK putting extremist anarchists (at least Matonis) as press contacts..."

jgarzik: "Well, even though some of his Forbes pieces I agree with, Matonis goes too far in openly advocating illegal behavior like tax evasion. Roger Ver used to give interviews to places like the Daily Anarchist, though I think some of that is toned down now."

gmaxwell: "While I am delighted that Bitcoin is a big enough tent to include such diversity, I think the names we extend as press contacts should be tend to be politically moderate."

Another excellent recent Jon Matonis podcast is The Great Gold vs Bitcoin Debate: Casey vs Matonis (http://www.goldmoney.com/podcast/the-great-gold-vs-bitcoin-debate-casey-vs-matonis.html) wherein he courteously debates Doug Casey (http://www.caseyresearch.com/cwc) on the relative merits of gold and bitcoin as media of exchange and stores of value. It was recorded just a few days prior to the Consult Hyperion podcast.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=174784.0

Matonis is the man.

My favorite Bitcoin interviewee by far.

Somehow I find it very inappropriate that those three developers are controlling the selection process.

Now this being Bitcoin, what about we just pull out our mining rigs and vote/fight. ;D

Jon Matonis is the man  :)

Yes, this bothers me as well. Perhaps create an actual crowd-sourced list outside of the auspices of the foundation? Popular vote? Everyone put up a satoshi or something for each category?

It's not the Foundation that's controlling the press center selection process; remember, Matonis is on the Foundation's board, it's not like he's going to be censoring himself. The opposition is two core developers (unaffiliated with the Foundation) plus the site maintainer for bitcoin.org. They are ignoring the clear wishes of the community and the press as well as the expressed sympathies for Ver and Matonis from Satoshi, Sirius (who actually owns the domain), and Gavin. Unfortunately there's not much anybody else can do about this unless one of Satoshi, Sirius, or Gavin should choose to more decisively exercise their authority to conclusively remedy the matter.

I've been reading Matonis' pieces in Forbes for a year and had no idea he was an anarchist.  I was just amazed to see such thoughtful commentary in a mainstream publication.  The man has earned his stripes and bitcoin is fortunate to have not only someone who understands the details, but moves discourse forward in very innovative ways.

Am I the only one who pictures Christopher Walken's face when listening to the "nay" dude?