Bitcoin Forum

Don't really need an argument on /. for this one, as it's obvious and should be apparent to anyone who's ever read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

From the wiki:


"Criticism has focused on their similarity to illegal pyramid schemes, price-fixing of products (BITCOIN BOTS, "EARLY ADOPTERS," EXCHANGE OPERATORS MANIPULATING MARKET PRICE), high initial start-up costs, emphasis on recruitment of lower-tiered salespeople over actual sales (RAMPANT SPECULATION VS. REAL ECONOMY), encouraging if not requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company's products (BITCOIN "ECONOMY"), potential exploitation of personal relationships which are used as new sales and recruiting targets (DITTO), complex and sometimes exaggerated compensation schemes (DITTO), and cult-like techniques which some groups use to enhance their members' enthusiasm and devotion (NEED I SAY MORE)."

AND:

"Independent, unsalaried salespeople of multi-level marketing, referred to as distributors (or associates, independent business owners, dealers, franchise owners, sales consultants, consultants, independent agents, BITCOIN MINERS, BITCOIN EVANGELISTS, etc.), represent the company (BITCOIN P2P NETWORK) that produces the products or provides the services they sell (ONLINE TRANSACTION PROCESSING, COMMODITY SPECULATION). They are awarded a commission based upon the volume of product sold through their own sales efforts as well as that of their downline organization (USD ENTERING THE MARKETS).

Independent distributors develop their organizations by either building an active customer base (BITCOIN EVANGELIZING), who buy direct from the company (BITCOIN EXCHANGE OPERATORS), or by recruiting a downline of independent distributors who also build a customer base (BITCOIN MINERS, BITCOIN MERCHANTS) thereby expanding the overall organization. Additionally, distributors can also earn a profit by retailing products they purchased from the company at wholesale price (EARLY ADOPTERS, BITCOIN MINERS)."

What are you trying to say?

Bitcoin closely resembles an MLM scheme...

No... It's not that ;).
Don't you see the difference between Amway and bitcoin? How about difference  between smart and stupid?

It seems you don't know very much about MLM making a blanket statement like that. Nor BitCoin. No matter how many posts you may have made.

Bitcoin is not multi-level marketing. Triplemining is.

Let me clarify that I don't mean to suggest there is a single quantifiable entity running the scam.

Bitcoin is kind of unique in that way, as it's sort of an emergent behavior driven MLM scheme. Quite fascinating really...

How do I profit by recruiting people to use Bitcoin? And how do I profit when those people recruit people to Bitcoin?

Are you a miner?

What's wrong with multi level marketing?  A lot of people have made a ton of money through things like Amway, you just have to believe and be willing to work at it.  It isn't for everyone, but some people would just rather be their own boss instead of working a grueling 9-5.

That said, there isn't much in commong between those things and BitCoin.  It's just a currency.

LOL.

And, it's not a currency.

I'm a Bitcoin user. So how can I profit by recruiting others to use Bitcoin? By becoming a miner?

Bitcoin's requirement of a continuing injection into the market for a currency which isn't used as one, bears similarity to the token-product, recruitment-focused nature of MLM schemes.

Please tell me the different % payouts I get from the different levels of referrals.  Thanks.

Isn't that how any commodity works? Somebody exchanges dollars for something that isn't currency (like Coca Cola) only to later exchange it back to dollars.

I dunno, depends on what you get from CampBX, apparently.

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/9430/ironyz.jpg

Wait, I'm still new to this stuff. What's the Coca-Cola in this example, the Bitcoin or the Dollars?

Ok so Camp bx pays for referrals therefore bitcoin is a MLM... got ya.

 ::)

Refferals only become MLM like when the people you recruit pass a cut of their own recruits up the line.  As I said before, that system works just fine as do refferals but we should be clear about what is what.

The Bitcoins. Although really it doesn't matter, because you could look at either the dollar or the Bitcoins as commodities that one might exchange for the other. When we talk about MLM, we're talking about selling a system of selling a system. When we talk about Bitcoin, we're talking about a digital commodity whose value depends (just as any other commodity) on supply and demand. I can't profit directly just because I get 100 friends to use Bitcoin who then each get 100 of their friends to use Bitcoin.

Oh, see that makes a lot more sense.  I got confused by the Coca Cola example because beyond being a commodity, it is also a consumer product.  The relationship between Bitcoin and Dollars is more like the relationship between Gold and Dollars.  

Even better.  Apmex pays me for referrals, therefore gold is a MLM.

I was simply highlighting the irony there, that's all ;)

Again, I said closely resembles an MLM scheme, not perfectly mirrors it.  It's unique in that the "profits" are distributed, not singular.

Unlike a regular commodity, there is no value inherent to bitcoins, so it's actually even worse of a scheme than true MLM's where you at least end up with some token crap to play around with.

It can be argued that any commodity is merely what people will pay for it, and the next phrase usually involves some assessment of how gold isn't anywhere near as valuable as it's spot price. However, stripped of all speculative value, it DOES still have value.  Any tangible asset does.  Even Beanie Babies are still fun for children to play with...

However bitcoins only have value relative to real currencies as long as people keep injecting value from real currencies.

Profits are not distributed, whoever finds solution first to the next block gets reward.  Bitcoin is and was never intended solely for mining. As Bitcoin grows and matures miners will be minority group performing a task of processing transactions and being rewarded for their effort.

Yeah but what gives the blocks any actual value?

Answer: New blood injecting real currencies into the markets.

I eagerly await someone's attempt to refute my revised OP.

Your parallels make very little sense.

"price-fixing of products (BITCOIN BOTS, "EARLY ADOPTERS," EXCHANGE OPERATORS MANIPULATING MARKET PRICE)" Early adopters have fixed the price? Did they fix it to the 25 dollars it was a few weeks ago or the 13 it's at now?

"emphasis on recruitment of lower-tiered salespeople over actual sales (RAMPANT SPECULATION VS. REAL ECONOMY)" So Bitcoin users are encouraged to get new people involved rather than use their Bitcoins.

Oh, wait, Bitcoin users ALSO encourage each other to spend Bitcoins to support Bitcoin businesses: "encouraging if not requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company's products (BITCOIN "ECONOMY")" Scandalous

I would continue, but it would take me all night to go point by point. So goodnight my brothers in Bitcoin, may the Bitcoins shine on you in the morning and may we all bathe in the glorious light of the future with which Bitcoins will blanket us. All hail Bitcoins!

No. Demand for Bitcoins sets  any real value to it. You don't have to inject real currencies to acquire them, you can sell products or provide service in exchange for bitcoins.

Which very few people chose to do because it makes no sense to take the unnecessary risk and put up with the associated problems inherent to the medium.

* at this very early stage.

I'm not sure I'm following you.  The part you quoted is full of references to Bitcoin, but the link you provided has absolutely no mention of it.  Or did you interject Bitcoin references into the original text to effect some kind of Weird Al Yankovic parody of the actual definition?  It almost looks like you're trying to link the Bitcoin cryptocurrency to MLMs through a painful path of logic based on barely analogous points.  Almost...

*inherent to the medium.

That's entirely unsurprising to me.

As a comment on the current state of bitcoin - I wouldn't argue against this except to say it seems highly likely that some small fraction of this value is actually directly related to the use of bitcoin in trade. It might be that this proportion of the value is a USD cent or much less per bitcoin and all the rest is the speculative value.

It also seems reasonable to me that in the long term, the proportion *could* shift dramatically such that the speculative component is the smaller part.
While bitcoin's future as a powerful widespread currency remains 'possible' in my mind..  I think I differ from many on this forum in thinking that the timeframe for this might be on the order of decades or more.

The technology moves quickly - but that may only help bitcoin to operate in it's little niches.
There is 'distribution friction' which means that there's really nothing driving the desire for the average consumer to hold some tiny fraction of a bitcoin.
To overcome that distribution friction and allow bitcoin to be useful more widely, the per bitcoin value would have to be astronomically higher than it is today.
So what's going to drive bitcoin to even crazier high values? Rampant speculation might spike it up now and then.. but I don't see it holding it there.

lol. Seriously though a lot of your posts on this forum revolve around how you dislike everything. One would have to stretch quite a bit to find any "real" similarities between bitcoin and MLM. Sure the early adopters may appear to be an advantage but it isnt really much of one other than on paper. If I happened to be an early adopter I may have 50000 bitcoins but I do not have liquidity in those bitcoins. I cannot sell them all because the markets are too small and the value would plummet.

There are no residuals associated with bitcoins. MLM has this factor in just about every instance of it. There is no direct incentive to get "new blood" . I don't get paid when somebody new adopts bitcoin. Neither do the early adpoters. Although if you stretch enough I suppose you could argue that everybody gets some value when a new person adopts bitcoin. You cannot really cash in on that value though.

I believe that you are perhaps the ultimate forum troll or at least you are a legend in your own mind.

The parallels are only tenuous in the minds of those trying their best to defend it. To neutral parties who aren't unnecessarily inclined to negative associations (which doesn't include myself, since I've obviously become a staunch opponent), it's a natural comparison.  In fact that is the most oft used description of Bitcoin among people who research it and decide not to "invest" in it ("Seems like a pyramid scam to me").

Yes, I am an iconoclast.  I come here to represent the harsh realities of the medium and vacuum up everyone's fairy farts and sop up the rainbows from their humid pussy parties.

And the only place I'm considered a legend is in my bedroom...







...I've broken three fleshlights this year alone, I'll have you know goddamnit.

Synaptic's path of logic to how Bitcoin = MLM...

Bitcoin = 8 characters long
MLM = 13-12-13 alphabetic index

Now, if you drop the "1" digit you end up with 3-2-3.  The sum of which is 8.  Therefore BITCOIN IS AN MLM!!! https://i.imgur.com/8ZLro.gif

You are a fucking dumbass.

I, I can't really say much else than that. Sorry Mods, but, someone oughta say it.

Didn't Amway "make it"?

Anyways, I am thinking about moving onto this gold mlm stuff after Bitcoin mlm.  You may ask yourself, is this Gold Coin MLM Overrated?

Numis Network is one of those newer companies based on MLM that are creating huge discussions regarding its legitimacy. But when it gets to be researched, it becomes quite clear that this Gold Coin MLM is definitely not overrated rather it is quite true in its validity.

http://davetrosdahl.com/wp-content/themes/davetrosdahl/images/header2.jpg

HI MY NAME IS DAVE...
For over a decade, I've generated tons of leads for businesses across the USA through a series of popular websites, blogs and more. With my extensive knowledge of internet marketing and lead generation, I am now ready to personally help you increase both leads and phone calls.

http://davetrosdahl.com/numis-network-is-this-gold-coin-mlm-overrated/

lol u mad

lol

Not in the least.

It actually brings me joy to call you a fucking dumbass.

Please, post something else fucking stupid so I can berate you further.

Don't really need an argument on /. for this one, as it's obvious and should be apparent to anyone who's ever read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

From the wiki:


"Criticism has focused on their similarity to illegal pyramid schemes, price-fixing of products (BITCOIN BOTS, "EARLY ADOPTERS," EXCHANGE OPERATORS MANIPULATING MARKET PRICE), high initial start-up costs, emphasis on recruitment of lower-tiered salespeople over actual sales (RAMPANT SPECULATION VS. REAL ECONOMY), encouraging if not requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company's products (BITCOIN "ECONOMY"), potential exploitation of personal relationships which are used as new sales and recruiting targets (DITTO), complex and sometimes exaggerated compensation schemes (DITTO), and cult-like techniques which some groups use to enhance their members' enthusiasm and devotion (NEED I SAY MORE)."

AND:

"Independent, unsalaried salespeople of multi-level marketing, referred to as distributors (or associates, independent business owners, dealers, franchise owners, sales consultants, consultants, independent agents, BITCOIN MINERS, BITCOIN EVANGELISTS, etc.), represent the company (BITCOIN P2P NETWORK) that produces the products or provides the services they sell (ONLINE TRANSACTION PROCESSING, COMMODITY SPECULATION). They are awarded a commission based upon the volume of product sold through their own sales efforts as well as that of their downline organization (USD ENTERING THE MARKETS).

Independent distributors develop their organizations by either building an active customer base (BITCOIN EVANGELIZING), who buy direct from the company (BITCOIN EXCHANGE OPERATORS), or by recruiting a downline of independent distributors who also build a customer base (BITCOIN MINERS, BITCOIN MERCHANTS) thereby expanding the overall organization. Additionally, distributors can also earn a profit by retailing products they purchased from the company at wholesale price (EARLY ADOPTERS, BITCOIN MINERS)."

Well since most people compare it to some sort of pyramid scheme then it must be true is your main premise? I would say that most people barely understand the world around them so it must not exist. People generally do not understand bitcoin at first blush and try to jump to the conclusion that it must be a pyramid scheme or some other form of MLM. They barely understand those either.

It could be argued that the entire monetary system is a pyramid scheme because there is incentive to get people to use it. Children are sent to school in order to learn how to be good drones and also how to be good consumers. They are inundated daily with commercial nonsense in order to partake of this monetary system. The only people who benefit from this are big bankers like rothschilds, rockefellers, jp morgan etc.


And then there is bitcoin. A currency/ commodity  that is owned by nobody and everybody at the same time. There are no big start up costs. My start in this cost me nothing as i already had the equipment. Just about anyone who is floating around the internet has the required equipment. Some equipment is more efficient than others though.

Incidentally your main argument is based upon wikipedia which is inherently weak. Anyone can make a wiki page which other less than intelligent people can quote for truth.

I think bitcoin has alot of inherent problems but i also think it could solve many problems facing the living souls on this plane today.

lol

Thanks,

You're a dumbass who has nothing of value to say of their own.  You waltz into a thread with your faux cleverness and try to appeal to your native audience and garner camaraderie though laughing at a perceived pariah. You use sheepish humor as a defense against an uncomfortable presentation against your chosen hobby/obsession.

But that's ok, because here, you're a special and unique flower, and we love you.

My main premise is that the bitcoin speculation market is a bullshit three (at least) ring circus, and that bitcoin zealots are no better the retards who think they're going to become millionaires working from home selling fucking gumball machines or whatever the fuck else.

Jesus, just go watch some of the bitcoin retards on You Tube as a perfect example. I'm embarrassed BY PROXY watching their videos...

OP: What do you think of the MLM comparison to a hypothetical Bitcoin where the value is related to the difficulty of the block where the coins were mined (something like BCP)?

The lack of relationship between mined-coin difficulty and mined-coin value seems like the biggest reason for the "pyramid scheme" accusation (though I guess that's not exactly the same as MLM).  Newcomers to Bitcoin are faced with having to figure out whether this lack of relationship was a) necessary for what is already a very difficult concept to understand, b) an oversight, or c) an intentional, integral part of what amounts to a complicated scam.  What should be obvious is that the soundness of a technological solution to an economic problem shouldn't require one to guess the intentions of the original author-- which, by the way, is why I think Bitcoin is doomed to failure.

I don't know enough about economics to say whether something like BCP would be successful or not, but I think the "pyramid scheme" question would be a nonstarter since early adopters would have no other incentive to draw in newcomers than to see the system succeed.

lol.. wait.. hahah holy $h1t.  You're serious with this thread, aren't you?  Wow. hahah wow...

Wait, I thought your main premise was that the Bitcoin project is an MLM, or was that a lie?  You keep switching your stories.  Just what is your main premise?

I think that for all the faggoty adulation that Satoshi receives by his acolytes ("Satoshi is a genius." I've read more than once), Bitcoin is fundamentally flawed and it seems to me that someone so fucking clever should have come up with a way to base the block difficulty on some standard of economic activity and not the absolutely retarded metric of how many people are chomping at the bit for their own blocks.

I've already designed an alternative blockchain myself that addresses this, and many more examples of the massive stupidity inherent to the Bitcoin system, but I'm certainly not going to share it here, and it's unlikely it will ever be published by myself since I'm just a lowly web developer.

However, it's really rather telling that I was able to solve the *hypothertical* economic problems of Bitcoin, and Satoshi wasn't.  Of course, Satoshi never purported to be an economist.  He's a cryptographer, and he solved a very interesting cryptographic problem. However, his proof-of-concept should never have become what is has, until there was a functioning economic underpinning to the creation, distribution, and long term strategy of the currency to begin with.

I never once said it WAS an MLM.  I said it shared characteristics of an MLM. The point of the thread was to spur meaningful discussion of why this is and what can be done about it, though my personal premise is that Bitcoin is bullshit and anything to be taken seriously really should be so easily compared to such bullshit marketing schemes.

I can actually agree with most of this, except for chaining block difficulty with economic activity alone.  It would make more sense to base it off a hybrid of block generation velocity, economic activity, and remaining blocks yet to be found.  IMHO anyway.

I agree that speculation is bad. I would much rather be able to go to my local store and by stuff with bitcoins. But all markets suffer from heavy speculation they always have.





Ahh now all your posts make sense. You were only laying the foundation for adoption of your special block chain.  I think the difficulty metric the way it is is rather elegant in that it keeps generation close to a constant. Assuming your special chain uses difficulty of x while economic activity is y and if y rises then so to does x economic activity would be much the same as it is now. If the opposite is true then value would decrease as economic activity increases.

So by all these posts that you have made berating bitcoin is just a sly way "in your eyes" of fomenting dissent and getting people to move to your chain. Which to me is funny since all the whining you have done thus far about early adopter advantage and what not.

Not a bad opinion. But again, isn't is funny how obviously stupid the current block generation and distribution scheme is? And is yet vehemently defended by the retarded speculators who want to make bank off of it?

Like I said, my block chain DESIGN will likely never see the light of day.  I make webapps and sites. I will likely never be proficient enough in a statically typed, compiled language to program a fully functioning alternative blockchain to my specifications. So, no.  I'm trying to foment dissent to grab mindshare.

That being said, the whole "generation constant" is unnecessary and imparts no inherent advantages. It's mainly just an empty talking point and simply incidental to having to have SOME kind of functioning distribution scheme.  The fact is that dynamic generation is superior, because when it's pegged to acual USEFUL metrics of the blockchain, it allows for the NATURAL and harmonious expansion of network capacity. In contrast to the mindless "lets just make it a geometric scale with a constant distribution rate, cause that sounds like a good idea."

The easiest way to know right now that the current setup of Bitcoin is completely suspect is the fact that these kinds of questions even get brought up.  I mean, just try and imagine this office conversation:

Me: Hey guys, I think I've found a way to make our code a lot more efficient.

Office mate #1: Your changes smell like a Ponzi scheme to me.

Office mate #2: I don't know about that, but if you think about the details, it's just self-evident that it is not a multi-level marketing scheme.

A reasonable system would never have these kinds of questions brought up.

No, the reason the current setup is quantitatively corrupt is that many of the same criticisms of an MLM apply to what supposedly should become the perfect reserve currency for the entire World.

If in your clever little allegory "You" said, "Oh, and whoever starts writing code for this project first gets paid upwards of 1000% more per line than anyone who writes code afterward, but ONLY if you can convince more people to start writing code now, which shouldn't be too difficult since they might get paid upwards of 100% more per line than the next guy.  Oh, AND this program is set up to become the all knowing AI that solves a problem humanity has been having as long as history, you should really tell everyone about what a utopia it could be if we write it. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread!" then of course the picture becomes a bit clearer...

I'm glad bitcoin is going through this now. I want it to be attacked from all sides, bashed by every resource, scrutinized and proclaimed a failure right out of the gate. If the underlying system can't survive this, then it wasn't meant to survive. Seeing how we haven't gone down to zero in relative valuation compared to < insert currency here >, and the participation in the network measured in TeraHashes per second hasn't declined in any significant way.

I'd say this bodes well for the future.

We've got until the end of August to disprove some of the more fantastic 'bubble' claims, then after that it is only a matter of time before other obstructions are surmounted and toppled.

Please, do your best to kill bitcoin - it only becomes stronger after every obstacle is defeated.

Amen. I'm no opponent towards a wholly Darwinist outcome.

Bitcoin will become all that it's meant to ever be. Nothing can stop that.

If it's meant to be a small community of disenfranchised fools who saw stars in puddle of shit, so be it.

If it's the world's next greatest financial instrument, so be it.

What makes an accounting ledger (read: bitcoin) a commodity?

Now, the bitcoin network as a whole has a market price, which will adjust based on the value and volume of things (e.g. fiat currencies, bananas, etc.) that are sold for bitcoins; but a unit of account itself (a.k.a. a bitcoin transaction) is just another credit/debit entry in that network. So, when you speculate on the value of BTC in terms of fiat currencies, you're trying to price the act of recording a transaction. Essentially, you're trying to figure out a wage that an accountant should be paid for tracking all bitcoin-denominated transactions.

But don't we already have accountants for the bitcoin network? And don't we pay them in bitcoin bounties and transaction fees?

LOL!! Brillant!  :D :D :D

USD/money is a commodity, and something like 95% of it exists in digital form, as just records in an accounting ledger. So...

Thanks for bringing that up!
I was trying to draw the following distinction:

Ledger > Bitcoin, Dollar (Fiat money)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money

Commodity > Gold Coins... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_money

As you can see, since bitcoin is a general (accounting) ledger, there's no reason to treat it as a commodity?

Synaptic's claims are outright ridiculous, and I assumed he was trolling.  But it also seems like no one has given a thorough reply to his specific (moonbat) criticisms, so, at risk of feeding a troll, I will do it.


You misunderstand what is meant by price-fixing of products in the context of MLM -- that criticism refers to how they keep the products' prices fixed regardless of the economics, through a contract between all of the distributors and the company.  There is no such price fixing in Bitcoin in that sense -- it's too decentralized for anyone to conspire to fix the price of anything in bitcoins.  Also, bots aren't an official part of the system.

As for the early adopter thing, we've been over that here a thousand times: this is no different from buying shares at an IPO that turns out to become hugely profitable.  If it turns out that your investing in the IPO enables significant productivity gains, you make a lot of money.  Likewise if you "invested" early on to get Bitcoin off the ground and make it a respectable currency, you could make a big profit if it gets to that stage.


No, the software is free, it costs virtually nothing to start trading stuff for bitcoins.


Who's doing the emphasizing?  The project leads sure as hell don't, and you don't have to deal with any kind of indoctrination from that kind of person in order to use bitcoins.


No one's required, and they're only "encouraged" to use those vendors because, um, those are where you can spend your bitcoins.  It would be different if people were pressured to make non-Bitcoin purchases from vendors that accept Bitcoin, but that's not happening, and if it were, it's not because of the "owners" of the non-existent "Bitcoin company".


WTF?  Most people heard about this online, not through some "personal relationship", and unlike MLM, you're not required to go through an "upline" or licensed agent or whatever to get involved.


What's the "Bitcoin compensation scheme"?  Are you talking about the transparent miner policies?


Alright, where are these cult-like Bitcoin activities?  Where's the Bitcoin worship meeting?  Where's the pledging fealty to a leader, etc?


Er, the existence of independent distributors, and commission-based salespeople isn't what MLM is criticized for -- that exists everywhere.  You're just misreading the article now.


Biggest phail.  There is no "bitcoin company", and the p2p network is not at all like one.  The transaction processing fees and block rewards exist simply because enough people follow a protocol (which they do to ensure their transactions are not rejected), not because of some corporate compensation scheme.


Complete non-sequitur.  You've given no explanation for how Bitcoin has a "downline"-based compensation scheme or organization.


That's not "building a customer base" in the sense of MLM, which would involve a group of people you have exclusive sales rights to -- which can't even happen with the way Bitcoin works.


There is no "the" company, certainly not one that sells at some "wholesale price".  There are, rather, numerous buyers and sellers (you don't have to go through an exchange!) that compete, yielding a market-driven price.


Another complete non-sequitur.  How are these miners and merchants anything like the "downline distributors" of MLM?


Unless the non-fixed price happens to fall or something.

Seriously, I have no idea what you're on about.  Maybe too many bitcoiners are fanatical, but beyond that, I don't see how you are justifying anything more than a superficial resemblance between Bitcoin and MLM (and in a way that would indict the stock/bond market, IPOs, etc as well).  And I just wasted, well, too much time responding to a non-argument.

If you want to be taken seriously -- and I do want to know any negative aspects of bitcoin -- please describe, specifically what the negative aspects of Bitcoin are and how they resemble MLM.  Don't just quote a criticism of MLM, mention a kind of Bitcoin user, and expect me to see the connection.

If I don't get a serious reply to this, you're going on "ignore".

I just got trolled, didn't I?  ::)

Hahaha.



Whoosh. That's the sound of you missing the point.

why you guys carry on troll thread?

guy admitted his trollinz numerous times.
quite a mean little fellow too, having seen him around multiple times just being mean to people by his own ommision for no reason other than his enjoyment.

MLM is one of the most effective ways to sell something, and it is all around us.

The nightclub that gives you a free limo if you bring 10 friends is using a MLM scheme.
Your house is marketed and sold under MLM.
The millions of retail jobs in North America pay commission to the seller, the store that owned the merchandise, and the distributor that sent it to them.  MLM

MLMs were looped in with "pyramid schemes for some reason, and that gave them a bad name.  The biggest difference in a true pyramid scheme is that you can never make more money than a person above you.  People on the bottom of the pyramid schemes make the least money.   All Pyramids are MLM.  Not all MLM's are pyramids.

Bitcoin is neither a MLM or it's subset Pyramid Scheme.  It has the same value to the buyer and seller regardless of how each was introduced.

Hey Synaptic is famous!    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_M-lildu8w