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[znort987]

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[Matthew N. Wright]

I don't have the patience to create an account and address the uninformed opinions
posted in that thread, but in case someone has a penny arcade account and wants
to chime in:

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/164015/what-are-bitcoins

Don't bother. They're ignorant children who think fiat is "real money".

[DeathAndTaxes]

I wouldn't waste your time.  

The bad news is the posting style is closed ended.  These aren't people looking for a discussion.  These are people who already "know" Bitcoin is a scam/stupid/pointless/unworkable/etc.  They already know and you aren't going to change that.

Which brings us to the good news.  They already know about Bitcoin.  What will change their mind is time and mindshare.  In 1 year, 2 years, 10 years (each person is different) they will form an more informed opinion organically.  Mind share evolves by having a brand (and yes in this case Bitcoin -big B is a brand) exposed to the consumer over and over and over.  It isn't active advertising.  It isn't trying to cause a reaction in the user it is that always present exposure which convinces the consumer this brand is legit/global/here.  So the skeptic who sees Bitcoin accepted at this online store, and by that charity.  sees it mentioned on this TV program, and that magazine article, etc, etc, etc slowly realizes they may not have all the fact.  "Wait if all these people are interested in Bitcoin what do they know that I don't".

At THAT POINT is when you can convince them of the merits.  They likely will come to you asking for info.

Trying to convince people who already "know" is pointless.  My prediction if someone tries is a whole bunch of trolling, cursing, name calling, and eventually the thread gets locked and nobody (on either side) changed the opinion of anyone else in the thread.

[austonst]

That was painful to read. One of the more annoying repeated points was calling Bitcoin a scam because early adopters will make money if it takes off. I'd say they deserve it for taking the risk! Bitcoin probably has the best strategy for mitigating the early adopter bonus by letting anyone mine and having no pre-creation of coins except for maybe the genesis block (and that can't even be spent). How would someone create a currency that doesn't benefit early adopters? Force long-time holders to give up their money to newcomers?

But, DeathAndTaxes is right. We should probably just leave them to their introductory macroeconomics textbooks. It's a shame the OP there got blasted with that negativity; he seemed somewhat interested.

[Maged]

Trying to convince people who already "know" is pointless.  My prediction if someone tries is a whole bunch of trolling, cursing, name calling, and eventually the thread gets locked and nobody (on either side) changed the opinion of anyone else in the thread.

Not to mention get pretty high on Google. If there's one thing to keep in mind, it's this: the more responses a thread gets, the better Google rank it will have, especially if it's on a major site. The last thing we want to do is is promote a thread that's negative towards Bitcoin.

[niko]

I think that engageing in discussions with those who are cautious, critical or distrusting of bitcoin is a good thing. Sure, some of the criticism may be uninformed - and by not responding to it, you help these fallacies to spread - but some of it is perfectly valid, and will help you see things better. We now have sensible answers to most of those criticisms and questions, but if no one hears these answers, bitcoin will never grow. I've said this many times: bitcoin wiki has a great page dedicated to Public relations. Go out and use it. Don't explain bitcoin from your narrow perspective, always try to understand their position, their fears, their biases, and educate them with this in mind.

[Gabi]

We aren't here to do the homework for them, if they think bitcoin is a scam well, their choice, they are the ones wasting an opportunity

[grantbdev]

That was painful to read. One of the more annoying repeated points was calling Bitcoin a scam because early adopters will make money if it takes off. I'd say they deserve it for taking the risk! Bitcoin probably has the best strategy for mitigating the early adopter bonus by letting anyone mine and having no pre-creation of coins except for maybe the genesis block (and that can't even be spent). How would someone create a currency that doesn't benefit early adopters? Force long-time holders to give up their money to newcomers?

Life must be a scam, all the early adopters (i.e. older people) have so much more money and knowledge than me!

[evoorhees]

Heheheh let's complete the sentence...

Early adopters of ____________ get rich if the price goes up.

I propose that any investment asset/commodity/real estate/stock/etc can fit in the blank.