Alternatives to Bitcoin Foundation

[Kouye]

Forking this from here:

What if we actually didn't need any pyramidal politically fucked-up foundation, and just BTC-crowd-funded any need to hire honest lawyers/developers/senators/head-hunters/etc. ?

The wonderful part about Bitcoin is that you can do whatever you want, just because this is the first bitcoin foundation doesn't mean it will or should be the only one.  The people who make up the foundation think this is the way to go about it, and they've put their money where their mouths are.  I genuinely encourage you to set up a bounty-only Bitcoin foundation, I would happily be a member of that one too and help in any way I could.

First, I'm sorry this little rant of mine caused the original thread to derail a bit.

Then, To answer to mindtomatter, I'm have no precise idea about the way it could be handled.

But ideally, it would help cover needs ranging from:
- Funding lawyers to help an important BTC actor against a government complaint.
- Helping a small willing merchant to accept BTC instead of stinky bills.
- Funding charismatic spokesmen to go spread the BTC idea in decisive meetings/conferences.
- Funding a teacher who would locally organize (free) training sessions so people understand the basics
- Funding scam-busters to keep the bitcoin users safe and help spreading the idea bitcoin is much harder to steal than FIAT
- etc.

I'm not sure how it should be presented. Maybe a mix between bounty and pre-crowd-funding.

But I know I'd much rather have the possibility to give or get a few tips for organizing local training sessions, while having the power to help renting the best lawyers services in case governments start a war on bitcoin.

I just don't want a couple shady people who hate and try to double-cross each other to take those decisions for me, using coins I would have sent them in hope they "represent" me.

Bitcoin allows me to easily "upvote" the actions I consider important, I just lack the informative platform that would help me being aware in an easily digestible way. The best I found so far is this forum, but you have to read 1000 useless posts (which I admit producing, too) before you find one good initiative.

Maybe a good start would just be to have a visible "Help Bitcoin" sub here, regrouping all the actions people are taking, including the BF.

[will1982]

We should see how well this Bitcoin Foundation goes first

[DoogieHouser]

Forking this from here:

What if we actually didn't need any pyramidal politically fucked-up foundation, and just BTC-crowd-funded any need to hire honest lawyers/developers/senators/head-hunters/etc. ?

The wonderful part about Bitcoin is that you can do whatever you want, just because this is the first bitcoin foundation doesn't mean it will or should be the only one.  The people who make up the foundation think this is the way to go about it, and they've put their money where their mouths are.  I genuinely encourage you to set up a bounty-only Bitcoin foundation, I would happily be a member of that one too and help in any way I could.

First, I'm sorry this little rant of mine caused the original thread to derail a bit.

Then, To answer to mindtomatter, I'm have no precise idea about the way it could be handled.

But ideally, it would help cover needs ranging from:
- Funding lawyers to help an important BTC actor against a government complaint.
- Helping a small willing merchant to accept BTC instead of stinky bills.
- Funding charismatic spokesmen to go spread the BTC idea in decisive meetings/conferences.
- Funding a teacher who would locally organize (free) training sessions so people understand the basics
- Funding scam-busters to keep the bitcoin users safe and help spreading the idea bitcoin is much harder to steal than FIAT
- etc.

I'm not sure how it should be presented. Maybe a mix between bounty and pre-crowd-funding.

But I know I'd much rather have the possibility to give or get a few tips for organizing local training sessions, while having the power to help renting the best lawyers services in case governments start a war on bitcoin.

I just don't want a couple shady people who hate and try to double-cross each other to take those decisions for me, using coins I would have sent them in hope they "represent" me.

Bitcoin allows me to easily "upvote" the actions I consider important, I just lack the informative platform that would help me being aware in an easily digestible way. The best I found so far is this forum, but you have to read 1000 useless posts (which I admit producing, too) before you find one good initiative.

Maybe a good start would just be to have a visible "Help Bitcoin" sub here, regrouping all the actions people are taking, including the BF.

I became a member of the Bitcoin Foundation a few months ago. As you may know, Jon Martonis took over as the Director, and they added two new seats to the board of directors. The final election will be held next week. For the American candidates, the biggest issue was the "Washington Problem". For the international candidates, it was completely different, but the Americans saw any difference of opinion as being biased, even though Bitcoin fares better in most countries outside the USA.

There was an "international-flavoured" thread in one of the Bitcoin Foundation's election forum, and it upset a lot of Americans. Jon Martonis didn't really get involved--just stated what the issues of the day were. We pretty much all agreed that a split in the Foundation would not be in the best interest of Bitcoin. If you get a chance, listen to the candidate debate on LetsTalkBitcoin.com, and pay special attention to Joerg. Sure, Elizabeth has a lot of followers, but Joerg's track record blows everybody else out of the water.

I think the best thing right now is to collaborate with Joerg, and see that he gets elected to the new seat on the Bitcoin Foundation Board of Directors.

(my two bitcents)

[Carlton Banks]

I'm calling for a stickied list of core-dev donation addresses in this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=293842.0

I don't want to give money to a bunch of political wannabes and their trope of cheerleaders, I want an alternative method for the development team to feel free to devote time to the project commensurate with what they're getting by way of donation. I suggest a few approaches to this in the OP, help out with any other suggestions and discussion if you will.

[DoogieHouser]

I'm calling for a stickied list of core-dev donation addresses in this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=293842.0

I don't want to give money to a bunch of political wannabes and their trope of cheerleaders, I want an alternative method for the development team to feel free to devote time to the project commensurate with what they're getting by way of donation. I suggest a few approaches to this in the OP, help out with any other suggestions and discussion if you will.

For whatever it's worth, Joerg isn't a political wannabe... He was the first business in Germany to accept Bitcoin, and has done nothing but promote Bitcoin for the last two years. He's made over a million media contacts, and is staunchly opposed to spending BTC on lobbyists. 

[smoothie]

Bitcoin Unfoundation? 

[justusranvier]

http://falkvinge.net/2013/02/14/swarmwise-the-tactical-manual-to-changing-the-world-chapter-one/

[Carlton Banks]

I'm calling for a stickied list of core-dev donation addresses in this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=293842.0

I don't want to give money to a bunch of political wannabes and their trope of cheerleaders, I want an alternative method for the development team to feel free to devote time to the project commensurate with what they're getting by way of donation. I suggest a few approaches to this in the OP, help out with any other suggestions and discussion if you will.

For whatever it's worth, Joerg isn't a political wannabe... He was the first business in Germany to accept Bitcoin, and has done nothing but promote Bitcoin for the last two years. He's made over a million media contacts, and is staunchly opposed to spending BTC on lobbyists. 

Joerg would be my choice, but I think voting for policies instead of people would be an actual democratic model, especially as that's how we've been voting up till now (i.e. if we did not approve of the direction the development was going in, forum discussion would highlight it and whichever new client version would not get adopted. That's how you vote on software, for software improvements, not fleshbags with their own agenda)

[Kouye]

http://falkvinge.net/2013/02/14/swarmwise-the-tactical-manual-to-changing-the-world-chapter-one/

Interesting read, thanks for the link.
Tried to find the most accurate TL;DR quote and finally opted for this one:

If you want leadership in a swarm, you stand up and say, “I’m going to do X, because I think it will accomplish Y. Anybody who wants to join me in doing X is more than welcome.” Anybody in the swarm can stand up and say this, and everybody is encouraged to.

I really like that approach.