Bitcoin's Great Schism - A Compendium

[alani123]

This is how human nature works sadly. I've gotten to accept that even with bitcoin, certain people don't really care about the potential risks as long as their beliefs are the ones followed. If this block size crisis has offered us anything then that is the testing of voting mechanisms. We saw how node numbers can be manipulated, how blocks can be filled with trash clogging the mempool and how easy it was to deploy a sybil attack against consider.it.

One robust voting system was the one miners use to indicate their block size proposal preference but then again this is only voicing their opinion, along with activation threshold schemes. In my opinion, at this time, only the most vocal supporters of certain ideas are voicing their opinions with bitcoin. This has resulted to many ad hominems and insults towards the people that with their own skills have been helping maintain and develope bitcoin's code.

This whole affair reminds me of IRL politics, where many people fall for moralistic fallacies instead of discussing possible courses of action, ideas and proposals. With Bitcoin, it'd be ideal if more of it's users could understand the technology well enough or better yet know how to understand code themselves.

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[hdbuck]

fork teh fork: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/43xcdp/i_created_a_new_version_of_bitcoin_classic_now/czlsjaj

Classic being forked to another version with 95% threshold.

Ssssplitter?!

[iCEBREAKER]

fork teh fork: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/43xcdp/i_created_a_new_version_of_bitcoin_classic_now/czlsjaj

Classic being forked to another version with 95% threshold.

Ssssplitter?!

Frap.doc - "Wait, I thought *WE* were the Classic Peoples Front?!?"

Gavin - "No, he's over there!"

 

+OP

8/27/15
BIP101 implementation flaws
http://organofcorti.blogspot.com/2015/08/bip101-implementation-flaws.html

9/14/15
Supermajority and BIP101 activation, part 2
http://organofcorti.blogspot.com/2015/09/supermajority-and-bip101-activation.html

1/29/16
Hard Fork Risks and Why 95% Should be the Standard.
http://bitledger.info/hard-fork-risks-and-why-95-should-be-the-standard/

[iCEBREAKER]

OP+

6/22/15
Bitcoin’s Ironic Crisis
https://medium.com/@bramcohen/bitcoin-s-ironic-crisis-32226a85e39f

8/20/15
Nuclear option of forking the codebase should only be used as a last resort
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3hp190/charlie_lee_nuclear_option_of_forking_the/

9/9/15
Measuring Decentralization
http://www.truthcoin.info/blog/measuring-decentralization/

9/14/15
Adam Back on the Overlooked Importance of Full Nodes in Bitcoin
http://coinjournal.net/adam-back-on-the-overlooked-importance-of-full-nodes-in-bitcoin/

1/18/16
KEEP CALM AND BITCOIN ON
https://medium.com/@BitFuryGroup/keep-calm-and-bitcoin-on-4f29d581276

1/28/16
The Governance of Anarchists
https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/the-governance-of-anarchists-blockchain-letter-january-2016-798842f468de

2/8/16
PSA: Clearing up some misconceptions about full nodes
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/44rx5k/psa_clearing_up_some_misconceptions_about_full/

2/10/16
A Call for Consensus
https://medium.com/@bitcoinroundtable/a-call-for-consensus-d96d5560d8d6

[tommygunyeah]

I see many people making fun of it, but it is actually the first time I see something concrete being made about those discussions.

[iCEBREAKER]

I see many people making fun of it, but it is actually the first time I see something concrete being made about those discussions.

We're writing the history of the future.  It's important to get the facts in order, so they cannot be (retroactively) distorted by social malleability attacks.

We might be able to achieve a kind of "conductive wire" of ideas with this chronological ordering of threads about block size and related issues. It will be interesting when this is all over to go back and see how people's minds and ideas developed throughout this "Great Schism"

Added to OP:

5/5/15
The capacity cliff
https://medium.com/@octskyward/the-capacity-cliff-586d1bf7715e

5/7/15
Crash landing
https://medium.com/@octskyward/crash-landing-f5cc19908e32

8/15/15
Why is Bitcoin forking?
https://medium.com/faith-and-future/why-is-bitcoin-forking-d647312d22c1

8/19/15
What happens when the managers and investors ignore the engineers and scientists
https://twitter.com/NickSzabo4/status/634131738063581184

8/27/15
An XT FAQ
https://medium.com/@octskyward/an-xt-faq-38e78aa32ff0

1/14/16
The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment
https://medium.com/@octskyward/the-resolution-of-the-bitcoin-experiment-dabb30201f7

2/11/16
Hard Fork Conspiracy Treacherous
http://www.riddellwilliams.com/blog/articles/post/hard-fork-conspiracy-treacherous

[iCEBREAKER]

OP++

2/12/16
Double Billing is not ‘Healthy Competition’
https://medium.com/@bramcohen/double-billing-is-not-healthy-competition-b698c345b11e

[iCEBREAKER]

Thanks again to my well-placed source (let's call him Deep Block) for this astonishing revelation:

2/11/16
Ed Felten: What does the White House think of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin?
https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-White-House-think-of-cryptocurrencies-such-as-bitcoin

I am also watching with interest the debate within the Bitcoin community about the block size limit. (To be clear, the government is paying attention to that debate but are not participating in it.)

 

 


"Our country is a peace loving democracy."

'Of course it is...'

[iCEBREAKER]

++

1/10/15
The Hard Fork Missile Crisis
http://qntra.net/2015/01/the-hard-fork-missile-crisis

1/12/15
Let's address some of the more common pseudo-arguments raised by the very stupid people that like the Gavin scamcoin proposal
http://trilema.com/2015/lets-address-some-of-the-more-common-pseudo-arguments-raised-by-the-very-stupid-people-that-like-the-gavin-scamcoin-proposal/

8/18/15
MeniRosenfeld comments on "It's time for a break: About the recent mess & temporary new rules"
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3h9cq4/its_time_for_a_break_about_the_recent_mess/cu6udfe

2/16/16
I disapprove of Bitcoin splitting, but I’ll defend to the death its right to do it
http://fieryspinningsword.com/2016/02/13/i-dont-want-bitcoin-to-split-but-ill-defend-to-death-its-right-to-do-it/

[iCEBREAKER]

+OP

1/23/16
Lesson learned from the Classic coup attempt or why Core needs to prepare a GPU only PoW
https://medium.com/@vcorem/lesson-learned-from-the-classic-coup-attempt-or-why-core-needs-to-prepare-a-gpu-only-pow-6a9afe18e4b0

2/9/16
Why My Faith in Bitcoin has Been Restored
http://bravetheworld.com/2016/02/09/faith-bitcoin-restored/

2/20/16
Bitcoin Roundtable Consensus
https://medium.com/@bitcoinroundtable/bitcoin-roundtable-consensus-266d475a61ff

[hdbuck]

"bitcoin is not a democracy, change must have near universal agreement"
"a democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch"
"we already ahve political currencies: USD, EUR, CNY"

[danielW]

I think something about keccak might be worth listing

Here is Lukes pull request https://github.com/bitcoinclassic/bitcoinclassic/pull/6

It might confuse people in the future though. They wont understand the significance and will be confused as to why its a pull on classic not core.

The message written by Mircea Popescu gives some context and is kinda fun. http://deedbot.org/bundle-393913.txt

A post by Greg Maxwell explaining how changing mining algorithm was always considered the defence against 51% attack which is what they consider classic would also be usefull but I cant find it. 

[iCEBREAKER]

I think something about keccak might be worth listing

Here is Lukes pull request https://github.com/bitcoinclassic/bitcoinclassic/pull/6

It might confuse people in the future though. They wont understand the significance and will be confused as to why its a pull on classic not core.

The message written by Mircea Popescu gives some context and is kinda fun. http://deedbot.org/bundle-393913.txt

A post by Greg Maxwell explaining how changing mining algorithm was always considered the defence against 51% attack which is what they consider classic would also be usefull but I cant find it.  

That's all great fun, but those individual pieces would be puzzling to an outsider jumping in.

I think Corem's "GPU PoW needed" post covers most of the concepts.

Is there a canonical Finney or Satoshi quote on changing PoW in the event of a 51% attack?  IIRC the idea was part of the design from the start.

[iCEBREAKER]

OP+

1/1/16
Time for Bitcoin Users to Reclaim Their Voice
http://hackingdistributed.com/2016/01/03/time-for-bitcoin-user-voice/

1/2/16
Bitcoin’s Elegant Upgrade Mechanism: Miner Voting
https://medium.com/@barmstrong/bitcoin-s-elegant-upgrade-mechanism-miner-voting-66faa35d27af

2/22/16
Peter Todd Disputes Claim That 75% Majority Hard Forks are Safe
http://coinjournal.net/peter-todd-disputes-claim-that-75-majority-hard-forks-are-safe/

2/22/16
Segregated Witness and Hardware Wallets
https://medium.com/@Ledger/segregated-witness-and-hardware-wallets-cc88ba532fb3

2/22/16
Lesser known reasons to keep blocks small, in the words of Bitcoin Core developers
https://medium.com/@elliotolds/lesser-known-reasons-to-keep-blocks-small-in-the-words-of-bitcoin-core-developers-44861968185e

[iCEBREAKER]

op+

2/18/13
How a floating blocksize limit inevitably leads towards centralization
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=144895.0

1/14/16
Why Bitcoin's Decentralization Matters
http://bluematt.bitcoin.ninja/2016/01/14/decentralization/

2/22/16
Coinbase CEO Rejects Proposal for Bitcoin Hard Fork in 2017
http://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-ceo-rejects-bitcoin-hard-fork/

2/23/16
Bitcoin Roundtable Consensus: Wladimir Says ‘I’m All For It’
http://coinjournal.net/bitcoin-roundtable-consensus-wladimir-says-im/

We need some entries for Oct/Nov/Dec 2015!

[cjmoles]

What about this article?  I think it deserves a mention here also because it points out some of the concerns of those not directly involved in its development but who might hold an interest in the scalability.  I found it pretty interesting and germane to this discussion.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/mit-media-lab-director-joi-ito-speaks-up-on-bitcoin-technical-development-environment-cm585158

Borrowed from this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1377654.0

[iCEBREAKER]

What about this article?  I think it deserves a mention here also because it points out some of the concerns of those not directly involved in its development but who might hold an interest in the scalability.  I found it pretty interesting and germane to this discussion.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/mit-media-lab-director-joi-ito-speaks-up-on-bitcoin-technical-development-environment-cm585158

Borrowed from this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1377654.0

That's a good overview, thanks!

[iCEBREAKER]

OP++

1/3/13
The MAX_BLOCK_SIZE fork
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=140233.0

2/26/16
MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito Speaks Up on Bitcoin Technical Development Environment
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/mit-media-lab-director-joi-ito-speaks-up-on-bitcoin-technical-development-environment-cm585158

3/14/16
A date with Sybil
https://medium.com/@laurentmt/a-date-with-sybil-bdb33bd91ac3

3/15/16
BTCC's Samson Mow on Block Size: The Bitcoin Community Must See Through Manipulation, Keep Calm and Write Code
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/btcc-s-sampson-mow-on-block-size-the-bitcoin-community-must-see-through-manipulation-keep-calm-and-write-code-1458061357

[iCEBREAKER]

12/16/15
[bitcoin-dev] Block size: It's economics & user preparation & moral hazard
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-December/011974.html

3/21/16
Contentious Blocksize Wars
https://medium.com/@slush/contentious-blocksize-wars-6fd7c07f9d90

3/22/16
A Closer Look at Reddit Vote Manipulation About Bitcoin
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/a-closer-look-at-reddit-vote-manipulation-about-bitcoin-1458682699

[iCEBREAKER]

+

2/25/16
Blocksonly mode BW savings, the limits of efficient block xfer, and better relay
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1377345.0

3/31/16
BTCC Funding, Development Report, and Hard-Forks
https://petertodd.org/2016/btcc-funding

4/2/16
Clearing the FUD around Segwit
http://www.achow101.com/2016/04/Segwit-FUD-Clearup