How do we change people's mentality about Bitcoin

[Morblias]

When I mention Bitcoin to people, all they think of is illegal activities and hackers stealing all of your Bitcoins. How do we change this and let them know how amazing Bitcoins really are compared to something such as Paypal? We all know Bitcoins are 10000000000000000x better then Paypal, but how do we let others know this?

For example:
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1670z8/paypal_guilty_until_proven_innocent_account_freeze/c7td3pg

Obsolite_Processor 3 points 17 hours ago
Bitcoin has shown to be far less secure then paypal.
How many bitcoin exchanges have been hacked now? Dozens? Hundreds?
The only business in the world that accepts them sells drugs on the internet. Otherwise you're dealing with some random dude in a basement somewhere who will give you real money for your bit coins, assuming he has any real money to begin with, and won't take your bitcoins and try to sell them to someone else to pay you back, and not be able to do so, leaving you hanging.

BitPay has made a truly amazing push at getting businesses to accept Bitcoins, and I want to thank them for that. Now we need the world to know about all of the legitimate non-illegal type businesses that accept Bitcoin.

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[Lethn]

To change peoples mentality immediately and quickly we'd have to change the way Bitcoin works entirely so as I've kept saying for awhile now just be patient and let them come to us, the one thing I think we could do is focus on making Bitcoin far more user friendly than it currently is by writing tutorials in English etc. For instance, I'm still trying to look into why I can't solo mine despite having the GUI client set up properly and whenever I try to read peoples explanations or look at any other clients as a possible solution I feel my brain cells committing suicide from the effort it takes to understand it.

[mccorvic]

Actually get people to use bitcoins instead of just cashing out for USD or investing in obvious scams.

Change comes from within!  

[psybits]

When I mention Bitcoin to people, all they think of is illegal activities and hackers stealing all of your Bitcoins. How do we change this and let them know how amazing Bitcoins really are compared to something such as Paypal? We all know Bitcoins are 10000000000000000x better then Paypal, but how do we let others know this?

For example:
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1670z8/paypal_guilty_until_proven_innocent_account_freeze/c7td3pg

BitPay has made a truly amazing push at getting businesses to accept Bitcoins, and I want to thank them for that. Now we need the world to know about all of the legitimate non-illegal type businesses that accept Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is still in the very early stages of its development. Don't worry everything will unfold as it should   Why not start a blog or do something to help it along if you are so passionate about it?  

Most people won't trust something until they've seen it on TV, so do not be too disheartened by your conversations with the average person. Ultimately when Bitcoin becomes really popular they'll al jump on the bandwagon. I remember telling my friends about twtter and even showing it to them and they just laughed at tweets and how it worked and I told them all companies / TV stations etc would have a twitter account and they just laughed at me!

Forbes run articles on Bitcoin all the time (google Forbes and Bitcoin) and here is one I just discovered from last December

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/325979,is-bitcoin-the-bank-of-your-future.aspx

[hazek]

It's real simple. Get them to try it.

Every time I use Bitcoin I'm just astonished how simple and easy handling my money online it makes.

[TangibleCryptography]

Time.  Bitcoin is still growing.  It is like the internet circa 1970.  Trying to convince some DJ in 1972 who didn't even own a person computer that he should learn about the internet because it is going to revolutionize the music industry would likely be a waste of time. 

Bitcoin is the same way.  Most of the "problems" of Bitcoin will be "solved" in the next decade.  Hardware wallets, bonded exchanges, audited payment processors, secure mult-sig online wallets, more liquidity, more merchants, etc.  It won't be solved by one person and it won't be solved tomorrow but as long as Bitcoin is growing talent, and capital will flow towards it.   I mean Bitpay just lined up half a mil in VC money.   Think those VC believe "BTC will only be used to buy drugs and the only place to cash out is some dude in his mom's basement"?   


The fact that VC money is only recently finding its way into Bitcoin enterprises means mainstream is still likely 5-10 years away.  Just wait.  In the meantime if you have the skills, talent, and drive do you part to build the Bitcoin ecosystem.  Trying to convince skeptics is probably futile.  They aren't ready to take the red pill yet.  We have already seen quite few bloggers, columnists, analysts make retractions on hasty conclusions about Bitcoin.   Give if 5 years and that will turn into an avalanche.  Nobody will even admit to doubting Bitcoin because its value, utility, and power will be so apparent.  

[cbeast]

We need to know and believe ourselves why a new type of money is needed.

[franky1]

to change peoples minds there needs to be a list of the so called 2000 bitcoin businesses out there, and not just the handful that keep getting passed around.

saying there is 2000 businesses and yet no one knowing the entire list is a problem. so the only thing that gets emphasised the most is the illegal activities as that the only thing people know about.

wordpress is getting mentioned more and more. but if a outsider asked 100 different bitcoin users what they can use it on. and the response they get is:

satoshi dice
silk road
wordpress
web hosting

they wont be satisfied to cash in.
If someone told me that i should stop using money and start using gold coins. knowing the security in gold as a commodity compared to FIAT. at first id say yes. but then when asking where can i use gold coins i was told 4 places around the world, id not be as inclined.

[Gabi]

What about don't? There is no need to advertise bitcoin. We are not a religion, we don't have to change people minds, if they think bitcoin is useful they will use it, otherwise not, their problem, not our.

[psybits]

What about don't? There is no need to advertise bitcoin. We are not a religion, we don't have to change people minds, if they think bitcoin is useful they will use it, otherwise not, their problem, not our.

Yes and then when it is going insanely well they'll all get involved and be like "I wish I had done this sooner" 

[Mike Hearn]

The biggest problem is the bitcoin.org website. It doesn't help people understand the systems benefits at all. In fact it's barely changed since the first page Satoshi wrote 4 years ago.

Compare torproject.org to bitcoin.org - there's no competition. Tor blows us out of the water, and they have a much harder sell.

We need a website that leads the reader through "The Pitch" - what problems Bitcoin solves, why it solves them well and answers to common problems.

This will mean a web designer/author who is competent with HTML and git. We also need to move vital content off the wiki. Much though we all love wikis, the FAQ on the current one is a messy edit war and the wiki itself is barely maintained, there are tons of spambot signups.

The reason Bitcoin gets bad press is that journalists are lazy, and in a hurry. They can type "bitcoin" into Google and read what other journalists have written, spin it their own way and have a story in 10 minutes. They won't find anything easily digestable to challenge their negative perceptions, so they won't change.

[hazek]

The biggest problem is the bitcoin.org website.

For once I 110% agree with you.

But where is the hold up? Can you specifically list the problems? I mean it's pretty hard to imagine someone like bitpay or bitinstant or mtgox or even bitstamp wouldn't sacrifice some of their capital in order to fund a website overhaul and relaunch..

[acoindr]

The biggest problem is the bitcoin.org website.

For once I 110% agree with you.

But where is the hold up? Can you specifically list the problems? I mean it's pretty hard to imagine someone like bitpay or bitinstant or mtgox or even bitstamp wouldn't sacrifice some of their capital in order to fund a website overhaul and relaunch..

Shh.. something tells me a solution is being worked on.

[Mike Hearn]

But where is the hold up? Can you specifically list the problems?

Nobody got around to it yet, that's all. Plus, it's the sort of political people work most developers don't enjoy. Whatever goes onto bitcoin.org is effectively speaking with "the voice of Bitcoin" so the content has to make us all look good, be honest, have reasonably strong consensus, be easy to understand, and so on. It's not easy.

I have a few more high priority things I want to finish off for the next bitcoin(j) releases. Perhaps if nobody has stepped up after that I'll do some work on the website.

[Gabi]

I totally quote Mike!

[MPOE-PR]

When I mention Bitcoin to people, all they think of is illegal activities and hackers stealing all of your Bitcoins. How do we change this and let them know how amazing Bitcoins really are compared to something such as Paypal?

By not really trying, basically.

[acoindr]

... Whatever goes onto bitcoin.org is effectively speaking with "the voice of Bitcoin" so the content has to make us all look good, be honest, have reasonably strong consensus, be easy to understand, and so on. It's not easy. ...

Exactly. I think a "non-official" site could help in this capacity.

[kangasbros]

... Whatever goes onto bitcoin.org is effectively speaking with "the voice of Bitcoin" so the content has to make us all look good, be honest, have reasonably strong consensus, be easy to understand, and so on. It's not easy. ...

Exactly. I think a "non-official" site could help in this capacity.

There are couple of "non-official" sites already, and many are very good. I never myself direct newbies to bitcoin.org. Finnish newbies I redirect to bittiraha.fi, which is very comprehensive finnish bitcoin portal. International users I redirect to weusecoins.com.

Bitcoin.org could be better, but in the end I think it won't matter that much. Some more actively developed sites will take over it, and the more lightweight clients will also replace the main client for casual users. And if we speak about clients, I tell newbies to avoid the official client and use multibit and electrum instead. I made the mistake to recommend the official client to couple of friends, and now they think that bitcoin sucks because the official client is so slow etc.

[acoindr]

... Whatever goes onto bitcoin.org is effectively speaking with "the voice of Bitcoin" so the content has to make us all look good, be honest, have reasonably strong consensus, be easy to understand, and so on. It's not easy. ...

Exactly. I think a "non-official" site could help in this capacity.

There are couple of "non-official" sites already, and many are very good. I never myself direct newbies to bitcoin.org. Finnish newbies I redirect to bittiraha.fi, which is very comprehensive finnish bitcoin portal. International users I redirect to weusecoins.com.

Yes. The interesting thing is there isn't any such thing as any official site, including Bitcoin.org. All sites are non-official because Bitcoin is decentralized. However, some sites can be perceived to have more weight, and be regarded as "official" (that's the problem with the Bitcoin Foundation many here tried to voice).

But in the end it's all about accurate, helpful information spreading. That will happen eventually regardless, but may happen sooner depending on what is available to users.

Bitcoin.org could be better, but in the end I think it won't matter that much.

Yes, that's what I mean above.

Some more actively developed sites will take over it, and the more lightweight clients will also replace the main client for casual users. And if we speak about clients, I tell newbies to avoid the official client and use multibit and electrum instead. I made the mistake to recommend the official client to couple of friends, and now they think that bitcoin sucks because the official client is so slow etc.

Yes, the thing is Bitcoin is STILL in a very early stage, though it may not seem like it to us breathing it daily. There was something I believe said by Gavin a while back which I agree with regarding the cumbersome official client. He said he doesn't WANT Bitcoin to be easy for people to use yet, because it's too easy to lose your money. Look at all the people who have lost coins various ways as a testament to that. I think we're only now beginning to get to the stage where we can start inviting more mainstream users to be involved with Bitcoin, because we've already been through many of the pitfalls we can now warn people about.

[HBBZ]

Actually get people to use bitcoins instead of just cashing out for USD or investing in obvious scams.

Change comes from within!  

You're perfectly right. If one wants to make quick fortune by selling bitcoin, he does look like and sound like a pyramid scammer. I wrote an essay to address this question because I was a newbie and restricted to post a reply a week ago .

https://www.coindl.com/page/item/651

Now I'm back