[ANN] Bitcoin Foundation Board Election Details Announced

[td services]

Not every Ron Paul supporter is a Bitcoin enthusiast, but are very much in line with its goals. There are also a lot of Bitcoin users who are not Paul supporters, either as anarcho capitalists and agorists who avoid politics completely, or other ideologies which the mainstream would also consider on the fringe. My overall aim is to estimate the potential size of an alternative economy without any need to try to mainstream (and destroy) Bitcoin.

If all else fails, there are alt coins and the option of forking Bitcoin.

[1713573210]

1713573210

[1713573210]

1713573210

[1713573210]

1713573210

[QuestionAuthority]

Not every Ron Paul supporter is a Bitcoin enthusiast, but are very much in line with its goals. There are also a lot of Bitcoin users who are not Paul supporters, either as anarcho capitalists and agorists who avoid politics completely, or other ideologies which the mainstream would also consider on the fringe. My overall aim is to estimate the potential size of an alternative economy without any need to try to mainstream (and destroy) Bitcoin.

If all else fails, there are alt coins and the option of forking Bitcoin.

Classifying destruction is subjective. Everyone has their own reason for using it. The political use is only one of many and, I suspect, isn't the primary motivator for businessmen. It's not my reason. I want Bitcoin to hit four digits against the US dollar and there to be a place for me to exchange my coins without risking a prison term when I do. I realize Bitcoin was founded in extremist ideology and that's great. Many users are in it for profit and few are mining for free.

One of the most true statements I've ever heard in my life came in a fortune cookie. "Love is the bread of life but money is the honey." You can love your fellow man and want to over throw the evil government all day long but profit is necessary for business.

[theymos]

Primary results:
INDIVIDUAL SEAT

    Elizabeth T. Ploshay (30.0%)
    Trace Mayer (17.1%)
    Ben Davenport (16.8%)
    Joerg Platzer (16.8%)
    Luke Dashjr (7.1%)

INDUSTRY SEAT

    Meyer (Micky) Malka (68.6%)
    Tony Gallippi (8.6%)
    Jaron Lukasiewicz (8.6%)

I'm surprised at how poorly Joerg Platzer did. It seems that a lot of people like him. He may gain votes in the next round.

[RodeoX]

Congrats to Elizabeth !!
Glad to see such a strong showing for her. She really is an impressive addition to the foundation.

[Rassah]

Apparently there aren't a lot of voters at all in this thing: https://electionbuddy.com/elections/9452/results/sdq6pd958

Elizabeth only got 84, and Joerg only got 47. We get that many voters on some of our rather silly polls around here. Admittedly, one of the big reasons I don't like Elizabeth is because her campaign seems to be more about winning a popularity contest than about actual issues. She posts a lot, but much of it is "wow, bitcoin is great." And sure, she matches with some of our general beliefs, but so does everyone else who is anywhere near libertarian politically. There's not much more than "yeah, I agree with what you said" in her writing. I also just can't see her doing much more than supporting the Bitcoin Foundation in their lobbying and working within US only endeavors. So, my next vote I'll be supporting Joerg, who not only seems to understand why bitcoin might need government support, but also why it can survive in spite of it, and can see where we may be headed with it in the future, and even if Joerg doesn't win, I would support him starting up his own Euro-centric foundation as well.

[RodeoX]

Apparently there aren't a lot of voters at all in this thing: https://electionbuddy.com/elections/9452/results/sdq6pd958

Elizabeth only got 84, and Joerg only got 47. We get that many voters on some of our rather silly polls around here. Admittedly, one of the big reasons I don't like Elizabeth is because her campaign seems to be more about winning a popularity contest than about actual issues. She posts a lot, but much of it is "wow, bitcoin is great." And sure, she matches with some of our general beliefs, but so does everyone else who is anywhere near libertarian politically. There's not much more than "yeah, I agree with what you said" in her writing. I also just can't see her doing much more than supporting the Bitcoin Foundation in their lobbying and working within US only endeavors. So, my next vote I'll be supporting Joerg, who not only seems to understand why bitcoin might need government support, but also why it can survive in spite of it, and can see where we may be headed with it in the future, and even if Joerg doesn't win, I would support him starting up his own Euro-centric foundation as well.

I think you are right, it looks like only about 40% voted. Just like a government election,lol.
I do support Elizabeth, however I see what your saying about being America-centric. In future elections to the board I would like see more representatives from Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.   

[mindtomatter]

Apparently there aren't a lot of voters at all in this thing: https://electionbuddy.com/elections/9452/results/sdq6pd958

Elizabeth only got 84, and Joerg only got 47. We get that many voters on some of our rather silly polls around here. Admittedly, one of the big reasons I don't like Elizabeth is because her campaign seems to be more about winning a popularity contest than about actual issues. She posts a lot, but much of it is "wow, bitcoin is great." And sure, she matches with some of our general beliefs, but so does everyone else who is anywhere near libertarian politically. There's not much more than "yeah, I agree with what you said" in her writing. I also just can't see her doing much more than supporting the Bitcoin Foundation in their lobbying and working within US only endeavors. So, my next vote I'll be supporting Joerg, who not only seems to understand why bitcoin might need government support, but also why it can survive in spite of it, and can see where we may be headed with it in the future, and even if Joerg doesn't win, I would support him starting up his own Euro-centric foundation as well.

How many votes did you get Rassah?  Given that you're a prominent figure in the Bitcoin community and given how few people voted, it seems like you should have cleaned up. 

Elizabeth bothered to put together (herself) a very comprehensive platform website that seems (to me) to be much omre than "Yeah I agree with what you said"  Where can I find your comprehensive platform thread/website? 

http://elizabethtploshay.com/platform/

I've been watching the reaction around the community and it feels a whole lot to me like sour grapes.  Elizabeth legitimately put in a large amount of time, reached out to EVERY SINGLE member of the foundation personally to solicit feedback and introduce herself, and it paid dividends for her.  Going into this, she was arguably the least known of all the candidates who made it into the top five, and she nearly doubled the next three in vote totals.  How can she win a "popularity" contest if everyone was more popular than she was going into it?

This is a position on the Bitcoin Foundation, not a position in "Bitcoin" - 40% turnout might be standard but in a field with 14 candidates a 30% first round result is as close to overwhelming as you get.  Elizabeth did and continues to do the work, people see that and voted for who they thought was the best candidate.

[Rassah]

How many votes did you get Rassah?  Given that you're a prominent figure in the Bitcoin community and given how few people voted, it seems like you should have cleaned up.  

I've made it known a bit early that I don't expect to win, don't intend to win, and intend to support Joerg. So, yeah, I got 5 votes, and am not too surprised about that.

Elizabeth bothered to put together (herself) a very comprehensive platform website that seems (to me) to be much omre than "Yeah I agree with what you said"  Where can I find your comprehensive platform thread/website?  

http://elizabethtploshay.com/platform/

Sorry, I've been too busy doing bitcoin stuff, instead of making up glittery cardboard posters to post around the school, so to speak. And her platform is sort of what I'm talking about. On international growth, she says, and I quote,

“ As a member of the Bitcoin Foundation Board, I will look forward to facilitating a Bitcoin meet-up guide and work to assist leaders and individuals who are passionate about the currency in nations around the world.”

On charitable contributions, she says,

“As a Member of the Bitcoin Foundation Board, I would work to educate non-profits and charitable organizations on the ease of transaction with Bitcoin and the many benefits of accepting donations in BTC.”

In short, there's a list of feel-good words that, to summarize, say, "I will work to make bitcoin more international" and "I will work on getting charities to use bitcoin." There's just not much there besides, "I'll do this general thing I'm being asked about." For example, my own platform also includes, "I will reach out to the community," and "I will get more people to use bitcoin." I am really struggling to find where her platform has anything other than lots of words without actual plan or substance. Even herresponse to the open source topic is basically, "open source is good, and bitcoin should be open source," as if there is any way to change that.

I've been watching the reaction around the community and it feels a whole lot to me like sour grapes.

Sorry, not from me. I didn't expect to win, and have legitimate concerns about her.

How can she win a "popularity" contest if everyone was more popular than she was going into it?

By running on a platform of answering questions with lots of words that make people feel good, and posting tons of such stuff everywhere she could, but having little substance in what she actually says. So, literally, winning based on trying to gain popular support through fluff campaigning instead of through raising support for ideas and context. As I mentioned, she is very much a politician, knowing how to say a lot to answer questions on positions without actually answering the questions.

And yes, I do feel bad for attacking her directly like this. She is an actual person with actual feelings and ambitions, not just some anonymous name on the internets, but I am just genuinely concerned about whether this is a position that she is right for. I'm not saying she is a bad person, I'm just worried she may not have the skills and experience the Foundation actually needs. However, that may depend on the direction the Foundation wants to take. As I said, if the Foundation wants to mainly focus on lobbying US government, she may be perfect. But that may not be what I and others want the Foundation to focus on.

[malevolent]

Good post, Rassah, that's exactly my impression of her. She's very active, takes the initiative and seems to have great interpersonal skill, but her words lack specificity.

[bg002h]

Apparently there aren't a lot of voters at all in this thing: https://electionbuddy.com/elections/9452/results/sdq6pd958

Elizabeth only got 84, and Joerg only got 47. We get that many voters on some of our rather silly polls around here. Admittedly, one of the big reasons I don't like Elizabeth is because her campaign seems to be more about winning a popularity contest than about actual issues. She posts a lot, but much of it is "wow, bitcoin is great." And sure, she matches with some of our general beliefs, but so does everyone else who is anywhere near libertarian politically. There's not much more than "yeah, I agree with what you said" in her writing. I also just can't see her doing much more than supporting the Bitcoin Foundation in their lobbying and working within US only endeavors. So, my next vote I'll be supporting Joerg, who not only seems to understand why bitcoin might need government support, but also why it can survive in spite of it, and can see where we may be headed with it in the future, and even if Joerg doesn't win, I would support him starting up his own Euro-centric foundation as well.

You can see how few votes it would take to buy the needed votes to sway this thing. The foundation is focused on growing globally (and Elizabeth is quite in support of that). I do think having BF-USA underneath a Bitcoin foundation alongside BF-EU, BF-China, etc is the way to go. Keeping us together through that transition rather than splintering I think is important.

[QuestionAuthority]

The correct person won the election. She is exactly what enterprise needs to support profitable growth. There is nothing wrong with "feel good" words and cheer leading. Ask any politician about the importance of perception over substance. Politicians need two qualities to effectively lead. They need to take and follow directions from the correct source and implement those directions using every political trick in their toolkit. She should be able to accomplish the necessary objectives with her toolkit. I'm sorry Rassah, I think you're too passionate about your personal agenda for Bitcoin to ever be an effective international leader.

[mindtomatter]

Good post, Rassah, that's exactly my impression of her. She's very active, takes the initiative and seems to have great interpersonal skill, but her words lack specificity.

It's almost like she'd be an advocate for the community...

[mindtomatter]

It's almost like she'd be an advocate for the community...

It is kinda hard to be advocate for the community when I never even heard of her before this election, and she isn't on this forum. I guess the walled garden forums don't allow her to interacted with the biggest bitcoin community this forum.

The community was referring to was the membership of the Bitcoin Foundation.  It costs .2btc to be a member for a year.  I paid the membership cost, so did a little less than 700 other people.  If you want to be represented by the foundation you should join too.

And before you say "Shouldn't she be advocating for the Bitcoin community" take a look at what most of the complaints are about the Foundation - People say they try to represent themselves as the Bitcoin community when in fact they're a small subset.  This is true, and it's exactly why your vote would matter a whole bunch more if you had indicated the actions of the foundation mattered to you.

[Rassah]

The correct person won the election.

There's a second round of elections. She may be the one most likely to win, but there is a smaller field now, and most people who threw away their vote last time despite not wanting to vote for Elizabeth (like I did) will be more serious this time. Not saying she will not win, but it's not guaranteed.

She is exactly what enterprise needs to support profitable growth.

I thought that's what the Industry candidate was running for?

There is nothing wrong with "feel good" words and cheer leading. Ask any politician about the importance of perception over substance.

That depends on what her job will be. If her job will be to try to sway the masses towards accepting bitcoin, yeah, she's be extremely great at it. If her job will be to influence politicians, as the Foundation seems to hint as being their near-term goal, then, as they say, you can't bullshit a bullshitter. Politicians do this stuff every day, and they'll likely see right through that. I'm sure the Foundation will recognize the skills of whoever wins, and use them appropriately though. At least I hope so.

I'm sorry Rassah, I think you're too passionate about your personal agenda for Bitcoin to ever be an effective international leader.

Well now I'm hurt. I don't think my personal agenda for bitcoin is any different from bitcoin's own agenda, which is to make reliance on banking systems and government issued currency obsolete. Just because that also happens to involve some political connotations and consequences isn't my fault. And from the discussions there, there were very few people who seem to have any clue about international issues with and ramifications for bitcoin: myself, Joerg, Nilam, and maybe two more. Elizabeth wasn't one. You are right about one thing though, I am not much of a leader. I'm more or a mastermind adviser, preferring to point out any issues or opportunities to someone else who is much better at getting people following them than I. I'm an introvert, in search of a charismatic, power-hungry extrovert 

She's very active, takes the initiative and seems to have great interpersonal skill, but her words lack specificity.

It's almost like she'd be an advocate for the community...

That was actually one of my initial concerns: how can you be an advocate for the community when you aren't even involved in it? I guess if she wins, she'll have a lot of catching up and introductions to go through.

This segregation will be the death of bitcoin Bitcoin Foundation.

FIFY. Don't forget, Bitcoin is way bigger and much more resilient than any self-appointed "official" organization. It was specifically designed to be that way.

[bg002h]

The correct person won the election. She is exactly what enterprise needs to support profitable growth. There is nothing wrong with "feel good" words and cheer leading. Ask any politician about the importance of perception over substance. Politicians need two qualities to effectively lead. They need to take and follow directions from the correct source and implement those directions using every political trick in their toolkit. She should be able to accomplish the necessary objectives with her toolkit. I'm sorry Rassah, I think you're too passionate about your personal agenda for Bitcoin to ever be an effective international leader.

For the record, Rassah was on my short list.

The truth is that we had a large number of great candidates....great candidates who are and will continue to be great stewards of the community. Our main goal should be figuring out how to build an effective community and I think the Foundation is part of it. Others disagree and that's ok. I donated a small amount to bitcointalk (฿10? It was cheap at the time) and some think that's stupid. I disagree (and I think history is on my side on this one). Only time will tell how effective different parts of the community are for different goals. But I think arguing that Bitcoin doesn't need any community at all is foolish.

I'm proud to be members of the same community and foundation as everyone who ran. Each deserves a hearty thank you for stepping up to be counted amongst the doers. 

[willphase]

it is a pity for someone who seems so passionate about bitcoin, Elizabeth doesn't seem to spend much time interacting with the 'vibrant' bitcoin community here.

Will

[QuestionAuthority]

I'm sorry Rassah, I think you're too passionate about your personal agenda for Bitcoin to ever be an effective international leader.

Well now I'm hurt. I don't think my personal agenda for bitcoin is any different from bitcoin's own agenda, which is to make reliance on banking systems and government issued currency obsolete. Just because that also happens to involve some political connotations and consequences isn't my fault. And from the discussions there, there were very few people who seem to have any clue about international issues with and ramifications for bitcoin: myself, Joerg, Nilam, and maybe two more. Elizabeth wasn't one. You are right about one thing though, I am not much of a leader. I'm more or a mastermind adviser, preferring to point out any issues or opportunities to someone else who is much better at getting people following them than I. I'm an introvert, in search of a charismatic, power-hungry extrovert 

That wasn't meant to hurt feelings. People running for any elected office (with government or private industry) can't allow anything to hurt their feelings. I think you're a great spokesman for Bitcoin with unrivaled passion. Bitcoin would suffer without you as a warrior fighting the good fight. I just don't believe your goal of, as you state it, "make reliance on banking systems and government issued currency obsolete" should be the primary objective of Bitcoin at this stage in the game. Good business will require that Bitcoin representatives play nice with governments and find a niche inside of fiat systems like a low cost Western Union replacement. I would have preferred that no one lobby the US government and instead allow officials to learn about Bitcoin with lengthy research allowing Bitcoin more time to grow first. However, they have already opened that Pandora's box and will need someone that can play nice and agree to work within the system instead of working to make the system obsolete.

[RodeoX]

For the record, Rassah was on my short list.

The truth is that we had a large number of great candidates....great candidates who are and will continue to be great stewards of the community. ...

+1 That's the best news of all. 

Thanks for mentioning that bg002h.

[drama247365]

In the LTB interview, she sounded like a ditzy cheerleader. She's fuckable but I would suggest getting that out of your system via tube sites before casting your vote next time.

[charleshoskinson]

it is a pity for someone who seems so passionate about bitcoin, Elizabeth doesn't seem to spend much time interacting with the 'vibrant' bitcoin community here.

Will

When Theymos started censoring our project threads, it seriously undermined the creditability of Bitcointalk's moderation in my opinion. The Bitcoin universe is larger than Bitcointalk and its 22,000 members.

In the LTB interview, she sounded like a ditzy cheerleader. She's fuckable but I would suggest getting that out of your system via tube sites before casting your vote next time.

Thank you for making my point about community engagement. If you want people to reach out to you, then maybe you shouldn't say hurtful and off the cuff remarks. I know Elizabeth and I can assure you that she is both passionate and very bright. She will be a great leader in the Bitcoin community.