A growing social threat to our community.

[wumpus]

digigalt's post history is indeed very interesting

Almost all posts are bashing Atlas. Not that I'm really a fan of him or his viewpoints, but it does set off the bullshit bells.

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[JeffK]

digigalt's post history is indeed very interesting

Almost all posts are bashing Atlas. Not that I'm really a fan of him or his viewpoints, but it does set off the bullshit bells.

To be fair, Atlas's content-to-crazy ratio is shockingly low.

[FlipPro]

Why the hell do these douche bags seem to think that this is a Libertarians only forum? I have seen every political ideology in the book on these forums. I myself am a Socialist Liberal... We are a forum of many different professions, backgrounds, political ideology's, and opinions. Why is that so hard to understand?

[TiagoTiago]

...We are a forum of many different professions, backgrounds, political ideology's, and opinions. Why is that so hard to understand?

People like to think in terms of tribes, teams etc, "us VS. them" and so on; and they like to put generalisistic labels on things; so it's not completly surprising if they have a hard time accepting a group of people can be so diverse as the forum members here are, and that at the smallest sign of disagreement they place us in the opposing party.

[TiagoTiago]

I don't think calling them names is the best approach for keeping them away from you...

[FlipPro]

I don't think calling them names is the best approach for keeping them away from you...

I agree, we need to show them that we are dead serious. And then the games aren't as fun anymore.

[TiagoTiago]

After all, we all know the Internet is serious busyness ¬.¬

[billyjoeallen]

Their is a high probability that many if not most of the anti-bitcoin posters ARE trolls. The circumstantial evidence is economic:

Concentrated costs and distributed benefits. Even if we assume that the skeptics are sincere, that is not a rational reason for continuing to post here.

Presumably their goal is to see bitcoin fail, but according to them, it is doomed to fail anyway, which makes their posting an unnecessary expenditure of time and effort. 

The next possible explanation is they want bitcoin to fail FASTER than it would without their "help". The problem with this is that, even if they succeeded, they and their friends reap only a tiny portion of the "benefits" resulting from their time and effort.   Most of the "beneficiaries" are people who put in no effort to effect the desired outcome.  This type of selfless crusaderism will eventually reduce the crusaders to abject poverty, especially if pursued against every bad investment idea on the Internet.

So the next reason after that is that somehow bitcoin is a <i>particular</i> threat to financial prudence and all right-thinking friends of civilization. To which it needs to be asked- which is it? Either bitcoin is a joke or it is a dangerous threat, but it can't be both.

So what is it about bitcoin, of all the topics on the Internet, that commands the attention of these nay-sayers?
Is it a scam? There are many scams on the web. Why this one? Is it a ponzi-scheme? same question. Is it a systemic threat? why? wouldn't that mean that bitcoin proponents like myself are correct?

Which leaves one last possibility: These skeptics are in it for the entertainment value, party crashers who piss in the punch bowl. There's a name for people like that: trolls.

[makomk]

Concentrated costs and distributed benefits. Even if we assume that the skeptics are sincere, that is not a rational reason for continuing to post here.

You're assuming that people are rational and that "someone is wrong on the internet" isn't a good enough reason. More than that, you're assuming that no-one could be motivated by pointing out the flaws in arguments for the benefit of others; a lot of people do seem to be.

Presumably their goal is to see bitcoin fail, but according to them, it is doomed to fail anyway, which makes their posting an unnecessary expenditure of time and effort.

Of course, there's more than one way Bitcoin could fail, and some of them will harm more people than others.

The next possible explanation is they want bitcoin to fail FASTER than it would without their "help". The problem with this is that, even if they succeeded, they and their friends reap only a tiny portion of the "benefits" resulting from their time and effort.

Again, you're assuming that there's no such thing as altruism. If Bitcoin is going to fail in a ponzi-like fashion as some suspect, the longer it goes on for the more people will end up losing their money to the early adopters. Not only that, but if this is going to happen then the best way of speeding up the collapse is to help people avoid losing money to it. Ironically, "destroying" Bitcoin in this way could even help it in the long term by making it more likely to be used after the speculation implodes.

So the next reason after that is that somehow bitcoin is a <i>particular</i> threat to financial prudence and all right-thinking friends of civilization. To which it needs to be asked- which is it? Either bitcoin is a joke or it is a dangerous threat, but it can't be both.

It can be; it can be a joke that would be a dangerous threat to financial prudence and society if it did somehow succeed. It's worth arguing both ways because there are people out there that aren't convinced that Bitcoin will fail and might be more amenable to arguments based on what would happen if it succeeded, and because even if you do believe that it won't work there's always the slim possibility you could be wrong. This is an old technique.

Which leaves one last possibility: These skeptics are in it for the entertainment value, party crashers who piss in the punch bowl. There's a name for people like that: trolls.

Possibly, and the discussions here are providing a lot of entertainment value - not just to Something Awful either, have you seen some of the comments on IRC? However, if you read that SA thread, you'll notice a lack of users conspiring to undermine Bitcoins; they really do genuinely think they're a bad idea.

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However, if you read that SA thread, you'll notice a lack of users conspiring to undermine Bitcoins; they really do genuinely think they're a bad idea.

I went to read that thread, and discovered that those same people think robbery and organized crime are GOOD ideas. Makes it a bit harder to take them seriously.

[makomk]

I went to read that thread, and discovered that those same people think robbery and organized crime are GOOD ideas. Makes it a bit harder to take them seriously.

Ooookay... don't remember seeing anything like that over there. (Here on these forums, perhaps, in a sense...)

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I went to read that thread, and discovered that those same people think robbery and organized crime are GOOD ideas. Makes it a bit harder to take them seriously.

Ooookay... don't remember seeing anything like that over there. (Here on these forums, perhaps, in a sense...)

Oh, I ignored that section of this forum as soon as it became possible to do so.

[BusinessMan]

Why the hell do these douche bags seem to think that this is a Libertarians only forum? I have seen every political ideology in the book on these forums. I myself am a Socialist Liberal... We are a forum of many different professions, backgrounds, political ideology's, and opinions. Why is that so hard to understand?

Somethingawful is filled with the most intolerant, far-left leaning manchildren on the internet. They have so much daddy and mommy rage against conservatives and religion that they project that hate every where they go. It's funny how much intolerance that forum contains yet they are supposed to be the enlightened ones.

Oh yea if anyone else needs proof about JeffK being a somethingawful forums member:

http://www.somethingawful.com/hosted/jeffk/

A something awful hosted page strangely named JeffK.

Admins you need to dump these guys they pretty much exist to belittle your community. There is no reason to keep them around. They already destroyed their once funny comedy forum and have now turned it into an overly PC killjoy of a site where transvestites, furries, overly emasculated men and adult male My Little Pony supporters dwell. Every thread over there dwells either into accusations of misogyny, racism or how much they hate conservatives/libertarians no matter what the topic. Seriously, I could make a thread about favorite lasagna recipes and by the end of page one I'll be called a racist republican/libertarian who has no idea about his white privilege and is also a wife beater. I don't think you want that kind of echo chamber here.

I said my part there isn't much else to say it's up to you guys if you want these clowns around. Good luck

[EconomicOracle]

I agree with the majority of that post (I've never heard of somethingawful before but I hate it now. I hate its guts so much, it makes me so mad), but why are you hating on transvestites, furries, overly emasculated men and adult male My Little Pony supporters? I happen to be two of these, and I find it vastly disingenuous to kick these people out before they have a chance. You're making a personal attack against me and that hurts. I wonder how newbies entering the forum will feel when they read your posts. So yes, I agree with most of your post, but I think your racist hate is harming the community and I expect you to stop lickety-split.

[TiagoTiago]

Just a note, they are already here, keep that in mind when reacting to people's posts, starting your own rants about them etc.

Tighten your seatbelts, we're in for a rough ride.

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Just a note, they are already here, keep that in mind when reacting to people's posts, starting your own rants about them etc.

Tighten your seatbelts, we're in for a rough ride.

LulzSec could not break Bitcoin, and not for lack of trying. The SA trolls have no chance.

[rainingbitcoins]

So what is it about bitcoin, of all the topics on the Internet, that commands the attention of these nay-sayers?

Posts like this one probably.

When some housewife selling acai berry juice gets made fun of, she shrugs and walks away. When it happens to members of the bitcoins forum, they write a thousand words analyzing the possible humor content of their posts and finally concluding that since their posts are completely serious to them, nobody could ever find them funny. So logically the people ripping on them must be stupid or something.

[TiagoTiago]

Just a note, they are already here, keep that in mind when reacting to people's posts, starting your own rants about them etc.

Tighten your seatbelts, we're in for a rough ride.

LulzSec could not break Bitcoin, and not for lack of trying. The SA trolls have no chance.

I was talking about the forum, and not Bitcoin itself

[jgraham]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3413928&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=333#post393631440

It seems we have a group of dissident rogues that wish to harass us and -- at times -- damage the property of members of our community. It's best we keep ourselves aware, especially the proprietors of this forum. They create accounts to only lay waste to otherwise great conversation.

Godspeed.

Yes! Beware!  Keep an eye out and most importantly....get a grip. Seriously. Your post reads like cold-war era propaganda...or it would if it just didn't have the usual overtone of whining.

It seems pretty obvious to me that, to these people at SA you (and probably a few others here) are their entertainment (and considering how you address people I can almost see their point).   They want you to react and it's kind of idiotic to assume that giving them what they want is going to be any kind of deterrent.

[wumpus]

To be fair, Atlas's content-to-crazy ratio is shockingly low.

It is. But it is a pointless waste of time calling him out every time. If 95% of your posts are bashing someone, even if he actually is crazy, it's a case of bullying. Conspiracy theories aside, that's what I consider a malignant agenda.