How do we get the women on board?

[BitcoinBabe]

Just like I mentioned earlier:

make http://www.zalando.com accept Bitcoin exclusively

and the Bitcoin economy will get a boost 10 times the way it had in its best times so far.

(chicks all over Europe get crazy about that online shop - it's like Amazon for women!!!)

Good idea, but I can't see why an already successful company would want to accept bitcoin exclusively right now. However, if they accepted bitcoin for exclusive, limited offers...

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[elements]

If many customers and potential customers would ask for bitcoin acceptance they might do it (probably not exclusively but additionally...)

So, girls and women of this world write an email and ask Zalando to accept bitcoins!

[Xephan]

I'm going to say we shouldn't get the women onboard for now.

First impression makes a big difference and if the first few women decides the experience's awful, you can be sure the power of the Women's p2p network will pretty much give Bitcoin a stinking reputation that would take years to overcome.

Before bitcoin even thinks about reaching out beyond the geek/tech/speculator crowd, who are by nature more understanding of risks and failings involved with new evolving new tech, bitcoin has to have a proper and user friendly infrastructure in place.

Not only the UI of the bitcoin client and addresses but also methods to convert existing cash to bitcoin easily. If Paypal wasn't such a bitch, it would had been so much easier. But right now, there isn't a good way to pay directly without having to jump through the hoops of paying somebody else cash in exchange for BTC, then using BTC to buy.
.

[elements]

I'm going to say we shouldn't get the women onboard for now.

First impression makes a big difference and if the first few women decides the experience's awful, you can be sure the power of the Women's p2p network will pretty much give Bitcoin a stinking reputation that would take years to overcome.

Before bitcoin even thinks about reaching out beyond the geek/tech/speculator crowd, who are by nature more understanding of risks and failings involved with new evolving new tech, bitcoin has to have a proper and user friendly infrastructure in place.

Not only the UI of the bitcoin client and addresses but also methods to convert existing cash to bitcoin easily. If Paypal wasn't such a bitch, it would had been so much easier. But right now, there isn't a good way to pay directly without having to jump through the hoops of paying somebody else cash in exchange for BTC, then using BTC to buy.
.

check out www.bit-pay.com (it's awesome - and it is like paypal with bitcoins)
super easy - even for non tech girls.

[Xephan]

check out www.bit-pay.com (it's awesome - and it is like paypal with bitcoins)
super easy - even for non tech girls.

I saw it after posting, because your original post had it backwards as pay-bit.com
On the merchant side it looks like how paypal works but how does it look like on the user side?

No charge backs? Only for the US market?

Seems like maybe the user has to deposit cash/cheque with them before being able to make a purchase. Still one step too many if that's the way, but definitely it sounds like a massive improvement over what's currently available

[elements]

thanks - I changed it in the op.

no! no need to deposit anything that's the beauty of it.

you simply can implement it on the merchant checkout and it will give the customer the total in BTC and the address where to send it to with an graphic step by step guide.

As a customer you only need to be able to handle your client or online wallet - everything else will be shown to you step by step!

[Xephan]

thanks - I changed it in the op.

no! no need to deposit anything that's the beauty of it.

you simply can implement it on the merchant checkout and it will give the customer the total in BTC and the address where to send it to with an graphic step by step guide.

As a customer you only need to be able to handle your client or online wallet - everything else will be shown to you step by step!

You see, where's the customer going to get her wallet full of bitcoin? You want to teach the average person (nevermind woman) how to put together a $1K rig and mine for 1 month to buy that US$30 item?

Or ask them to go through the whole mess of buying from an exchange?

That's what I mean by an extra step. We're missing that easy step from cash already in the bank to bitcoin payment for the average person. Like I said, Paypal could had been a good partner and make it easy for the average person to buy bitcoin. But since they see bitcoin as a threat and has unacceptable chargeback policies for the nature of bitcoin...

[elements]

How about this:

boy meets girl. boy buys bitcoins for girl and puts it into a online wallet for her (mybitcoin / walletbit, etc.). girl buys shoes online.

[Xephan]

How about this:
boy meets girl. boy buys bitcoins for girl and puts it into a online wallet for her (mybitcoin / walletbit, etc.). girl buys shoes online.

Good for you bro, unfortunately I think most of us are not so rich that we can sponsor a girl for all her online purchases just to kickstart bitcoin.

Plus boy meets girl is another step, boy buys bitcoins is another step. One way or another, you've got somebody buying bitcoin somehow.

While the topic is about women, for all practical purposes the average non-technie non-libertian guy on the street will have similar behavioural reactions to the hoops that needs to be jumped.

Heck, we even have techie users complaining HERE about the trouble it takes to get cash into dwolla (before the scandal broke) and into tradehill just to buy some coins.

We need to solve that fundamental process issue and I'm afraid it might not be resolvable until a corp with large enough funding takes an interest. For that to happen, I feel the underlying infrastructure e.g. like the bitcoin client, must be more polished and bitcoin less volatile. The current US$13~14 is a good level if it is maintained.

[geek-trader]

How about this:

boy meets girl. boy buys bitcoins for girl and puts it into a online wallet for her (mybitcoin / walletbit, etc.). girl buys shoes online.

This of course, is the way it always works.

 

I KID!  Tho I do make more $ than my wife now (therefore "buying her bitcoins" on a daily basis) that was not always the case.  We've been together almost 20 years, and the first 8 or so she made more than me.

[elements]

I think it is not to much to ask to know how a bank wire works.

Most exchanges accept bank wire (at least Mt. Gox and TradeHill).

And for the sponsoring of girls: I didn't mean the boy has to give them as gift.
He could simply say: give me 50 bucks and I'll exchange them for you into bitcoin.

This isn't really that hard.

(BTW In most / a lot of relationships this is the case anyway...the guy does the setup of new technical stuff and shows the girl how to handle what she needs (unless she is smart enough to do all by herself))

[geek-trader]

I think it is not much to ask to know how a bank wire works.

Most exchanges accept bank wire (at least Mt. Gox and TradeHill).

And for the sponsoring of girls: I didn't mean the boy has to give them as gift.
He could simply say: give me 50 bucks and I'll exchange them for you into bitcoin.

This isn't really that hard.

(BTW In most / a lot of relationships this is the case anyway...the guy does the setup of new technical stuff and shows the girl how to handle what she needs (unless she is smart enough to do all by herself))

It's not a "smartness" thing, it's a motivational thing.  Guys just LIKE to set up technical stuff.

[Xephan]

I think it is not much to ask to know how a bank wire works.

Most exchanges accept bank wire (at least Mt. Gox and TradeHill).

And for the sponsoring of girls: I didn't mean the boy has to give them as gift.
He could simply say: give me 50 bucks and I'll exchange them for you into bitcoin.

This isn't really that hard.

(BTW In most / a lot of relationships this is the case anyway...the guy does the setup of new technical stuff and shows the girl how to handle what she needs (unless she is smart enough to do all by herself))

This is what I'm going to expect to happen, yes it's very stereotypical but there's a reason why stereotypes exist

Guy: Look at this awesome new payment method using  Bitcoin...
Girl: What?
Guy: <monologue about Bitcoin>
Girl: <glassy eye after 30 seconds>
Guy: <Finally noticing it, 5 minutes slow as usual> Nevermind the details, point is you can buy these pretty shoes online!
Girl: OH, why didn't you say THAT in the beginning? That looks pretty, how do I buy that?
Guy: Simple, it's like using Paypal... erm you just need to create an eWallet first... let's just download this...
Girl : <Twiddle hair>
Guy: Yeah, that's done
Girl: So I just click buy using Bitcoin?
Guy: Erm no, we need to get you some coins first...
Girl: <roll eyes>
Guy: Let me see, that's more than I have in my ewallet. I'll go wire some money to MtGox, then we can buy your shoes next Wednesday!
Girl: Forget it, XYZ has a sale of the hour discount on something similar, I'm just going to use my credit card.... <30 seconds later> done. This bitcoin shit sucks, I'm so telling the girls not to waste time listening if their guys get started on it.
Guy: ...

<6 months later, with vastly improved Bitcoin infrastructure>
At some party
Guy B: Did you girls know about the latest awesome bitcoin fashion shop?
Girl: Oh no, Bitcoin sucks, it's complicated and take forever!
Guy: That was 6 months ago, they've improved...
Girl B: <ignores Guy> Really? It's that bad?
Girl : Oh yeah, it was such a mess! I had to do a bank transfer to buy anything! By the time I could buy something, Fedex would had shoes from XYZ at my doorstep
Girl C: Oh my, that's so bad!..
Girl A: tell me about it, such as waste of my time!
Girl D: Bank transfer? Where did they come from? 1990s? Didn't they know about credit cards?
Girl A: Apparently not! <girls laugh>
Guys: ....

[elements]

about motivation: read above

you need to offer things exclusively or at a significant discount for btc to get motivation.

otherwise no girls (ok, not many) for bitcoin in the foreseeable future.

[Xephan]

about motivation: read above

you need to offer things exclusively or at a significant discount for btc to get motivation.

otherwise no girls (ok, not many) for bitcoin in the foreseeable future.

merchants need to make a living as well. We cannot expect them to help promote bitcoin and take a loss just to overcome inherent infrastructure difficulties.

The bitcoin economy as it is, has to focus on the tech savvy market first. People who don't mind a bit of trouble to try things out. If they are bitching about problems, you can be sure the average joe is going to take it even worse. After ironing these issues out, the economy/ecology around bitcoin should had reached a critical mass to make it attractive for bigger corps to take an interest, who could invest in the necessary convenience features. Once that step is reached, the bitcoin usage avalanche should just about start.

[elements]

lol nice story

i imagine it more like this:


boy shows girl a site with shoes/shiny objects (on 20 percent discount for btc or exclusively for btc).

girl: i want those shoes.

boy: ok, just polish your nails and I will get the discount for you.

girl: oh, you would do that, sweetie

boy: sure hon

girl gets in the next room to polish her nails. boy transfers creates a new mybitcoin account for his girlfriend and transfers 15 BTC (100 usd) to it. when she is done she comes back to the computer.

girl: so?

boy: so I set it up for you. Here is you new bitcoin account. If you wanna buy these shoes you just have to login to this site (like when you do online banking), click here and here and send the amount to this address. got it?

girl: oh, that's easy. thank you.

girl buys shoes for 20% less (and might forget to pay boy back) and is introduced to the bitcoin world.


the end

[Xephan]

lol nice story

i imagine it more like this:


boy shows girl a site with shoes/shiny objects (on 20 percent discount for btc or exclusively for btc).

girl: i want those shoes.

boy: ok, just polish your nails and I will get the discount for you.

girl: oh, you would do that, sweetie

boy: sure hon

girl gets in the next room to polish her nails. boy transfers creates a new mybitcoin account for his girlfriend and transfers 15 BTC (100 usd) to it. when she is done she comes back to the computer.

girl: so?

boy: so I set it up for you. Here is you new bitcoin account. If you wanna buy these shoes you just have to login to this site (like when you do online banking), click here and here and send the amount to this address. got it?

girl: oh, that's easy. thank you.

girl buys shoes for 20% less (and might forget to pay boy back) and is introduced to the bitcoin world.


the end

girl: The bitcoin thing you setup for me the other day doesn't work anymore, it says I don't have enough money!

Warren Buffet / Bill Gates : No worries, I'll transfer more into your account anytime you need to buy more stuff, give it about 10 minutes.

Average Guy: erm, you have to put money into your eWallet

Girl: How do I do that?

Guy: ...  <resume previous scenario starting from wire transfer to MtGox>

[Meatpile]

Women will hop on board when bitcoins can be held on a 2x2mm chip and embedded into anything. Then we can start putting them in fancy purses and high heels.

Then we will get to the really sexy part: when women get to kick you in the groin to finish a high-heel to jock-strap bitcoin embedded transaction! yeehaw!

[Mousepotato]

Yeah, screw all that shoes/purse noise.  Just give me the ability to spend my Bitcoins at NewEgg or TigerDirect and I'm good.

[elggawf]

Here's an idea: maybe stop acting as though women are some completely alien thing, and then all but the bravest won't run screaming?