[POLL] Should we ban something on the Bitcoin marketplace?

[sirius]

I'm leaning toward having no explicit rules, unless it starts giving us too much trouble at some point. The forum won't go down because of somebody selling drugs, it's just a matter of reputation. Sex and drugs are very good for publicity and grassroots marketing, but possibly a turn-off for brands that want to avoid association. I don't think the association thing is a problem, but we can change the rules later if it becomes that way. We can of course have the unwritten rule to keep controversial stuff low-profile like it is now.

edit 19.2.:
Illegal goods are now banned on the marketplace (rules). The decision is based on the notion that there's no need to keep that kind of content on this particular forum. The cost of having to go somewhere else is smaller than the cost of possible bad reputation on this forum.

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[genjix]

If you want freedom for yourself you have to let others be free.



That is all.

[davout]

Bitcoin is money of the free, let this place be its forum

I'm strongly against any rule other than "be respectful to others", and I'm willing to support that by hosting a mirror in case something goes wrong.

[Nefario]

If it won't cause the forum to be shutdown then I see no reason to ban anything. With the exception of childporn. There are some things that people wont tollerate and thats anything to do with childporn.

If that were being discussed in the forum, aka "selling wild pics of kids for btc" sort of thing then thst will bring large groups in attacking not just bitcoin but the forum too. That would make us a major target for politicians, the media and others.

At least until the forum is hosted as a tor hidden service and accessed only through a tor inproxy or someting.

[kiba]

What is our goal here?

Is our goal to destroy fiat money?

Or is it something more radical than this?

Obviously, the community is made of individuals with differing perspective on politics. How should we handle this political diversity? Should we let the philosophy of the members guide bitcoin's development?

[davout]

What is our goal here?

Is our goal to destroy fiat money?

Or is it something more radical than this?

Obviously, the community is made of individuals with differing perspective on politics. How should we handle this political diversity? Should we let the philosophy of the members guide bitcoin's development?

market will do its job

[bittersweet]

If you ban illegal goods here, another place for them will appear.

[kiba]

Remember guys, this forum is backed up. We're like hydras heads. 

[Mahkul]

If you ban illegal goods here, another place for them will appear.

I think that's the whole point of the discussion - to keep it away from THIS forum if at all.

[slush]

I have probably another opinion that many of you. I think this forum should be about project development and comunity. Not about selling Romanian women, drugs, child porn or <anything>porn. If anybody want to offer this, let the separate forum appear somewhere around. But I prefer to keep Bitcoin "clean". I just don't want to send link to Bitcoin to my grandma, when big horse dicks appear on first forum page...

I'm not scared that somebody shut down this forum because of illegal content, but it can damage Bitcoin reputation ("Did you see their forum? Bitcoin is just for drug dealers").

[Drifter]

What is our goal here?

Is our goal to destroy fiat money?

Or is it something more radical than this?

Obviously, the community is made of individuals with differing perspective on politics. How should we handle this political diversity? Should we let the philosophy of the members guide bitcoin's development?

This wouldn't interfere with bitcoin at all. Users can still spend them on what they please. The question should be, what is the forum's goal? And I don't think it's to grab any attention possible.

If you ban illegal goods here, another place for them will appear.

That's the point. I could care less where else they appear. Why risk government involvement and bad business reputation with providing it here?


I'm sure we could all agree to prohibit child porn. That's already an exception to our freedoms on this board, but because it's believed by the majority, it's upheld and accepted. I don't care if drugs are sold with bitcoins or porn or other things, I just don't see any point whatsoever in having this done here, where businesses will come to gather information of the user base and where users will first look to gather an opinion of the community. Majority of users will be weary in a place that openly sells drugs, and majority of businesses would think three times before even allowing the notion of bitcoins if they saw that happening in the forums. Why bring negative attention? The whole internet is a big open field. Run free and express yourself however you want. Make a black market forum using bitcoins. Sell your drugs. I just don't see why it has to be done here. There's always limits to how much freedom you can have, the child porn being a perfect example. Focus on what the forum is most important for.

[da2ce7]

the shutting down of the bitcoin forum (in 6 or so months,) will probably be the best thing that ever happened to bitcoin.  Many, many times in history when a group is prosecuted, they decentralize and spread out.

Providing we get the bitcoin foundation strong enough to survive an attack before then, the bitcoin community will emerge much, much, much stronger and hardened.

[kiba]

This is the same kind of debate we have on wikileak.

[davout]

After reading the posts here, my final opinion is : no rules, no CP, mirrors

[davout]

This is the same kind of debate we have on wikileak.

Heh yeah, scared people VS people who feel that no matter what happens, bitcoin or one of its clone will free humanity a little more

[bittersweet]

Maybe a compromise, a middle ground can be found here. Do not ban them per s.e. but send them to a reservation... like give them their separate sections on the forum and let them stagnate or flourish there.

Creating a separate "black market" subforum will just give it more exposure.

I think you should ban child porn, assassination offers and similar things related to aggression on other individuals, but not drugs or consensual porn, because it's just peaceful trade with no victims.

[rebuilder]

No rules. Might revisit that if CP starts to pop up, but I'm not expecting it any time soon. Overall I don't think the forum is a very good place for trade of any kind. It's OK for now, but as the economy grows the sheer volume of announcements will make a forum unsuitable for trade. I suspect this may happen before controversial trade becomes a real problem, so the problem may well solve itself.

[sirius]

No rules. Might revisit that if CP starts to pop up, but I'm not expecting it any time soon. Overall I don't think the forum is a very good place for trade of any kind. It's OK for now, but as the economy grows the sheer volume of announcements will make a forum unsuitable for trade. I suspect this may happen before controversial trade becomes a real problem, so the problem may well solve itself.

Things like CP and spam are already forbidden by unwritten rules (common sense).

[Drifter]

This is the same kind of debate we have on wikileak.

Heh yeah, scared people VS people who feel that no matter what happens, bitcoin or one of its clone will free humanity a little more

Little close minded. It's not about being "scared", and I do agree bitcoin will live on if the forum dies. Doesn't mean common sense isn't needed to preserve what we have and grow it to the utmost potential and best reputation possible, especially considering it's infancy.

[Giulio Prisco]

I suggest that there should be no fixed rules on this forum, but ad-hoc decision on specific cases.

In principle I am for total freedom of speech and no bans, but I can see why we want a clean image on the _official_ Bitcoin forum. Of course, if others want to advertise illegal trade in Bitcoin, they will do so elsewhere.