FeedTheProtest to begin paying microbloggers in Bitcoin

[carbonpenguin]

As many folks on this forum are aware, after we had issues with PayPal, FeedTheProtest.com (which has been covering the Wall Street Protests and working on a police brutality database) began accepting bitcoin donations. The generous support of the community has been overwhelming, as we've received more than a hundred coins thus far. A small portion of that sum has been used for a bus ticket to get me to and from the occupation to work on a few different projects, but we've also been brainstorming a way in which to use the donated bitcoins to support and expand our coverage while also supporting the spread and success of the general bitcoin project.

After much discussion as to how best to do this, we're pleased to announce our site's newest feature: a microblog for which contributors will be compensated in bitcoin. As the movement has expanded, it's become increasingly difficult to get a sense of what's happening moment by moment on the ground as the twitter channels have been flooded with content. Thus, we're currently in the process of recruiting  a pool of microbloggers on the ground (we have one confirmed, and he is seeking out others) who will be compensated 0.2 btc per short update for up to five non-redundant updates per day. We're hoping that this will create a consistent, but not overwhelming, stream up first-person updates, and it will also introduce many of the bloggers to the bitcoin project by providing them with a small stream of coins.

If anyone has other suggestions as to how we can integrate bitcoin directly into our coverage of the protests, suggestions are extremely welcome. Additionally, if you'd like to support our project with coins, head to http://www.feedtheprotest.com!

[1714140896]

1714140896

[1714140896]

1714140896

[BitcoinPorn]

5 updates for 1 btc, anyone would be a fool not to pop out their phone, start a Twitter account or something, and get to covering if you are already out there or near the area.

[carbonpenguin]

Also, if you are, or know, a bitcoiner who is frequenting (or, better, living at) the occupation, feel free to get in touch to possibly become a correspondent...

[pekv2]

I'll send some. 136.78091704 BTC already received, quite a bit just for .2 per update.

Will the donation be used to get em food n water, shit like that, blankets when it gets chilly?

I am guessing there are around 5000 protestors total? Isn't a whole lot out of 312,378,356. US citizens.

[carbonpenguin]

I just got back from my second trip down (I live a good 9 hour bus ride from NYC), and the occupation is interesting in that there's a small but growing core of locals who are holding down the fort who are augmented by a continuous stream of short-term out of towners who've been staying for a few days before heading back home to organize in their own cities, so the size of the protest at any one time doesn't take into account the constant churn of new people in and out. It's very encouraging to me to see all of the occupations that have been popping up in sympathy around the country.

Also, thanks for the donation - if push comes to shove and we have nothing better to spend the coins on, we'll forward whatever surplus there is to the general assembly fund. However our hope is to use donations to support the movement in ways that also advance the bitcoin project (coins sent to the GA would likely be immediately cashed out), hence the idea of paying folks on the ground for their updates in btc, which functions to bring new people into the bitcoin community . My real goal in this is, like #operationbitcoin, build as many bridges as possible between the two movements...

[tvbcof]

The site looks really good, and the project and data collection quite valuable.

I just donated around 10 BTC.  For now.  My hope is that it is used as much for the efforts of this organization as for promoting Bitcoin specifically.  So, I am perfectly happy if some responsible person converts the Bitcoin to USD and pays people for necessary things in that form.

I think that it will ultimately be more effective for Bitcoin generally if it is clearly known that some funding was made possible through Bitcoin, but actively pushing it is fairly low-key.  In other words, let people focus on their more critical work rather than spending to much time thinking about how to deal with Bitcoin at this point.  In the end, when people have a chance to sit back and reflect, I suspect that a fraction of them will contemplate Bitcoin and become convinced of it's usefulness.  And when a bunch of 'money of terrorists' propaganda permeates the media they'll know better and tell their friends.

[percymate]

I think that it will ultimately be more effective for Bitcoin generally if it is clearly known that some funding was made possible through Bitcoin, but actively pushing it is fairly low-key. 

I disagree. You know what they say, "never waste a crisis." And right now we need to be more vocal than ever. Get people into the Bitcoin system. Besides, those people on Wall St. are going to be there for a while, hopefully. Like the OP said, a lot of people are coming and going to start occupations in their own cities. Wouldn't it be great if they went back to other states with the message of Bitcoin?

Let's get out there people! I've done petitioning before and you always want people to make a small investment in the system before they walk away, be it signing something or donating a dollar.

Why do you think you receive nickels in the mail? Statistically speaking, people are more likely to get involved if they feel they have received something of value. So giving out Bitcoins in return for a tweet is frigging genius!

[tvbcof]

I think that it will ultimately be more effective for Bitcoin generally if it is clearly known that some funding was made possible through Bitcoin, but actively pushing it is fairly low-key. 

I disagree. You know what they say, "never waste a crisis." And right now we need to be more vocal than ever. Get people into the Bitcoin system. Besides, those people on Wall St. are going to be there for a while, hopefully. Like the OP said, a lot of people are coming and going to start occupations in their own cities. Wouldn't it be great if they went back to other states with the message of Bitcoin?

Let's get out there people! I've done petitioning before and you always want people to make a small investment in the system before they walk away, be it signing something or donating a dollar.

Why do you think you receive nickels in the mail? Statistically speaking, people are more likely to get involved if they feel they have received something of value. So giving out Bitcoins in return for a tweet is frigging genius!

I believe that a majority of people who one might run across at the protests are going to be focused on a lot of things, and many of them will have never heard of Bitcoin.  It is unrealistic to expect that they are going to drop everything and focus on a fairly complex and confusing system.  Trying to force them into it in the heat of battle is more likely to annoy them than anything else.  Not to mention that a fair fraction of Bitcoin enthusiasts absolutely seethe with contempt for these people which I doubt will go undetected.

I continue to believe that it is both more practical and ultimately more effective to get the message across that has been and can continue to be a valuable tool in circumventing the power of the financial institutions.  That will set the stage for a more thorough and exploration at a more opportune time.  Especially if/when they go back to their cities and are setting things up.

And I am dubious at the value of handing out Bitcoin for tweets, especially in such low quantities.  I think you are dreaming if you think that the tweeters are going to fuck around figuring out the in's and out's of Bitcoin for a few bucks.  I believe that it makes a lot more sense for someone with the ability to do so to give them a cash payment.   Might work somewhat to offer them a choice of Bitcoin in a slightly higher monetary value or USD.

[percymate]

You say that we should pursue educating OWS participants at a, "more opportune time." Could you specify what is a more opportune time than this?

And yes, it might take more time getting a foot soldier on Wall St setup with Bitcoin than it would just handing them some cash. However, after that person has invested a bit of their precious time in learning about Bitcoin they will come back to Bitcoins as an idea and actually do some more research. Nobody is advocating that we go down there and explain cryptography and what a nonce is. You say, "Hey, you want to earn some money for micro blogging? Great, we have just the thing for you."

Personally, I have spent countless hours standing in farmers markets with a table and a sign-up sheet giving a short pitch about what I'm all about to pique a passerby's interest. Some will just walk on by, but in a day we talk to hundreds of people and get them on board with the campaign.

Just being armchair economists is not going to raise awareness of Bitcoin. The people out their are clamoring for solutions to the problem of too big to fail banks and Bitcoin is a solution to that problem.

[svojoe]

I'd love to throw some bit coins into the occupation.   Are there any other ways to put some coinage on the ground besides this?

[evoorhees]

I'd love to throw some bit coins into the occupation.   Are there any other ways to put some coinage on the ground besides this?

This is a concurrent project:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45943.0

[BladeMcCool]

Anyone with a phone that can call 253-802-0361 can send and receive bitcoins. No computers required.

(As long as you dont mind trusting me and my EC2 instance with 'em -- I promise I'm not going to scam anyone, source code available upon request etc.)

PS, for local numbers, we need local DIDs in cities that want them, or toll free DIDs. The # above there is a free Washington state DID from IPKall. DIDs in any city can be funded pretty cheaply with BTC from a few different viop providers that accept BTC (link2voip and lightbox to name a few)

This IVR system is simple enough that I hope even my grandmother could use it to send and receive Bitcoins

[BitcoinPorn]

BladeMcCool is the coolest Bitcointalk member with such a low post count ratio.  Very cool phone system set up, just read about it here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=43734.0

"I promise I'm not going to scam anyone", classic.

[pekv2]

Sent donation of .2.

[LightRider]

Neat idea. Thanks for coming up with good promotions and simultaneously telling people about what's going on down there.