Co-workers talking about bitcoin.... so much misinformation still today

[Dafar]

I'm at work right now w/ 2 of my co-workers and one of them says "did you hear what happened to bitcoin?"

"the creator decided to shut it down, so everyone who had money in bitcoin has lost everything"

other co-worker: "was it that old guy from california they recently discovered?"


me: "are you sure the entire bitcoin network was shut down? I thought this just happened to one of the exchanges?"

co-worker: "No pretty sure this affected everyone's bitcoins"

other co-worker: "I don't know why anyone would put money in bitcoin... unless you're into drugs"

(btw- they don't know I have any bitcoins)

I didn't feel like correcting them or anything so I just kept quite. Regardless I got scared as shit for a moment and I immediately came here to see if there were any new updates... but it looks like he was referring to the whole GOX fiasco.

Wow.. I just got a first hand taste of the common perception/mentality of bitcoin. What's worse is that these guys are highly technical, not your avg common folk. We got a long way to go fellas.

[Thedomone15]

They are "highly technical" but also "highly dumb".

Anyway I hear this type of thing more and more often lately too.  A couple of people have mentioned the "bitcoin ceo" who committed suicide but if you go to the website of the company that she ran, you can't even find anything about bitcoin on there, at least not without a long search.  It certainly isn't a "bitcoin website", or company for that matter.

[RGBKey]

Everyone I know just says "Yeah, didn't the price drop a lot recently?" and that's pretty much the extent of their knowledge.

[bbeagle]

Perception is reality.

[~Coinseeker~]

Perception is reality.

Yup and with the Bitcoin Foundation embattled, there is no clear voice to deal with the Gox fallout.  This could very well get worse before it gets better and changing peoples perceptions, is a very difficult thing to do.

[seriouscoin]

Well you're not better than them if you're actually feared that "bitcoin network was shutdown"

Time to go back to Speculation and troll more.... Or you actually gave up on that?

[franky1]

and the problem with this and many other stories is:

I didn't feel like correcting them or anything so I just kept quite.

too many people don't want to poke the bear and correct people or even ask the right questions to get to the truth. they prefer to just let it ride, just to not cause a debate or evoke emotions that someone is wrong.

i call these people 'sheeple' who follow other people based on feelings, that just coast through life and will never be seen at a protest or attempt to confront a scammer and slap them with a wet fish.

.. welcome to the human race. just a shame its a egg and spoon race where people concentrate on the egg 12 inches from their nose.. and not a marathon where people are looking 26 miles infront of them

[RodeoX]

Oh yes, it's CONFIRMED!

Satoshi's copy of bitcoin-QT has a big red "shutdown" button he can press whenever he wants. 

[Dafar]

Well you're not better than them if you're actually feared that "bitcoin network was shutdown"

Time to go back to Speculation and troll more.... Or you actually gave up on that?

What? I didn't think the network was somehow taken down, I was afraid another exchange got hacked or something bad happened recently. Why are you being hostile?  

and the problem with this and many other stories is:

I didn't feel like correcting them or anything so I just kept quite.

too many people don't want to poke the bear and correct people or even ask the right questions to get to the truth. they prefer to just let it ride, just to not cause a debate or evoke emotions that someone is wrong.

i call these people 'sheeple' who follow other people based on feelings, that just coast through life and will never be seen at a protest or attempt to confront a scammer and slap them with a wet fish.

.. welcome to the human race. just a shame its a egg and spoon race where people concentrate on the egg 12 inches from their nose.. and not a marathon where people are looking 26 miles infront of them

So you are calling me a sheep because I did not correct them? I really did not want to get into a bitcoin 101/debate session at work, and there was nothing I could say that would convince them of bitcoin at that moment. I did not care if they invested their own money into it either. It's like me trying to convince people to buy Apple stock. I'm not gonna try to convince people it's a good investment when I'm not completely sure myself. I could have corrected them about how the creator can't just "shut bitcoin down" but like I said I didn't wanna get into all that at work, from their comments it was clear they had no understanding of bitcoin... to explain why they're wrong I would have to explain how bitcoin works from the ground up which would take time and I didn't see this as an appropriate time for that.

And wtf do you mean I follow people based on feeling? Keep talking out of your ass

People like you who "preach" bitcoin like it's a new religion are the ones making the members look like a cult and the whole concept shady. I'm just a regular guy involved with bitcoin as an investment

[ledmaniak]

Didn't they tell you that the bitcoin CEO resigned and the CFO took all the money? That's all I hear these days..

[Buffer Overflow]

I know exactly what your talking about. People at my work know I'm into bitcoin. But of course I keep quiet how many I have, keep em guessing.
How gleefully they quickly pointed out that bitcoin has hit rock bottom and finished, after reading media reports lately. I casually pointed out bitcoin is up 3000% since a year ago, and more businesses are accepting them every day. They quickly ignored that and focused in on how I've been suckered in and scammed, apparently.

I gave up in the end and kept quiet. Yes, bitcoin has a mountain to climb in front of it, that is certain.

[Joshuar]

Guys Guys, we should let everyone think that Bitcoin is crashing/crashed. Thatll enable us to buy up all the Bitcoins when people start selling out of fear for cheap, then we can bring everyone back in by pumping it up.

[BittBurger]

Try not to let it drive you crazy.  I had dinner with two buddies last week who basically said the same thing.
And you saw the text message from my step brother.

Every time you hear this, just buy more Bitcoin, and thank God that you are actually going to be that much more rich one day.
Because by the time the idiot masses realize whats happening, it will be way too expensive for any of them to make any real money.  

At some point the predictions of its long term value hitting $40,000+ will become mainstream thinking.
It will be added to investment portfolios en masse, and by that time, whole bitcoins will be somewhat rare.
As millions begin adding it to their portfolios, your whole whole bitcoins worth more and more and more.

You'll be rewarded for educating yourself.  That's how it works on planet earth.  Always.

-B-

[ReBoRn]

Didn't they tell you that the bitcoin CEO resigned and the CFO took all the money? That's all I hear these days..

After collapsing of MTGox many rumors around here peoples too much talking about this but ver few know about this just because of this too much bad comments coming from peoples

[rohnearner]

haha this is so common with people not into bitcoins ..!
same thing happened with me twice last week, one of them was a close friend telling me that Bitcoin is bankrupt . nd I was like , WTF dude, do you even know what you are telling me , then I tried to explain him what actually happened nd he was like,
and his reaction was

And silently in my heart  I was like " Dude I Do " 

[LiteCoinGuy]

haha, yes i heard similar things too. the good thing is, at least they heard of it! they will learn what it is in the future maybe.

[phillipsjk]

When i visited my parents last month, I was asked if I lost all my Bitcoins. Apparently they were referring to the Mt.Gox melt-down: With the exchange reporting a large number of missing Bitcoins.

Heard about the apparent suicide at work. Had to filter through all the Mt.Gox news to find reference to it here.

[bbeagle]

It's a conundrum.

If the masses don't believe in bitcoin, they won't use it, and it won't go up in value, it might fail.
If the masses DO believe in bitcoin, they'll use it, and it WILL go up in value.

So, in essence, your co-workers are always right about bitcoin. If they think it's failing, it is. If they think it's succeeding, it is.

[FeedbackLoop]

Humans are herd animals. They evolved to accept what the herd says, not to think. Herd movement provides safety. Individual movement puts you into harms way (potentially in front of the herd). While thinking is important for humans, herd still comes first.

The good news is that Bitcoin functions just fine without one bitcoin being worth a house and without all the destructive masses on board. Perhaps not what you want to hear if you are an speculator investor though.
 

[~Coinseeker~]

It's a conundrum.

If the masses don't believe in bitcoin, they won't use it, and it won't go up in value, it might fail.
If the masses DO believe in bitcoin, they'll use it, and it WILL go up in value.

So, in essence, your co-workers are always right about bitcoin. If they think it's failing, it is. If they think it's succeeding, it is.

There is a lot of truth to this.