The Bitcoin environment seems toxic right now... has it felt like this before?

[DarwinNexus]

Perhaps it's just the forums, but I feel like there's a lot of negative vibes coming from BTC right now. 
I've following Bitcoin and mining for a while but never bothered with forums until recently.  Is this common amongst forum-goers or is it really just Bitcoin in general?

[Coinster]

What do you mean by toxic? The MtGox fiasco hit us pretty badly, so we're licking our wounds from that.

[justusranvier]

The only thing I've noticed is an uptick in concern trolls recently.

[franky1]

Perhaps it's just the forums, but I feel like there's a lot of negative vibes coming from BTC right now. 
I've following Bitcoin and mining for a while but never bothered with forums until recently.  Is this common amongst forum-goers or is it really just Bitcoin in general?

well many thousands of users have lost bitcoin due to gox.. so their emotions are high. to add to that their coin was worth $1200 which if they sold to fiat would have been alot. but if gox was to suddenly admit they have the coins. peoples coins are worth half as much since the fiasco began.

then we can add other things to the pile.. and you will understand that some people emotions are being noticed more, and their professional writing patterns of last year, have changed.

i think wall street had similar emotional comments in 2007-2008.

 

[DarwinNexus]

Hard to explain, more of a feeling than an observation, I suppose.
I don't mean to troll at all.  Just wondering if I'm alone in feeling this.

[franky1]

What do you mean by toxic? The MtGox fiasco hit us pretty badly, so we're licking our wounds from that.

+1

The only thing I've noticed is an uptick in concern trolls recently.

this removal of newbie section, removed the filter that was helping to reduce random comments of panic, scamming and offtopic ramblings

[muftimoh]

I think the biggest problem is the demise of Silk Road. People don't have the necessary tools to relax anymore.

[TheButterZone]

The only thing I've noticed is an uptick in concern trolls recently.

+1

+100000

[justusranvier]

This has got to be some kind of non-negative vibe:

http://bitcoinmagazine.com/11242/currency-compassion-texas-bitcoin-conference/

[ebliever]

ASIC mining is coming to Scrypt, so that puts most miners (already pushed out of bitcoin mining) out of Scrypt mining soon. Along with steep declines in revenue from the mining due to the crush of miners entering the last few months. I suspect most miners are not going to be breaking even on their hardware. Throw in all the hacked exchanges (Mt. Gox, Coinex, Poloniex, Flexcoin, it just seems to keep coming), negative press, the Dorian Nakamoto fiasco, a flood of pointless scamcoins, negative government actions - it's all tough sledding right now. I'm very bullish on bitcoin and for altcoins in the long run, but there will be a lot of casualties on the road to victory.

[Beliathon]

this removal of newbie section, removed the filter that was helping to reduce random comments of panic, scamming and offtopic ramblings

Makes me wish this forum was set up like Reddit with upvoting

[EvilPanda]

Perhaps it's just the forums, but I feel like there's a lot of negative vibes coming from BTC right now.  
I've following Bitcoin and mining for a while but never bothered with forums until recently.  Is this common amongst forum-goers or is it really just Bitcoin in general?

well many thousands of users have lost bitcoin due to gox.. so their emotions are high. to add to that their coin was worth $1200 which if they sold to fiat would have been alot. but if gox was to suddenly admit they have the coins. peoples coins are worth half as much since the fiasco began.

then we can add other things to the pile.. and you will understand that some people emotions are being noticed more, and their professional writing patterns of last year, have changed.

i think wall street had similar emotional comments in 2007-2008.

 

This has been said already, but most of those who had money on gox were gamblers, gox had problems for months and people deposited there because of its high (fake) price. I remember people saying "Gox been around for years it's not gonna go that easy", even when the site was down for days.

Another thing is that the funds are not completely lost. They allegedly lost 2/3 of the assets and the remaining ones got blocked by court, those lawyers will suck Karpeles dry. Some even claim he faked the whole theft and holds most of the coins.

I'm still quite positive, bitcoin has great potential and we'll see $1000 again, just maybe not in the next few months. There was the same negativity after the crash in April 2013.

[glendall]

The only thing I've noticed is an uptick in concern trolls recently.

Ya I noticed that as well.  I don't really get why someone would purport to be into bitcoin and be so anti-bitcoin and then join the premier bitcoin forum and then go posting threads bashing bitcoin. Yet I see these threads often, at an increasing amount (I think) in the last 6 months.

After reading some of the Snowden docs it makes me wonder if there is any tax-payer funded naysayers here, because apparently the NSA and CIA do like to do that sort of thing to fracture online communities as discussed in the leaks (reference "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations"          https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/    )

But it is more likely what ebeliever said.    I know having being scammed a couple of times, the most recently from Jon Montroll which stole over 8000 btc including one of my own, that it can really sour you to the community.

[MicroGuy]

Perhaps it's just the forums, but I feel like there's a lot of negative vibes coming from BTC right now. 
I've following Bitcoin and mining for a while but never bothered with forums until recently.  Is this common amongst forum-goers or is it really just Bitcoin in general?

There are cycles. Usually right as the negativity reaches its peak, we get the rebound.

[justusranvier]

After reading some of the Snowden docs it makes me wonder if there is any tax-payer funded naysayers here, because apparently the NSA and CIA do like to do that sort of thing to fracture online communities as discussed in the leaks

This is almost certainly the case.

Remember that just a few months ago we had BCB planting web bugs in high traffic threads, followed by a forum member who was apparently a high ranking member of one of those agencies getting hacked and outed.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=335658.0

Even if "they" aren't actively working to disrupt the forum, they are most definitely here.

[jonald_fyookball]

The only thing I've noticed is an uptick in concern trolls recently.

Ya I noticed that as well.  I don't really get why someone would purport to be into bitcoin and be so anti-bitcoin and then join the premier bitcoin forum and then go posting threads bashing bitcoin. Yet I see these threads often, at an increasing amount (I think) in the last 6 months.

After reading some of the Snowden docs it makes me wonder if there is any tax-payer funded naysayers here, because apparently the NSA and CIA do like to do that sort of thing to fracture online communities as discussed in the leaks (reference "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations"          https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/    )

But it is more likely what ebeliever said.    I know having being scammed a couple of times, the most recently from Jon Montroll which stole over 8000 btc including one of my own, that it can really sour you to the community.

I believe the post known as Anonymint is one such tax-payer funded (or bankster funded) naysayer, doing quite a nice job of spewing cognitive dissonance.  Cleverly mixing pro-coin statements (in an effort to achieve credibility) mixed with fear-mongering and nay saying.  

[BittBurger]

I think he may be referring to the "snark".

When a bunch of super smart techie people get together, "snark" is the most common means of communication.

To outsiders, it would definitely seem "toxic" lol ...

-B-

[Bit_Happy]

The Bitcoin environment was worse when Gox melted down twice in 2011.
MtGox was the only large exchange.
Almost every thread was about Gox this, debate about Gox that...You've been Goxed again...When will Gox re-open?
Gox needs to roll-back the trades after the hack..Gox cannot roll-back the trades......etc, etc.

BTC eventually lost over 90% of it's value.
What we have now is much better. 

[andy10000]

I felt it too. I think there's some anger about Gox, but Gox has highlighted flaws and wider issues in the bitcoin ecosystem. Not just security, but regulation, mining, privacy, the reliability of exchanges, wall street money....

And I think there's more critical thinking than there was when we were riding the escalator to $1200, blinded by the easy money, thinking we were god's gift to trading.

Everyone is starting to think about how to manage those issues and as a diverse community there's different perspectives. Ironically despite the ardent opinions, it's not members of the community that will shape many of the answers. it's in the hands of outside players like Wall St, and national governments. That fear and feeling of helplessness too is causing tension and frustration.

[Bit_Happy]

This is a different type of paradise.
People who are not wealthy yet (like me) have another chance, just learn to see through the toxic haze.