Some wanted more color on my thoughts about cobra (and this was too long to fit in the trust system comments).
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
I don't know Cobra well. I don't think anyone does: We can't as a consequence of his anonymity.
But I don't have much doubt that Cobra is a rough man in the above sense. Brash and at times apparently erratic. When I trusted him with confidences, he broke them. Unrepentantly. He created drama in the community, for reasons that I don't understand or maybe no reason at all. Just because he's Cobra.
I've seen him lash out in places that I think didn't come close to deserving it-- and we have so much toxicity from outright enemies of Bitcoin, so it hurts all the more from people who should be working toward a common end. Why? Because it moved? I cannot say.
He's abused me personally, calling me evil in public for little reason. I'm not alone. At times Cobra can be the kind of ally that makes you think longingly about the company of enemies.
But when things were broken and and really deserved criticism and when many people bit their tongues, Cobra was there also ready to speak up and say what was necessary.
When mobs were being swayed by popular whim, Cobra held strong.
From what I can tell Cobra more or less doesn't give a fuck about what anyone else thinks for better, or for worse.
In many cases I agree with his positions but strongly believe he often promotes them in a counter productive way that creates drama for no good reason. I don't think it's because he intends to, but maybe because he doesn't really care what people might say or think.
But Bitcoin.org? He protected it. Yet, across the years he managed to drive off some extremely valuable contributors and left many in the community stressed that would get turned into something anti-bitcoin. But he hasn't corrupted the site or handed it to someone who would, he just didn't know or didn't care to say the right words to inspire people's confidence that he wouldn't.
But when I think about how it could have gone instead of Cobra... I shiver. The ill-fated Bitcoin Foundation wanted to control it-- could you imagine?
What if we'd handed the domain it to some soft-bellied placater that would hand it over to the first Satoshi impersonator that demanded it forcefully enough?
Do I trust him? No. Would I want to do business with him? Not if I could avoid it. If we wound back the clock to 2011 knowing his personality would I have recommended inviting him to help maintain the domain? No.
But would that have been a terrible mistake? Very likely yes.
At the time many of the likely alternatives are ones that would have turned out much, much worse (especially since many of the not obviously worse options would have or actually did turn it down).
As someone else who has at times answered the calling to do what was necessary to protect what matters, I don't think my actions should be above judgement. To conceal that I've found Cobra's actions wanting would be a lie, but to deny his success at the most critical thing I could have asked of him would also be one. I think where I stood to act where others didn't all I could ask is that people judge me against the alternatives. And as far as Bitcoin.org goes, Cobra compares very well.
But that doesn't mean I have to like him or trust him.
This looks like a post of excellent quality.
I can't say that I have validated all of the claims you have made. However from reading some of your other posts and looking through some of your judgements on things, you are appear to be an honest and straightforward person. Also I like the way you will engage in a step by step break down and analysis of peoples posts and give them fair objective appraisal with no apparent care for the popularity of the outcome.
I have read a few of cobra's posts and found him to be very straight talking person who's opinions I largely agree with ( meta board I dont read any others except rep)
The very most important points to me are that he has handed bitcointalk freely to theymos without doing damage to the forum, and as you say has looked after bitcoin.org amazingly considering through those times what could have happened.
I'm glad you made this post. I find it quite ungrateful and disgusting how some here have tried to ruin his name completely. Okay you guys didn't always get along and were not perfectly aligned in every decsion ,but it is nice you can remain objective and give a balanced and credible appraisal of an important character in bitcoin history.
The guy is solid.