Mining is currently a draw for new users of Bitcoin. It is also vital to the existence of Bitcoin (without mining – no Bitcoin). If Bitcoin can survive its infancy, as the reward drops and eventually all coins are mined, mining will eventually be replaced as a draw by the utility of value transfer between parties which is the real reason to use Bitcoin.
The more people that mining draws into the daily use of the currency (even if they naively think it’s a get rich quick scheme) the more rapidly the currency can expand into daily use. The act of mining will mandate research (on this forum and others) and that research will lead to understanding the real reason for using Bitcoin.
These new users will get excited about Bitcoin only to find out eventually that one of the fundamental aspects (mining) is susceptible to fraud and they have long since been a victim. The community has been good about giving away coins (at faucets, on cards and letters, through charitable contributions and in person) to incite users to use the currency. So when they get here and start mining why would we think it’s ok to then immediately try to take coins away from them giving them less to spend? Don’t we want them to have more to spend to give them the experience of using it? Shouldn’t we be donating as much as possible to newcomers? Am I to believe that it’s ok for the rest of the community to give to Bitcoin only to have the mining community leave a resentful feeling in the minds of newcomers?
I suppose I have to believe that the concept of “every man for himself” applies in mining and the mining community really couldn’t give a shit about the long term survival of the currency if they can realize short term profit. I think you can guess my answer to the poll.
tl;dr: Stop using mining to fuck over newcomers because your fucking us all.
Regardless of the system, once something has value fraud creeps in - not just on the internet, but
all around us in the real world.
We must all take measures to reduce our risks.
We should also do our own research in the real world and on the internet before engaging in activities that could lead us to being defrauded. New users especially...
Why do people think Bitcoin is a special case?
I think there are a large number of people in the mining community that do "give a shit about the long term survival of the currency" just they tend to be the silent majority
I started this poll to gauge this and basically see how correct your statement is
I'm one that does "give a shit about the long term survival of the currency". As I believe are many of the other miners and pool operators
I also started a thread for poolops to tell miners what they do with miners power on their pools.
Seems like its all a bit crazy atm with metapools, hopping proxies, pools becoming proxies, and other stuff avid readers of this forum will be aware of.
It is time to cut through the FUD and see whats really hapening in this "community".
Best
Graeme
Poll
