The problem of 51% attacking alt-chains

[the joint]

It seems we have a couple of people on this forum with Messiah Complexes.  Namely, this couple believes that certain alt-coins (and/or their users/creators) are sub-par, and due to this opinion, they feel compelled to eliminate them.

And here, we have a microcosmic example of the worst of humanity unfolding before our eyes.

Welcome to the self-vs.-other paradigm, the driving force behind every war in the history of mankind, and the reason that things like nationalism, racism, sexism, ageism, etc. exist in the first place.

All I can say is this -- when people attempt to 51% attack Bitcoin (or attack it in some other way, directly or indirectly), the actions this couple has taken toward certain alt-coins will have encouraged this to happen.  Only the sub-par in you can identify the sub-par in something else; only the scam in you can identify the scam in something else.  You are setting the tone for the future of the cryptocurrency/free-market revolution -- a bunch of jealous babies can't cope with new ideas.  Threatened much?  By the way, the way that this couple feels about these alt-chains is very much how a lot of Bitcoin skeptics feel about Bitcoin.

Please tell me why you feel so powerful behind a computer when you know that you're a pussy each and every morning that you look at yourself in the mirror.  Nerds/hackers with computers are like gangsters with guns.

Disclaimer:  Yeah, I hated/hate solidcoin, but I never attempted to destroy the damn thing!  

[Bitcoin Oz]

The problem with bitcoin is the same one with democracy. Only instead of buying 51% of the vote you can buy 51% of the hashing.

I only hope these two never get access to ASIC's.

[Graet]

thank you, I was going to start a similar thread, then realised I cbf.

Religious extremists with the "god given right" to identify and destroy anything they don't like by labelling it a "scam" whether it is or not..

Schoolyard bullies usually grow out of destroying things on a "challenge" or a dare...
Some never grow up, then oneday they find that their actions bring them some grief.....

So neither of them will understand what we write - even if they take the time to read
sigh

[k9quaint]

It appears that Litecoin is only being defended by angry forum posts.
It had some potential. At the very least it could have demonstrated how a block chain could recover from a 51% attack.
But it seems the LTC user community cannot organize a response, let alone a defense.

Cryptocurrencies will never be stronger than the people who participate in them and their willingness to exchange things outside the block-chain for things inside them.

[Graet]

It appears that Litecoin is only being defended by angry forum posts.

I guess if you are only looking in the forum...
oh wait look further....
here is an example
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=95368.0

[k9quaint]

It appears that Litecoin is only being defended by angry forum posts.

I guess if you are only looking in the forum...
oh wait look further....
here is an example
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=95368.0

My point exactly. 1 post in the newbie forum...
How about some organized resistance?

[Graet]

It appears that Litecoin is only being defended by angry forum posts.

I guess if you are only looking in the forum...
oh wait look further....
here is an example
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=95368.0

My point exactly. 1 post in the newbie forum...
How about some organized resistance?

let me highlight the bit you ignored
there is a hell of a lot more to cryptocurrencies than the bitcointalk forums and btc-e shoutbox

[Brunic]

I completely agree with the joint.

How can you succeed if you can't experiment and fail? Destroying somebody else work is not failing, it's destroying somebody else work. Bitcoin is not the first virtual currency, and certainly not the last. But it took many failure before Bitcoin could be created. And it took some time before Bitcoin became a respectable currency. If some asshole went to launch a 51% attack 1 year after the launch of Bitcoin, we're probably not here talking at how great crypto-currency is.

Alt-chains is a great lab for experimentation, we don't know if another successful crypto-currency can be made. But if the only thing you do is u destroy the lab every time, we already know the answer to alt-chains. Can't believe some people are so afraid of seeing another successful crypto-currency. It feels like when the church went after Galileo, because the earth was round...

[Luke-Jr]

You trolls sure do like your misinformation and propaganda.

[the joint]

You trolls sure do like your misinformation and propaganda.

Care to expound upon that a little bit?

[k9quaint]

It appears that Litecoin is only being defended by angry forum posts.

I guess if you are only looking in the forum...
oh wait look further....
here is an example
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=95368.0

My point exactly. 1 post in the newbie forum...
How about some organized resistance?

let me highlight the bit you ignored
there is a hell of a lot more to cryptocurrencies than the bitcointalk forums and btc-e shoutbox

Then you have all organized an effective defense of Litecoin that will foil the 51% attack attempt. Well done.
We can close all these superfluous threads and open the exchanges again.

[str4wm4n]

Luke-Jr seems to follow the law of "Do what thou wilt"

[Bitcoin Oz]

Luke-Jr seems to follow the law of "Do what thou wilt"

I guess he only reads the old testament.

[killerstorm]

These things are called CRYPTOcurrencies for a reason. They are NOT based on trust and are SUPPOSED to be attacked.

If you don't like this fact then I don't understand what are you doing on cryptocurrency forum.

[Come-from-Beyond]

These things are called CRYPTOcurrencies for a reason. They are NOT based on trust and are SUPPOSED to be attacked.

Very good point.

[AndrewBUD]

I one time saw this picture on github....... The end

[markm]

What a lot of altcoins have done is to move to an Open Transactions server for now, so they can go ahead and build up trade and alliances and cashflow and so on hoping that if they do in fact turn out to be successful they will eventually have enough transaction volume to be able to attract enough miners to secure a blockchain. At that point they might even decide that the overhead expense caused by miners is not worth paying, but if it is worth paying, at least they will be in a position to pay it.

Since the original plan was in any case to be able to allow each Freeciv nation to launch its own "national currency" if it wished to do so, the whole matter of how exactly to launch more and more currencies into the mix is still being actively explored by players; some interesting ideas have come up and it does still look like it might well be worth a "nation"'s while to at least consider launching a currency of its own.

(For one thing, bitcoin (and probably some other chains too) retains the "feature" local exchange networks do not like: the tendency to flee the market precisely when most needed...)

-MarkM-

[VelvetLeaf]

These things are called CRYPTOcurrencies for a reason. They are NOT based on trust and are SUPPOSED to be attacked.

Meanwhile, bounties. I'd love to see one big attack to bitcoin going live and see the effect to price.
Will we see one in Dec 2012 after block split reward happened to maximize the attacker's profit ?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=79830.0
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Common_Vulnerabilities_and_Exposures

[illpoet]

i liked this thread.  It mentions that these guys are just ego driven bullies, which is what it looks like to me.

[Spekulatius]

But seriously, there must be more thought of how to fend off attacks like that. Because some individuals will always try to break big things. If we want to establish a standard for global transactions based on cryptography it has to be more resilient.