Some things to consider as a community: SUICIDE HOTLINE? Seriously?

Click Here To Go To This Conversation On Reddit

I really appreciate the potential of BTC, but the short-sightedness of some of the members of our sub really scares me. We are up HUNDREDS of % for the year, and yet the TOP post here is a SUICIDE LINE over the night losses. Suffice to say that this seems extremely unhealthy.

I want to propose a couple of discussions points:

• The "to da moon" stuff is really childish and unnecessary, and the fact that "to the moon guy" has so many upvotes only shows the extent to which some members are in it for short-term profit.


• Given the effect that bubble-bursts have on people, perhaps some regulation is good? For most investment instruments in the US you have to either have a license or go through a broker, which should theoretically stop you from putting your RENT/TUITION money into volatile investments. As a bitcoin supporter, it breaks my heart to think that it might cause people significant financial hardship.


• We need to be better as a community at letting people know what bitcoin really is. The fact that most people are drawn into it for the money is largely due to the fact that prices make easy news headlines. We all know that the media is terrible at covering bitcoin, and so we should mount an effort to truly educate people about the protocol's potential. There was talk of funding a superbowl AD about bitcoin some time ago. To me, that is the potential beauty of this stuff: it allows disparate people to get behind a new way or organizing wealth/transfer practices. Think about it: it should appeal to right-wing libertarians AND lefties for its potential to bypass the current economy.


• This isn't to say there aren't serious, well-known issues with the protocol right now: conf. time, blockchain size, etc. The whole focusing on price thing just dilutes our ability as a community to talk about these and the future of bitcoin in general.

TL;DR Fiat price is one of the least interesting aspects of bitcoin. If we educate newcomers better, they will be in it for the long haul and hopefully understand that bubbles come an go.

Submitted December 18, 2013 at 02:29PM by jgrad