I've noticed that the Bitcoin subreddit has become very hostile to anyone who tries to put anything critical about Bitcoin up. Those posts tend to get downvoted very quickly
This entrenched head-in-the-sand attitude though, doesn't do Bitcoin any favors. Can you imagine running a business in which you just ignored every time someone made a complaint, and just wrote them off as a whining loser? You would quickly go out of business. It's only through seriously engaging with the weaknesses of Bitcoin that something important will be built, and I'm not only referring to technical weaknesses. Every time anybody tries to post anything related to Bitcoin internal politics, or gender and race politics, inequality of ownership, and internal douchebaggery, it struggles to get any airplay, or gets put down with shallow responses like 'Bitcoin isn't political, so don't try come here and talk politics'
Likewise, articles about why Bitcoin might fail don't get read either. That's like a CEO receiving risk warnings from an external consultant and then refusing to read what they don't want to hear
This is one of the reasons why public opinion remains - or is getting more - ambiguous towards Bitcoin. Rather than the community actually addressing concerns, the standard line is to just repeat some trite soundbites about freedom vs oppressive government
I would like to call for this sub-reddit to become more critical towards itself, in the interests of keeping Bitcoin fresh and vibrant. I would like to feel that if I put a piece on here from someone who doesn't agree with the dominant Bitcoin line, that it will actually stand a vague chance of getting read. I don't want to feel like the only thing I can put up is sycophantic praise of Bitcoin or articles about how the government is shitting itself about it.
Does anybody else feel similar?
Submitted November 22, 2014 at 04:41PM by EconHacker http://ift.tt/1xNrA6m