,
15 tweets,
5 min read
Read on Twitter
1/ The reason people are confused about what's going on and can't find the trail is simply because @TheBlueMatt is being dramatic. I wasn't going respond directly because it's so stupid, but it would be worse to not clarify and invite speculation. 🤦♂️ #BitcoinDrama
2/ By making a massive deal out of blocking me (Matt, you couldn’t just write it, but had to take a screenshot of Twitter UI showing the block - which is literally TEXT in a blue bar), people are wondering if I kicked his dog or worse. Now there’s a CoinDesk article. Geez.
3/ The starting point was this thread from @nwoodfine . TL;DR: #Bitcoin is very important, attracts scammers and frauds, & a culture has evolved to defend against bad actors / attacks. He went on to say if you can't accept that culture then too bad.
4/ I don’t disagree with anything that @nwoodfine said. Neil is level headed & simply pointing out the realties of the space. I believe his commentary was related to this tweet () & how we may lose “bright” devs to ETH because Bitcoiners aren’t nice enough.
5/ Matt messaged me directly to complain about Neil and told me to “keep him in line.” Neil reports to me and heads up our marketing team. I told Matt that I don’t police the thoughts of my team and that they are free to express their own opinions.
6/ What am I supposed to keep Neil “in line with” exactly? Some standard set by Matt? Or by some committee that dictates what is a proper opinion? This is all goes against the very ethos of #Bitcoin and principles of self-sovereignty. I don’t even think Matt realizes this.
7/ (Ironically, Matt enjoys the luxury to say what he likes at his current employer.) Matt continued to complain & I told him not to bother me on my weekend & that we can talk next week. I guess he didn’t like that because on Monday he started the started the drama. That’s it.
8/ Outside of Neil’s commentary, several parallel discussions were spawned from the Soona thread that went into ethnic diversity, gender dynamics, and toxicity in general. I only saw bits and pieces of those, and apparently it got pretty heated.
9/ “Toxicity” is complicated. Should we be nice to Ver when he uses his Bitcoin account/website to scam people? Should we be nice to companies when they tell us we have no choice but to accept Garzik’s 2x fork? What is considered as toxic by one person may not be from another.
10/ There are many different forms of toxicity too. I prefer #BitcoinTwitter open argument than methods like trying to silence people or getting them fired, which is just as toxic if not more. The only difference is in the latter, the perpetrator gets to look good in public.
11/ It’s a market of ideas vs back room politics, much like #Bitcoin vs fiat. It’s funny how certain types of people that prefer those back room politics are also the ones that complain the loudest about toxicity.
12/ During the Bitcoin Civil War (XT, Classic, BU) almost every CEO trying to hard-fork Bitcoin was trying to silence me by getting me fired as COO at BTCC. Why? Because I was speaking against them & sticking up for devs like Matt. They'd even email our investors like Lightspeed.
13/ Now that's real toxicity & it’s the kind you don’t easily get to see because it’s not on Twitter. Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about my ‘job’ because I was on the BTCC board of directors, had @Pixelmatic, & am financially stable - but not everyone is in that situation.
14/ Toxicity is more complex than people that say things you don’t like. It can actually get really toxic to the point where it can affect people’s livelihoods. It’s also a very slippery slope when certain parties try to silence the opinions of others through back channels.
15/ Ultimately, not everyone will act how you want or say the things you want to hear. But, if it bothers you a lot, you can block them, and do it without being overly dramatic. 🦁
