Notice: /r/bitcoin and bitcointalk.org censored

[Steve Sokolowski]

I wanted to make an off-topic post here because it is so important that it's worth spreading to as many places as possible.

Those who follow the cryptocurrency news may not realize that most of the main bitcoin forums, including reddit's /r/bitcoin and bitcointalk.org, are owned by one person, theymos. theymos has unilaterally decided to impose censorship on all forums he controls to prevent discussion of a new patch released by Gavin Andresen, a Core developer, that changes the bitcoin blocksize to 8MB. Posts to his forums about the subject are being silently hidden, in an attempt to control the media narrative over the debate.

Anything posted in any of his forums, including /r/bitcoin and bitcointalk.org, should not be trusted as a news source. In addition to the proven deletions of threads, theymos has the more insidious ability to shape the debate by selectively deleting posts within thread. For example, if the true opinion of the community is that 90% support the bitcoin-xt fork and 10% oppose it, theymos can delete most of the posts supporting the fork, creating the appearance of a "fair" discussion that has equal support on both sides. It is unknown what the true opinion of bitcoin users is on this issue because there are few uncensored forums available.

Additional details along with the admission from theymos are available at https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets ... _utheymos/.

We urge people to:

• Stop posting to /r/bitcoin and bitcointalk.org. Post in /r/bitcoin_uncensored instead. Continue to do so even after this event so that theymos does not continue to control the entire bitcoin media.
• Link to this post or spread the word as widely as possible about the censorship.

Moderation of forums is necessary to keep the tone civil. No matter where you stand on the issue of block size, censorship of forums to prevent legitimate discussion on the most important topic in the history of bitcoin is wrong. Please join us by spreading the word and taking a stand against manipulation and censorship.

[danielasso]

The bitcoin subreddits definitely have a tendency to praise and ONLY praise bitcoin. Rarely do I ever see a thread or post that puts bitcoin in a negative light. Only posts about the value of bitcoin going up or the adoption of bitcoin by various business/government agencies across the world are upvoted. Very one-sided discussion if you ask me.

[rootdude]

The bitcoin subreddits definitely have a tendency to praise and ONLY praise bitcoin. Rarely do I ever see a thread or post that puts bitcoin in a negative light. Only posts about the value of bitcoin going up or the adoption of bitcoin by various business/government agencies across the world are upvoted. Very one-sided discussion if you ask me.

Sorry, but no - lately, either theymos has been lazy or the /r/btc shilling has been more demonstrative because I see a LOT of FUD going on in there.

Anyway, to the Steve's point, censorship really doesn't work well for anyone... but when people are being paid to post factually deficient information, some form of moderation is necessary, IMHO.

It's like anything else - people need to have the skills to think critically about EVERYTHING they read, not just with crypto but with everything else as well. It's hell out there.

Peace,
rootdude

[Steve Sokolowski]

The bitcoin subreddits definitely have a tendency to praise and ONLY praise bitcoin. Rarely do I ever see a thread or post that puts bitcoin in a negative light. Only posts about the value of bitcoin going up or the adoption of bitcoin by various business/government agencies across the world are upvoted. Very one-sided discussion if you ask me.

Sorry, but no - lately, either theymos has been lazy or the /r/btc shilling has been more demonstrative because I see a LOT of FUD going on in there.

Anyway, to the Steve's point, censorship really doesn't work well for anyone... but when people are being paid to post factually deficient information, some form of moderation is necessary, IMHO.

It's like anything else - people need to have the skills to think critically about EVERYTHING they read, not just with crypto but with everything else as well. It's hell out there.

Peace,
rootdude

Welcome back! It's been a while! I thought that your miners had broken - did you buy new ones?

[rootdude]

The bitcoin subreddits definitely have a tendency to praise and ONLY praise bitcoin. Rarely do I ever see a thread or post that puts bitcoin in a negative light. Only posts about the value of bitcoin going up or the adoption of bitcoin by various business/government agencies across the world are upvoted. Very one-sided discussion if you ask me.

Sorry, but no - lately, either theymos has been lazy or the /r/btc shilling has been more demonstrative because I see a LOT of FUD going on in there.

Anyway, to the Steve's point, censorship really doesn't work well for anyone... but when people are being paid to post factually deficient information, some form of moderation is necessary, IMHO.

It's like anything else - people need to have the skills to think critically about EVERYTHING they read, not just with crypto but with everything else as well. It's hell out there.

Peace,
rootdude

Welcome back! It's been a while! I thought that your miners had broken - did you buy new ones?

Thanks Steve -

It's good to be back. Yeah - well, let's just say I had to take a hiatus for a few months, but I have a new set of rigs and I'm pounding away as always. Been looking for colo space and a quantity of rigs to take over, but haven't had any luck yet. Believe it or not, I did find a colo with space and reasonable rates, but they wanted, get this, $500 per rig for a setup fee! I almost choked on my bile. Five hundred beans to plug in a miner! Needless to say I declined.

Anyway, good to be back here and see you all are doing well after all this time. Say hi to Chris for me please. Hope he's doing better!

Regards,
rootdude

[vaultminer]

Thanks Steve -

It's good to be back. Yeah - well, let's just say I had to take a hiatus for a few months, but I have a new set of rigs and I'm pounding away as always. Been looking for colo space and a quantity of rigs to take over, but haven't had any luck yet. Believe it or not, I did find a colo with space and reasonable rates, but they wanted, get this, $500 per rig for a setup fee! I almost choked on my bile. Five hundred beans to plug in a miner! Needless to say I declined.

Anyway, good to be back here and see you all are doing well after all this time. Say hi to Chris for me please. Hope he's doing better!

Regards,
rootdude

I am offering colo space at very reasonable prices. PM me if you're interested in talking

[subseaguru]

i was banned from BTCtalk a while back for "debating" with theymos. he didnt like what i had to say. instead of discussing it, ban hammer dropped.