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Bitcoin Dev Archive 2015

bitcoin-dev list etiquette

10 messages, 19 Aug 2015. Started by Alex Morcos.

Eric Lombrozo (2), Theo Chino (2), Alex Morcos, Hector Chu, Nelson Castillo, Gary Mulder, Btc Drak, Jorge Timón

Permalink Original thread on gnusha.org

Alex Morcos permalink original

This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs would sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it. So I'll just say it from myself.

There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months regarding a hard fork with respect to block size. However the sheer volume of email and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical has rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical discussion related to Bitcoin development. Many of us share the blame for letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that an appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to a higher signal-to-noise ratio. -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to technical development before sending it. -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list regarding the same topic. This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin. Although such a debate may be worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion. Every email you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as much as you value yours. If your intended audience isn't really the majority of them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.

Thanks, Alex

Eric Lombrozo in reply to Alex Morcos permalink original

Alex,

With all due respect, right now the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin is not technical but political. I would love to see this list go back to technical discussions, but unfortunately, until this political stuff is resolved, even technical discussion is purely philosophical as there’s little chance of actually making good progress on consensus…which in a space where everything depends on consensus pretty much makes everything else moot.

Quoted text (16 lines)
> On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:08 PM, Alex Morcos via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>
> This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs would sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it.  So I'll just say it from myself.
>
> There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months regarding a hard fork with respect to block size.  However the sheer volume of email and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical has rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical discussion related to Bitcoin development.  Many of us share the blame for letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that an appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
> -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to technical development before sending it.
> -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list regarding the same topic.
> This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin.  Although such a debate may be worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion.  Every email you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as much as you value yours.  If your intended audience isn't really the majority of them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.
>
> Thanks,
> Alex
>
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
Eric Lombrozo in reply to Eric Lombrozo permalink original

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. - Plato

Quoted text (23 lines)
> On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:11 PM, Eric Lombrozo <elombrozo@gmail•com <mailto:elombrozo@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Alex,
>
> With all due respect, right now the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin is not technical but political. I would love to see this list go back to technical discussions, but unfortunately, until this political stuff is resolved, even technical discussion is purely philosophical as there’s little chance of actually making good progress on consensus…which in a space where everything depends on consensus pretty much makes everything else moot.
>
>> On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:08 PM, Alex Morcos via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org <mailto:bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>> wrote:
>>
>> This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs would sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it.  So I'll just say it from myself.
>>
>> There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months regarding a hard fork with respect to block size.  However the sheer volume of email and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical has rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical discussion related to Bitcoin development.  Many of us share the blame for letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that an appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
>> -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to technical development before sending it.
>> -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list regarding the same topic.
>> This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin.  Although such a debate may be worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion.  Every email you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as much as you value yours.  If your intended audience isn't really the majority of them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Alex
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> bitcoin-dev mailing list
>> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org <mailto:bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>
>> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev <https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev>
>
Hector Chu in reply to Eric Lombrozo permalink original

Haha. Reminds me of when I asked Gavin earlier this year about whether he cared about politics and he replied that he only cared about and was responsible for the technicals. Little did he know he would unwittingly become the technical enabler for Mike's political shenanigans.

On 19 August 2015 at 21:19, Eric Lombrozo via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:

Quoted text (57 lines)
> Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed
> by those who are dumber.
> - Plato
>
> On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:11 PM, Eric Lombrozo <elombrozo@gmail•com> wrote:
>
> Alex,
>
> With all due respect, right now the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin is not
> technical but political. I would love to see this list go back to technical
> discussions, but unfortunately, until this political stuff is resolved, even
> technical discussion is purely philosophical as there’s little chance of
> actually making good progress on consensus…which in a space where everything
> depends on consensus pretty much makes everything else moot.
>
> On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:08 PM, Alex Morcos via bitcoin-dev
> <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>
> This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs would
> sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it.  So I'll just say it from
> myself.
>
> There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months regarding
> a hard fork with respect to block size.  However the sheer volume of email
> and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical has
> rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical
> discussion related to Bitcoin development.  Many of us share the blame for
> letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that an
> appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to a
> higher signal-to-noise ratio.
> -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to
> technical development before sending it.
> -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list regarding the
> same topic.
> This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on the
> philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin.  Although such a debate may be
> worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion.  Every email
> you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as much
> as you value yours.  If your intended audience isn't really the majority of
> them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.
>
> Thanks,
> Alex
>
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>
Theo Chino in reply to Hector Chu permalink original

And this is why I love Bitcoin, politics + technical = all in one.

Regards, Theo Chino https://www.facebook.com/groups/557495624389384 (politics in NYS about bitcoin.) http://frenchmorning.com/en/2014/08/18/french-robin-hood-bitcoin-new-york

On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 5:19 PM, Hector Chu via bitcoin-dev < bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:

Quoted text (84 lines)
> Haha. Reminds me of when I asked Gavin earlier this year about whether
> he cared about politics and he replied that he only cared about and
> was responsible for the technicals. Little did he know he would
> unwittingly become the technical enabler for Mike's political
> shenanigans.
>
> On 19 August 2015 at 21:19, Eric Lombrozo via bitcoin-dev
> <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
> > Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being
> governed
> > by those who are dumber.
> > - Plato
> >
> > On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:11 PM, Eric Lombrozo <elombrozo@gmail•com> wrote:
> >
> > Alex,
> >
> > With all due respect, right now the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin is
> not
> > technical but political. I would love to see this list go back to
> technical
> > discussions, but unfortunately, until this political stuff is resolved,
> even
> > technical discussion is purely philosophical as there’s little chance of
> > actually making good progress on consensus…which in a space where
> everything
> > depends on consensus pretty much makes everything else moot.
> >
> > On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:08 PM, Alex Morcos via bitcoin-dev
> > <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
> >
> > This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs would
> > sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it.  So I'll just say it
> from
> > myself.
> >
> > There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months
> regarding
> > a hard fork with respect to block size.  However the sheer volume of
> email
> > and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical
> has
> > rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical
> > discussion related to Bitcoin development.  Many of us share the blame
> for
> > letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that an
> > appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to a
> > higher signal-to-noise ratio.
> > -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to
> > technical development before sending it.
> > -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list regarding
> the
> > same topic.
> > This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on the
> > philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin.  Although such a debate may be
> > worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion.  Every
> email
> > you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as
> much
> > as you value yours.  If your intended audience isn't really the majority
> of
> > them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Alex
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > bitcoin-dev mailing list
> > bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > bitcoin-dev mailing list
> > bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
> >
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>
Nelson Castillo in reply to Theo Chino permalink original

On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 4:51 PM, Theo Chino via bitcoin-dev < bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:

Quoted text (2 lines)
> And this is why I love Bitcoin, politics + technical = all in one.
>

If you think developers do not talk politics go read LKML... Politics are inevitable. I think the "I don't know enough to code (Bitcoin) but I think that" belongs somewhere else (This is the -dev list).

Quoted text (104 lines)
>
> Regards,
> Theo Chino
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/557495624389384 (politics in NYS about
> bitcoin.)
> http://frenchmorning.com/en/2014/08/18/french-robin-hood-bitcoin-new-york
>
> On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 5:19 PM, Hector Chu via bitcoin-dev <
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>
>> Haha. Reminds me of when I asked Gavin earlier this year about whether
>> he cared about politics and he replied that he only cared about and
>> was responsible for the technicals. Little did he know he would
>> unwittingly become the technical enabler for Mike's political
>> shenanigans.
>>
>> On 19 August 2015 at 21:19, Eric Lombrozo via bitcoin-dev
>> <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>> > Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being
>> governed
>> > by those who are dumber.
>> > - Plato
>> >
>> > On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:11 PM, Eric Lombrozo <elombrozo@gmail•com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Alex,
>> >
>> > With all due respect, right now the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin is
>> not
>> > technical but political. I would love to see this list go back to
>> technical
>> > discussions, but unfortunately, until this political stuff is resolved,
>> even
>> > technical discussion is purely philosophical as there’s little chance of
>> > actually making good progress on consensus…which in a space where
>> everything
>> > depends on consensus pretty much makes everything else moot.
>> >
>> > On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:08 PM, Alex Morcos via bitcoin-dev
>> > <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>> >
>> > This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs
>> would
>> > sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it.  So I'll just say it
>> from
>> > myself.
>> >
>> > There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months
>> regarding
>> > a hard fork with respect to block size.  However the sheer volume of
>> email
>> > and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical
>> has
>> > rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical
>> > discussion related to Bitcoin development.  Many of us share the blame
>> for
>> > letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that
>> an
>> > appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to a
>> > higher signal-to-noise ratio.
>> > -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to
>> > technical development before sending it.
>> > -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list regarding
>> the
>> > same topic.
>> > This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on the
>> > philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin.  Although such a debate may be
>> > worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion.  Every
>> email
>> > you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as
>> much
>> > as you value yours.  If your intended audience isn't really the
>> majority of
>> > them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Alex
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > bitcoin-dev mailing list
>> > bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>> > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > bitcoin-dev mailing list
>> > bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>> > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> bitcoin-dev mailing list
>> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>
>
Theo Chino in reply to Nelson Castillo permalink original

Nelson,

Talking politics, Devs do day and night, however politics is also about knocking on door and not sitting behind a keyboard writing a perl script to spam the politicians with the same content. Politics is about maneuvering to be in a position to get the elected official to do what you want because if he don't, you will make sure it will not get elected next time.

I personally never could finish drilling into the code (which is very elegantly written) because some New York idiot decided that Bitcoin was too dangerous for society to handle. I had to stop playing with the code and turn my attention elsewhere. *You can read the opinion of one of the idiot here : http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/opinion/apple-google-when-phone-encryption-blocks-justice.html <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/opinion/apple-google-when-phone-encryption-blocks-justice.html>*

Theo

On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 5:54 PM, Nelson Castillo <nelsoneci@gmail•com> wrote:

Quoted text (121 lines)
> On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 4:51 PM, Theo Chino via bitcoin-dev <
> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>
>> And this is why I love Bitcoin, politics + technical = all in one.
>>
>
> If you think developers do not talk politics go read LKML... Politics are
> inevitable.
> I think the "I don't know enough to code (Bitcoin) but I think that"
> belongs somewhere else (This is the -dev list).
>
>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Theo Chino
>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/557495624389384 (politics in NYS about
>> bitcoin.)
>> http://frenchmorning.com/en/2014/08/18/french-robin-hood-bitcoin-new-york
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 5:19 PM, Hector Chu via bitcoin-dev <
>> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>>
>>> Haha. Reminds me of when I asked Gavin earlier this year about whether
>>> he cared about politics and he replied that he only cared about and
>>> was responsible for the technicals. Little did he know he would
>>> unwittingly become the technical enabler for Mike's political
>>> shenanigans.
>>>
>>> On 19 August 2015 at 21:19, Eric Lombrozo via bitcoin-dev
>>> <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>>> > Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being
>>> governed
>>> > by those who are dumber.
>>> > - Plato
>>> >
>>> > On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:11 PM, Eric Lombrozo <elombrozo@gmail•com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Alex,
>>> >
>>> > With all due respect, right now the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin
>>> is not
>>> > technical but political. I would love to see this list go back to
>>> technical
>>> > discussions, but unfortunately, until this political stuff is
>>> resolved, even
>>> > technical discussion is purely philosophical as there’s little chance
>>> of
>>> > actually making good progress on consensus…which in a space where
>>> everything
>>> > depends on consensus pretty much makes everything else moot.
>>> >
>>> > On Aug 19, 2015, at 1:08 PM, Alex Morcos via bitcoin-dev
>>> > <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > This is a message that I wrote and had hoped that all the core devs
>>> would
>>> > sign on to, but I failed to finish organizing it.  So I'll just say it
>>> from
>>> > myself.
>>> >
>>> > There has been a valuable discussion over the last several months
>>> regarding
>>> > a hard fork with respect to block size.  However the sheer volume of
>>> email
>>> > and proportion of discussion that is more philosophical than technical
>>> has
>>> > rendered this list almost unusable for its primary purpose of technical
>>> > discussion related to Bitcoin development.  Many of us share the blame
>>> for
>>> > letting the discourse run off topic to such a degree, and we hope that
>>> an
>>> > appeal for individual self restraint will allow this list to return to
>>> a
>>> > higher signal-to-noise ratio.
>>> > -Please consider the degree to which any email you send is related to
>>> > technical development before sending it.
>>> > -Please consider how many emails you are sending to this list
>>> regarding the
>>> > same topic.
>>> > This list is not appropriate for an endless back and forth debate on
>>> the
>>> > philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin.  Although such a debate may be
>>> > worthwhile it should be taken to another forum for discussion.  Every
>>> email
>>> > you send is received by hundreds of developers who value their time as
>>> much
>>> > as you value yours.  If your intended audience isn't really the
>>> majority of
>>> > them, perhaps private communication would be more appropriate.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks,
>>> > Alex
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > bitcoin-dev mailing list
>>> > bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>>> > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > bitcoin-dev mailing list
>>> > bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>>> > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>>> >
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> bitcoin-dev mailing list
>>> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>>> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> bitcoin-dev mailing list
>> bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org
>> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>>
>>
>
Gary Mulder in reply to Theo Chino permalink original

So guys, do we need a BIP to address the existence of XT and its possible impact to the block chain?

Btc Drak in reply to Gary Mulder permalink original

On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 11:25 PM, Gary Mulder via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:

Quoted text (2 lines)
> So guys, do we need a BIP to address the existence of XT and its possible
> impact to the block chain?

I believe there is BIP99 that addresses hard forks.

Jorge Timón in reply to Gary Mulder permalink original

On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 12:25 AM, Gary Mulder via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation•org> wrote:

Quoted text (2 lines)
> So guys, do we need a BIP to address the existence of XT and its possible
> impact to the block chain?

The potential impacts of Schism/controversial/contentious hardforks are shortly covered in https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pull/181/files#diff-e331b8631759a4ed6a4cfb4d10f473caR137 It is still a BIP draft so improvements are welcomed.