This has prompted some amount of introspection on my part, though probably not in the direction you intended.
I don't even view it as a flaw. Which is probably what _makes_ me not a nice person.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not cruel--I don't intend to hurt people. I just don't really mind if people feel stepped on because someone said something they didn't like.
I mean, I'm laughing that drivebyacc thinks his hands are any less mud-covered than mine. But I also look at that mud-slinging bit and think--well, I pushed him into revealing that he's playing at being an investment banker with Bitcoin, which is exactly what prevents Bitcoin from being a suitable replacement for the money we already have.
And I emphasized the gloating bit because it's a little true and I'm not angry and it gave that guy a bit of a shove. I think the emotion I feel about Bitcoin is similar to this XKCD: http://xkcd.com/194/
Bitcoins.
They don't work.
Now can we, as a technical culture, move on to something that will?
Up until about two weeks ago - Bitcoin has worked really well. I want to put $USD 2000 in the pocket of somebody I've never met, and neither of us want to use credit cards, or paypal, or pay fee's, or pay currency exchange.
He gives me a hex string, "1LnLfnc3nU3fYAY3DfuPsmqJqFAuRb4p9U".
Presuming, that Bitcoins are trading at $40 USD/ i type at the linux prompt, "bc sendtoaddress 1LnLfnc3nU3fYAY3DfuPsmqJqFAuRb4p9U 50"
15 minutes later, after three confirmations, he sells those 50 bitcoins at his exchange, and he now has $USD 2000.
That's the way it's been working just fine for the last 18+ months, until the recent couple weeks of increased volatility.
I don't see anything inherent in the currency that suggests we will have 10+% volatility every 15 minutes for the for seeable future. Doubling every month, of halving every month is fine, users of the currency can adjust for 2%/day volatility.
That's about the only problem I see with BitCoin as a currency right now. Let's check back in six months and see if we're still seeing the +/- 10% swings per day.
I don't even view it as a flaw. Which is probably what _makes_ me not a nice person.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not cruel--I don't intend to hurt people. I just don't really mind if people feel stepped on because someone said something they didn't like.
I mean, I'm laughing that drivebyacc thinks his hands are any less mud-covered than mine. But I also look at that mud-slinging bit and think--well, I pushed him into revealing that he's playing at being an investment banker with Bitcoin, which is exactly what prevents Bitcoin from being a suitable replacement for the money we already have.
And I emphasized the gloating bit because it's a little true and I'm not angry and it gave that guy a bit of a shove. I think the emotion I feel about Bitcoin is similar to this XKCD: http://xkcd.com/194/
Bitcoins.
They don't work.
Now can we, as a technical culture, move on to something that will?