This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
My advice is the same advice I got in 2017. Buy bitcoin every month with whatever money you are willing to lose. Store it in a hardware wallet like a Trezor. Wait 10 years.
If Bitcoin had gone to zero over the last 7 years I'd be out low to mid five figures. Probably less because presumably I'd have stopped at some point. The upside has been significantly more than I could have lost. But it's still an amount I would have been fine losing. Oh I would have been upset. Probably had a few drunken nights to ease my sorrows. But ultimately I'd have been fine.
Stay away from anything that's not bitcoin. Don't touch alt-coins, ICOs, NFTs. Don't invest in mining companies, don't invest in exchanges, don't try to earn interest on your bitcoin, don't try to take out a loan against your bitcoin. Put it on a hardware wallet, backup the seed, put it in a safe.
I have actually made bank off investing in COIN, but do as I say, not as I do.
That's really the unspoken truth about the market as it stands.
The exact type of person who would throw a bunch of money into this thing AND could manage to store it long term without losing it to scams or hacks AND would have the discipline to HODL through massive swings AND would resist YOLOing into meme coins or other moonshots/boondoggles trying to 100x their money... that's probably a rare combination.
So many folks lost funds to scams, blew it on shitcoin plays, or the exchange they traded on blew up, or they panic sold in one of the various crashes, or lost their keys or fat-fingered a transfer to a dead address. Those folks aren't going to advertise their failures. Some might have bounced back.
I can't think of many known whales who were around since the beginnings and are clearly riding high on their wise decisions over the years since then.
Even Mr. Bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver managed to fuck himself by pissing off the IRS.
Yeah, all that is true. Which is why a little advice can go a long way. It's actually kind of sad, but I've noticed a lot of the wisdom from when I got started has completely vanished. I think in large part because participating in those discussions makes you a scam target.
Yep. As I recall it, the "HODL" meme came into existence as simple advice to keep people from panic selling AND from jumping from onto non-bitcoin coins (shitcoins, mostly) and thus from avoiding the biggest risks to your Sat stack, your own emotional decision-making.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link