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I am not sure why this is flagged - it seems a reasonable and timely opinion piece. Cryptocurrency is a subject that has to have a deep and public debate. Wha

I am not sure why this is flagged - it seems a reasonable and timely opinion piece. Cryptocurrency is a subject that has to have a deep and public debate. What the OP is saying (which I take to be "the tech world has a duty to point out the flaws in cryptocurrency to avoid giving an impression of a clean bill of health to every ICO out there") - that is a valid socially useful debate. There are valid real world uses of bitcoin (see Turkey shutting down payment apps recently). but yeah it is also a volatile wild west that is miles away from anyone's expectation of normal regulated currency behaviour. Yes there is a crying need for an "internet native" currency. What will that be - I don't know. But it is not here yet, and it is reasonable to make that clear and loud.

dang 5y ago
Edit: oh, the much simpler answer is that it was posted twice and both posts were on the front page. People flagged the dupe. That's fair. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27336405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27336405. --- I think the submitted title probably had something to do with it; As a title, "the emperor has no clothes" is generic and baity. It's also false in the sense that there's no consensus view, so to the extent that the analogy is meaningful, it doesn't apply. I've attempted to replace that with a more neutral and representative title now, drawn from the author's own words. Suggestions for a better title are welcome. Beyond that, HN has had so many threads arguing the same points about cryptocurrency over and over, that it's not clear there can ever again be a new discussion about it. Repetition is a curiosity killer, and usually indignation takes its place as people resort to hammering each other over the head with the same dumbed-down clubs, back and forth. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=mind%20amuse%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20repetition%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... However, I think we can try turning the flags off on this one because Macjiej is at least trying to take a different and more specific angle on cryptocurrency critique.
- lifeisstillgood 5y ago
  >>> Beyond that, HN has had so many threads arguing the same points about cryptocurrency over and over, that it's not clear there can ever again be a new discussion about it. Fair point. Sad, but fair :-)
- idlewords 5y ago
  Thanks for your honest broker moderation, here and in all the other places you do it. I do find it interesting that there's this putatively 100% tech topic that has the same dynamic as political threads.
  - dang 5y ago
    It's certainly not a 100% tech topic? there aren't any (or hardly any) of those anyhow, no? but the main thing I want to say is thanks for that "putatively". Post HN I want to work on a society for endangered words. Edit: well, one thought...IMO the dynamic that the explicitly-political threads and this sort of thread have in common is that people's identities are strongly vested in their position. The more we do that the more it feels like our existence is being threatened, rather than just our view. Then it's a fight to the rhetorical death. That happens with emotional tech themes too, for example when people (god help us) identify strongly for or against some $BigCo or $celebrity. Large sums of money being involved are a big multiplier of all this.
    - lifeisstillgood 5y ago
      Please consider my application for member status at your society for epeolatry. (always liked that one)
Graffur 5y ago
It's flagged because it's flame baiting. It's posting opinions and acting like it's representing the "tech world". This is just some unknown twitter account
- lifeisstillgood 5y ago
  I mean he is not famous but not quite unknown. Here for example is The Economist on his bookmarking site: >>> Mr Cegłowski runs Pinboard, a paid social-bookmarking service which allows subscribers to store web links with annotations and share them with others. In broad terms, it is similar to Delicious, which Yahoo! acquired in 2005. https://www.economist.com/babbage/2011/04/04/stick-a-pin-in-it https://www.economist.com/babbage/2011/04/04/stick-a-pin-in-... But yes, this is a controversial subject. It shouldn't be. It should be an easy yes / no. But something is wrong. We should not be afraid of the discussion about what is wrong.
  - Graffur 5y ago
    When I google Pinboard I get an indian site - maybe it's big there? the second result is a similar site for a different country
baby 5y ago
Imo the problem is that the debate seems to involve a lot of people with strong opinions but a poor understanding of the field.

dang 5y ago

Edit: oh, the much simpler answer is that it was posted twice and both posts were on the front page. People flagged the dupe. That's fair. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27336405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27336405. --- I think the submitted title probably had something to do with it; As a title, "the emperor has no clothes" is generic and baity. It's also false in the sense that there's no consensus view, so to the extent that the analogy is meaningful, it doesn't apply. I've attempted to replace that with a more neutral and representative title now, drawn from the author's own words. Suggestions for a better title are welcome. Beyond that, HN has had so many threads arguing the same points about cryptocurrency over and over, that it's not clear there can ever again be a new discussion about it. Repetition is a curiosity killer, and usually indignation takes its place as people resort to hammering each other over the head with the same dumbed-down clubs, back and forth. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=mind%20amuse%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20repetition%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... However, I think we can try turning the flags off on this one because Macjiej is at least trying to take a different and more specific angle on cryptocurrency critique.

lifeisstillgood 5y ago
>>> Beyond that, HN has had so many threads arguing the same points about cryptocurrency over and over, that it's not clear there can ever again be a new discussion about it. Fair point. Sad, but fair :-)
idlewords 5y ago
Thanks for your honest broker moderation, here and in all the other places you do it. I do find it interesting that there's this putatively 100% tech topic that has the same dynamic as political threads.
- dang 5y ago
  It's certainly not a 100% tech topic? there aren't any (or hardly any) of those anyhow, no? but the main thing I want to say is thanks for that "putatively". Post HN I want to work on a society for endangered words. Edit: well, one thought...IMO the dynamic that the explicitly-political threads and this sort of thread have in common is that people's identities are strongly vested in their position. The more we do that the more it feels like our existence is being threatened, rather than just our view. Then it's a fight to the rhetorical death. That happens with emotional tech themes too, for example when people (god help us) identify strongly for or against some $BigCo or $celebrity. Large sums of money being involved are a big multiplier of all this.
  - lifeisstillgood 5y ago
    Please consider my application for member status at your society for epeolatry. (always liked that one)

Graffur 5y ago

It's flagged because it's flame baiting. It's posting opinions and acting like it's representing the "tech world". This is just some unknown twitter account

lifeisstillgood 5y ago
I mean he is not famous but not quite unknown. Here for example is The Economist on his bookmarking site: >>> Mr Cegłowski runs Pinboard, a paid social-bookmarking service which allows subscribers to store web links with annotations and share them with others. In broad terms, it is similar to Delicious, which Yahoo! acquired in 2005. https://www.economist.com/babbage/2011/04/04/stick-a-pin-in-it https://www.economist.com/babbage/2011/04/04/stick-a-pin-in-... But yes, this is a controversial subject. It shouldn't be. It should be an easy yes / no. But something is wrong. We should not be afraid of the discussion about what is wrong.
- Graffur 5y ago
  When I google Pinboard I get an indian site - maybe it's big there? the second result is a similar site for a different country

baby 5y ago

Imo the problem is that the debate seems to involve a lot of people with strong opinions but a poor understanding of the field.