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I understand the very basics of blockchain technology, but I guess I'm missing some context or background that would allow me to make the mental connection betw

I understand the very basics of blockchain technology, but I guess I'm missing some context or background that would allow me to make the mental connection between "blockchain" and "unblockable microblog". Does anyone have a good pointer to something that would explain this more in-depth/like I'm 5?

wepple 5y ago
My guess is that because blockchain is decentralized, in theory nobody could censor or block it, because nobody “controls” the blockchain. Compared with any modern social media site which is mutable and controlled by an organization who gets to police content Edit: a good example of this is that folks have put malicious content into the various blockchains (ascii images of child harm material, or strings of data that trigger antivirus). You can’t stop it being added, and once it’s there you cannot remove it.
- littlestymaar 5y ago
  > You can’t stop it being added It really depends what you mean by “you”, of course I can't, but miners can since they are the one actively adding stuff to the chain. In fact, they may even be legally responsible for what they add to a blockchain (IANAL though), and since miners are physical entities most of whom have a publicly known IP address, it may even be realistically enforceable.
m3kw9 5y ago
Eventually a company providing a UI layer will be the central access point for all the content coming from the block chain. The central point will then be able to censor posts. This is no different from OpenSea, or Coinbase.
roywiggins 5y ago
I think it's embedding posts directly into the chain, so if you can sync the chain then you can access everyone's posts. Since these posts are cryptographically embedded in the chain you can't block any of them without blocking access to the entire chain, or attacking the chain and rewriting history.
- navbaker 5y ago
  Thanks, this was the piece I was missing. Their comment about using a chain that is too popular to easily block makes more sense now, but that still seems like the weak link, right? You're still depending on authority figures being too afraid of opinion to take action against a particular chain.

wepple 5y ago

My guess is that because blockchain is decentralized, in theory nobody could censor or block it, because nobody “controls” the blockchain. Compared with any modern social media site which is mutable and controlled by an organization who gets to police content Edit: a good example of this is that folks have put malicious content into the various blockchains (ascii images of child harm material, or strings of data that trigger antivirus). You can’t stop it being added, and once it’s there you cannot remove it.

littlestymaar 5y ago
> You can’t stop it being added It really depends what you mean by “you”, of course I can't, but miners can since they are the one actively adding stuff to the chain. In fact, they may even be legally responsible for what they add to a blockchain (IANAL though), and since miners are physical entities most of whom have a publicly known IP address, it may even be realistically enforceable.

m3kw9 5y ago

Eventually a company providing a UI layer will be the central access point for all the content coming from the block chain. The central point will then be able to censor posts. This is no different from OpenSea, or Coinbase.

roywiggins 5y ago

I think it's embedding posts directly into the chain, so if you can sync the chain then you can access everyone's posts. Since these posts are cryptographically embedded in the chain you can't block any of them without blocking access to the entire chain, or attacking the chain and rewriting history.

navbaker 5y ago
Thanks, this was the piece I was missing. Their comment about using a chain that is too popular to easily block makes more sense now, but that still seems like the weak link, right? You're still depending on authority figures being too afraid of opinion to take action against a particular chain.