Public outreach, re: hard fork

[Joel Dalais]

I discussed this once with Gavin a while back - https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/gavin-andresen-bitcoin-soft-fork-going-eta-increased-block-size-6-months-year/ -

I mention him (not as an appeal to authority, just as a discussion point), in so much that I do agree with the 6-12 months pre-warning.

I've gotten the feeling over the last year or so that a surprisingly large number of businesses and platforms are ignorant or uncaring (not in a mean way) about the block size debate, and that they would just follow suite.

With that in mind I feel that we are now under the *6 months* window whereby adoption for larger blocks (BU in this case) will occur.

Media are now starting to touch upon this, but perhaps there should be some active outreach from BU to said media (so that the information is correct, I'm sure we all know full well how certain 'entities' are inclined to twist and distort whats happening).

It's not just a block size/control war, its an information war.

 

[Joel Dalais]

So, going from the events that happened yesterday, and a lack of replies/posts here, I'm going to just be pro-active and push some media interest.

I will prod the 2 Andrews to talk to media (when I have said media attention), but is there anyone else who is happy to talk to the media? Please post a reply here or PM me via these forums.

 

[Bagatell]

Off the top of my head I can count four journalists that are regular posters here and dozens of amateur keyboard warriors. If yesterdays events tell me anything, it's that BU's PR is several steps in front of it's technical aspects. With respect to the war you refer to (the war on cash?) I wonder how much longer cryptos captains of industry can sit on their rather crowded fence.

 

[Joel Dalais]

if you could pm me their usernames and who they write for that would be great (if its considered allowed?).

Whereas I consider the war on cash definitely related, I was referring more to the information part (censorship, getting the BU side out, etc, MSM is currently more likely to go to Core developers for 'the story' (whatever the story is at the time)).

>I wonder how much longer cryptos captains of industry can sit on their rather crowded fence.

A question I often ask myself ...

 

[bitsein]

There is certainly a bit of an issue about PR. In effect, most people get their Bitcoin news from reddit /bitcoin, Bitcoin Magazine and CoinDesk. In those outlets BU does get play, but often quite negatively. There is a general *assumption* that Core is official and BU represents a kind of ad hoc attempt at an alt-coin and this is rarely challenged.

 

[Joel Dalais]

i find those two outlets too heavily biased towards core, and i do like news.bitcoin.com, but, others might see it as biased.

I think a good approach is having a blog site on the new site/forum area that's being created, and reaching out to other media outlets, then emailing/tweeting/referencing the relevant articles to more MSM tech writers (they love a story pre-written for them), and yes using news.bitcoin.com when we feel it appropriate (the articles are good, and personally i do find them unbiased, but the view of others..).

In my view its about pro-actively letting the (relevant) world know whats going on in and around BU, before people like Peter Todd flap their mouths in the wind.

 

[Bloomie]

Running a news site is an intense operation and requires time and resources. If the community decides it needs a news site and can provide the staff (writers, editors, and a designer), my previous offer to use bitco.in/news is on the table.

 

[Joel Dalais]

>Running a news site is an intense operation and requires time and resources.

That it does.. I wasn't thinking that deeply into it. Maybe sometime in the future? I'm not sure how we would populate a full on news site, unless we discussed the entire bitcoin/crypto environment. Though we could probably think of things to discuss on a regular/weekly basis.. development, proposals, the team/members, growth, BU philosophy, op-ed pieces.. (while trying to keep the news focused on BU)..

I think such a thing wouldn't need to be publishing as regularly as standard media outlets, acting as a 'goto' source for said media outlets.. and as a way for BU development to get its voice out on matters of what its working on currently, what its working on next, etc..

I could probably convince writers and editors to contribute, regarding a designer, i'd have to dig around some, or maybe someone would step forward if the idea was more developed..

requires more thought.. and as you say, only if the (BU) members/community thought it was a good idea to do.

 

[Joel Dalais]

re: Bitcoin Unlimited visit GDAX (aka Coinbase)

https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/5zw489/bitcoin_unlimited_visit_gdax_aka_coinbase/

"Censorship works. A lot of people were blind to what BU was about (some thought we were against second layers, some thought there was no block size limit in BU, some thought we put the miners in complete control, some thought we wanted to replace Core as the "one true Bitcoin," etc.)"

THIS is exactly why I feel we need to work on the BU PR.

Still too early for me, need more tea, will think more..

edit: https://medium.com/@arthricia/is-bitcoin-unlimited-an-attack-on-bitcoin-9444e8d53a56#.oo0m58oqm

this is also a very good read and helps to highlight the point of my OP

 

[Joel Dalais]

I do think that creating a full on news media/source is probably more than we currently need at this time.

What I do think we can (and should) do is create a Public Relations Team. A group of people who are able (and capable) to contact various media outlets as and when needed with briefs of current and future events (journalists love a story already written for them), who are capable to talk on BU topics (if contacted), who can put the media in touch with XYZ developers (if needed), who can arrange talks (as Peter R did recently with Coinbase), who can act as a point of contact for arranging such talks.

@Bloomie assuming this was agreed upon and pushed forward, would it be possible to use the bitco.in/news for a blog site for BU? I'm assuming a blog for the BU team doesn't exist yet? (I couldn't find one).

I'm envisioning this as voluntary run, without need for funding, apart from the blog space and if we wanted to send people like Peter.R to places to talk. If its felt needed, it can be morphed at some point later into a more in-depth media/news source.

Mandate: (to be written up).

After discussing with some people I will be pushing forward with this, if you are interested in assisting then please post a reply or PM me. You will need some kind of checkable background/history that is supportive of BU/Classic/bigger blocks.

 

[Christoph Bergmann]

creating a news source is definitely too much.

But nothing against a PR team. If anybody has media contacts to the world outside bitcoin, great.

For the start there is a lot of education needed in the bitcoin community. I think a first step would be to complete the website, merge the posts which are available, engage in communication, write more posts.

 

[Joel Dalais]

I've some media contacts and part of the mandate will be to build (and maintain) such contacts,

The merging of posts/information (cross-linking), and engaging in wider communication, definitely I've some initial ideas on that, my hope is that the team that will be built will develop further on those ideas as we progress.

 

[freetrader]

Perhaps a point of coordination can be the 'publicity' channel on the Slack which has media outreach as a central topic.

 

[Joel Dalais]

I'm going to use the above mentioned 'publicity' channel on slack to build the team, feel free to join it if you're on slack already and interested, otherwise reply/pm me here

 

[Bloomie]

The BU team can use the bitco.in/news URL and our server to publish its news.

However, it would be consistent with the mission of this site (which was originally created to stop suppression of Gavin and Mike's XT effort) to also allow well-written posts from other camps, prominent miners, holders, industry people, and even competing developers. Posts would be minimally vetted for personal attacks but otherwise uncensored. I don't think any of our regulars would have an issue with that.

Comments to articles should be integrated with the forum so that we don't have to maintain two separate membership and spammer databases. If there is no easy technical way to implement that, maybe just include a link to a dedicated forum thread for discussion.

Assuming the news engine will be WordPress, we should consider some minimal styling because the default WP themes look pretty generic and can appear off-putting to a large audience.

I am traveling on business until March 26 but can work on this when I return if the team decides to move forward. Please do whatever prep work is necessary.

 

[Joel Dalais]

to also allow well-written posts from other camps, prominent miners, holders, industry people, and even competing developers.

Very much agreed. I will include as such in the mandate.

Please do whatever prep work is necessary.

Will do.

 

[AdrianX]

re: Bitcoin Unlimited visit GDAX (aka Coinbase)

https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/5zw489/bitcoin_unlimited_visit_gdax_aka_coinbase/

"Censorship works. A lot of people were blind to what BU was about (some thought we were against second layers, some thought there was no block size limit in BU, some thought we put the miners in complete control, some thought we wanted to replace Core as the "one true Bitcoin," etc.)"

THIS is exactly why I feel we need to work on the BU PR.

Still too early for me, need more tea, will think more..

edit: https://medium.com/@arthricia/is-bitcoin-unlimited-an-attack-on-bitcoin-9444e8d53a56#.oo0m58oqm

This is also a very good read and helps to highlight the point of my OP

Some feedback on that article "Is Bitcoin Unlimited an Attack on Bitcoin"
Everything in there reflects my understanding. - I was impressed I want everyone to read it. i could not falt anything (exept my wife pointed out an inappropriate use of it's and its somewhere)

I am not aloud to talk bitcoin at home - my wife hates it - well, it's complicated she loves the transfer of wealth part, when it moves in here direction - but hates understanding why.

Anyway she is not interested in whats happening in bitcoin - dispirit my enthusiasm she still thinks it could be a scam.

I asked her to read "Is Bitcoin Unlimited an Attack on Bitcoin", thinking this is my chance to give here an update on what's happened so far and why it's so important. - she got 33% of the way through and lost interest -

She said if there were more pictures or quotes to break up the reading that may help.

intending this as constructive feedback - I believe it's the new people who come to bitcoin who have to have an influence. this article should be targeted to a mass audience - not the bitcoin bitcoin community.

 

[Windowly]

Running a news site is an intense operation and requires time and resources. If the community decides it needs a news site and can provide the staff (writers, editors, and a designer), my previous offer to use bitco.in/news is on the table.

I like the idea of us having a news site. But you are right it would take a lot of people who can commit a decent amount of time to keeping it up and making it the go-to place for news and commentary on the bitcoin space.

 

[Joel Dalais]

I'll be focusing on creating a PR team first, then as things move along if its felt that a fully fledged news site is needed, i'll work on that. The mandate draft for the PR team is currently delayed, yesterday I spent time with exchange response letter and most of today i'm busy with other stuff, but the mandate (draft) should be ready for feedback after the weekend.

 

[bitsein]

Keep me in the loop. I have over 8 years experience in writing, of which 3 are are in cryptocurrencies and related fields exclusively. These issues just need a little rhetorically flair to help carry the message; this is especially so in times of polarised debate.