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Komii

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,554
Why are mods warning people for suggesting that they should stomp down on crypto scams? It's part of their freaking job to prevent scamming from taking place.
Because talking about the subject of the thread is derailing the thread it seems, we don't talk about crypto
 

XMonkey

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,827
Same reason why they've been delaying putting Ethereum into proof of stake validation. People have been saying it's coming any moment for months but as Dan points out, the token owners profit more from proof of work despite it being the more wasteful method of validating transactions. They'll just punt it down the line for as long as they can.
Ya, ETH Proof of Stake is always just around the corner. For years now.

It's never happening.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,771
A lot of the points that he makes about blockchains are things that I've literally spent hours explaining to managers (part of my previous job as an IT architect). Blockchains don't actually solve any practical problem. From a purely theoretical standpoint they're quite technically interesting, but nobody needs a blockchain. Immutability is good, but most of the problems that you have with data quality and trustworthiness don't come from someone screwing with the database - they come from people just typing it in wrong in the first place.

Blockchains are pointless for 99.9999% of scenarios. Which is exactly why NFTs were invented - they exist solely to validate the existence of the blockchains they live on. It's all bullshit.
 

bye

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,424
Phoenix, AZ
Talking about crypto being bad and shouldn't be allowed on this site - in a thread about why crypto is bad = thread derail?

Come on maudes you can do better than that.
 
Oct 27, 2017
7,694
Amazing video. Best video made yet on the subject matter and its myriad pitfalls. All of this is a pyramid/ponzi scheme and in anthropological terms, can be boiled down to a civil war in kind between high status males who don't "make it" and higher status males who do "make it".
 

Enduin

You look 40
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,488
New York
After recently watching all of münecat's vids on MLMs it's hard not to see how the rhetoric and just overall process behind Crypto evangelism and especially NFTs is just that, but way worse. Hell to MLM's credit at least they're actually selling a real product, shitty as they usually are. NFTs are just fucking nothing. Crypto seems like you can make some money if you buy and hold(though just buy a normal fucking index fund in that case), but even that's really questionable, and with so many cryptos coming out it's just a massive scheme at this point to sucker people with FOMO who were late on BTC or ETH or whatever to bank on some new one in hopes it blows up with whatever cure-all they're claiming sets them apart.
 
Oct 26, 2017
3,532
My favorite quote from the video:
Dan Olson said:
Cryptocurrency does nothing to address 99% of the problems with the banking industry because those problems are patterns of human behavior. They're incentives, they're social structures, they're modalities. The problem is what people are doing to others- not that the building they're doing it in has the word "bank" on the outside.
 

morningbus

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,049
I don't think anyone is actually asking to ban the discussion of NFTs, even if those are the words they're using in their posts. They're just ultimately being inarticulate and reductive.

I think all we're really asking for is the clearance to bully cryptobros into submission and it's really the perfect answer here
 

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,380
I don't think anyone is actually asking to ban the discussion of NFTs, even if those are the words they're using in their posts. They're just ultimately being inarticulate and reductive.

I think all we're really asking for is the clearance to bully cryptobros into submission and it's really the perfect answer here
I'm down with the discussion of NFTs continuing as it is relevant / current news, but people who are shilling for them should be stopped in their tracks.
 
Oct 29, 2017
5,299
Minnesota
About a half hour into the video. Will probably watch it in chunks since it's damn long, but holy crap is it well crafted! just a precision takedown of the entire process so far, and starting back with the housing crash as a basis is brilliant in both its metaphor and its literalness.

What drives me up a fucking wall is the energy consumption. The whole process is built from the ground up to just waste energy for the sake of it. It's like this big dick-waving contest to solve equations that have zero value other than being solved to generate coins. It's so wildly stupid.

Also fun that some of the biggest proponents of bitcoin are mega rich bankers, IE, the people we're supposed to be fighting with deregulated money. It's wild.
 

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,176
Also fun that some of the biggest proponents of bitcoin are mega rich bankers, IE, the people we're supposed to be fighting with deregulated money. It's wild.
I mean, that's the thing, right? Dan touches on it, but essentially the libertarian-right reaction to the 2008 crash was that they should be the ones on top, not Wall Street people. It's petit bourgeoise vs. bourgeoise, and the only winning move is to not play.
 
Nov 2, 2017
3,015
About a half hour into the video. Will probably watch it in chunks since it's damn long, but holy crap is it well crafted! just a precision takedown of the entire process so far, and starting back with the housing crash as a basis is brilliant in both its metaphor and its literalness.

What drives me up a fucking wall is the energy consumption. The whole process is built from the ground up to just waste energy for the sake of it. It's like this big dick-waving contest to solve equations that have zero value other than being solved to generate coins. It's so wildly stupid.

Also fun that some of the biggest proponents of bitcoin are mega rich bankers, IE, the people we're supposed to be fighting with deregulated money. It's wild.

That's why I've always heard it described as Captain Planet levels of villainy. Cryptomining is just turning on the pollution machines for no tangible useful reason.
 

loco

Member
Jan 6, 2021
5,525
I know a 24 year old NFT flipper that just bought a house near me. It's insane
 

mbpm

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,617
Wow. I'm going to need to come back to this. There's a bunch there, but it's all bad news

Also brb minting my soul to the blockchain
 
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MTR

Member
Oct 27, 2017
496
This video is phenomenal. There are so many red flags to crypto but the privacy issues were incredibly surprising - given how it markets itself as being 'anonymous' and 'protected. A takeaway I got is that registering for a meta mask account is an incredibly dangerous proposition.

The whole summary is that crypto is made by egotistical programmers with no understanding of the real world and he brings receipt after receipt for 2 hours. Savage.
 

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,826
Really enjoyed this video, though it's a bit too long to easily watch it in one sitting. That's of course not a criticism, since the chapters give you very neat places where you can pause, and jump in later.

I had been familiar with the basics of the Bitcoin blockchain, and had already a pretty clear idea of what NFTs were going into this, and I still learned something new about it all and most of all I liked the clear parallels to the 2008 banking crisis that the video starts with. How on one hand you can see Bitcoin itself as a reaction to centralised banking failing, but where the people aren't interested in creating a better, fairer world. They just want to become those on top of it all, to become the boot, as Olson says so well. Everything else they claim about their technology, the supposed improvements it is to bring to society at large is simply bullshit. A commodification of everything isn't going to improve any social problems, and having pay huge transactions fees for the simplest actions isn't the way to improve anything about anything. It's all a grift.

I don't understand why Era moderation doesn't just chime in here briefly to say that they are against crypto shilling where it's clear it's just scamming people, and allow discussions about it otherwise. That's it, and you could probably argue that that's been your stand on this all along anyway. Instead opting to bully people with these silly looking "thread derail" warnings about a topic (NFTs being a scam, and Era shouldn't just let people scam other users) that's core to the video being discussed ("The Problem with NFTs").
 

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,032
This video was amazing. I just sat through all of it in one sitting as it was just all so fascinating.

Shit is terrifying as hell.
 

Bufbaf

Don't F5!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,659
Hamburg, Germany
I don't understand why Era moderation doesn't just chime in here briefly to say that they are against crypto shilling where it's clear it's just scamming people, and allow discussions about it otherwise. That's it, and you could probably argue that that's been your stand on this all along anyway. Instead opting to bully people with these silly looking "thread derail" warnings about a topic (NFTs being a scam, and Era shouldn't just let people scam other users) that's core to the video being discussed ("The Problem with NFTs").
They chimed in. Era administration is fine with NFT talk and doesn't want to talk about banning it anymore.
from B-Dubs. Can't quote directly cause I got myself threadbaned in the Community Discussion thread said:
We're not talking about throwing an entire community off the forum just because some of us think it's stupid and harmful.

Also, this thread.

It won't get banned.
 

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,032
UK
Finished the video, amazing and informative stuff. I knew enough about NFTs to know they're a scam but I didn't realise just how much of a scam the whole enterprise is, from the currency to the awful JPEGs

I mean, dunce hats all around for crypto bros after this. They'd probably even invest in Duncecoin
 
Dec 4, 2017
11,481
Brazil
I invite the members of this prestigious forum to participate in an investment opportunity. Buy now these two NFTs before they become the new forum logo.
Ponzi.png



tYe00U7.png
 

Famassu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,186
Nobody is talking about throwing "an entire community off the forum", just ban this scammy, environmentally destructive grift crap. The people can still stay so long as they don't shill for crypto.

You'd imagine a supposedly progressive-leaning forum like Era would understand the importance of not letting shit like this fly by, but apparently we're ok with scams of the ultimate order.
 

Hasseigaku

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,545
I like how a central point of this video is that people make money on this essentially by generating hype in order to convince more suckers to buy in, but people who are clearly heavily bought in are using the same kind of techniques to obfuscate discussion.

It's like if a ton of Gaming Side thought they had the potential to make a ton of money if they defend their platform of choice.
 

moustascheman

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,662
Canada
This is a fantastic video. I was actually surprised to see how incredibly stupid and inefficient this Crypto/Blockchain garbage is, especially when so many cryptobros keep talking about how blockchain is the future of technology/software. How can people not see this crap for the obvious scam it is?
 

Komii

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,554
I like how a central point of this video is that people make money on this essentially by generating hype in order to convince more suckers to buy in, but people who are clearly heavily bought in are using the same kind of techniques to obfuscate discussion.
Thats the root purpose of most products in current day capitalism, the issue I have with all this is that the currency being talked about can only be used on terribly illegal purchases or traded by real money if someone is dumb enough to exchange it or malicious enough to keep exchanging it in order to keep the farse going…
The whole aspect about people doing this because they've put too much money in this scheme to let it die is the reason it keeps going and so many people got lured in I'm afraid ERA may be past the point of no return.

Being from a country where electricity rates are past the point people have to choose between having a meal or having the lights on without even being a mining outsource(yet) the prospect is terrifying.
 

Pirateluigi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,871
This is a fantastic video. I was actually surprised to see how incredibly stupid and inefficient this Crypto/Blockchain garbage is, especially when so many cryptobros keep talking about how blockchain is the future of technology/software. How can people not see this crap for the obvious scam it is?

When I see the crypto bros post here, it's like reading posts from cult members. They are fully indoctrinated and refuse to even accept the possibility that they are wrong. I'm not sure how many are true believers and how many are just desperately trying to come out on top of a broken system, but it's depressing either way.
 
History is littered with wreckage of countless people who threw themselves body and soul into pyramid schemes and greater fool scams.

All it takes as a combination of ignorance and desperation.

It's just that crypto is perhaps one of these most materially destructive scams ever created.
 

spineduke

Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
8,754
All these warnings are some of the most regressive attitudes ive seen from Era. There is nothing progressive about NFTs.
 
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spam musubi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,381
When I see the crypto bros post here, it's like reading posts from cult members. They are fully indoctrinated and refuse to even accept the possibility that they are wrong. I'm not sure how many are true believers and how many are just desperately trying to come out on top of a broken system, but it's depressing either way.

A section of the video is devoted to how they enforce cult like mentality, how any questioning of anything crypto related is immediately dismissed as being a Luddite and not having faith. A section of the video is dedicated to an extremely ironic discord screenshot of someone saying "if this looks like a scam then every NFT room I'm in is a scam lol"
 

Jakten

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,767
Devil World, Toronto
Wow, crypto is even worse than I thought. And I already had a very negative view of it.
It's even worse than that too, he barely even touched on shit like crypto-colonialists and how they take advantage of, and benefit from actively destroying the environment by sucking countries in crisis dry and taking control of thier natural resources. In many instances they control and limit how people are allowed to spend thier crypto as well because it needs crypto donors (who don't live there) to vote on what it can be spent on.

Or how they are documenting peoples Identities on the blockchain to use as identification. Again, Cryptodonors have the power to vote and control what people are doing in these places because of how crypto works.
 
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Oct 25, 2017
9,872
This is the only crypto thread, probably in the history of the forum, that doesn't have the familiar set of crypto fans chiming in to support it every page. You can look at the other active threads and see them doing it, like in the thread about the current price crash.

I'd give credit to the video but I doubt they watched.
 
OP
OP
theme park joe
Oct 27, 2017
10,201
PIT
This is the only crypto thread, probably in the history of the forum, that doesn't have the familiar set of crypto fans chiming in to support it every page. You can look at the other active threads and see them doing it, like in the thread about the current price crash.

I'd give credit to the video but I doubt they watched.

Isn't it nice? They don't want to actually engage with the topic beyond "TO THE MOON!"
 

Master_Funk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,592
This is the only crypto thread, probably in the history of the forum, that doesn't have the familiar set of crypto fans chiming in to support it every page. You can look at the other active threads and see them doing it, like in the thread about the current price crash.

I'd give credit to the video but I doubt they watched.

The video pretty much tears down all of the 'positives' Crypto Bros claim, so they'd have to come up with some sort of argument against it , which they probably can't, either because they didnt watch the video or they just fdont have any comebacks .
 
Oct 27, 2017
5,407
The video pretty much tears down all of the 'positives' Crypto Bros claim, so they'd have to come up with some sort of argument against it , which they probably can't, either because they didnt watch the video or they just fdont have any comebacks .

"Do some research" doesn't apply to anything critical to their beliefs or acttions, unfortunately.
 

ffframe

alt account
Banned
Nov 29, 2021
407
I'm only 45 minutes in and I think this is up there with his flat earth video even if it lacks the incredibly interwoven narrative hook of the latter. Though I guess you could argue that NFTs being a vehicle to extract real world wealth and implant that into the crypto ecosystem to fuel its legitimacy is the interwoven narrative thread.

EDIT: I'd say the only drawback to this video is that you definitely need familiarity with the heaps of terminology used by crypto people that purposely obfuscate the (promises of the) way things work. Olsen does a great job giving flyby explanations but this is still going to be incomprehensible to people/marks who are still asking "what's an NFT" or "what's a bitcoin" in 2022.
 

zashga

Losing is fun
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,202
This is a fantastic video that thoroughly dismantles the sort of vapid meme- or FOMO-based crypto evangelism that tends to sprout up in most crypto discussions. It's great to see a philosophical explanation of *why* the crypto community is so hollow and unconcerned with the very obvious costs inflicted upon themselves and the rest of us. The point was never to actually improve the world or make something new and useful; it was always about placing themselves in positions of privilege within an arbitrary, harmful replacement for the existing arbitrary, harmful financial system. Except the replacement is actually somehow even worse by any practical measure.
 

krazen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,157
Gentrified Brooklyn
This is the only crypto thread, probably in the history of the forum, that doesn't have the familiar set of crypto fans chiming in to support it every page. You can look at the other active threads and see them doing it, like in the thread about the current price crash.

I'd give credit to the video but I doubt they watched.

I mean its telling how smooth this and the other crypto thread from last week involving the Signal engineer have gone. The funny thing is there's some decent discussions to be had; in one of the other posts I said that why do crypto over stocks and someone countered with the low barrier as opposed to daytrading which can lead to a discussion about how regular folks are locked out of hyper-capitalism (particularly when firms like Alphabet let one share rise to the thousands). It could be a good discussion on Capitalism and different systems of resource management. Problem is they don't hop in to discuss, its to soft peddle the snake oil, lol.
 

MechaJackie

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,032
Brazil
User warned: thread derail
I will echo other users here and say, ban crypto promotion in this forum, ban people peddling this scam here, ban the crypto OT.
Anyway, the video is excellent and I have been waiting for it for months now lol, but goddamn did it surpass my expectations!
 

spam musubi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,381
i think this is worth a conversation here.

Mods lock every thread attempting to discuss banning crypto as a topic so unless we want this thread to derail into that conversation and get locked (which would be very effective to silence the messaging of this great video and the discussin around it) we should probably stay away from that conversation.
 
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