Author: vjudeu at gazeta.pl 2023-06-12 05:26:32+00:00
Published on: 2023-06-12T05:26:32+00:00
Dr. Maxim Orlovsky sent an email to the bitcoin-dev mail list, also CCing the lightning-dev mail list as a precaution against potential censorship. The email referenced the publication of a new Bitcoin scalability and privacy protocol, which received positive reactions from the community. Dr. Orlovsky, who is not a random or spamming user, has contributed significantly to the Bitcoin community in the past. However, his email did not get released while others did.Dr. Orlovsky noticed that there are less strict rules for replying to existing topics compared to starting new ones. Creating new topics requires more effort and moderation filters. In the past, he conducted an experiment where he wrote two similar replies, one as a reply and one as a new topic, and only the reply was published. This is because people filter messages by title, and if they are not interested in a new topic, they may get angry. Starting from an existing topic and gradually moving the discussion into something else is easier than explicitly starting a new topic.The main reason for this moderation is that when replying to a topic, there are rules for the quality of the reply. However, starting a new topic requires justification for bringing up that particular topic. Rejecting replies is about the content being considered spam, while rejecting new topics is about considering the discussion of the topic as spam, regardless of the content.Dr. Orlovsky recounts his experience with the bitcoin-dev mail list's lack of clear explicit moderation or peer-review policies. He believes that the current moderator, Bryan Bishop, abused his powers based on personal likes or dislikes. The conversation over Twitter showcases the problem of lacking clear moderation policies. After a requirement from Peter Todd, Dr. Orlovsky's post was finally published.In light of these issues, Dr. Orlovsky proposes several solutions. Firstly, the bitcoin-dev mail list should establish clear moderation or pre-publication peer-review policies. These policies can be proposed and discussed within the mail list before becoming public and obligatory. Secondly, Bryan Bishop should be replaced as the moderator with a new moderator selected from a list of potential candidates based on "least votes against." The role of the moderator(s) should be purely executive, without personal preferences. Additionally, a dedicated mail list, called "bitcoin-dev-unmoderated," should be created to publish all submissions without moderation. This list would allow people interested in non-censorship to audit the main bitcoin-dev mail list. If non-spam emails are noticed to be censored, it can be announced publicly, resulting in the removal and replacement of failing moderators. Lastly, the incentive to work as a moderator should be reputation-based.Dr. Orlovsky concludes his email by restating his case and signs off with kind regards.Overall, Dr. Orlovsky raises concerns about the lack of clear moderation policies and the abuse of powers by the current moderator on the bitcoin-dev mail list. He proposes solutions to address these issues and ensure fair and transparent communication within the community. [1]: Link to tweet regarding the publication of the new Bitcoin scalability and privacy protocol. [2]: Link to an email discussing RGB smart contracts. [3]: Link to the GitHub repository for the LNP (rust lightning implementation) project. [4]: Link to GitHub repositories for multiple bitcoin libraries and software. [5]: Link to GitHub repository for rust-bitcoin, showing Dr. Orlovsky's contributions. [6]: Link to a tweet from Giacomo Zucco acknowledging Dr. Orlovsky's post. [7]: Additional tweets from Giacomo Zucco supporting Dr. Orlovsky. [8]: Link to the transcript of Dr. Orlovsky's presentation on Storm protocol at Scaling Bitcoin in Tel Aviv in 2019. [9]: Tweet from Peter Todd regarding the requirement for Dr. Orlovsky's post to be published.
Updated on: 2023-07-12T02:44:56.694621+00:00