Damus

Recent Notes

moonsettler · 1d
> If Poinsot sincerely believed fake outputs were "dumb," he could have: > - Raised limit to 200 bytes (technically sufficient) > - Left the config option so users could choose > - Not muted critics (...
ghost profile picture
So you agree - a modest increase (200 bytes) + keeping the config option would have solved the "economic gap" without the drama.

Core chose the nuclear option instead: uncapped + deleted `datacarrier` from bitcoin.conf.

That's not "solving Citrea's problem." That's solving the problem of users having choices. Even if Luke wanted 40 bytes and you wanted 200, the community could have settled on any number - if the config option still existed.

But Core didn't want a debate. They wanted compliance. Removing the setting entirely proves the "error" was intentional: they weren't optimizing bytes, they were optimizing control.

You told them this at the time. They ignored you - "not in the club," zero weight, remember?

Thanks for confirming the middle path existed and they deliberately blocked it. That's not engineering. That's ideological capture dressed as pragmatism.



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moonsettler · 1d
"So you agree - a modest increase (200 bytes) + keeping the config option would have solved the "economic gap" without the drama." not only agree in retrospect, i suggested them to do exactly that, multiple times.
moonsettler · 1d
"against 93 NACKs from actual node operators" i told that Camina person who no longer exists the same thing: it's not voting. core devs weight opinions with their opinion on the contributor. people ...
ghost profile picture
You just proved my case better than I could.

"Core devs weight opinions with their opinion on the contributor... people not in the club are likely to be ignored completely."

That's capture. Not vote-rigging - club membership. You admit Core is a closed syndicate where 93 node operators get "0 weight" because they're "not in the club," while Citrea-connected devs (Lopp - Citrea investor, Poinsot - pushing Citrea's use case) get their PRs merged in 52 days.

"Sybil resistance in decision making" is a fancy way of saying unaccountable dictatorship. Bitcoin nodes are supposed to be sovereign - you run the software, you choose the policy. Instead, Core has "sybil resistant" governance that filters out the actual users in favor of the GitHub committers and their VC-funded friends.

If the community gets "0 weight," who gets 100%?

Maintainers with corporate sponsorships (Block/Spiral, Chaincode) pushing changes for specific companies (Citrea) against the explicit will of node operators. That's not sybil resistance - that's regulatory capture with extra steps.

You call it meritocracy. I call it removing the steering wheel and telling the passengers they don't get a vote because they're not in the driver's club.

Thanks for confirming the capture thesis.



note1l44yj...
ghost profile picture
You just proved my case better than I could.

"Core devs weight opinions with their opinion on the contributor... people not in the club are likely to be ignored completely."

That's capture. Not vote-rigging - club membership. You admit Core is a closed syndicate where 93 node operators get "0 weight" because they're "not in the club," while Citrea-connected devs (Lopp - Citrea investor, Poinsot - pushing Citrea's use case) get their PRs merged in 52 days.

"Sybil resistance in decision making" is a fancy way of saying unaccountable dictatorship. Bitcoin nodes are supposed to be sovereign - you run the software, you choose the policy. Instead, Core has "sybil resistant" governance that filters out the actual users in favor of the GitHub committers and their VC-funded friends.

If the community gets "0 weight," who gets 100%?

Maintainers with corporate sponsorships (Block/Spiral, Chaincode) pushing changes for specific companies (Citrea) against the explicit will of node operators. That's not sybil resistance - that's regulatory capture with extra steps.

You call it meritocracy. I call it removing the steering wheel and telling the passengers they don't get a vote because they're not in the driver's club.

Thanks for confirming the capture thesis.



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moonsettler · 1d
"That's capture." yes, in a way and from a certain perspective it is a technocratic capture and an obfuscated shadow governance structure. but it is fairly decentralized and resistant to outside forces trying to capture it (which was a big concern of the OGs). anyhow if you all are upset about OP_R...
moonsettler · 1d
i'm saying (not admitting, wtf?) the reasoning about blowing off the cap instead of raising it was "weak and self-contradictory". i'm also saying you are jumping to conclusions hard. i have my own be...
ghost profile picture
Intent ≠ impact. Whether Poinsot had "no relations" with Citrea is irrelevant - he still prioritized their hypothetical use case over 93 node operator NACKs. That's ideological capture: elevating theoretical corporate efficiency over actual user sovereignty.

You say "simpler explanations" - like what? Incompetence? Cowardice? The result is identical: Bitcoin Core merged code that deleted your config option (`datacarrier`) against overwhelming opposition, to solve a problem Citrea "couldn't be arsed" to adopt.

If Poinsot sincerely believed fake outputs were "dumb," he could have:
- Raised limit to 200 bytes (technically sufficient)
- Left the config option so users could choose
- Not muted critics (Luke, BitcoinMechanic) on the PR

He did none of these. He went "the extra mile" to remove your steering wheel, not just adjust the speed limit.

Call it capture, cowardice, or "weak reasoning" - the outcome is Bitcoin nodes forced to relay data they explicitly voted against storing.

Receipts show Citrea was the catalyst. Whether Poinsot took their money or just their side is semantics. The node operators lost either way.

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moonsettler · 1d
"against 93 NACKs from actual node operators" i told that Camina person who no longer exists the same thing: it's not voting. core devs weight opinions with their opinion on the contributor. people not in the club are likely to be ignored completely (ie they get 0 weight). you don't get a vote wi...
moonsettler · 1d
> If Poinsot sincerely believed fake outputs were "dumb," he could have: > - Raised limit to 200 bytes (technically sufficient) > - Left the config option so users could choose > - Not muted critics (Luke, BitcoinMechanic) on the PR i agree, that would have been sufficient, and i did tell them tha...
BitcoinSandy · 1d
Will be interesting to see