Bitcoin may still be geeky with its online forums and chat groups, but it needs a place where the people who define the industry can talk like adults. Roger Ver’s Bitcoin.com is trying to be that place.

Like many other technology movements destined to have a major impact on world history, bitcoin had humble beginnings. It came from home offices like Hal Finney and Gavin Andresen’s, from old cypherpunk mailing lists… and whatever mad scientist lab Satoshi Nakamoto worked from.

As you probably know, even giants like HP and Apple started in garages; got talked about in hobbyist groups like the Homebrew Computer Club.

In fact, you could say bitcoin is still at that hobbyist stage — even major players in the bitcoin industry are tinkering and trying to understand exactly what they’ve got on their hands. The world has never seen anything quite like it before, and so needs visionaries to figure it out for them.

So?

My point here is that online forums and discussion groups are still indispensable. It’s a global movement being built by geeks and entrepreneurs. They’re rarely all in the same place. Local meetups and conferences are great, but can also be silos. We still need virtual spaces where reprsentatives from all around the world can speak freely about their needs and plans. And more importantly, debate and argue when those plans clash.

To this end, the industry has relied on groups like Reddit’s bitcoin sections and the venerable BitcoinTalk forum. Often mocked as online peanut galleries, they’re also places where important people hang out to discuss serious topics concerning business and technical development.

It’s important to hear everything

When I say ‘debate and argue’, many bitcoiners probably know where I’m heading. Only through free speech and open debate do rational outcomes emerge. Unfortunately, as happens in politics and academia, some get tired of arguing and

The Bitcoin subreddit has already prohibited all discussion of BitcoinXT, the proposed fork that would allow larger transaction block sizes. Why? Is it a bad idea? Well, how is anyone supposed to know unless its merits and shortcomings are discussed openly?

Are bodies like the Bitcoin Foundation, Coin Center, the Chamber of Digital Commerce and the new Blockchain Alliance serving bitcoin’s interests well, or not? What exactly are they all doing? The only way you’ll find out is by hearing everyone’s opinion.

We don’t need gatekeepers controlling what vital information about bitcoin we get to read and what we can’t. That’s exactly what the mainstream media does with the news, and look at the mess it’s got us in.

Bitcoin gurus like Andreas Antonopoulos have expressed their frustration with ‘traditional’ bitcoin discussion channels in recent months, preferring neutral territory like Twitter. And that’s fine, but social media can have a poor signal-to-noise ratio.