Are we being polite enough in our debates? Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, thinks not. He recently started a firestorm by tweeting that one of the crypto culture’s worst aspects is that because math and code are apolitical, people do not need to be polite.

One of the worst aspects of crypto culture is the idea that because math and code are supposedly apolitical, we do not have to be polite. — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 10, 2017

Buterin was commenting on a recent exchange concerning the block size debate.

A tweeter named Theodosius immediately replied, “Security first, politeness when there is time and not in place of thinking about security.”

To which Buterin responded, “I’d rather have consensus failure every year than intense constant bickering.”

Why Be Polite?

Another tweeter noted that politicians are polite, but are nevertheless the “worst scum on the planet. I take honesty over politeness every.Single. Time!”

Buterin also pointed out that if “both camps” in a debate hate you, that is a sign to re-examine your values.

Case in point was a recent Twitter exchange over an announcement by Jihan Wu, co-founder of mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain, about preparing a user activated hard fork will result in two kinds of bitcoin, big block versus 1 MB block.

Samson Mow, former COO at BTCC, replied that Jihan Wu has overplayed his hand and is losing on multiple fronts, and that a user activated soft fork (SegWit) is more likely.

Jihan Wu replied that “Samson is a liar. Bitmain paid no money into Bcoin.io yet.”

Another tweeter agreed: “We all know that Samson is a liar/troll.”

Also read: Block size debate from a miner’s perspective

Tweeters Pile On Jihan Wu

Many tweeters had comments about Jihan Wu as well. One asked what is his best option sitting on millions of worthless hardware with revenue collapsing.

Another commented that it is best to “keep his name out of our mouths, forever – historically just forget and turn our backs on that guy.”

Another said the more Jihan Wu resists, the bigger the consequences, including hurting all miners. The tweeter called on other miners to stand against patents that only serve Jihan Wu.

“So when he is a liar, why is everyone hating you?”

Editor’s note: Samson Mow is the former COO at BTCC. The article has been edited to reflect the same.

Featured image from Flickr.