Once you wrap your head around the idea that Bitcoin does not care what you think, you are free to be enlightened. You will be free to be more productive and happier. We all come into the Bitcoin world with our eyes closed, holding the hands of our friendly oracles. First stage is reading a few blog posts or tweets about how revolutionary Bitcoin is. Second stage is watching some Andreas videos and trying to grok the infamous white paper. The third and most dangerous stage is when you become Bitcoin stupid and start thinking that anyone cares what you think.

For some reason everyone who shows up in this space hears the Siren’s call and decides to start projecting their thoughts and opinions about how Bitcoin should be re-designed and reflect their own view of the world. The simple truth though is that Bitcoin is merely an open source project run by a loosely organized group of individuals around the world and they don’t give a fuck what you think. It’s no offense to you but that’s the way it works. You haven’t proven yourself. Write code or a BIP or GTFO. It’s a meritocracy and unfortunately you’re too new to have any power here.

Bu all hope is not lost.

There are many alternative paths to happiness. Here are a few options for those who still feel inclined to try and participate:

Those who cannot do, troll

There are many really amazing trolls in the Bitcoin community. They’re powerful and clearly learned a thing or two cutting their teeth in the 4Chan boards. It’s rumored that several Core developers have gone sick over the effects from these individuals. If this sounds like something you were born to do and you’ve got a lot of time on your hands, a bit of wit and can install IRC, Slack and Twitter you’re in business. Remember to pick a “side”. Typically Core or Classic are good choices to go with. Dividing the community is a great way to ensure that everyone focuses on your cleverness rather than solve the problems that actually matter. Mission accomplished.

Start a business and blame others for your failure

This one takes a little more effort. Work up a potential money-making idea, raise some money and you’re half way to sewing this up. Now all you have to do is wait long enough to realize the idea isn’t working and then start to blame the volunteer contributors for not making Bitcoin work in a way that would make your business succeed. Since you’ve got some level of clout in the community you can really take this to the next level by making some huge rage quit announcement, fork the damn thing or just run off to the media proclaiming the death of it all. Hell you might even resort to Ethereum.

Shill for other projects

If you can’t beat ’em then join the competitor. If you can’t get anyone to listen to your ideas then you always have the choice to join or start another project. Since no one really cares about that project yet the best way to get people to look your way is to start making loud noises about how much better you are than Bitcoin. Here’s a fun chart explaining why NXT is so much better than everything else. Even an idiot can see how awesome it is. How’s that going in 2016 guys?

Still want to be a Bitcoin Wizard?

All is not lost. There is still a chance to become a Bitcoin Wizard. You might someday earn a coveted position as a core developer or trusted insider. In this situation it is paramount that you assimilate quickly and realize that you are most likely smarter than anyone else who tries to scale the walls of your $7 billion castle. You have a roadmap and know what you’re doing. There is simply no chance that anyone else knows how to do it better.

Now that you’ve got a role people are going to respect you!

Wrong.

But lucky for you the only person you really need respect from is yourself. Having the respect of others is nice, but it’s just that, a nice to have. It shouldn’t change your principles, beliefs or dictate how hard you work. We’re building a system that only cares about you according to the mathematics it’s comprised of so why bring so many emotions into it?

I used to think there was some way to unite the entire community together as one, but I realize not only is that futile but it’s just dumb. If we desire encouragement and motiviation from our peers then we will need to build our own support networks outside of core Bitcoin development.

I’ve met so many great, nice and brilliant people over the last few years. Enough to make the shitty people elsewhere in the space disappear as distant memories. Going forward I plan to make sure that I grow that side of my network and limit my interactions with those who can’t be civil, to only business and development conversations. I don’t have time for your bullshit.

Ultimately I think if we want to give Bitcoin longevity we’re going to have to learn to separate our emotional sides from what is required to build a truly resilient, scalable and global system. So let’s get on with it.

Satoshi didn’t care about you, so why do you care so much about him/her/them?