J Bier - The Blocksize War: The battle for control over Bitcoin’s protocol rules \ stacker news ~BooksAndArticles

J Bier - The Blocksize War: The battle for control over Bitcoin’s protocol rules

1890 sats \ 11 comments \ @south_korea_ln 22 Mar BooksAndArticles

I read this book a while ago. I just recommended it to someone else in #475160.

As I did, I wondered if ever there has been a review of this book on SN, and there does not seem to be. As I was not around before the Blocksize Wars, I am not a good person to do so. I only know of that time what I read in the book.

My review would be: great book, learned a lot, captivating story-telling, etc. I really enjoyed this book that gave me insights into the dynamics of Bitcoin, how miners, node runners, bitcoin core, etc all have their important and complementary roles to play.

However, what I am wondering is, with this post, if any OG is around here, do you agree with the way this part of Bitcoin's history is told in the book? This book has become a reference, and as we say, history is written by the winner, so the book is obviously biased towards the small blockers.

Small blockers rightfully won, in my opinion, but what do you think? Did Jonathan Bier do a good job at telling the story the way you remember it happening? I know @DarthCoin does not like to be tagged or seen as someone special, but he's one of the few vocal OGs that I've seen here on SN, so I'll make an exception for once, forgive me for doing so. Maybe @jimmysong, but I have not really seen him engage other than post his occasional musings? Or some other OG who has been around before 2017? I'm sure you must have some interesting stories to share related to these events...

Or can anyone recommend other competing references on what happened during those times? I could go through all the mailing lists of course, but summaries are always interesting before diving into the details.

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1120 sats \ 6 replies \ @DarthCoin 22 Mar

Yes, I read the book but not just that, I lived those years, very intense years. Is good that the book exist, it is part of Bitcoin history and new bitcoiners MUST know it and read this book. Otherwise will not understand what is going on nowadays.

And mostly because of that blocksize war, I am now such a toxic maxi. I was forged those harsh years.

One good thing came out from that blockzise war: I doubled my BTC stash. Yes, this could sound as bragging, but is not. Is the proof to remember what happen: the BCH gang got screwed because all bitcoiners were dumping newly created BCH for more BTC.

Did Jonathan Bier do a good job at telling the story the way you remember it happening?

Yes, is very well described.

can anyone recommend other competing references on what happened during those times?

For all new bitcoiners I would suggest to watch this mini series "To the Moon" that describe the whole Bitcoin history, pre 2020.

110 sats \ 2 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 22 Mar

Great to hear the book describes the reality well. I'll make sure to watch this mini-series. I usually skip Max Keiser content due to his current persona, but if you say it's good, I'll give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 22 Mar

Yes Max is kinda crazy guy, but the mini series is very well made and describe perfectly what happen all those years. Don't worry you will not see Max yelling in the series, he explain nicely the facts. And is well documented. A MUST SEE and keep it bookmarked for the history of Bitcoin.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 22 Mar

Just got through the first episode. Seems like they got a lot of OGs to appear in the series, that's nice. I'll get to next episodes later this weekend I hope.

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @BlokchainB 22 Mar

It’s easy for us Johnny come lately bitcoiners to be like yeah I would of been team small block

But I couldn’t imagine the split that happened and having to pick a side. Even if you picked BCH and found to be wrong you can always come back to the light.

150 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 22 Mar

can always come back to the light.

Not if you dumped all BTC for BCH... or will be a hell of a job to find somebody insane enough to do that exchange.

In the early weeks after the fork, was quite easy and many clueless people were just do nothing and wait, but who knew where is going, were dumping all BCH for BTC.

I did it without hesitation. Only that I waited a bit for the tools to be in place and exchanges ready.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 22 Mar

Yeah, that's what a lot of shit-coiners don't realize... you need someone to take you up on your shitty trade, it's not just a matter of clicking the sell button. Liquidity sucks for a lot of the pump-and-dump coins...

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 22 Mar

(feel free to go @anon if you prefer not to come out as an OG)

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @knorozov 22 Mar

Those were exciting times. If you want a broader perspective, the youtube channel World Crypto Network (excuse the title, this started in 2013) by Thomas Hunt, was very active in that time. Every week there was a "The Bitcoin Group" broadcast that had different guests on every time. A great look into the history of those years. I hope someone has those videos backed up.

For example search "bitcoin group #135" (use any number between 120 and 160 to get a bitcoin group broadcast of the 2016-2017 period).

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @BlokchainB 22 Mar

I reviewed this book last year June.

https://boogs.medium.com/tbh-book-review-the-blocksize-war-50cd6a30dcd7

Yeah it would be cool to get other perspectives about this book. I thought it was great learned a lot about the past and how egos can really run wild in this space.

60 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 22 Mar

Yeah, it's quite interesting to notice how some of the loudest Bitcoin people are truly some of the stupidest too... Bitcoin was and is really something for everyone. And that's a feature, not a bug.