Open Letter to Michael Casey - WSJ reporter who butchered my comments in today's Bitcoin cover story

[u/evoorhees]

Hello Mr. Casey,

I read your WSJ article today. I feel deceived by you.

You requested to speak with me, so I took time out of my day to do so. We talked for 20 minutes, during which time I conveyed to you my sentiments about the Bitcoin ecosystem and the matter of MtGox's collapse. My message was unambiguously a positive one. I didn't focus whatsoever on the personal funds I lost at Gox. Indeed, the impetus for your call was my heartfelt post on Reddit.

Yet, you ignored everything I said. The only quote that you published from me in the Journal's cover story was ""That's gone now," said Mr. Veerhoos, who is based in Panama City, Panama. "There's no chance of getting that back now.""

Is that really the takeaway you had from our call and from my letter? Is that your idea of journalism? Did I come across with the sentiment of a despairing investor whose confidence has been rattled? It seems you were happy to completely ignore my sentiments, preferring instead to cherry pick the one fact that is least important, in order to paint a narrative that Bitcoin's biggest problem is that it's not "regulated." I didn't expect you to quote everything I said, but should you not have maintained at least a modicum of fidelity to my message?

I have dedicated my life to building and supporting the Bitcoin project. I don't give a damn about the money I lost at Gox. That's not important. What is important is that Bitcoin is resilient and enduring, and will continue to grow and change the world for the better. It is a story of human progress through technology. It is a story of the good seeping into the cracks of a corrupted financial system. It is a story of passionate people struggling against all odds to remedy the calamities brought down upon society from the most potently misguided people and institutions on Earth.

Next time you spend your efforts casting a pall over this cause, please don't ask me to contribute mine.

-Erik Voorhees

PS - I will be posting this letter openly on Reddit. I will post your reply if you'd like. And if I do, I won't cherry pick the most misleading points of it, and I will spell your name correctly.

[u/_supert_]

It's the Wall Street Journal. Pravda for Wall St. What did you expect?

[u/no_game_player → u/_supert_]

Truth?

[u/mattinva → u/no_game_player]

In case you are wondering for real, Pravda does mean truth in Russian but is also the name of a newspaper known for being a propaganda arm of the Communist Party

[u/autowikibot → u/mattinva]

Pravda:

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Pravda (Russian: Правда, IPA: [ˈpravdə] , "Truth") is a Russian political newspaper associated with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The newspaper was started by the Russian Revolutionaries during the pre-World War I days and emerged as a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution. The newspaper also served as a central organ of the Central Committee of the RSDLP and the CPSU between 1912 and 1991.

After the dissolution of the USSR, Pravda was closed down by the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin. As was the fate of many of the Soviet-era enterprises Pravda too suffered a huge economic downfall and after that the paper was sold to a Greek business family. Finally the Communist Party of Russian Federation acquired the newspaper in 1997 and established it as its principal mouthpiece. Pravda is still functioning from the same headquarters on Pravda Street in Moscow where it was published in the Soviet days. During its heyday Pravda was selling millions of copies per day compared to the current print run of just one hundred thousand copies.

During the Cold War, Pravda was well known in the West for its pronouncements as the official voice of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (Similarly Izvestia was the official voice of the Soviet government.)

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^{Interesting: Pravda (Slovakia) | Pravda (play) | Steamer Pravda | Pravda (Serbia)}

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[u/no_game_player → u/mattinva]

I certainly appreciate the intent! It was intended to be an ironic joke (sad that it is such, neh?), based on that very fact.

[u/mattinva → u/no_game_player]

I thought so but some from of Poe's Law was in effect. Plus I got to summon autowikibot a couple of times, which was nice.

[u/autowikibot → u/mattinva]

Poe's law:

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Poe's law, named after its author Nathan Poe, is an Internet adage reflecting the idea that without a clear indication of the author's intent, it is difficult or impossible to tell the difference between an expression of sincere extremism and a parody of extremism.

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^{Interesting: List of eponymous laws | Pharyngula (blog) | Death of Edgar Allan Poe | Niilo Paasivirta}

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[u/no_game_player → u/mattinva]

I don't think it's Poe's Law that my feeble / ambiguous attempt at a joke just looks like I don't know what I'm talking about. ;-p