(IJCH) When I Met Charles Hoskinson Online - Open Mouth, Insert Foot...

IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (meaning: My warped, personal opinions and musings.)

From the Author

Salutations.

I am JaiChai.

And if I haven't had the pleasure to make your acquaintance, it's always nice to meet a fellow Steemian.

I just viewed a wonderful video posted by @crypto-p:

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@crypto-p/charles-hoskinson-cardano-ada-interview

Why do I consider it wonderful? Because it is a one-on-one interview with Charles Hoskinson.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

These days, any media with Charles Hoskinson in it gets my undivided attention.

Many years ago (in a galaxy far, far away), I viewed some Introduction to Bitcoin videos by Charles Hoskinson.

His genuinely down to Earth way of conveying - what was then, a foreign subject to me - the why, what, and how Bitcoin operated was the impetus for me going down the rabbit hole we call the cryptocurrency space.

A couple years later, I became a moderator of a cryptocoin forum (the now defunct XRPTalk).

See:

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@jaichai/musings-from-an-ex-moderator-of-the-now-defunct-xrptalk-forum

Back then, the members of the forum felt like red-headed stepchildren; ostensibly ignored by Ripple Corporation - and for that matter, anyone else that was significant in the cryptocurrency space.

We couldn't even reach out to other cryptocurrency afficionados because we were considered pariahs for endorsing "that evil, centralized, over pre-mined Ripple XRP".

Needless to say, we were in a lose-lose situation.

On the one hand we were going against all the Bitcoin fanboys; and on the other hand, Ripple Corporation didn't engage with us at all; in spite of the fact that we were the freakin' frontline grunts for XRP!

So, within this context, you might sympathize with what I did next.

Emboldened by the chronic neglect, I figured that there was no chance in Hell that whatever I said - good or bad - would be acknowledged by anyone important - much less facilitate any kind of rebuttal.

So, I simply voiced what almost everyone on the forum was thinking and feeling.

During the EXTENDED Ethereum hype and "Vaporware" period, the whole cryptocurrency space was tired of the wait, wait, wait, tweak, then more hype from Ethereum developers - of which Charlie H. and Vtalik were part of.

I embarked on an extended Ethereum Bashing campaign.

Forum members loved it; which in turn, led to more bashing by me.

In all honesty, after awhile, I was exaggerating Ethereum's negative aspects - something that I would soon come to regret in a BIG way.

Charlie H. appeared to be on the lamb because of his uncharacteristic silence amidst all this Ethereum bashing.

Seriously, Ethereum bashing was prevalent all over the internet - cross platforms and the myriad of popular cryptocurrency forums included.

Yup, I was riding high on the popularity of my rants.

Then guess what happened?

At the height of my Ethereum bashing campaign - and right out of the blue - Charlie H. shows up on my itty-bitty forum!

D'OH! BUSTED!!

I wanted to disappear.

It was really hard to NOT like the guy.

Why?

Because Charlie H. was super-friendly to everyone.

He fielded as many questions as possible during his hour or so, brief visit.

Even though he was blatantly a software and cryptographic genius, he patiently explained things in a non-patronizing way - even if that meant starting from the ground up.

And being totally open and engaging, he won over all of us.

Particularly impressive was his sincerity; and of course, his trademark sarcastic humor - my kind of humor.

It was at that point in time that he became one of my cryptocurrency (and intellectual) heroes.

At the end of his short appearance on XRPTalk, I offered my humblest apologies for misrepresenting anything about Ethereum.

All he said was, "No problem. We're all learning here."

Imagine that?

By JaiChai

Many thanks for reading my post. And if you enjoyed it, please: Upvote, Follow, Comment and Resteem.

- JaiChai "My mind was a terrible thing to waste..."

About the Author

JaiChai has been in the cryptocurrency and disruptive technology space for well over 6 years. He is an enigma, regarded by his cohorts as sarcastic, funny, intuitive - but most of all, elusive. JaiChai alternates long dormant periods with concentrated episodes of frenzied commentary - only to go silent again.

He’s known for randomly submitting philosophical and contrarian posts on most cryptocoin forums.

When asked about his vanishing acts, he says, "I’m just somebody who enjoys being nobody because I look like everybody. Besides, time checking things off my 'bucket list’ - sans notoriety - is time well spent."

Parting Shot -

"F@ckin' miners! Include my transaction in your damn block now!!"