While running for the Texas House of Representatives, Ludlow, who describes himself as “pro-pot, pro-gay, pro-open-internet, oppose the TSA, and oppose the NSA,” naturally reached out to Reddit to gain support of his values from an open disruptive community. The response he received enabled him to perform an unusual yet refreshing publicity stunt in return.
For 24 hours starting yesterday, a giant highway billboard above IH35 in Austin carried the message, “Support net neutrality – Ludlow2014.com – Many thanks to r/Bitcoin.”
Ludlow later confirmed that responses to his two Reddit posts from April 24 and May 12 had helped fund the billboard, which is the second to be hired in support of his campaign. “As a Bitcoin supporter, thank you r/Bitcoin for funding out new billboard campaign!” Ludlow added.
The community continued its broadly positive response, with focus turning to discussion of Ludlow’s stance on various issues such as gun possession. Indeed, the subreddit remains unusually peaceful for a politically charged debate, with Ludlow providing open participation in return for users’ suggestions about campaign improvements.
Cooperation of this nature is always provides a timely reminder of the workability of decentralized setups – as we have noted before, aims can be achieved quickly and efficiently, with minimal effort or organization. Ludlow’s example, however, has the added benefit of publicly advertising a community which, despite being a major source of opinion on Bitcoin, has so far not been widely understood by the mainstream.
But is this about to change? Certainly, the sight of a blown-up message reading “thank you r/Bitcoin” will have caught many disinterested parties’ attention and perhaps even curiosity. With more such publicity, the ingenious partnership of Reddit and Bitcoin cannot remain under the surface for long.