Luke Childs, an open source developer with a penchant for bitcoin, has released a browser extension that shows users the apparent crypto biases of people on Twitter. Known as “Coinflict of Interest,” the software is still in beta mode.
Coinflict of Interest Doesn’t Always Get It Right
This reporter installed it and found he (apparently) has no biases at all.
Due to a lack of tweeting and inherent penchant for calling everyone out equally, this reporter earns a “no bias” rating.
While that may be believable, he knows for a fact that CCN editor Josiah Wilmoth is far from “biased” or in favor of Bitcoin Cash. If anything, it would swing somewhat the other way.
CCN US Editor Josiah Wilmoth – BCH Maximalist?
The extension does work, though, in some cases. Clearly, another Twitter user is very biased in favor of Ripple (and a handful of other smaller altcoins), as his recent tweets show.
“Nope.. The whole Cryptomarket moves till End of 2019 👉👉👉👉👉
Including XRP! Then 98% of crypto will die, a few will explode upwards= XRP, Kin, Tron, Vechain, XLM, maybe Bitcoin(maybe)”
He is angry about our editorial from yesterday, in which this reporter bashed the entire Ripple fanbase for its fervent belief that it matters if we refer to XRP as Ripple.
The extension works part of the time. 100% correct about this man’s Ripple allegiances.
Coinflict of Interest grades the Twitter user as 100% biased in favor of Ripple, which makes absolute sense, since not only does he advocate Ripple but just yesterday he attacked CCN for publishing a less-flattering opinion of its community.
Checking up on Crypto Twitter
Interestingly, it grades Bitcoin evangelist Andreas M. Antonopoulos as being biased towards Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash, in that order. On the same note, one might expect Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark to have a 100% Bitcoin rating, but she also has a slight bias toward Ethereum, according to the plugin.
You might be surprised to see Andreas’ assumed biases.
So while it may not be perfect, nor necessarily 100% accurate, the plugin at least makes using Twitter more fun. Many people’s biases will not be displayed correctly if they don’t tweet often. The plugin currently only tracks biases for four major cryptos, as well, while there are dozens that need adding. Tron’s Justin Sun earns a 100% Ripple bias, for example. Sun used to work for Ripple, according to his LinkedIn profile and old reports.
If Tron were one of the cryptos tracked, obviously he would be 100% there.
Justin Sun is apparently biased toward Ripple, according to Coinflict of Interest, which doesn’t track Tron.
Bias understanding is essential when people are looking for reliable opinions about cryptocurrency. The tool will be especially handy for traders looking to find information on Twitter. However, due to the way the plugin’s designed, if you get into one debate in defense of a cryptocurrency, you might find yourself with a bias rating on that.
We’d prefer a world where there were no biases at all. That world is never going to exist.
Obviously, this software has still got some ways to go – calling Josiah Wilmoth a Bitcoin Cash fanatic is just incorrect. Let’s just say this reporter has the inside story on that one, and Wilmoth doesn’t earn that rating.
Helpfully, the extension is available for Chrome and Firefox already and can work in Opera with an additional extension. It’s open source and in development, so if any developers want to help add other cryptocurrencies, the wider crypto community would probably appreciate the effort.