Luke Dashjr on Apocalyptic lithograph

“Push the date back two months. OP_EVAL just is not ready yet.”

It was the verdict Gavin Andresen had worked so long to avoid. With a single rebuke sent from Russell O’Connor’s keyboard, a months-long effort to upgrade Bitcoin — the first in the wake of founder Satoshi Nakamoto’s exit — was abruptly stalled ahead of implementation. 

Luke Dashjr

The Bitcoin IRC logs can be a mundane place, the endless flow of crudely formed usernames and perpetual ping timeouts seeming to accost your eyeballs with the disinterest of street walkers. 

Every once in a while, though, a log is nice enough to offer up a penny on its sidewalk. Such was the case when I recently happened upon Luke Dashjr’s first brush with Bitcoin.

LWN.net screenshot

"Somebody of us should go there and answer questions/resolve issues asked in the comments below the article. LWN.NET is read by some important figures in the geek world."

The call to action by BitcoinTalk user "ShadowOfHarbring" may not seem like much by today's standards – after all, Bitcoin is now cited daily in major global newspapers. But in late 2010, the idea that the software project was then attracting the attention of a notable "webzine" was enough to give a jolt of excitement and immediacy to the Bitcoin forums.