My comment is that putting conditions in the EFF is rather silly:

If people want to donate, let them donate; they can send the money to a trusted party wallet-on-a-VM, and we can send it over to the EFF if they want it. The EFF's goodwill and press is worth more than them running a node or two.

And, by the way, I think it's a good idea to turn the EFF on to Bitcoin. I would suggest that it might be a good job for someone with business development experience, a phone call and conversation might work wonders.

I would like to use simple, direct language that transmits one message -- our support for EFF's agenda. If we are at all effective as a medium of exchange, they will naturally discover the rest of our story. Three short paragraphs, maximum:

1. Greetings: We appreciate your service to the community.

2. Who we are: Peer-to-peer network based digital currency.

3. How we can help: By donating xxx Bitcoins.

Sure, it is important to collect and discuss here the many things we will want to say, but let's please keep the final message brief and to the point.

Kiba, you forgot to mention that the bitcoin software is open source and GPL. Since we are writing to the EFF I think its important to specify it.

No GPL? Unforgivable!!! I am leaving this community at once... 

MIT is considered an open source license by the EFF, right?

Is that actually true? Or an argument at all?

So, does anybody have any constructive criticism for my letter? I found that I always write bad grammar and spell poorly.

"Bitcoin" should always be capitalized, as it is a proper noun.


I would say "appreciates", but this might be a difference between US/UK English.


I would say "efforts".


Spelling: neutrality.
Internet needs to be capitalized.
(Also, I for one am opposed to net neutrality legislation.)


The system is called Bitcoin, not Bitcoins.


In addition to many other useful properties, Bitcoin has extremely low transaction fees and is hard to produce and fake.

systems

which are often...


Members of the Bitcoin community have recognized the interest worldwide governments have in keeping their monetary monopoly. Their resulting actions could be a possible threat to the growing Bitcoin economy.

As such,

would like to donate some of our goods -- cryptocurrency bitcoins -- to you.

Combined, this is X Bitcoins, which are worth X USD in total.


The EFF is free to convert the Bitcoins to other currencies, buy goods and services with the Bitcoins, or simply do nothing with them at all. The members of the Bitcoin community hope that the EFF will put the donation to good use.

Upgrade complete:




Dear EFF, the Bitcoin community appreciates your ongoing efforts to protect Internet freedom. We also see you as an important partner to ensure that the Bitcoin community goes unmolested or at least won't go down without a fight.

The Bitcoin community is a society of users with over 30 business enterprises based around a new open source P2P cryptocurrency and monetary system called Bitcoins. The software for bitcoin is published under the MIT license. In addition to many other useful properties, Bitcoin has extremely low transaction fees, high divisibility, and is hard to produce and fake. These features make Bitcoin useful as a medium of exchange. As such it is probable that it will become a threat to centralized monetary system, which are often backed by governments. Members of the Bitcoin community have recognized the interest worldwide governments have in keeping their monetary monopoly. Their resulting actions could be a possible threat to the growing Bitcoin economy.

As such, members of the Bitcoin community would like to donate osome of our goods -- cryptocurrency bitcoins -- to you.. Members of the community will donate X bitcoins unconditionally, worth about X USD. We will also donate more if you fulfill various wishes such as putting up a bitcoin donation button, setting up a node and more. Combined, this is X Bitcoins, which are worth X USD in total.

The EFF is free to convert the Bitcoins to other currencies, buy goods and services with the Bitcoins, or simply do nothing with them at all. The members of the Bitcoin community hope that the EFF will put the donation to good use.

This should perhaps be reworded, it sounds like we're taking it for granted that they'll help us if needed.

I am inclined to expand on the adjective usage and use "x Bitcoins." However, the FAQ uses, "1,300,000 bitcoins." If the FAQ is an official source of information, then I would always copy its usage. The FAQ also uses, "new Bitcoins," though, which seems a bit contradictory. Satoshi has used both ways on the forum.

There is precedence for your usage: the Costa Rican colón is based on someone's name, but is written in lowercase. Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country, though, so maybe this one example was only inherited from their non-English usage. Do you know of an actual grammar rule for this case? I looked through the Chicago Manual of Style, but I could not find any rules for a case like this.

Hopefully Satoshi or sirius-m will say which usage is correct. Until then, I think I'll use "[0-9]+ bitcoins" as the only lowercase usage of the word.