I really like online cults.
Studying them, that is. They are horrible for society.
One very strange online cult I've been following for a while calls itself the "Most Serene Republic of Bitcoin", hereon "MSR". Its name derives from the the English translation of the Italian name for Venice as it existed from 697 to 1797, Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta.
MSR is no longer really of much concern, but it continues to defy reality by existing. Its first incarnation was led by a man named Mircea Popescu, a Bitcoin millionaire. Mircea believed that the Web of Trust of the #bitcoin-otc IRC channel was the final authority on all matters of reputation.
This WoT, humorously, contains a lot of personal information — especially if you combine it with publicly available GnuPG data, which I believe I am the first to ever attempt. But everyone who used it was presumably aware of what they were doing. If you find your name in the database, sorry for your loss, I guess? (I'm in it too, haha. If the meaningless word chud offends you get a life.)
I upload this because it was a huge programming challenge to convert unstructured GnuPG data, and because a slightly annoying dude on Twitter (@OldManLondre) keeps asking me too. Apparently this data has value and could even be saleable. Well, be that as it may, I only write free software, so am not about to get into the "old ass #bitcoin-irc WoT qua data broker source" business.
To the extent possible all code and data files in this repository are in the public domain.
2022-09-21, Fredrick R. Brennan