Bitcoin Forum

****Edited: Added new names Sep. 26th 2012****

So, as I've been browsing through the forums, I have come across some names that seem to be generally distrusted around the community. I figured why not make a list of those who are believed to be frauds, cons and just generally untrustworthy. Hopefully this thread will get a sticky as I think it will be beneficial to ALL users but especially for newbies.

I invite all members of the community to help me grow this list.

The only requirement I ask is that if you are going to name someone, please provide a link to the thread or evidence you have that said person is not to be trusted.

Here are the names I have seen so far:

Matthew N. Wright - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=107287.0
Bruce Wagner - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106350.0
DonShrents - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106350.0
Trendon Shavers - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106350.0
Pirateat40 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106350.0
Atlas - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106350.0
Shakaru aka Andrew Nollan (andrew.nollan@gmail.com) - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83794.0
bulanula (self-admitted scammer) - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=107094.20
getbitcoin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25528.0

Also any and all users on THIS list: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=98684.0

Who do YOU know that's dirty...?

****Edited: Added new names Sep. 18th 2012 and changed thread name****

Trendon Shavers is pirateat40, but the others are different. DonShrents and Atlas are just trolls -- they haven't scammed anyone.

If DonShrents ISN'T pirateat40, then why does he own pirateat40.com, btsct.com AND GPUMAX.com which are all pirate's sites...?

Evidence:

http://whois.domaintools.com/pirateat40.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/btcst.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/gpumax.com

And I have found more than one reference around the forums that Atlas is also pirateat40.

Trust me, I do research before I run someone's name through the mud...

anyone can pretty much create any forum nick they want is the short answer.

add c4n10 to the list just to be on the safe side. ;p  Not to be funny but there is fundamental need for would be scammers to often point out others who have been or may be scamming. It's quite interesting to observe from a psychological perspective.

that said, I'm only half kidding about adding your own name. but.....

User thosecoins is a confirmed scammer: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106045.0

What does anyone being able to choose any nickname have to do with anything? Don Shrents is the name registered as owner on pirateat40's websites. You're going to imply that the Don Shrents who owns multiple bitcoin based websites is different than the Don Shrents here on the BitcoinTalk forums...? Maybe if his name was something more common like Joe Smith I would believe that, but being that I've never even heard of the last name Shrents before today, seems pretty unlikely...

And if you want to distrust me, go right ahead. I don't recall asking you for money or BTC so I don't need your trust. Now either contribute information to this thread that's helpful to the community at large or go troll elsewhere...

Yes, exactly.

The name "Barack Obama" is a pretty uncommon name. But if you saw a forum user with the name "Barack Obama", would you think it was the President? Obviously the forum user who picked it would know that the name "Don Shrents" was associated with Pirate. Nobody's saying it's a coincidence.

He's saying there's no reason to assume the user here is Don Shrents. Given it was only registered a couple weeks ago it's far more likely it's a troll. 

ok ok, no need to nit pick. As we have seen from you 3 having to clarify what I was saying, we do not always present information perfectly here. whatever that means.

I thought the Don Shrents nick was pretty obvious from this line in his profile;

"Signature:
It's not a criminal offense to impersonate an imaginary person. "

Dang, I knew I should've looked that up before I posted.

  

Now that I think about it, I think those posts are the ones I was thinking of when I said that.

https://i.imgur.com/KRt2h.jpg

I know for certain that DonShrents is not Don Shrents.

The thing about Atlas is he no longer uses that name. He keeps coming back as a new user and starting over when people discover who he is. Check out the "Hunting Atlas" thread, I think it is in off-topic, where people identify each of his new usernames. So having the name Atlas on the list does not help any new users, since they will never run into the user "Atlas".

Atlas isn't remotely questionable.  He got banned for posting too much, with too many accounts.

Well, all things considered, even if DonShrents is NOT pirateat40 and IS just a troll, his username STILL belongs in this thread as someone who is not to be trusted, which REALLY IS the point of this thread. So, I'm done arguing semantics, trust him or don't, your choice.

But the lesson has been taught that unless you have 100.000000000% proof you cannot say that anymore! Even 99.9999999999999999999999999999% proof is not enough.

"more likely" ha don't be silly it is not how it works anymore.

I for one, thing that this is a useful thread. I don't have anything to contribute though. Is there a thread of particularly reputable BTC users? Might also be useful (and might invoke less acrimony!).

That's a great idea, I'll keep my eye open for those who seem to be the most reputable and if no one else beats me to it I will start a thread when I have a few names...

A few names for the GOOD USERS thread, if one gets started, in no particular order:

Patrick Harnett  

Goat, he does what he says, but you have to make sure you read the fine print because it might say he is taking all your money. :D

Nefario, despite the nefarios handle, he runs the GLBSE and is one of the most trusted and respected members of the forum.

Theymos (do we get extra points for sucking up to the admins?)

Senbonzakura

Gavin Andresan (sp?)

If I can get a couple senior members to confirm these names as trust-worthy I will start the new thread with their names   =)

i dont know Senbonzakura but i do trust the rest

Alright, see if I can get just a couple more and I will start the thread

i thought this thread was about 'Questionable BTC user', not 'Untrustable BTC Users'?

Pretty much the same thing there, sport. Either way one thing this thread is not here for is to argue semantics, so go troll elsewhere...

Someone else started a Bitcoin shitlist:
http://bitcoin-shitlist.com

And btw, Goat is on it... which he perhaps deserves due to the part he played in the whole Pirate thing.
You can read more about that here Pirate accomplices  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=103623.0)
and no doubt find more questionable/untrustworthy members... see Vladimir's list there for example, and the follow-up discussion.  

And given recent events Matthew N. Wright should be near the top of your list.  

And if you are going to maintain a list like this you should keep your first post ( the OP ) updated so people don't have to read through all the posts and pages to see all the names.  

Since you're obviously incable of reading my subtle hints otherwise, I'll spell it out for you. You're thread is useless, a waste of space and holds 0 value being posted by someone who themselves cannot be known to be 'questionable' or not, Sport.

Add Shakaru a.k.a. Andrew Nollan to the list.
You'll find a few more here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83794.0

Forgot about that one. Jerk had some of us actually feel bad for him and some weird situation with a 'street' insulin purchase.

Good list, btw. C4, you should participate if you are at all serious in your motivations here with this.

There is actually a stickied post called that.  The top one...  the first one newbies should be reading... 

Its somewhat disappointing that in addition to teaching people about Bitcoin we also have to teach them basic life lessons as well.  I suppose we have the nanny state to thank for that. 

We need another list...

Don't run with scissors in your hand
Always wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident
Don't play with yourself or you will go blind
Don't give your money to strangers
Never whistle while you are pissing
Don't mess around with Jim
...

"Never whistle while you are pissing"- must try that, how hard can it be?

It is not a question of difficulty but of integrity, authenticity, and being 'in' the world and not 'of' it...

I think this was his attempt to manipulate us.
Only the bitcoin community was scammed out of $20000
But more people were scammed IRL (his rommates for example). Someone mentioned shakaru andrew nollan moved and continues to scam people, I wish I lived closer to him.

Nice list you got there ...

How much Bitcoins do I send to get in the "club" :D

Great idea!

I understaood your "subtle hints" but the fact of the matter is you are wrong. I have received messages from a few people thanking me for starting this list and telling me it is a great idea. So taking into consideration that multiple people think it's a great idea and one person (you) thinks it is a worthless idea, I believe I will just carry on smartly and you can resume trolling elsewhere.

And you should NOT participate if you're just going to troll...

We should be careful that such list does not rely too much on forum names.  As mentioned about Barak Obama, it would be so easy to slightly misspell name or use other name, like "theymous" (ok, bad example) to fool people.  If there is other information, it should be part of list record.

Cool list but like mentioned before, and common sense, trust no one with your money.

How do I know if I can trust any of you posting?  ???

You could all be conspiring against other individuals, acting innocent, snitching on competition, winning the trust and friendship of us while you wait for the moment to sneak up on us and cut our throats!  :o :o

But yeah, kudos C.

--D3zzy->

LOL!!!

An interesting point, I recommend trusting no one, even if it includes me, doesn't bother me any especially since I'm not asking for anything!!!

But seriously, trust no one unless you can find DAMNED good reason to...

These lists are pointless because everyone in BTC is questionable. You may as well call it "questionable internet users"

Not everyone is questionable, in fact there a number of users which the majority have found to be quite trustworthy.

This list is not intended to be all-inclusive nor wholly-indicative. This list is intended to be a helpful guide for new users to learn which users may be trying to take advantage of them and HOW they might be taken advantage of (the latter is the reason why I ask for links to evidence for why the user can not be trusted).

While we may not be able to protect all new users from being taken advantage of by any and/or every scammer, the idea is help reduce the amount of incidents by exposing users who commit fraud and the techniques they use to commit said fraud.

Really, the only people I can see arguing with a thread dedicated to exposing frauds and their techniques would be the frauds themselves...

*eyes you suspiciously*

Well, I know for me personally, if I see a name that is similar to another name that I know to be a scammer, I will probably avoid doing business with that person or at the very least be VERY cautious about dealing with that person...

I was thinking problem other way.  If there is "trusted" person (who is "no one!" :)) malefactor could adopt forum name similar to trusted name.  Therefore, theymos/theymous (again, I say bad example) could be easy exploit to nickname-based system.  Link and backlink to Facebook, LinkedIn (better), or other site would be better.  Better still if other site has "authority" of many links to other people.

Is like PirateAt40.  Don Shrents could not reach father without SNA.  Trust people more if parents can be called.  Not trust completely, for as rule says,"Trust no one!"

A very interesting point. One I had not considered... When I can get one or two more confirmations from senior members on the trusted names mentioned in this post, I will start the new thread with trustworthy users and make a LARGE note of that at the top to verify that the s/n's match EXACTLY before doing business with that user...

Bumping so I can get a couple of senior members to confirm the trustworthy names mentioned above to start the new thread...

Bumping because new names have been added.

One note -- his last name is actually Nollan.

One of his email that I know of (he uses/used it for Paypal) is andrew.nollan@gmail.com

I have edited to reflect the proper spelling and added his email, thanks!!!

Too bad about getbitcoin.  He was one of the good ones.  Oh well.  Have to take my business to Canada...

Before anyone get's their panties in too much of a ruffle....KNOW THIS: I am DonShrents.

 ::)

Would like to know what they've done to be deemed disreputable. Purely for curiosity's sake!

That's what the links are provided for next to the names.

you will find many shady and questionable characters in some old threads like:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=103623
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=91252.0

I just read those today, after an old timer pointed them out to me. Surely there are more threads like those.

You can also find there some people who demonstrated rather very good judgement. This forum has lots of data for historians. I wish someone made sure that all the older posts are preserved for posterity.