Bitcoin Forum

Now that we've given a scammer tag to a man after just a few hours of his even being able to verify that he indeed lost a crazy bet (a man who was probably sleeping at the time by the way), perhaps we should move on to something more significant.

Where's the revolution going next? Mesh networks? Insinuating itself (brilliantly) amongst the big established credit card companies in the fashion of BitInstant? Bitcoin banks with multisig?

As much as some might hate to admit it, it's gonna be someone like Matthew and decidedly not someone like Pirate that pushes Bitcoin forward...if you can't see the difference between a real scammer who profited off of others and what Matthew did, or think they are somehow equivalent, I suggest you think carefully. Most grown ups can see the difference...and no one really believes something that is too good to be true, much less act or rely upon it...

Good day all.

+1

Does pirate have the scammer tag yet?

All of the things he describes in his interview with Micon he contradicts and also adds to.

http://www.donkdown.com/media/DDRadio-2012_08_22_19_00_07.mp3

I just checked, and yes, he finally got one.

I have listened to it. It's what makes me think he's a decent guy. He sure picked a foolish bet, but then again there were many people gambling in pirate...equally foolish. But Mathews point is well taken...it reminds me of the people calling Casascius an idiot when he made a typo on his first series coins...people who hadn't actually done something for the community...(not that I've done much)

You guys are taking this way too far.

Matthew welched on a silly bet, to try and prove a point. You guys are treating him as if he TOOK MONEY OUT OF YOUR POCKETS.

Considering how relaxed most people have been, in regards to Trendon Shavers aka Pirateat40 (causing most of my frustration) I find Matthew's situation to be a bit 'scape-goatish' under the circumstances.

Does Matthew really deserve to be punished to the extent he currently is being punished ?

There are far more people on this forum that have done far worse and still don't seem to have a scammer tag or their names dragged through the mud and THEY ACTUALLY LOST PEOPLE'S MONEY. Nothing was lost in the 'Matthew' situation, right ?

People made their bet because Matt told them to hedge for a pirate default when they could have sold their debt at 75% when the bet started.  They did in fact lose money because of this.  Stop trying to explain this away.  He is a scamming fuck.  Period.

Matthew might be worse for bitcoin than Pirate. Pirate was clear as day a scam.

Matthew was branded staff on this forum and EIC of btc mag, etc, etc, etc

Clearly. Imaginary money vs REAL MONEY....obviously worse  ::)

Well, people who counted on the bet hedging their pirate debt surely lost money by not taking other offers.

And we don't know for sure why he pulled this stupid stunt, he sure did nothing to prove his original cause, and he may well have profited from it, e. g. by dealing in the pirate debt market himself.

It's Bitcoin Reputation (w/ businesses and others) vs. People Too Stupid that sent their money to someone named "PIRATEAT40"

Not trying to explain it away. I'm trying to show that precisely this type of reasoning is childish.

It certainly seems so in retrospect, doesn't it? Matthew, unlike Pirate, had a good reputation and known identity.

Boo Hoo... just wen I thought I had 'water-wings', it turns out that they popped and I will end up drowning anyways...LOL

Bitlane it is going to be really hard for any of us who did not lose money with pirate to even flinch at your trolling.

The fact that you did invest with pirate...well....speaks for itself in large volumes.

Cheers!

Seriously what a dumbass.

I think I will have to leave the forums for a while if every thread derails to the topic of either pirate or mnw before the third post even though the first post explicitly says "let's move on to something else".

back on topic: I think the next big thing for bitcoin is the collapse of fiat currency and the banking cartel. Until then, we better get our shit together and be ready to deliver sound money, I don't wanna have to pay stuff in silver coins or trust some central authority with the value of our accounting units ever again.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And who will run the internet for you when fiat collapses?

don't worry, we will.

That's a valid point. If fiat collapses quickly, much of our public infrastructure will stop working...we need an orderly transition in order for Bitcoin to have value...we need a minimum connectedness to keep Bitcoin running...

Aah, so you run the internet.
I always wondered who that was.
But seriously, let me stress:
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Dude, that's a monumental understatement.
If this happens society is fucked, plain and simple.
No electricity and all supply chains will go belly up and there will be a long time of fucking hunger and malice.
We will have to start from zero.
The LAST thing people will need is some cryptocurrency that needs heaps of energy to even make work to act as money.

Bold added for emphasis, you should at least do a modicum of research before making a post like this IMO.

 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=101751.msg1173889#msg1173889

He was awake and provided the rope with which the scamming noose was formed.

He accepted my 1BTC bet that did not conform to his stated interpretations. He has made no indications he will pay this 1BTC.

I don't doubt the creative resiliency of the clever. I'm sure there will be people from ham radio heroes to members of the civil air patrol broadcasting/distributing copies of the block chain...

I hadn't seen this. This is interesting...gonna have to think about this...

Addendum:  thought about it. And it's brilliant. Matthew turned a large group of people who were claiming with certainty that pirate was a scammer and anyone investing with him an idiot into people who bought hook, line and sinker his own equally silly scheme...Pretty funny. Childish. But still funny.

Anyhow, I'm hoping mesh networks take off. I do see a need for banks with multisig to protect those that need it. I hope our point of sale merchant services guys can crack the market. I'm totally gonna get a BitInstant credit card. I hope our devs can get the size of the blockchain down...
I still see the future as bright.

Addendum 2: I confess to using my iPhone for this. And not having read all the info available at the time of my OP. I've only got so much time in a day.

Allright, sucessfully started a discussion ;)

In that pretty-bad-case scenario of most of the public infrastructure collapsing, disregarding other, probably more pressing consequences (like food, water supply problems):

How about: build mesh networks using wifi routers. Power might come from car batteries (which we charge at peoples houses who have solar on the roof). Inter-city links will be harder, but I guess amateur radio (low bandwidth, I know, but enough for blockchain) and/or amplified directional wifi could be used?

Still: there will be islands and no global connectivity at first, probably for a long time.

Also: mining will crawl to a halt and we'll get stuck with way too high of a difficulty, like namecoin. Maybe that's good though... having blocks found every couple of days or weeks allows the found block to propagate via sneakernet or pidgeons with usb sticks, reducing the risk of long-running parallel chains.

Ever calculated how much power the creation of one block costs?
There are any number of actually usefull stuff that will be used for barter, like food and water.
People trying to do bitcoin in such a situation will most likely severely hamper their chances to survive.
Remember, this is the apocalypse. People rioting and stuff.
FIRST concern is staying alive.
Bitcoin will have exactly zero purpose in a sociatal apocalypse.

What is the rough electricity cost of a block? Hopefully less than its USD equivalent...

^this

I will want something of value to other people, i.e. gold, silver.  I won't want your fucking electronic coins.  People are so delusional.  If the shit does hit the fan BTC will be worthless.

Now excuse me, I have to learn how to bash a deer's head in with a rock because I bought bitcoins instead of a gun.

Try using two fairly large rocks with the head in between.

That might work with a fish but not with a deer.

Get better rocks...

I have a special on deer crushing rocks @ 20 BTC / rock.

Do you take gold or silver?
Maybe a deer head in mint condition?

I tried this, they are fast little bastards.  I'm going out today and trying the jump out of a tree and wrestle it to the ground method. :)