Bitcoin Forum

I am announcing my retirement from scam busting.

Bitcoin has been very nice to me, allowing me to retire early at age 43.  I felt I really needed to give back to that which had given so much to me, so I was very active on this forum fighting scams.  As of this date I have spent over 136 days fighting the good fight.  I gave up the chance to make money by escrowing, using a paid signature, running a business, moderating, etc.  I wasn't here to make money but to try and help other people from losing coins. 

Over the past year, after selling my coins, I have vastly reduced my computer clients and built my dream home while making this forum my virtual home.  Over the last few days I have given away my remaining bitcoin for various project work.  I no longer hold any significant bitcoin, and thus have a reduced vested interest in keeping the bitcoin price high.  That includes doing my little part to combat fraud here.  The only project I am working on now is exposing Armis' long term con on the official PICISI (http://picisi.net) website, which will be complete by June 5th.

Luckily over the past year there has been an influx of new scam busters being added to the default trust list, reducing my work load considerably. Many times I go to leave negative trust and see it's already been done!  I am throwing the torch to these individuals and thank them in advance for their service to the community. 

On June 6th I'm planning to execute a life long dream and buy a small sailboat to leave from Vancouver, sail down the coast, through the Panama Canal, and back up to Halifax.  I'm expecting it to take most of the summer. If you live on the coast and would like to go for a beer (or just see the boat!), please email me at martin@martinlawrence.ca.  :)
 

I'll sincerely miss the good times I had in the Off Topic and Political Discussion sections with some great people on here.  The last couple days have been an emotional one for sure, but I know things will be better in the future, if I don't drown that is!  I got quite sucked up into this community and for that reason I don't know if I'll reconnect when I return.  Since I'm not scam busting there will be better communities to joke around on that don't have all the drama and dishonesty/scamming.  TC and Dooglus have my contact information should I need to change any negative trust I have left.

I wish good luck to all the honest people out there and I wish the overall bitcoin community continued success!  Thanks to the admins and mods for their hard and thankless work.

Feel free to blame me for this. :)

Vod Bless.

I have unlocked the thread for any comments you have, although I probably won't read them for at least three months. 

This made me emotional  :'(

So you've finalized the decision. I was wondering where your thread would come up. Even though the scammers will be glad that you're leaving, some will definitely miss you.
I however understand why you did this.

Good luck with your dream. Hopefully everything goes as planned. We'll continue the journey somewhere else.  :)

I am glad bitcoin served you nicely, and want to thank you for all the effort you've put in this forum and community.
Hope you have a wonderful time sailing!

That been said, i'm also very surprised you dumped most of your bitcoins for fiat, and furthermore am shocked that you would leave us so suddenly.
Doesn't feel right on many levels, but you just made a ton of scammers very happy.

Goodbye Vod  :-\

You couldnt resist now could you ? You had to take in all the comments and applauds ?  ::)

I'd say you did a good job, but you've lead the way for some serious scammers to do some serious damage. People could trust Tomato's list before you started your forum policing, and then people could trust you, even I.
But now all these wanabe Vods see a shortcut to gaining the trust of the community and who knows what they'll do with it when they have it.

Live with that.

Besides that good luck with your studies :)


-edit-
wait a second. You also announced your retirement from this forum and then you came back like you dont care, is this another one of those events ? You cheeky devil ::D

Thanks for all Vod, and good luck with your life ;). You were so funny and I will remember your actions for a long time!

Its ok VOD, i obviously have this scam busting thing down, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1076466.msg11500756#msg11500756
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1073492.0
now i just need to gain some trust

Thanks, Vod! Wish you best of luck! You are an honest person and this forum will surely miss your scam busting service.

This is great news for the dirty scammers around here both Quickseller and Vod no longer with us  :-\ Quickseller needs to be put back on asap to fight the good fight imo. That aside I wish you all the best with your sailing and future away from here and all the drama. Take care!

You probably want to GPG sign that.



Oh well, I guess my suggestion is late.

You can't retire!    plain and simple you can't.

I can't retire while knocking on deaths door which means.....You can't retire.   I know you see this :)

I will miss looking at your avatar. Congratulations on your retirement.

I feel like I'm signing a high school yearbook...

Hey Vod! Great to see you all in fiat to pursue your life-long dream of boat.

::)

God speed, brother.

Yours sincerely,

BMB

Hey Vod.  Remember the good ol' days where we used to save stupid noobs from being scammed?  I say it in past tense, as for I believe that your work, and the work of the rest of the scam busters, have really smartened up this community.  Have a good one, man. :)

Thank you for the effort your put into the community. We'll miss you. Best of luck and have a great life! :)

Thanks for no longer power tripping here! ;D

Re-owning the name TradeFortress.  A less-ballsy move now that Vod is gone.

Vod you and I disagreed from time to time, but I appreciate that you never made it personal.

Happy sailing!

Sad to hear you're leaving. You will be missed. Happy to hear you are pursuing your dream boat trip. When I was younger, I actually thought about sea kayaking from Vancouver, down around the southern tip of South America, and then back up all the way to Toronto. (Via the St. Lawrence.) If you decide to extend your trip to Toronto look me up. (PM me here.) Would've been nice if you posted pics of your journey. Cheers bro! (Or, should I say, Bon Voyage!)
http://www.uncommoncaribbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ranifly-Sailing.jpg

Sad. But I guess it is time to go bye bye.

Congrats on your success :) Have a good one !

Vod, you have been the most active, the most impartial and one of the most awesome people I have ever seen in Bitcoin's Adventurous World...
Would only urge you to please do not leave us in between, just don't sail in the boat alone, take Bitcoin World with you too, don't leave, please... :(

This OP reminds me of the last time he took a break from this forum.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=921710.0;all

Who wants to bet he is back within 3 months with a new name, but the same old act? I am not sure he understands the difference between laying low and taking accountability for his actions. The fact that he has to modify his behavior in any way is equally offensive to him, so it seems to be the same thing from his perspective.

Good luck with your future endeavors  :)

Uh, if you think Vod was impartial you clearly never read any of his posts related to Microsoft.  I'm just saying, either you didn't know Vod or you don't know the meaning of the word "impartial".  ;)

Enjoy life and keep those boobs fresh.  :)

Congrats on your early retirement.

I am glad that you are not leaving the forum on a permanent basis as you originally indicated :)

That sure does sound like a long time to be out on the water. Stay safe my friend.

I thought I had read something like this before - so thanks Tecshare. 

However, I must say, I hope the result is the same and that Vod returns after his trip.

Also really glad to hear that bitcoin has allowed you to enjoy such financial freedom!  Thanks for doing what you could to help make the forum a better place. 

Good Luck!

I guess Vod used to negate those accounts who are selling MSDN keys which aren't genuine keys right? If it's correct then there shouldn't be any issue as those keys are not allowed to be sold and can stop working any time which ultimately leads to scamming.

As Vod left, I will try finding out scammers and will leave a negative trust on their profile. Found all alts of a scammer yesterday which made me feel happy. I will try my best to keep the forum clean.
And like Vod left negative trusts to people who sold MSDN keys, I will leave one on every profile selling those ;)
Most of the scammers are found in Lending, Currency Exchange and Digital Goods sections.

Vod, you are one of the best scam buster on this forum, highly active and good guy
if there are other scam busters from default trust list then it doesn't means we don't need you, No one can replace you
if you have less time to spend on forum then spend the time you can but don't leave the forum,we need such great members and scam busters for our community to make it safe place for legit traders and hell for scammers.


hope you will always with us and keep helping the users.

Thanks Vod, it's going to be a little lonely not seeing Peter licking his boob while surfing the forums... it inspired my Stewie avatar a long time ago when I saw one of your posts, if I ever get more time to devote, I do hope to help more with the 'good fight'. Enjoy the rest of your retirement.

Sad to see you go, but thanks for all the Scam Busting. Enjoy your early retirement, and sail the seas!

Congrats on your early retirement, and good luck on your adventure!

Congrats Vod on the successful life. I wish you nothing but the best and happiness and hope someday you decide to return to BTCitcoins. Good luck in all your new adventures and keep fighting the good fight.

Now newbies asking for loan and people that don't pay their loans still will have neutral trust :(

It will continue as quickseller isnt on default trust so his ratings wont be seen, they should also add me to the list, im exposing them newbies, but seriously, the forum need to strike a balance between trust from trusted and trust from untrusted members

I'm going to miss you giving neg rep to newbies asking for loans with no collateral

I would like to pick up where he has left off.
Just look at my prolific nick  ;D
JK! You can't be replaced for you crime busting here.
Good travels buddy  ;D

We do need someone to nail these guys. Vod glad you did well with BTC and hope you enjoy that trip  :P

You seem to be active on the forums just as much as Vod was, you should appoint yourself the new scam buster. You seem to be impartial, fair, unemotional in decisions and affairs and dont have a vested interest in having default trust (such as being an account seller). You would make a fine Vod minus the antonizing and asshole personality that Vod had.

I just saw someone named as "Vod" yesterday on FunRun2. I did ask him if he was the Vod from bitcointalk, he said "maybe", I just hope that you really have retired this name from everywhere else.
Anyways all the best for your future. The forum will miss you.

The great Vod is hanging up his scam busting gloves.
You've served the community well my friend but I guess all good things must come to an end.
You said that as an early adopter you have been lucky enough to retire at the young age of 43.
Hey man, go & enjoy your retirement, leave the scam busting to others, relax & enjoy life.
Still pop back in every now & again though for leisure & fun just leave the serious stuff behind.

Thanks for the compliments, but I am not a scam buster. I think it takes a certain personality to be effective at something like that. I am too laid back and mostly give people the benefit of the doubt...probably not judgmental enough to catch people early.

That is really sad to see you living but it's good to hear that you're running for your dream Boat.
i wish you a very Safe Journey and i'm sure you will have so much fun!
Be sure to add some pictures for us if possible ;)

I am sad to see him living too. This thread is also very sad and transparent. Vod is just making this post (like last time) to feed his ego so he can read the list of people kissing his ass and reenforcing his belief that no matter how many people he abuses he is invaluable to this community, thereby reinforcing his behavior. He did this a few months previous. He is not going anywhere. His obsessive compulsive personality will prevent that. His primary reason for doing this besides inflating his ego is so that he can lay low for a little while and escape the backlash from his abusive behavior, and so he doesn't overstay his welcome with the more influential people in this community.

He will just take up another identity but will quickly be spotted again because his behavior is very abusive, and he can't help himself. I got a message today from a company attempting to raise funds to become tax exempt status (including copies of their filing paperwork), and he is harassing them over the technicalities of their filing. Now he is messing with people ACTUALLY trying to create charities.

He is doing far more damage than he ever prevented stopping scammers. This is the kind of stuff that drives good people away from Bitcoin forever. Any scammers he "stops", however will be right back again within minutes setting up another scam. Vod is running his own little version of the drug war here on the forum, only the war is on scammers, and he doesn't care how many good people suffer in order for him to "win" this war that in reality will never end.

Sorry, TECSHARE, but that's hyperbole.  I think a lot of people confuse using bitcoin with using the bitcointalk forum.  I don't think many people get into bitcoin in order to enjoy an online forum about it.  I think it's quite more likely that most of enjoy (or not) using this online forum because we're into bitcoin.  Bitcoin is useful and beautiful and interesting no matter what state of affairs exists in this forum.  This forum is not bitcoin, it's a place to chat about bitcoin.  Bitcoin exists as long as there are nodes running the protocol, not as long as there's a bitcoinforum for chatting.

Just my 2 satoshis.

So just let the scammers do whatever they want and drive even more people away from Bitcoin, forever?

Looks like you're forgetting about the people that are also scammed and never return. I know quite a few people including family members who got scammed their first or second attempt at buying and gave up on Bitcoin.

Can't win either way.

ahh...thanks for you effort and never stop licking your boob. enjoy your boat journey.) bb

Wait what? Although I never knew Vod personally, I feel emotional about this too. Vod was an Iconic user to the forum. Peter Griffin has become an iconic character to me. I can't not watch Family Guy and be like "Oh look, it's Vod". Yeah, these will be the ol' days. Vod's antics in the Off-topic was pretty amusing too. It's going to be a shame that some of the newer users might not be able to interact with him, this may feel like a good thing to the ones of a red status, but, you're going to feel a Vo(i)d.


It's great reading this, you deserve it. I'd give you a pat on the back if I could. You probably won't see this message soon, but good luck and have fun!

please remove the feedback you gave me, I already asked you via message, please I beg !

congratulations on having made enough money out of btc to retire

What you said is technically correct, however most new users of Bitcoin gravitate or are directed here in order to learn new information, ask questions, and get involved with the community. Bitcoin would live on if this forum was gone tomorrow, but the fact is it still represents Bitcoin for better or worse. There is such an atmosphere of abuse here that is so rampant it often turns the benevolent skepticism of new users into active rejection of the entire idea of Bitcoin, because unlike veteran users, they don't know that difference.


The primary factor in people getting scammed is THEIR OWN LACKADAISICAL ATTITUDE. People like Vod help foster that attitude by giving the impression that the community stops scammers. In reality a fool and his money will ALWAYS be parted, no matter if it is Bitcoin, cash, credit, or anything else. In stead of teaching awareness and skills to prevent being scammed, the community is hyper-focused on outing scammers, which in reality does little to them but delay their scams, and provide entertainment for rubberneckers.

Vod by no means stops scammers, he simply delays them by forcing them to start over. The fact is the scammers WILL NEVER STOP, and believing otherwise is naive. The question is, is it worth it to tear down and drive away lots of honest users in this inquisition on suspected scammers that will never stop? This is not just a Bitcoin problem, it is a global problem, and the scammers are unfortunately winning. Lets not sap our resources even further flailing aimlessly about damaging contributing members of the community over an endless war that can never be won.

I agree with this point almost wholeheartedly.  Instead of teaching newbies a caveat emptor mentality, the trust rangers merely delay the inevitable lesson that everyone eventually need to learn---how to watch out for yourself.  What's more, this attitude is built into the trustlessness of the bitcoin ethos---no central authorities, just validation of known shared information.  The trust rangers brigade basically works against this ethos.  And the part you said about infighting and innocent people getting caught in the crossfire of the trustranger inquisition is particularly salient for me (having recently gone through an episode of this).

I agree that users should be made more aware of the scams that happen here and how to prevent themselves from getting scammed. Unfortunately, nothing can or will be done because staff and mods simply won't (or can't in their words) moderate the scams that happen here no matter how obvious they are so people turn to trust to at least warn others.

New accounts should be redirected to a page with guidelines and warnings when trying to access the currency exchange forum. Maybe even warnings seen only by new accounts when they receive a PM (most scams are done over private message) showing the risks of trading, how to use escrow and how "Trust" should only be used only as a guideline. This trust system might look like it's working to newer member but IMO, it's only setting up long term and larger scams which we'll probably see soon, especially with bitcoin's price continuing to drop. People put way to much trust into other's trust. I always suggest escrow but get "no, it's okay you have a lot of trust" and similar messages all the time from members that have never traded with me before so have no reason to trust me besides taking the word from others who they probably never traded with either.

How about newbie account being able to ask for loans to begin with. I honestly can say that I have ever seen someone fund a newbie loan. I'm not gonna say that its not happened. Usually theres a reason for rules. Someone usually has been there and did that. Its not hard to become a jr. member and be a productive member of the forums, but to say that a newbie should be able to ask for a loan is another question. I don't think they should be able to. No need. Get involved with the community before asking for money at least.

My question: Why is there a thread stickied in the loan section by TomatoCage and one by squall1066 in the goods section but nothing in the currency exchange section besides the paypal and reversible payment method thread?  ??? Let me rephrase that, why are there warnings in most sections except the one that is used the most by scammers?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1040193.0

I was bumping this thread for weeks, if not longer. I ran the idea past hilariousandco prior to making it but never got a response.

I have no idea why it hasn't been stickied.

Some will say conflict of interest since you're an escrow, but so are the other two. They just been around longer.

If a non escrower were to rewrite or repost Quickseller's thread, would it then be stickied?

This fuckin' sucks! Now we only have ourselves to blame.

All 4 of the stickied threads in lending (that all in some way say to use escrow), the stickied thread in goods and most of the non-stickied threads in service discussion are all written by escrows.

Not trying to sound like an unnamed person that often complains about a certain system on the forum, however I think to say that my thread can't or shouldn't be stickied because I escrow is somewhat of a double standard.

Having a trusted/respected person post the thread adds weight to the advice in the thread as if they are known to how to prevent scams and prevent themselves from getting scammed.

If KoS (or someone who is not simply trying to troll) wants to argue that a thread saying to use escrow written by an escrow is a conflict of interest then maybe all the escrow threads should be reposted by the staff bot.

Most (really all) of the claims of conflict of interest against me are really untrue anyway. Not only that but most respected people have similar conflicts as they engage in similar activity but just not through their main accounts.

The community will miss you VOd.

Goodbye Vod. Enjoy your life, live it up and die a happy man.

Laterz buddy!

When I first registered here on bitcointalk.org I have seen Vod's posts almost everyday. He was almost everywhere for all that time. 
I guess online life is not the most important thing in life and you need vacation so 3 months are not not that long in the grand scheme of things. Happy Vacation, Vod.

Good bye Vod see you later again here.

So Vod, considering you are off you want to be a gent and remove your feedback?

I am still here and still paying off my debts so you know, not a scam or I would be long gone by now.

Be a gent and prove that you are able to change.

Congratulations! And may your retirement last longer than the Trailer Park Boys'. ;D

Well, that's what I would have done had I been fortunate (or brave) enough to have become an early adopter back in '11.

It's an old tradition in Canada that first grew in the penny-stock arena: when you make a big score, you cash in (most of) your chips and buy a nice house for cash on the barrelhead. Then, you never have to worry about mortgages and suchlike; you only have to worry about food, car-related expenses and property taxes.

( Now you know why Vancouver property taxes were so low back in tha day. ;D )   

A shame to see any scam busters leave.  I grow tired of all the OgNasty alts that pop up trying to scam.  Here's one today: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=522015

It was nice when there were people labeling all these scammers.  I don't even want to attempt to take the time to deal with all these imposters.  They clearly have more free time than I do.

Clearly a staff member should be doing the cleanups, not self made pretend cops :) ~ my opinion.

Vod, you told me to PM you 20 of this month to remove my -rep.. Don't tell me now that you quited.. ffs

Ouch, you can ask one of the users with his contact details to be hold of him and see what he can do.

We are missing you very much scam attempt and scam are increasing day by day we need your support.

Bye Vod, have a safe trip.

You will be missed. Thank you for your service in the Bitcoin community.

Like who?

Vod please remove the -rep for non collateral loan i am not new anymore it was a newbie misstake

Indeed. In the couple years that I've been here, I learned to trust your judgment. I wish I could say the same about those who you are "passing the torch" to. I won't name names, because of the vindictiveness that will come with it.

But I see quite a lot of gaming of the trust system -- whether that's hitting up as many trusted escrows for their services as possible to maximize trusted feedback, neg repping users without evidence or for petty personal differences, using various alt accounts to bolster arguments in regards to trust abuse, or otherwise.

There are serious long cons being built here. If you want to trust forum users -- particularly anonymous users who have not publicly disclosed their identity -- based on a green number on their profile..... I say, good luck in life.

There is a lot more to a user's reputation than that green number. Actions speak volumes.

Hi Vod,

You and I had many issues together in the past. You could almost say that I'm glad to see you go, but it also gives me a sad feeling. You were like a challenge for me, a hard challenge I had to overcome in order to do something out here. You'd probably expect something like "I'd hope you sink" from me, but no. I hope you have a great time sailing and if you ever lay down in the Netherlands (probably not), go ahead and visit me :).

Peace man, you served the forums well.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1074434.msg11500782#msg11500782

He is comming back, from what i know, he is just on a vacation sailing.
You should check his profile from time to time if you feel that there is something he can help you with. Be patient.

cheers

You've done a great service to the community, but if I may ask, why cash out 100%? If Bitcoin was good to you, let you retire, gave you your dream house, why not be good to it? At least hold onto a handful of Bitcoins and watch the future unfold with the rest of us.

I guess the money sometimes gets the best of us, and we're all tempted to the wealth in many forms.
I don't think he cashed out everything, but most of it did get converted to fiat, but if by some chance bitcoin price goes down, he could just rebuy lower and hold even larger amount of bitcoins then.

cheers

More to the point: if he has enough fiat to live on for the rest of his life, he has the wherewithal to support Bitcoin without worrying about where his money's going to come from. People like that can shoulder projects that go begging because there's no clear profit in them.

Hey everyone - thanks so much for the kind words!    I'm very happy that I made such a positive impact for people here, and I hope I've encouraged others to stand against fraud.

Just stopped by to see the new forum design but I see it's not live yet.    :-\

My scam busting days are over, but I'll still pop by from time to time to visit old friends or add some new jokes/pictures.

Thanks again for this thread - you words meant a lot to me.

Even from me? haha