It's apparent that Tom really hasn't grasped that his "guarantee" and "personal word" no longer mean anything and that giving bASIC "a chance to get organised" (wasn't that what they were supposed to be doing for the last few months?) hasn't ended well for their customers so far.

And Tom should not presume to speak for the "new team" or the new owners.  They are the ones only ones who should be making any "guarantees" to the community at this point.

Some resources just in case dank happens to be serious.

Suicide Hotline  800-273-8255

http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

Both can hook you up with local resources.

As always, the best thing to do if you're actively planning self-harm is to go to your nearest ER.

Unfortunately, it seems to be Tom who's processing the refunds manually - Dave's just passing on the requests and the information necessary to make the refunds - and presumably Tom's pretty busy negotiating this bail-out rescue plan.

Yep.  This is likely just attention-whoring on his part but at least getting either the police or his parents to check on him might get him help if he really is having a mental health meltdown or teach him that these kinds of stunts have consequences if he's just fucking with everyone.

fgervaise received a PM which supposedly included his phone number and that of one of his friends.  He's given ID to a couple of his lenders in the past (fuck knows if it's really his ID), I believe senbonzakura was one of them.

Presumably, if you call the Raleigh police department and give them the information dank's posted about events involving police and the dates they happened, they might be able to work out where his parents live.  He says his name is Sean Martin and that he turned 19 a few days ago so if he's been arrested (which he says he has) previously there should be an address on record for him/his parents.

Didn't Atlas get banned for pulling this shit.  And the police sent to his house?

Yeah, to cripple an economy you really need your workforce and your primary and secondary producers to be disabled for a significant period of time, if not permanently.  You want it to be bad enough that you can't solve the problem with immigration, so this needs to be a disease which makes people disabled and contagious long-term and for which there's no prospect of a vaccine for at least a decade.

I know Dave is trying his best, but it really doesn't help when Tom says the project has been handed over but refuses to say to whom - and if everything isn't "nailed down" yet then all the reassurances in the world are worth nothing right now.  

Regardless of issues related to ownership, people want to know now who the "new team" is - and from what's been posted that isn't dependent on the new financial arrangements.


I can't believe it needed a new team to tell you guys that.

What's the under/over on bASIC being acquired in part or wholly by Vercoin enterprises?

It would need to have certain qualities to cause any serious disruption.  Any disease which incapacitates people too rapidly tends to be self-limiting (the haemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola are like this), no matter how deadly - so you want something which is highly contagious but which also has a reasonable incubation period so that people are spreading it around before being aware that they're ill.  You also want something which is spread by droplets and which survives on surfaces.  You also need something to which survivors don't develop immunity so that they are infected and infectious for life and which disables those it doesn't kill.

If enough people die/become ill, the US would grind to a halt in terms of economic activity, maintaining infrastructure, etc.  Essential services would probably break down quite quickly and if transportation was seriously affected you'd probably see food shortages quite quickly too.

The gang-stalking plot line is the most entertaining thing dank has posted for months. 

This is the kind of stuff I was looking for.  Transport and logistics is a booming industry in many places and the demand for workers is constant.  Even though the demand at individual companies may fluctuate, it's often possible to have a new job within hours if the company you're with has a down-turn in work.  Of course the more different vehicles you can operate the more marketable you are, so it's important to keep acquiring more certifications once you have your foot in the door.

I'm still not seeing how the course plus a vehicle adds up to $15,000 so I presume that part of the loan is to cover living expenses until you complete the course and get a job.

I'm curious about the breakdown of the $15,000.  You've said you want to do a course which costs $3,000 but how would the rest of the money be spent?  Do you need the funds all at once for some reason (if so, you're going to need to explain the reason), or to cover your expenses over a set period of time.

And yeah, "how are you going to pay us back" is going to be one of the first questions lenders ask and the answer needs to be a credible one.  If you can't land a job in your chosen field, then what's your fall-back position for paying lenders (because we seriously do have people around here who wouldn't take whatever work they could get to pay back the loan)?

What research have you done into conventional sources of funding for education?

Your comment regarding "the poker life" has put everyone on alert and people are now going to want specific information about what course you intend studying and whether it's accredited, what industry you believe you'll land a job in and where you're located - so that they can then verify the usefulness of the course and the opportunities for employment.

Generally speaking, people don't lend large amounts of money to strangers so they can "get on their feet".  The sheer amount you're asking for is going to deter people.  You might have had a better chance if you'd just sought a loan to pay for the course.  "Feeling" that you can pay back a loan doesn't mean much.  It's not you who gets to decide whether your loan request is "reasonable" - it's your potential lenders, and for $15,000 it's going to take more than you "feeling" you can pay back over $20,000 within 12 months.

Also, you say that you already have $3,000 and are owed $7,000.  If you need another $15,000 on top of that, then you seem to need an insanely high amount to "get on your feet".  Why do you need so much?

So yeah, start with details of the course.  What course is it?  How long is the course?  What kind of recognised qualification will you get at the end of it? Can you prove that there's a high demand for workers with that particular qualification in your area (entry level qualifications can be useless even in high demand fields)?

I actually don't give a shit about your identity at the moment because that's not even relevant until you can convince people that you're going to be able to earn enough to pay them back.

I don't think you can blame Bitcoins in this case.  Every online community I've ever joined has its fair share of resident whack-jobs.  I think they're just a bit more visible here because it's a small community and it operates with a free speech philosophy so there's not much active moderation keeping the excesses in check.  If Bitcoin didn't exist, dank would be on another messageboard saying "fuck the government" and telling tales of being gang-stalked.  Armchair revolutionaries are a dime a dozen.

What are the dumpling looking things next to the carrot and radish salad - they look divine.

And yes, our personal financial priorities are always interesting.  There are a ton of things I convince myself that I "can't afford" while happily spending a much greater amount on something non-essential. 

Shoes are a great example with me.  I loathe wearing shoes with a passion and constantly convince myself that they're "too expensive" even if they're $10.  Of course I'll then go and drop $50 on something for the kitchen because there's no such thing as "too many" kitchen gadgets or baking dishes.

For goodness sake.  When he first posted pictures of the chips he was talking about the next steps taking 2-3 weeks. 

Yes.  You.  Are.

You gave away possessions you could have sold to repay squall.  Don't try to pull that "unwillingly" shit around here.  You have nothing in common with someone who tries to pay their debts but cannot - you intentionally made yourself unable to pay them.

Most likely you weren't so much counting on the economy collapsing to get you out of paying squall so much as expecting to be arrested and incarcerated before your repayment fell due.

I like Phinn's version of dank's mugshot so much that I'm going to repost it just because I can.  Such creative genius should be shared with the world.

dank doesn't care if it's negative attention, as long as it's attention.  I hope he gets a lot of attention from his real life creditors very soon because I don't believe for one moment that he's paid everyone he owes in the real world.

Fortunately, dank only seems to inhabit this forum and he took out what were basically pay-day loans.  I don't think he's going to do Bitcoin much damage.  People are pissed because squall is one of the kindest people here and dank didn't think twice about screwing him over.

At least he's not asking for several million, like dank did in his early threads.