Jesus Christ...
The bitcoin community is gullible as fuck. Therefore, it attracts scammers.
That's how simple it is. No pathetic posts about feeling betrayed, no multiple threads about the same topic (being butthurt about getting scammed), no tears and drama is needed.
The only thing you all need, is to learn how to use your brains. Do not trust anyone, especially not just because you had sweet chit-chat over Skype and PM's.
I trust people all the time, that's how business relationships are built, and how things get done. There are many people on this forum who I trust, and in the vast majority of cases they prove trustworthy. Your parents obviously failed to raise you, because even kindergarten kids know they're not supposed to trust strangers.
Goodness, stop the juvenile attitude, please. You trust strangers every day. Do you drive a car? If so, you're trusting thousands of people you've never met to have built something safely for you. You trust the car company because of its reputation, built and earned over time. Trust is immensely important, and when someone breaks it, it's worthy of discussion. |
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People on this board have white-knighted for every scammy fuck that's come through so I'm not surprised this time is any different.
Would some of the people on the other side of the bet most likely have also reneged on payment? Irrelevant.
Was it pretty obvious that he wasn't going to pay out close to a million dollars? Irrelevant.
It was also obvious that investing with "pirate" would be a VERY risky investment. That doesn't absolve the perpetrator for scamming people. You can think the victims are dumb AND also acknowledge that the person that defrauded or deceived them is a piece of shit.
Acting like the bet was some masterstroke of genius and imparted some critical lesson for all involved is laughable.
I didn't invest with pirate and I didn't bet with Matt. The fact that their deceptions were poorly constructed doesn't stop me from recognizing that they are untrustworthy douche-bag scammers.
Nah just kidding guys, it's totally cool when people break their contracts and promises as long as they are the type of people you should expect that from.
+1 |
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Really,
Another thread.
You guys really are Matthew's fools.
If you're trying to argue that Matthew should've never been trusted in the first place, then obviously you're correct. However, it's somewhat disturbing that people are criticizing those who did trust him. It would be like me going up to a friend of mine, who I'd built a relationship with, and punching him in the face, and then saying, "LOL you idiot you shouldn't have trusted me!" Again, I wasn't involved in this bet in any way. It's simply a case of being severely let down by someone I had admired and defended. |
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Matthew -
What you have done, there is no excuse for. You tricked honest people, you lied and deceived them.
Over the past months (year?), I've had a number of discussions with you, and increasingly felt (and stated publicly) that you were a valuable member of this community. When others criticized you, I stood up for you. Actually, I was very proud that you were involved in all this, and I enjoyed our conversations sincerely.
This bet that you did - I figured there would be some trick. Perhaps you knew Pirate would pay? Perhaps you had tons of Bitcoins and were going to pay out what you promised as an ultimate gesture of goodwill? Perhaps the Pirate story hadn't ended and it would've been great fun to scare everyone for a few weeks, only to pay up at the last minute? Maybe you had something creative in mind? I wasn't sure what the trick was, but I knew you wouldn't outright lie, cheat and steal.
Yet, that's what you did. You simply lied and reneged.
You probably think you've taught the community a "lesson." And indeed, you did. The lesson is that Matthew N. Wright is a fraud. Wow, quite an amazing and valuable lesson you've taught us. Such utility we have gained from your prescience and tutelage.
I'm deeply disappointed in this - I don't think I've ever put my trust and support behind someone who broke it so absurdly and carelessly. Feel free to reply with some snide comment, or perhaps you won't reply at all. Doesn't really matter. You've criticized and made fun of so many people in these forums - yet almost none of them deserve the scorn that you now deserve. Even the "scammer" label is too good for you - you didn't set up any interesting scam. You just lied and broke your promise. Not an ounce of creativity nor wit... just awful human behavior.
You are an immoral, illegitimate person, Matthew, and I hope you extricate yourself from what we're trying to build. I'm embarrassed to have ever defended or supported you.
Ashamed and betrayed,
-Erik
PS - for the record, I didn't have any stake in either Pirate nor this Matthew bet.
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It amazes me how little of a sense of humor people have, my goodness.
And yes, it is condescending to Romney and his team. That man deserves no respect whatsoever. I do not feel remorse poking fun at tyrants.
Are you speaking as a professional and responsible spokesman of Bitinstant here... or as a prankster needing to vent?  Here on the forum, I'm speaking for myself. And it was not a prank, BitInstant's offer is legitimate. And I'm always professional and responsible... except when I'm not |
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At best their offer being condescending to Romney and his team. Not only that, we’ll also show you how to safely use a Bitcoin wallet, back up and encrypt it, and make payments. We’ll even set you up with a Bitcoin app on your iPhone! You’ll be a Bitcoin expert in no time! Who the F you think you are ? PR fail on multiple level. It amazes me how little of a sense of humor people have, my goodness. And yes, it is condescending to Romney and his team. That man deserves no respect whatsoever. I do not feel remorse poking fun at tyrants. |
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TBH, it seemed a bit distasteful to me.
Extorting money for tax returns is distasteful/immoral/illegal. Offering to help the victim is none of these things. |
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My jaw is still on the floor after reading this: http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/9/6/a-friendly-offer-for-mitt-romney.htmlHave the people who run bitinstant gone completely and utterly nuts? Never mind the fact that the threat is certainly a hoax; the hoaxers didn't bother including even the simplest proof that they actually have the goods (i.e. FY2009 page 12 line 13 is $18.99). The average person on the street who reads the Forbes article about your idiotic offer does not know this. All they see is the biggest retail player in the bitcoin world offering to broker an extortion threat. How on earth could you possibly think this would be a good thing either for bitcoin or for your business?Congratulations, Erik Voorhees. You are responsible for event most damaging to bitcoin's reputation thus far. Way to go. Hahahaha wow Okay then, let's play things your way. If charging him less for the service is bad (as you describe), then charging more must be the appropriate course of action? Instead of BitInstant offering to help Romney get the funds for 0% commission, you are suggesting we charge him 2%?  |
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<2 years.
already there are alternatives popping up that solve issues that bitcoin has, imho it's inevetable that the community will jump on that and drop bitcoin
You forgot to mention that every alternative that has popped up has fallen flat on it's face. This doesn't mean an alternative won't come out which succeeds, but let's not downplay the challenge presented by the current champion, Bitcoin. |
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LOL yes I know the proper spelling. This was a play on words. Geez.
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BitcoinIt's Laissez-Fair Good slogan? Sorry couldn't help myself
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Its where pirate's ship is anchored
LOL |
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I agree! Thanks dooglus for being Bitcoin's best (un)official actuary. Dooglus is pretty much a badass in general - he's an amazing asset to the community here, by any measure. |
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I'm surprised by this. It seems like a truly awful decision on their part. Publicity for bitcoin is good, but what kind of introduction is this? And what if Romney doesn't find it so funny? BitInstant is striving to add legitimacy to bitcoin and then does this... I guess I just don't get it.
The hacking/extortion already happened (and definitely was not us, to make that perfectly clear)... we're just using the event as a fun way to reach out to our Dear Leaders and help them. It's our Patriotic Duty. And no, I doubt Romney thinks it's funny  If Romney actually paid any sort of ransom, he certainly wouldn't care about any of the fees involved in converting to BTC. He'd get his guys to take care of it discretely, then deny everything and say he never paid anyone and doesn't negotiate with blackmailers, blah blah blah.
He'd never pay the ransom, but you're correct if he did the fees are irrelevant. We're not expecting him to call us up, but the offer stands! I guess it all comes down to how likely it is these docs were even stolen and I doubt they were. But yeah, if anyone is going to pay a ransom, it isn't going to be through BitInstant, so just bad publicity; sorry man, I like your service and what you generally do to bring legitimacy to the community, but this one just seemed like a bad idea.
How is lending a helping hand to our potential next Emperor President undermining legitimacy? If anything, it further demonstrations both our national pride and our impeccable customer service. |
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The publicity stunt is funny, but how does BitInstant know that it won't attract unwanted heat from the Secret Service?  Heat is fine, we haven't done anything wrong. Who knows, maybe it'll open some good networking opportunities... ?  |
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Bitcoin will survive until the Singularity... unless the AI decides to continue using it as its currency (and why not?!) Ohhhhh or maybe the AI itself actually created Bitcoin as the first phase in the Singularity. |
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By the way, this isn't just a flashy brand. The vodka itself is excellent - it is my favorite, even without the Bitcoin connection. I have four barrels in my freezer.
Where do you live? Can you message me on how you imported it if you in the U.S.? Barrels in my freezer, I am getting goose bumps. Imported the old fashioned way... fly to Austria, come back with 8 barrels in my luggage. How it made it through security is beyond me (yes it was checked baggage, but can you imagine what the x-ray image would look like? hahahaha) |
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By the way, this isn't just a flashy brand. The vodka itself is excellent - it is my favorite, even without the Bitcoin connection. I have four barrels in my freezer.
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