This is one of the few times I've posted here, and for a reason. Some of the knee-jerk ignorant comments in all threads are nauseating. Could it be many of us who lost money were waiting months for Mt.Gox to perform basic functions of an exchange, wishing to withdraw fiat funds and BTC once and for all? I believe Gox knew their goose was cooked for some time and initiated the delays to try to hold their customers. However these delays increased over time.
I was partly fortunate, and partly not- after several months of waiting I had them cancel my international wires. Then I converted to what is now known as "Goxcoin" after they froze withdrawal. Then the bomb dropped.
Comments about greed/naivete, etc. are offensive. Grow up.
You sent your money to an (unregulated) centralized exchange. That was your first act of stupidity. So blame yourself and stop making excuses.
You could have purchased using localbitcoins in smaller morsels and used escrow, but nooooo you had to get that lower spread and the market clearing on the bid/ask. Because you are addicted to the way you think things should work, not the way they do work.
And localbitcoins is not even fully decentralized. We can do much better than that. And we will. But the dumb masses like you will always do it wrong.
