Hi rahoc,
Sorry to be reading this. Don't be turned off by this forum. Just learn from your mistakes and move on. There are scammers who lurk around every corner of the bitcoin world.
Sending anything out of escrow to a newbie is a risky move. First of all, he is a newbie, so he has no payment history. And second, sending bitcoin is irreversible. Next time, use escrow. Even for this amount.
If he did in fact scam you, you have a right and an obligation to leave feedback accordingly so as to warn others. To the scammer: members spend their time tracking down scammers, like you. If you are not a scammer, prove yourself to do the honorable thing.
