My response to the community

[Yolocoin]

Please forgive my noobish ignorance... but I would never give BTC to a user with the name "pirate."

You'd think some of these quys would be smarter then that!

You're talking about people who think a ponzi isn't a scam if they tell you up front it's a ponzi.  Why?  Because bitcoin.

[1715508945]

1715508945

[1715508945]

1715508945

[Rassah]

Why would he pay out the fractions he is able to? Would it really improve your opinion of him if he paid you 1/1000th of what you bet, assuming all his money is distributed proportionally? To me his money won't matter. Only thing that will is the rest of his actions.

But trying to get out of a bet when you think you might lose?   He is a cheater.  Admitting it should be his first action.  

Paying what he can would be the next action.  Yes, I think it would help.  

Not saying he didn't cheat, but would your opinion of him HONESTLY change if he paid you a tiny fraction of what he owed you? Would you honestly trust him any more, or change your mind about him having scammed people?

You're talking about people who think a ponzi isn't a scam if they tell you up front it's a ponzi.  Why?  Because bitcoin.

*cough* what?

scam/skam/
Noun:   A dishonest scheme; a fraud.
Verb:   Swindle.

If someone is honest and totally up front about how they will distribute everyone's money, clearly stating that new deposits will be used to pay the profits of older account holders, how is that being dishonest? The whole reason ponzis are scams is because people who operate them don't tell anyone they are running ponzis.
Or are your definitions only valid when applied however you want them to, because SA goons?

[julz]

My impression of Matthew is one who is(was?) both naive and excessively confident in his own opinions. It's a dangerous mix.
I was quite floored by the certainty with which he (incorrectly) proclaimed that the recent leaked FBI bitcoin report was 'fake'.

Sad that we lose the sheer drive and enthusiasm he has for getting things done - but I have to agree with others that it's reasonable to view this as a debt he owes and reneged on.

It raises interesting questions about bankruptcies and Bitcoin.  Bitcoins make it so much harder to know when/if someone has paid all they can to creditors.
Still, there are old-skool methods of hiding assets amongst family/friends so I guess it just makes it a bit easier for the defaulters.
In this case though, he doesn't seem to be acknowledging the debt or even attempting to repay to the extent of his capacity.

BTCST + 'the bet' = Another depressing Bitcoin clusterfuck.

[Yolocoin]

You're talking about people who think a ponzi isn't a scam if they tell you up front it's a ponzi.  Why?  Because bitcoin.

*cough* what?

scam/skam/
Noun:   A dishonest scheme; a fraud.
Verb:   Swindle.

If someone is honest and totally up front about how they will distribute everyone's money, clearly stating that new deposits will be used to pay the profits of older account holders, how is that being dishonest? The whole reason ponzis are scams is because people who operate them don't tell anyone they are running ponzis.
Or are your definitions only valid when applied however you want them to, because SA goons?

Funny, but how many of the "insured" schemes continued to pay out after the ponzi chain dried up?  For example: hashking

[repentance]

You're seriously arguing that if you take a loss because you trusted someone, it's your fault for trusting them? Or are you saying it was ridiculous for anyone to trust Matthew? Are you secretly trying to make him look worse?

I'm arguing that it is ridiculous to risk your own funds - and especially funds you cannot afford to lose - based on someone else's market activity or perceived support of an investment unless that person is your financial advisor or fund manager and carries indemnity insurance.  It's speculating at best and gambling at worst, whether you choose to label it "investment" or not.  

Based on no evidence whatsoever, people assumed Matthew had some kind of inside knowledge about the likelihood of pirate paying.  Matthew should rightly be condemned for largely failing to rebut that assumption, but it doesn't change the fact that people were buying up pirate debt hoping to profit off the misfortune of others purely because they thought it was a "sure thing".  Without intending any disrespect to Matthew, investments and securities aren't his "thing" - trusting his "judgement" regarding the likelihood of pirate paying was absurd.

[Rassah]

You're talking about people who think a ponzi isn't a scam if they tell you up front it's a ponzi.  Why?  Because bitcoin.

*cough* what?

scam/skam/
Noun:   A dishonest scheme; a fraud.
Verb:   Swindle.

If someone is honest and totally up front about how they will distribute everyone's money, clearly stating that new deposits will be used to pay the profits of older account holders, how is that being dishonest? The whole reason ponzis are scams is because people who operate them don't tell anyone they are running ponzis.
Or are your definitions only valid when applied however you want them to, because SA goons?

Funny, but how many of the "insured" schemes continued to pay out after the ponzi chain dried up?  For example: hashking

I.... don't know because I wasn't involved and don't care?

[bg002h]

Matthew,

What you did was dumb. There is little point trying to teach people a lesson - you are no better teacher than a lifetime of experiences, and your lesson won't be learned. There will always be this exact type of situation everywhere you go. Everywhere. I'm sorry you hadn't realized that.

I must admit I liked the Bitcoin movement far more before your stunt. This has brought out the bad side in so many of our community...we've gone from revolutionaries to whiny brats, big dreamers to big babies, bright individualists to a herd of thoughtless beasts...how are we gonna get anywhere if all we do is rip each other off or trick the stupid in to ridiculous bets? There are better things to be done and in your absence perhaps it will be easier to get good things done...or maybe we will just keep gambling and scamming...

[Coinoisseur]

Buying pirate debt on the basis of someone else's actions is ridiculous - you have no way of knowing whether they're just trying to inflate the price for their own benefit.

You're seriously arguing that if you take a loss because you trusted someone, it's your fault for trusting them? Or are you saying it was ridiculous for anyone to trust Matthew? Are you secretly trying to make him look worse?

I'm not repentance but I'm going to address this since I like the questions.

You're seriously arguing that if you take a loss because you trusted someone, it's your fault for trusting them?

Yes, there is some fault in making a bad decision. Solely blaming the trusted person misses out on a learning opportunity.  This doesn't absolve the person who lied or mislead of the direct blame. Fault and blame aren't a limited resource or restricted to some maximum value for the purposes of distributing among participants.

Or are you saying it was ridiculous for anyone to trust Matthew?

Some have been saying that before any of this and they continued to say it when the bet was posted. That doesn't make his bet a joke though. Personally, when the bet was at 10K I thought it was possible he was just flush with coins and doing some sort of quirky promotion.

Are you secretly trying to make him look worse?

Matthew looks terrible with this bet without secret help from repentance. Most of those who trusted Matthew to honor it and got burned are from the group Matthew appeared to be defending.

[KeyserSoze]

Fear not, folks. I would be surprised if Bitmole hasn't been building post count with a sock puppet for previous months. He's probably even been arguing with himself in threads. He gets far too much attention to leave it all behind. And the community is very open to being scammed.

I seriously think the only thing that would keep him from coming back (staying as sock puppet?) is if/when he realizes the next natural step for him is to create a new religion with him at the center. "The Wright Way Church" or some such, tithes due in bitcoin only. You all do remember from his Bitmole posts that he claims his family is from the midwest U.S. and he left them at a young age because they were super religious. He understands all religion is a scam. That's where the real money is.

[Monster Tent]

Fear not, folks. I would be surprised if Bitmole hasn't been building post count with a sock puppet for previous months. He's probably even been arguing with himself in threads. He gets far too much attention to leave it all behind. And the community is very open to being scammed.

I seriously think the only thing that would keep him from coming back (staying as sock puppet?) is if/when he realizes the next natural step for him is to create a new religion with him at the center. "The Wright Way Church" or some such, tithes due in bitcoin only. You all do remember from his Bitmole posts that he claims his family is from the midwest U.S. and he left them at a young age because they were super religious. He understands all religion is a scam. That's where the real money is.

Will he wash everyones feet with Dove soap ?

[Transisto]

I had great respect for your intelligent posts and sense of humor.  But lately I was getting worried about your state of mind, seeing the frequently of your posts especially in #BTCST, (Following your posts would have been a full time job).  You suffered from an overdose,  In some ways I see myself being a bit like you, I've lost way too much time focusing on keeping track of every aspect of BTC as if it was a soon to be ending gold rush.  I think the part were we diverge is ,while you seems to be risking everything as if it was your last days on this earth, others are piling up for worldwide economic collapse / SHTF.  From that angle it is obvious your trolling with people's money has affected some to the core.  

You were a great motivators for gearing up new initiatives in the DCAO and had many qualities of a leader, unfortunately your egocentric sarcasm surfaced back.  

Hope you get yourself some much-need vacation and find peace with yourself.

[tvbcof]

Fear not, folks. I would be surprised if Bitmole hasn't been building post count with a sock puppet for previous months. He's probably even been arguing with himself in threads. He gets far too much attention to leave it all behind. And the community is very open to being scammed.

I seriously think the only thing that would keep him from coming back (staying as sock puppet?) is if/when he realizes the next natural step for him is to create a new religion with him at the center. "The Wright Way Church" or some such, tithes due in bitcoin only. You all do remember from his Bitmole posts that he claims his family is from the midwest U.S. and he left them at a young age because they were super religious. He understands all religion is a scam. That's where the real money is.

I continue to have a gut sense that you sell him short (though the evidence that he thought he might win his sham bet has yet to be explored...)

With you and the infamous thread, I continue to hold the opinion that I came away with: that he always intended to pay but momentarily forgot that he had no fucking clue about how to even obtain a BTC...though in his mind he knew how to put together a datacenter full of GPU mining rigs...

I think that he probably did have every intention of being a real, valuable, upstanding citizen when he donned the Matthew N. Wright tag and tried (amusingly) to start the Bitcoin Better Business Bureau thing.  Unfortunately for him the reality of our world and neuro-physics smacked him upside the head...within days iirc...

Matthew, like Bruce, has actually done some actually valuable things for the Bitcoin ecosystem and it would be immature to completely ignore these though it does not excuse their various malfeasance.  (Atlas, OTOH, has not done a damn thing of value that I can think of.)

Will Matthew be back?  I could see it going both ways.  If I were a betting man, I...um...wouldn't bet one way or another.  As far as I know he's not banished as Matthew N. Wright on this forum so there would be no reason to use a sock puppet.  For Matthew's sake, I hope he explores some other things before the negative aspects of his condition(s) outweigh the benefits of his energy level.  I suspect that what achievements he had in the Bitcoin world were valuable to him and potentially to others.

[Atlas]

(Atlas, OTOH, has not done a damn thing of value that I can think of.)

I managed to delete over 10,000 Bitcoins in 2009. You're welcome.

[dayfall]

This does not absolve you of anything.  You are in debt to me 1000 BTC.  I expect it to be paid.  You will never restore your credibility until all your 80k BTC debt is paid.

Nice sig.

[Yolocoin]

(Atlas, OTOH, has not done a damn thing of value that I can think of.)

I managed to delete over 10,000 Bitcoins in 2009. You're welcome.

You also posted a suicide note on the internet.

[CoinCidental]

(Atlas, OTOH, has not done a damn thing of value that I can think of.)

I managed to delete over 10,000 Bitcoins in 2009. You're welcome.

You also posted a suicide note on the internet.

You are MNW and what you done has done more negative effect on the community
than atlas and his  suicide note

who would care if atlas troll  was swinging from a rope really ?

[Yolocoin]

You are MNW and what you done has done more negative effect on the community
than atlas and his  suicide note

Nope.  I am not MNW.  Guess again.  Matthew's in Korea.  I'm not.

who would care if atlas troll  was swinging from a rope really ?

If I knew his locale, I'd do him the courtesy of calling the local EMS.  That's about it.

(*edit* to be honest I thought that Atlas and MNW were having a gay lover's quarrel for the longest time, but then MNW started his "child modelling" business)

[Shagnasty]

I still won't buy the magazine, because I don't believe you.

[KeyserSoze]

I continue to have a gut sense that you sell him short (though the evidence that he thought he might win his sham bet has yet to be explored...)

There is some grain of truth in my feeling he could start a religion. He has many of the requirements: he's delusional, charismatic, manipulative, energetic, intelligent and I believe there's some mental issue at play that I don't know the definition of. And he does have that background in religion ostensibly. I don't think he's physically harmful, or odd enough to be "sociopathic" or whatever, but he does have delusions of grandeur at a young age. But I have a soft spot for that. There's nothing really wrong with aiming high.

With you and the infamous thread, I continue to hold the opinion that I came away with: that he always intended to pay but momentarily forgot that he had no fucking clue about how to even obtain a BTC...though in his mind he knew how to put together a datacenter full of GPU mining rigs...

This must be something akin to Stockholm Syndrome but for scammers, where people see the scam come completely to light and still say, "aw, he's a good guy, he's just a little mixed up." And then they give him their money. Again. Maybe he's not a serial murderer, but it should have been apparent to anyone who read that thread and then learned about his school and other claims, that he wasn't to be trusted. I will say he worked hard to earn trust after that but isn't that exactly how a scam works? I guess people are just eager to believe others easily change for the better.

I do think this recent scam was mostly harmless. But it again reveals his nature. He either does not understand, or cares not to choose between, right and wrong. He skirts the edge of it until those edges blur and disappear.

I think that he probably did have every intention of being a real, valuable, upstanding citizen when he donned the Matthew N. Wright tag and tried (amusingly) to start the Bitcoin Better Business Bureau thing.  Unfortunately for him the reality of our world and neuro-physics smacked him upside the head...within days iirc...

it wasn't until the magazine that I thought he might have been headed in a not-so-scammy direction, but then it kept stalling. When folks started receiving it I was pleasantly surprised.

Matthew, like Bruce, has actually done some actually valuable things for the Bitcoin ecosystem and it would be immature to completely ignore these though it does not excuse their various malfeasance.  (Atlas, OTOH, has not done a damn thing of value that I can think of.)

One thing's for sure, Bitmole's done more for bitcoin than me. I have no claim aside from buying and selling some and telling a few friends about it.

I have considered a bitcoin business but I use Drupal and the last I checked the bitcoin module was buggy. And frankly its asking a bit much to have to run some bitcoin client on the server as well. Maybe if BitPay makes an Ubercart payment module I'd reconsider.

I also have it in my email sig that I accept it for my design work, however it is something I seem to reconsider from day to day. Bitcoin is so tied to scamming I'm concerned that advertising I'm involved could have negative impact on me.

Will Matthew be back?  I could see it going both ways.  If I were a betting man, I...um...wouldn't bet one way or another.  As far as I know he's not banished as Matthew N. Wright on this forum so there would be no reason to use a sock puppet.  For Matthew's sake, I hope he explores some other things before the negative aspects of his condition(s) outweigh the benefits of his energy level.  I suspect that what achievements he had in the Bitcoin world were valuable to him and potentially to others.

I was always pretty certain he had sock puppets but then one day it occurred to me that might just be impossible since he seems to spend nearly every waking moment posting under his own name, or working up a project.

[Minor]

Please forgive my noobish ignorance... but I would never give BTC to a user with the name "pirate."

But you'd be fine giving them to someone called "Honest-Ernest"?