Cryptsy Secretly Banned TheGrammarHammer

[TGH]

Re: Cryptsy **Temp-Banned** TheGrammarHammer
I am not here to FUD only comment and vent some of my own frustrations about this situation and the wider implications upon which is partly
why I suspect TheGrammarHammer got a temp ban...

When a ban is issued with no one knowing about it but the high-level officer that issued it, as well as with no indicator whatsoever of how long that ban will be, it is two things, "secret" and "indefinite".

When a ban requires "lifting" in order to go away, it is clearly very different than the automated "temp ban" system Cryptsy falsely leads us all to believe governs banning.

The only reason the ban was lifted is because a friend of mine went on Cryptsy and posted this had happened, along with a link to this bitcointalk thread, so that other people could see what was happening. Then, people started talking about it in the chatbox to support me, as well as coming here to see what was up. Then, Cryptsy came here, freaked out because of the bad press and lifted the ban. Had my friend not spread the word on the chatbox there, Horus and DCGirl (and anyone else there, other than JShock) probably would never have even been aware my ban was issued. I would have simply... vanished. It was quite clear that the COO was banning me secretly and indefinitely to get rid of me, because I do have a louder (and possibly more specific voice) than many of their complaining customers.

So, while that might not seem like a big deal to you, and while you have the gaul to come here and equate the ban I received to a publicly-issued "temp ban" (as is clearly indicated in the scathing subject heading of your post and your opening statement, both quoted above), you are completely wrong. Secretly banning someone is exactly the same as "disappearing" someone in the night without a trace. It is exactly the same as putting a dissenter in prison and taking their pen and paper away to silence their voice. I basically got lucky getting the ban lifted, because I have the wherewithal to do things like create this thread and send a friend in with the link, and I am also lucky enough to have people that care about me in the Cryptsy chatbox.

Additionally, it probably took me less time to write my post than it did to write yours, but I'm not going to try to tell you how your time would be best spent.

And, if you haven't noticed, everything working just fine for you at Cryptsy puts you in a minority. Their chatbox has been a CONSTANT tidal wave of people for whom nothing is working properly. I'm glad it's working properly for you, but that doesn't entitle you to make any claims that it's working properly for everyone else.

I am also not complaining about Cryptsy needing to follow complicatedly detailed regulations. Obviously they need to do that, because they are an exchange who, by their own choice, is dealing with FIAT. I think they will soon regret that choice (if they haven't already), but that's another topic. I am also not crying that Cryptsy has gone "Mt. Gox." In fact, I specifically state earlier in this thread, as a reply to another post, that I am NOT stating Cryptsy has gone "Mt. Gox." I might be in the minority on that, however.

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[Krypt0Fr3ak]

"Coinfart".   Ya, because they have always been wrong? Uhhhh, wait a second. No. Wrong. Have fun trying to get your coins while the Cryptsy team works on their exit.

Outs of all the above that is the only part which you picked up on.. says it all mate.. tbh i'm renoud for dodging bullets, I have little exposure here or any vested interest per se.  so try again

Why do I need to have gual to comment and offer my personal opinion and personal experiences.. IN A PUBLIC FORUM??

btw I am not trying to belittle your problems one bit (maybe a little, but not much).
I am putting it into context in conjunction with what occurred and what has now transpired..

And yes, I was there when your minion came running over and was one of first to read this thread.  

Secretly banning someone is exactly the same as "disappearing" someone in the night without a trace.

I wouldn't go that far but yeah, if that's case.. pretty shitty move there..

True, true, by offering fiat was their own doing.. I bet you were one (like myself) who was shouting from the trollbox rooftops when suggestions to allow fiat in/out.. And ofc baggage is to be expected in terms of regs, etc when utilizing FIAT systems.

tbh I am glad you did this as its excellent for the little ppl; individuals like you and I to have a platform to voice their issues and
actually get some kind of justice (if you can call it that.. whatever this is).

Anyway, I have said my piece..

Good Luck.

--edit.. actually re-reading again those 6 or 7 points in OP make some common-sense. Perhaps Cryptsy would be wise to take heed to some of them.

[Mickeyb]

They were always a very terrible exchange. I have never liked them. My first BTC transaction went from the exchange where I bought my bitcoins to the Cryptsy and it was stuck, for 48 hours. After there wasn't a single time that I have used them that I didn't have a stuck transaction.

At the end, I just stopped using them altogether. I never understood how such an irresponsible exchange had so much volume. I wish people that have their funds there good luck in withdrawing them.

[TGH]

"Coinfart".   Ya, because they have always been wrong? Uhhhh, wait a second. No. Wrong. Have fun trying to get your coins while the Cryptsy team works on their exit.

Outs of all the above that is the only part which you picked up on.. says it all mate.. tbh i'm renoud for dodging bullets, I have little exposure here or any vested interest per se.  so try again

Why do I need to have gual to comment and offer my personal opinion and personal experiences.. IN A PUBLIC FORUM??

btw I am not trying to belittle your problems one bit (maybe a little, but not much).
I am putting it into context in conjunction with what occurred and what has now transpired..

And yes, I was there when your minion came running over and was one of first to read this thread.  

Secretly banning someone is exactly the same as "disappearing" someone in the night without a trace.

I wouldn't go that far but yeah, if that's case.. pretty shitty move there..

True, true, by offering fiat was their own doing.. I bet you were one (like myself) who was shouting from the trollbox rooftops when suggestions to allow fiat in/out.. And ofc baggage is to be expected in terms of regs, etc when utilizing FIAT systems.

tbh I am glad you did this as its excellent for the little ppl; individuals like you and I to have a platform to voice their issues and
actually get some kind of justice (if you can call it that.. whatever this is).

Anyway, I have said my piece..

Good Luck.

--edit.. actually re-reading again those 6 or 7 points in OP make some common-sense. Perhaps Cryptsy would be wise to take heed to some of them.

Sorry if I came off a bit brash. I wanted to make sure you (and everyone else) fully understood the giant difference between a "temp ban" and the way Cryptsy chose to deal with me. After all, that was the spark that ignited this thread to begin with. It's clear you get that now.

You made some good points yourself. I didn't mean to bulldoze everything you said under the bus over your title.

I guess we'll soon see how this all plays out. Good luck to you, as well.

[TGH]

They were always a very terrible exchange. I have never liked them. My first BTC transaction went from the exchange where I bought my bitcoins to the Cryptsy and it was stuck, for 48 hours. After there wasn't a single time that I have used them that I didn't have a stuck transaction.

At the end, I just stopped using them altogether. I never understood how such an irresponsible exchange had so much volume. I wish people that have their funds there good luck in withdrawing them.

Well, as someone who has been trading over there for a while, I will say that Cryptsy has, thus far, made things right for me in the end, so my complaints don't stray too far from what is happening at this juncture. I undertstand your situation would have been frustrating, and their current users' similar frustrations are fully driving Cryptsy's current problems. They really need these frequent withdrawal issues to stop, and they desperately need to put their main focus on extremely BASIC things simply working there, the way those basics almost always work at other exchanges. In fairness to Cryptsy, they are adament about using cold wallets to secure people's coins, and that does lead to more human interaction being required when withdrawing. All that aside, however, the problems have been non-stop for a while now, and using cold wallets is no excuse for how bad things have been.

I will add that the withdrawal I was complaining about in th OP did finally come through. I hope that gives hope to other people having issues. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of more withdrawals as I attempt them.

[TGH]

A new withdrawal attempt of an even larger amount of BTC is in pending status, and now has been for more than thirty-six hours. I am still far under my limit on withdrawals. Deposits are working fine however (of course) and still come with no warning that you will likely not be able to withdrawal your funds without entering into a seemingly endless cue of support ticket requests. Meanwhile, BTC is rising, and my money is trapped on Cryptsy. Not cool all around.

Making matters worse, earlier last night I initiated a withdrawal, then confirmed the email link, and then received a message on Cryptsy's website that my withdrawal had been confirmed. I logged back in hours later only to see that no record of my withdrawal now existed. My balance was just sitting there like nothing happened (after a withdrawal that Cryptsy's own website had confirmed). Nothing was listed as pending or held back for a withdrawal. Again, all this was after confirming the email link affirmatively. Pretty strange.

Additionally, I got in an argument on the chat box today with JShock who was telling everyone that he "solved my withdrawal problem" and that the problem was that I was "over my limit", which I am not. He presented this as if it was a great revelation and declared that the problem had been "solved", when it wasn't. He then continued to argue that a "Tier 1" limit on Cryptsy allowed a maximum of $2,000 in crypto to be withdrawn MONTHLY, when, in fact, the reality is we were all told it was $2,000 DAILY up to a limit of $10,000 monthly. Upon my crying foul that what he was trying to do was shady (change the limits a second time, after people had already verified themselves), he said that it must be a mistake on the website and that the real limits for Tier 1 were supposed to say $2,000 a MONTH, not $2,000 a day. After further pushing by me that what he was arguing was ludicrous and shady, and everyone else chiming in that Cryptsy's own website says that the Tier 1 limit is 2k daily up to 10k monthly, he then appeared saying that he had wrong information and that the 10k monthly limit was in fact correct. He blamed his mistake on a "typo" and said he had been given "bad information". He then expected everyone to be totally cool with what had just happened.

I find it virtually impossible to believe that JShock, a high-level officer of Cryptsy, is not extremely well aware of what the actual limits are, especially as new limits are the biggest change Cryptsy is currently implementing.

My hope is that JShock's behavior wasn't a portent of Cryptsy attempting to change things, yet again, to a $2,000 MONTHLY limit, instead of a $2,000 DAILY limit. No one signed up for that! All a change like that would do is allow Cryptsy to hang onto TONS more of their properly verified users money for a very long time.
A change like that would clearly point to insolvency.
Everyone already knows that anyone who is newly verified there signed up for a withdrawal limit of $2,000 daily up to $10,000 monthly.
Everyone knew that three days ago, especially JShock.
End of story.

Following that debacle, I pressed the issue that Cryptsy really should be warning people that they might not be able to withdrawal anything prior to making deposits, and was quickly asked to "stop" by JShock. JShock then secretly banned me again. This was again done WITHOUT ANY MESSAGE APPEARING ON THE SCREEN SAYING I HAD BEEN BANNED. During the time that followed, I took screenshots of our entire, ridiculous conversation, instead of racing here to complain. By the time I was done, I was able to chat again.

This is the latest news. Meanwhile, my BTC is still stuck on Cryptsy's site, BTC is rising, and I am a fully verified user who is well below my limit on withdrawals.

It will take me a long time to post all the screenshots of the JShock conversation (it's like 40+ shots), but I might do that pretty soon here if my withdrawal doesn't come through pretty quickly (and all subsequent withdrawals thereafter). I am sure anyone who reads the full conversation will find it very shocking.

I am planning on being pretty active in the chat box as all these changes come into play. If you haven't noticed, I have been trying to help keep Cryptsy's users safe, as well as been begging Cryptsy to take responsibility and clearly warn people that their site is experiencing enormous technical difficulties with withdrawals. They haven't done that, and there is no justifiable reason as to why. They should have done that weeks ago, if not over a month ago. This fact should be clearly posted on their website.

I don't intend to be antagonistic, as long as I am not being fed crap by Cryptsy's officers that my problems have been solved, when they haven't.

Should I disappear from view in the chat box for longer than a day, please assume that I have been secretly banned from chatting by Cryptsy in an effort to silence my voice. In that case, if you want to communicate with me, you will be able to communicate with me here. Please remember that, and bookmark this link if you need or want it later...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1217578.0

[btcprice]

They were always a very terrible exchange. I have never liked them. My first BTC transaction went from the exchange where I bought my bitcoins to the Cryptsy and it was stuck, for 48 hours. After there wasn't a single time that I have used them that I didn't have a stuck transaction.

At the end, I just stopped using them altogether. I never understood how such an irresponsible exchange had so much volume. I wish people that have their funds there good luck in withdrawing them.

Well, as someone who has been trading over there for a while, I will say that Cryptsy has, thus far, made things right for me in the end, so my complaints don't stray too far from what is happening at this juncture. I undertstand your situation would have been frustrating, and their current users' similar frustrations are fully driving Cryptsy's current problems. They really need these frequent withdrawal issues to stop, and they desperately need to put their main focus on extremely BASIC things simply working there, the way those basics almost always work at other exchanges. In fairness to Cryptsy, they are adament about using cold wallets to secure people's coins, and that does lead to more human interaction being required when withdrawing. All that aside, however, the problems have been non-stop for a while now, and using cold wallets is no excuse for how bad things have been.

I will add that the withdrawal I was complaining about in th OP did finally come through. I hope that gives hope to other people having issues. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of more withdrawals as I attempt them.

I too have been trading there awhile (since late 2013). Whenever I've had a problem with them I post it here. They have ALWAYS been able to resolve the eventual problem.

My current problem is that I can't withdraw just a little over 2 BTC in spite of being Tier 1. Cryptsy has been answering my emails and said they are currently having technical problems due to the new tier structures.

I'm hoping they can get it resolved soon as my current investments would have grown more had I had those BTC to invest with so I'm out money because of their technical problems.

[Ghepetto]

Same boat as you two (pending withdraw for days), hopefully they can get it together.




UPDATE:   Funds finally went through this morning, best of luck to all who are still waiting.  I think it will be fine it may just take some time.

[Mickeyb]

They were always a very terrible exchange. I have never liked them. My first BTC transaction went from the exchange where I bought my bitcoins to the Cryptsy and it was stuck, for 48 hours. After there wasn't a single time that I have used them that I didn't have a stuck transaction.

At the end, I just stopped using them altogether. I never understood how such an irresponsible exchange had so much volume. I wish people that have their funds there good luck in withdrawing them.

Well, as someone who has been trading over there for a while, I will say that Cryptsy has, thus far, made things right for me in the end, so my complaints don't stray too far from what is happening at this juncture. I undertstand your situation would have been frustrating, and their current users' similar frustrations are fully driving Cryptsy's current problems. They really need these frequent withdrawal issues to stop, and they desperately need to put their main focus on extremely BASIC things simply working there, the way those basics almost always work at other exchanges. In fairness to Cryptsy, they are adament about using cold wallets to secure people's coins, and that does lead to more human interaction being required when withdrawing. All that aside, however, the problems have been non-stop for a while now, and using cold wallets is no excuse for how bad things have been.

I will add that the withdrawal I was complaining about in th OP did finally come through. I hope that gives hope to other people having issues. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of more withdrawals as I attempt them.

I understand you! I would be going nuts if this was happening to me! I hope you will get all of your money,  out of there, not just you, but everyone, and that they (Cryptsy) will honor their customer funds even though they are in the deep apparently with the federal investigation, etc.

[BlindMayorBitcorn]

Is there currently a limit on how much in bitcoin you can transfer in? TGH thanks for coming forward.

[TGH]

Is there currently a limit on how much in bitcoin you can transfer in? TGH thanks for coming forward.

I don't believe so, but I am not 100% sure. I would also strongly advise against depositing any coins at all, until Cryptsy proves, to all of its users, that there is no problem and that withdrawals are functioning normally again (and for longer than a few days).

[BlindMayorBitcorn]

Is there currently a limit on how much in bitcoin you can transfer in? TGH thanks for coming forward.

I don't believe so, but I am not 100% sure. I would also strongly advise against depositing any coins at all, until Cryptsy proves, to all of it's users, that there is no problem and that withdrawals are functioning normally again (and for longer than a few days).

That's a shady practice right there. There should be the same limits on deposits as withdrawals. Am I wrong?

[TGH]

Is there currently a limit on how much in bitcoin you can transfer in? TGH thanks for coming forward.

I don't believe so, but I am not 100% sure. I would also strongly advise against depositing any coins at all, until Cryptsy proves, to all of it's users, that there is no problem and that withdrawals are functioning normally again (and for longer than a few days).

That's a shady practice right there. There should be the same limits on deposits as withdrawals. Am I wrong?

I never really thought about that. That's an interesting idea. Perhaps people should at least be warned what their limits are when depositing.

[TGH]

I understand you! I would be going nuts if this was happening to me! I hope you will get all of your money,  out of there, not just you, but everyone, and that they (Cryptsy) will honor their customer funds even though they are in the deep apparently with the federal investigation, etc.

Thanks for the well wishes.

For what it's worth, my withdrawal still has NOT come through. You can read the full story about my current withdrawal attempt a little above or just click here...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1217578.msg12775249#msg12775249

I was also told by JShock, yesterday, that people were up all night (two nights ago) working on just my account to try and help me. It is now two days later, and I still have no withdrawal. How difficult can it possibly be to process a withdrawal? Is my account so different than anyone else's? Does Cryptsy "hand-craft" each account? Somehow, I don't think so.

[TGH]

Three days ago I was banned for saying; "where there's smoke, there's fire".
Apparently this struck some nerves @ Cryptsy, they called my words FUD.
The ban was due to expire in 24 hours, but like everything else there that was a lie too, three days later and still banned.
It would not surprise me if they where going full Mt. Gox

http://mynda.vaktin.is/image.php?di=8HDU

Do you remember last year the MintPal scam?
First they went to MintPal v2, then they had No Trading fees, then people could not withdraw an finally they went full Mt. Gox.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=813610.0

I remember you saying that. The ban happened almost immediately. I also think I remember seeing a message for that ban appear (correct me if I'm wrong). I thought it was for an inappropriately long amount of time at a full day. More so, I thought it was inappropriate that you were banned at all.

So, it seems Cryptsy employs two severe tactics:

1. Banning people publicly, for long enough that everyone hopefully forgets about the person (and then never reinstating that person's chatting privileges).
2. Secretly banning people with no message ever appearing in the chat box that a ban happened, for an indefinite amount of time, if not forever.

I hope someone at Cryptsy is listening when I say this...
If Cryptsy has nothing to hide, and they are operating transparently, they should definitely not be employing these suspicious tactics. Any organization with as much visibility as Cryptsy has (and as much responsibility for as many people's money as Cryptsy has) should be able to take the criticism, even when it's scathing. This is especially true when all of that criticism is coming from people who are being denied access to their money for an unreasonably long period of time, which is entirely Cryptsy's fault. I would think Cryptsy would be smart enough to realize this on their own.

My privileges were reinstated, but I think that had a lot to do with my going through the trouble of creating this thread and getting the word out.

Your situation sounds even worse, though. I am sorry to hear you are still banned. There's no excuse for that.

I find it very disturbing that you are still banned (now two days longer than it said you would be). Everyone should have a voice. Please let us all know if/when your chat privileges are reinstated, and feel free to use this place as a rising counter for how long your ban remains in effect.

I'm definitely not ready to cry "GOX" yet, but I find the comparisons you draw to be interesting. I will check out the link you posted.

Thanks for coming here to tell us your story!

[rammy2k2]

lately i read only bad things about criptsy, if u have funds, try to withdraw them as fast as u can, it looks like its going down.

[btcprice]

They were always a very terrible exchange. I have never liked them. My first BTC transaction went from the exchange where I bought my bitcoins to the Cryptsy and it was stuck, for 48 hours. After there wasn't a single time that I have used them that I didn't have a stuck transaction.

At the end, I just stopped using them altogether. I never understood how such an irresponsible exchange had so much volume. I wish people that have their funds there good luck in withdrawing them.

Well, as someone who has been trading over there for a while, I will say that Cryptsy has, thus far, made things right for me in the end, so my complaints don't stray too far from what is happening at this juncture. I undertstand your situation would have been frustrating, and their current users' similar frustrations are fully driving Cryptsy's current problems. They really need these frequent withdrawal issues to stop, and they desperately need to put their main focus on extremely BASIC things simply working there, the way those basics almost always work at other exchanges. In fairness to Cryptsy, they are adament about using cold wallets to secure people's coins, and that does lead to more human interaction being required when withdrawing. All that aside, however, the problems have been non-stop for a while now, and using cold wallets is no excuse for how bad things have been.

I will add that the withdrawal I was complaining about in th OP did finally come through. I hope that gives hope to other people having issues. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of more withdrawals as I attempt them.

I too have been trading there awhile (since late 2013). Whenever I've had a problem with them I post it here. They have ALWAYS been able to resolve the eventual problem.

My current problem is that I can't withdraw just a little over 2 BTC in spite of being Tier 1. Cryptsy has been answering my emails and said they are currently having technical problems due to the new tier structures.

I'm hoping they can get it resolved soon as my current investments would have grown more had I had those BTC to invest with so I'm out money because of their technical problems.

Still no withdrawal. Now they've stopped replying to my emails. Not looking good.

[TGH]

Still no withdrawal. Now they've stopped replying to my emails. Not looking good.

I still don't have my withdrawal yet either.  I am now 63 hours stuck in pending with no transaction ID.

[TGH]

What the Cryptsy "staff" (paid or not) have to realize is the site user are the site customers and if you treat your customers with no respect you can't except the customers to treat you with respect or continue to do business with you.
And I will report when my 24 hours cooling period is over. I heard one on the chat say his 24h lasted for 5 days.
My fire-smoke was serious crime,  
p.s. go gently on my spelling and grammar.

LOL on the spelling and grammar. I am definitely not on this thread to correct people.

Please keep us posted about your cool-off period expiring (or not). Also keep us posted on any pending withdrawals you might have. Thanks!

[TGH]

I am happy to report that after 64+ hours, my substantial BTC withdrawal finally came through from Cryptsy. I hope this gives hope to others who might be concerned while waiting for a withdrawal to process.

I have just now initiated another smaller withdrawal (just shy of 1 BTC) in order to test how long it takes. I will keep you all posted on the progress of that.