Why isn't it rational? I know what I think about the situation, and I don't feel like arguing with those who are thinking about it differently.
I do understand -- arguing on the internet is a pain, and it's probable that you're arguing against a cad who doesn't know any better than you half the time who thinks he does. It's exhausting and it's not always fruitful -- but nevertheless, rational people cannot agree to disagree. Either one of us is irrational, we're talking past eachother(I suspect this is happening) or one of us is wrong and we need to both consider that possibility(really all 3).
Tradefortress is one of the more trustworthy people I know on this forum, and it is clear that his thread was done to exploit perceived failures in Ripple, not to scam anyone, and certainly not for personal gain.
Know what's funny? I actually had encountered him earlier on the ripple network and had allocated him some trust there -- so he was likely trusted in the Ripple community by others too. He (or any of these 30 people) could have made use of that ~0.002BTC because he seemed, at the time, pretty legit. Now I am definitely wondering, and he can contact me if he wants to maintain that credit.
In the meanwhile I think I can post in other areas, thanks.