I was offered $550 to say that "Ripple is a Scam."

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

Is this still going?

BULLSHIT

I have never PM'd GoWest. I didn't even know wtf he did. Again,


BULLSHIT

[scintill]

The alleged email: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5254737

Related: https://ripple.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2023

Thanks for the links, but unless you're seeing something I'm not in those PDFs in the top link, I'm not finding this conclusive at all.  The supposed proof is a short, heavily excerpted and edited quotation, posted by someone I've never heard of, allegedly Miles Thompson, if you follow the Google+ link in the HN user profile.  It seems there is a Miles Thompson somewhat active in the original Ripple community, but a) the HN user isn't necessarily the real Miles Thompson, and b) I don't have a reason to trust Miles Thompson's secondhand reporting of an email someone else supposedly received.

Further weakening the case: a) the quote doesn't even say who is supposedly paying off Ryan Fugger (just "group", although the poster may be implying it was OpenCoin), b) the only instances I can find of this quote on Google are this short HN post and several people in cryptocoin communities re-quoting that.

[Matthew N. Wright]

you're no longer a 'reporter'

I've never worked as a reporter. I'm not sure where you heard that. I am a co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine though.

As for the claims in this thread, No one said TradeFortress messaged GoWest directly. The claim is that TradeFortress was offering others that much to change their posts(something he hasn't bothered to deny).

As for TradeFortress spending money to spread his opinion of Ripple, that's public knowledge. See the "forum advertisement" auction threads from Theymos.

No one is attacking TradeFortress (I happen to appreciate his talents and current projects), what is being discussed is the unethical and extensive efforts to discredit a project that should otherwise just be ignored. Ripple is as much of a "scam" as bitcoin is (neither one is a scam), but Ripple (the current implementation) is understandably not what many politically idealed bitcoiners would want to follow until it is open sourced and its basic problems are resolved.

The point is that there is something shady going on. If TradeFortress has never paid anyone to post bad things about Ripple, he should be here stating exactly that, and leading the conclusion that someone rich is trying to frame him.

[Amph]

i can do it for only 2 btc

for 1kbtc i can launch a nuke at ripple HQ

[ktttn]

i can do it for only 2 btc

for 1kbtc i can launch a nuke at ripple HQ

Ripple's hard limit: g₆₄ XRP.
XRPs are mined by measuring IOUs in BTC and then getting bitcoiners to buy them until a hard limit is approached and the reward for bitcoiners approaches derp.
I <3 me a good hijack thread.

[luv2drnkbr]

i can do it for only 2 btc

for 1kbtc i can launch a nuke at ripple HQ

I will change my post for only 1.9 btc.  Get it while it's fresh!

[Gabi]

Why no one offer me 550$ to post something???

[AzureEngineer]

Aww, I've been saying Ripple is a scam for free this whole time.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Aww, I've been saying Ripple is a scam for free this whole time.

You've been saying Ripple is a scam for the whole 3 weeks duration of your completely anonymous account?

[AzureEngineer]

Aww, I've been saying Ripple is a scam for free this whole time.

You've been saying Ripple is a scam for the whole 3 weeks duration of your completely anonymous account?

For free. That is the important part. I could have been making money this whole time. What a disappointment.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Aww, I've been saying Ripple is a scam for free this whole time.

You've been saying Ripple is a scam for the whole 3 weeks duration of your completely anonymous account?

For free. That is the important part. I could have been making money this whole time. What a disappointment.

Well, despite only being here 3 weeks and having already formed a serious (and unfoundable) opinion of Ripple, I won't assume you're a sockpuppet and will instead happily assume you are just an average joe with your own opinion.

On that note:

What the "average joe" thinks is irrelevant. Are you trying to make an intelligent discussion or are you just trying to bullshit the "average joe"?

[ElectricMucus]

Is this still going?

BULLSHIT

I have never PM'd GoWest. I didn't even know wtf he did. Again,


BULLSHIT

You mad bro?

[AzureEngineer]

Well, despite only being here 3 weeks and having already formed a serious (and unfoundable) opinion of Ripple, I won't assume you're a sockpuppet and will instead happily assume you are just an average joe with your own opinion.

On that note:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

Take a long, good read of that. You need it.

[Lethn]

I think most people who know anything about software development or coding in general know that ripple isn't open source, I don't think it's a scam though, I just think their marketers are stupid, you see it happen all the time with computer stuff.

[Ekaros]

So any deals around?

I refrain right to notice that tells post was paid for.

[wormbog]

Ripple may not intend to be a scam, but they way they act sure makes it look that way. Promising to deal with key elements of their system at some unspecified later time (open sourcing the codebase, explaining their fair distribution system for XRP) is suspicious. And the trust system at the heart of Ripple is ridiculous. Ripple says the current system of banks and credit requires the same kind of trust, but I don't trust banks at all. I trust that I will have legal recourse through the court system if a bank decides to not pay back my deposits. I don't want to have to trust everyone I transact with, and with bitcoin I don't have to.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Ripple may not intend to be a scam, but they way they act sure makes it look that way. Promising to deal with key elements of their system at some unspecified later time (open sourcing the codebase, explaining their fair distribution system for XRP) is suspicious. And the trust system at the heart of Ripple is ridiculous. Ripple says the current system of banks and credit requires the same kind of trust, but I don't trust banks at all. I trust that I will have legal recourse through the court system if a bank decides to not pay back my deposits. I don't want to have to trust everyone I transact with, and with bitcoin I don't have to.

Couldn't agree with your points more. It seems these points would be obvious enough to anyone who thinks this way to simply not use Ripple until they resolve these issues. What the manipulation attempts then? Is it just a product of a group of angst-ridden teenagers who got rich from bitcoin?

[sleger]

I don't think this can be true, even if TradeFortress had a lot of bitcoins, why on earth would he offer 5 BTC when 0.5 would be enough for most of the people here to do it... Why throw away $500 times who knows how many...

[Matthew N. Wright]

I don't think this can be true, even if TradeFortress had a lot of bitcoins, why on earth would he offer 5 BTC when 0.5 would be enough for most of the people here to do it... Why throw away $500 times who knows how many...

There are much richer people who are more anonymous who have wasted more money on seemingly dumber things. That is a logical fallacy (fallacious appeal to possibility).

[justusranvier]

I feel left out in that I'm not able to muster any enthusiasm for an extreme opinion on Ripple one way or the other. I don't think it's a scam, and I also don't think it's going to be useful outside a narrow problem space. I don't have anything personal against the OpenCoin developers and I think their business model is unlikely to succeed.