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

[rebuilder]

When you GoWest come up with such accusation

FTFY. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145506.msg1544079#msg1544079

Remember your first post in this thread?

What does this mean?

Well, first and foremost it means that anyone who posts a "Ripple is a scam" comment should now have their integrity called into question (thanks a lot TradeFortress). It proves they are shills and will say anything for a dollar. It also proves people like TradeFortress (he's not an evil genius, this has been happening in Bitcoin from day one) will resort to paying other people to state something as fact, trying to astroturf a topic as being a "community consensus" in attempts to sabotage, influence, deceive, etc.

That sounds like a direct accusation, made by you, against TradeFortress.

[Matthew N. Wright]

GoWest made the accusation. My post tells you what that accusation would mean. I'm open to suggestions on better ways to word it, but it is what it is.

[crumbcake]

GoWest made the accusation. My post tells you what that accusation would mean. I'm open to suggestions on better ways to word it, but it is what it is.

Then, someone with some integrity changed their post midstream the apparent astroturfing to let everyone know what was going on.

... I guess we just have to wait to hear TradeFortress's rebuttals. He said something about not messaging GoWest directly, but he didn't deny paying others.

You're kidding?  You just wanted to explain to us what GoWest's bullshit claim would mean if it turns out to be true?  You assumed that most people reading your post already know of the accusation, just anxiously waiting for someone like you to explain the implications?  
From the intentionally misleading title ("I was offered $550 to say that 'Ripple is a Scam'" -- No, Matthew, nobody offered you shit, unless you're now a mouthpiece for GoWest) on, this whole thread is one bag of dicks.

[Korbman]

I'm confused..why does this thread exist and why should we care?

1) I'm not seeing any evidence that backs up the claims presented thus far..and
2) Matthew, are you seriously (I mean, seriously) surprised people do and say things for money?

This just seems like some sort of "TradeFortress witch-hunt" ..to which I say "build a bridge and get over it"

That said, I'm more than happy to denounce Ripple for less than $550

[Este Nuno]

I saw TradeFortress posting before trying to contact people who had posts on the first page of the ripple thread.

Is he actually denying this?

[ab8989]

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.

What a bunch of crap. You are using this unproven incident as a tool to try to discredit all criticism to ripple and that is a total bullshit attitude to take.

What you should be doing first is questioning GoWest to provide some sort of evidence that the allegations have anything to do with reality. And second thing to do if the first thing is first proven is really to blame TradeFortress for doing that that shit. But there is no absolutely no legitimate reason to try to discredit all criticism towards ripple as you are trying to spin this into especially if you are at the same time talking fondly about TradeFortress.

On the other hand if you are so willing to attack people based on them getting payed maybe you should say what you think about people saying they like ripple after they have received free XRP donated by OpenCoin.

One person I think this thread definately paints with a cloud of discredit is someone called Matthew N. Wright.

[Matthew N. Wright]

I saw TradeFortress posting before trying to contact people who had posts on the first page of the ripple thread.

Is he actually denying this?

I don't think he has made any significant comments, just "BULLSHIT" and that he didn't contact GoWest directly (something that was never claimed by anyone ever).

Either:

A) someone is spreading propaganda against Ripple for their own benefit; (who and why?)
B) there is a conspiracy to frame TradeFortresss (who and why?)

It's fascinating to see all the whiteknighting posts completely missing this point.

[Vod]

TradeFortress - I am willing to denounce Ripple for my 5btc. 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

TradeFortress has an own site ripplescam.org/‎ where he explains his point of view.

Imho Ripple sux and lot of people will lose their their coins in a future.

I don't recall him ever publicly stating that was his site. TradeFortress, is that your site?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=180287.0

Thank you Bruno. That should wrap up that one pretty well. So TradeFortress has been accused of paying people money to change their post content to his own anti-Ripple website by GoWest basically. I guess we just have to wait to hear TradeFortress's rebuttals. He said something about not messaging GoWest directly, but he didn't deny paying others.

I'm acting as a bystander in this thread, with no real horse in the race, albeit happy to help out, if I did, or made the situation worse.

[scalar33]

I saw TradeFortress posting before trying to contact people who had posts on the first page of the ripple thread.

Is he actually denying this?

I'm not sure, I think we would see him post in this thread if he wanted to deny it.  It would be poinless if someone has a PM from him offering the money though... I think the people complaining about the accusation are trolls.

[scalar33]

I saw TradeFortress posting before trying to contact people who had posts on the first page of the ripple thread.

Is he actually denying this?

I don't think he has made any significant comments, just "BULLSHIT" and that he didn't contact GoWest directly (something that was never claimed by anyone ever).

Either:

A) someone is spreading propaganda against Ripple for their own benefit; (who and why?)
B) there is a conspiracy to frame TradeFortresss (who and why?)

It's fascinating to see all the whiteknighting posts completely missing this point.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=198931.msg2070493#msg2070493

This might clear it up.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Okay so that confirms what every troll in this thread had attempted to mislead away from. The next question is, why would anyone (including TradeFortress) waste multiples of 5 BTC just to put up anti Ripple propaganda?

Someone should find out just how much they have spent to date (forum advertisements, ripplescam domain and hosting, paying accounts, etc) to try and make Ripple look bad. Usually people don't go to such lengths without some kind of personal motives. I'm sure we all appreciate when people come together to warn each other of potential scams, but we can probably all also agree that this is a bit suspiciously over the top (considering Ripple's developers are respected members of the community).

[scintill]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=198931.msg2070493#msg2070493

This might clear it up.

Thanks for that.  Suddenly this thread is not so controversial.  TradeFortress is very open about it there.  I'm not sure what he was trying to say with his "BULLSHIT" statements here.  What's the BS, that he PM'd a certain guy?  Well, AFAICT the OP never even said TradeFortress himself PM'd anyone, but the claim that TF was, at one point, paying 5 BTC to edit-in an anti-Ripple message is absolutely true, looking at the thread just linked.

[crumbcake]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=198931.msg2070493#msg2070493

This might clear it up.

That's hilarious!  I assumed it was another one of TF's  "I'll pay you 5 BTC in open-ended Ripple IOUs" trolls, but he seems to have actually paid in real BTC to at least one real BTC address after publicly soliciting users?  Everything looks 100% above board -- what TF did is no different from any other paid advertising.  It isn't even astroturfing -- soliciting in a public forum makes it explicit that he, and not the paid users, is the source of the message  
edit:  Come back from having a cig & the price has gone up by $2...

[Korbman]

Everything looks 100% above board -- what TF did is no different from any other paid advertising.  It isn't even astroturfing -- soliciting in a public forum makes it explicit that he, and not the paid users, is the source of the message  

This ^^^

 

[Zaih]

RIPPLE IS A SCAM!!

You know what to do 

[QuestionAuthority]

So essentially this thread is just a bunch of drama crap because TradeFortress in a thread openly asked people to change their posts almost a month before this thread started? Nice.

[Matthew N. Wright]

So essentially this thread is just a bunch of drama crap because TradeFortress in a thread openly asked people to change their posts almost a month before this thread started? Nice.

There is a reason it's in "Off-topic". The interesting thing is how much money is willing to be wasted to slander Ripple. That screams to me "agenda" and I've always been fascinated with uncovering the hidden agendas. I can just imagine finding out that Ripple's new secret competitor is TradeFortress or something. At least then it'd make sense.

[QuestionAuthority]

So essentially this thread is just a bunch of drama crap because TradeFortress in a thread openly asked people to change their posts almost a month before this thread started? Nice.

There is a reason it's in "Off-topic". The interesting thing is how much money is willing to be wasted to slander Ripple. That screams to me "agenda" and I've always been fascinated with uncovering the hidden agendas. I can just imagine finding out that Ripple's new secret competitor is TradeFortress or something. At least then it'd make sense.

Yeah but doesn't everyone invested in btc have a reason to see ripple fail? Maybe TradeFortress just has more btc than the rest of us. Considering the amount he paid to bash it I'd say that's a safe bet.

[Matthew N. Wright]

So essentially this thread is just a bunch of drama crap because TradeFortress in a thread openly asked people to change their posts almost a month before this thread started? Nice.

There is a reason it's in "Off-topic". The interesting thing is how much money is willing to be wasted to slander Ripple. That screams to me "agenda" and I've always been fascinated with uncovering the hidden agendas. I can just imagine finding out that Ripple's new secret competitor is TradeFortress or something. At least then it'd make sense.

Yeah but doesn't everyone invested in btc have a reason to see ripple fail? Maybe TradeFortress just has more btc than the rest of us. Considering the amount he paid to bash it I'd say that's a safe bet.

Ripple was originally designed to act as a decentralized and open source (yes, yes, I know, it's neither at the moment) exchange. In that, bitcoin *needs* Ripple in order to ween itself off of MtGox and other centralized exchanges. Bitcoiners should be embracing Ripple's concepts, but questioning and wary of OpenCoin's decisions. There is nothing wrong with Ripple, blindly calling it a 'scam' is ignorant imo. You can always call OpenCoin "dishonest" though.