I guess here is the meat of what we disagree upon.  I don't agree that participating in a ponzi makes you a scammer.  And pirate is only a scammer in my book because he didn't admit it was a ponzi up front.  If he had admitted it was a ponzi from day 1, then I wouldn't see any reason to give him a scammer tag.

Open ponzis are illegal only because the law says they are.  I don't see participation in a ponzi as any different than other forms of gambling.

One definition of gambling:
2: to stake something on a contingency : take a chance