Quote from: rassah
I kinda have to agree...I mean....seriously? People are upset they didn't get something for nothing?
I think you missed the part where people are upset because someone else would've taken their money had he won, but would not pay out if he lost. It's a tiny bit different. Other people were also upset because Matthew spent 3 weeks building up to a HUGE climax... that in the end turned out to be a "meh."
It's as if some guy invited everyone to come watch his spectacular fireworks, people took the time off from work to come see it, and when they got there, all they saw was him tossing a lit molotov cocktail into the air, and saying, "Get it? GET IT!?" And even after it fell on his head afterwards, it really wasn't all that entertaining.
I agree the whole idea of the bet is kinda childish, but the expectation of others that Matthew pay out in Bitcoin rather than accept the scammer tag is silly. I'm not a fan of drama and theatrics (cough...Ellet...cough) but Matthew taught me a lesson: people don't think when they are being greedy. I mean, even our forum founder holds stolen Bitcoin unashamedly and he has the gall to consider Matthew a bigger scammer than himself? I'm not certain he would have taken the money had he won, in fact, he offered scammer tags to all who chose not to pay. If people paid Matthew, it would have been to get the scammer tag taken off...not because they lost a bet.
I hold two stolen Bitcoins (roughly). It's easy for me to admit I don't deserve them because its not much money...I should like to think I would feel the same way if I held a large amount of stolen funds. But even if I had a large amount of pirate profits, I sure as heck wouldn't brag about it or try to convince others that "I didn't _know_ at the time it was a ponzi, therefore it's ok that I keep my winnings now...."