Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 15, 2013, 05:24:28 PM

Quote from: Matthew N. Wright on June 15, 2013, 04:05:25 PM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 15, 2013, 03:47:37 PM

Quote from: Rassah on June 15, 2013, 03:26:13 PM

Wait, what? I'm doing accounting for The Conference? I guess I'll have to get off my butt and actually, uh, do... something?

For what it's worth, the money is still BFL's, regardless of what they said about giving it to charities, so I don't fault them for being picky about who gets it and not giving it to those they dislike. As long as it's not going back to them, I don't think it matters if they deny it to someone for personal reasons. The whole point of creating this fund was to help them improve their company image, so it's really up to them to pick which donations would improve it and which won't have any effect. I'm also not sure that The Conference really qualities as a needy cause. Or a charity.

Also, despite horrible business mistakes and fuckups, I don't consider BFL a scam at all. If only because they were always willing to give refunds, and I believe all their reasons for delays, especially since they were honest about making stupid mistakes to cause those delays. Badly run business? Yes. Scam? No. Maybe I'm just gullible. I'll also probably be buying from them once they catch up on backorders and start regular shipments.

No, they will not be giving away $200,000 because someone on the interwebz gets pissy or calls them names. They are not scammers. That name conjures up images of some snot nosed kid behind a keyboard playing video games and laughing about the couple of guys they suckered on a stupid forum. These guys are professional grifters that set out on a mission to swindle as many people as they can for as long as they can. If I were going to do a long con I would also refund a few people to keep up appearances and make up the lost funds by charging the remaining marks $300-$500 shipping (which is what they have done).

I have to agree with Matthew on this one. It's very concerning that the supposedly "main forum" for Bitcoin continues to take advertising dollars from a manufacturer that sells a product and doesn't deliver for a year. That makes it seem as if the forum is in on the scam. So is Bitcoin just a scam? It's enough to make new visitors to this site wonder.

My question is still unanswered so I will rephrase. Why would any of you believe that BFL would give $200,000 dollars of conned money away because someone on a chat forum is bitchy or complains? No one is that stupid.

Well, I'm giving about that much away on a forum for making a prank bet and trying to make up for it. There are apparently stupid people everywhere.

You are not giving away $200k for that stupid bet and if you are you're nuts. You know why I didn't bet against you back then? Because if you lost I knew you could never cover the bet and it be pointless to bet. You don't really believe I'm some sort of genius and I'm the only one that understood that do you? Everyone betting had to know you could never cover the bet and if they did lose 90% of them would have stiffed you anyway. You are a major fuck-up for pulling that shit but I don't just blame you. I blame the other parties too. You screwed your rep with all bitcoiners by doing that stupid stunt and made all the businesses that were working with you distance themselves. It really is a shame.

A shame I'm paying for. That's the different between me and a scammer though, I make up for things when I make a mistake and I always make sure to pay back more than was borrowed. Money never interested me (imagine that, bitcoiners!) which is why I do not think of bitcoin like others here. I only care about building and being useful, and to me, making a bet and not paying for it removes my usefulness. It isn't even about money. BFL have removed their usefulness as well, but instead of paying to undo a mistake, they apparently decided to make more.