Did Gar255 put a gun to his head? No one forced the bidders to do anything.
Having an alt that artificially raises the bid price is similar to a secret reserve price in an auction. There's nothing inherently wrong with it except that Garr255 should have warned bidders that he might do it. I rank his actions there as "a bit shady," though he handled the fallout badly (due to inexperience, I suppose).
In any case, alts aren't against forum rules, and scammer tags are typically only given when an explicit agreement is broken. Garr255 never promised not to bid on his own auctions. He never even promised to honor the results of the auctions. Without contracts that say otherwise, auctions are only devices to assist in price negotiations.
Has anyone read the book Defending the Undefendable by Walter Block?
https://mises.org/store/Defending-the-Undefendable-P136.aspxI think it is partly along those lines of libertarian thinking that Theymos has in regulating this forum and it helps to explain his comment about Gars auction shilling not deserving a scammer tag. And while I have to cringe, because it is a bit shady, I agree with Theymos.
I think Shilling would be a very appropriate chapter to include in that book, so would Matthews bet (but I have no idea what the title of that chapter would be).
It seems, in the past, on this forum that if someone caused damage by violating a deal or contract, but made good on the contract, the scammer tag was not given or was removed. While this auction didnt have an explicit contract, there was an unspoken social expectation that there wouldnt be a sock puppet increasing the price with phony bids. With Gar paying the auction winners 5 btc, this should more than correct the financial wrong, and eliminate the call for a scammer tag.
His reputation however has taken some hits. And that is for him to rebuild and repair, which I am confident he will do.
I have had several trades and communication with Gar over the years (has it been that long already!?) all of which have caused me to increase my trust and respect for him. I was surprised, shocked, and disappointed when this came to light. With that said, Im sure Gar will learn from this error and be more diligent in being honest in his future actions. I will continue to exchange with him.
In fact I might head over now and pick up a few Cognitive shares during this dip.