fyi, shill bidding is a felony in the United states, so there again, whether or not it was a real scam is subject to conjecture/opinion.
sources: My uncle runs an auction house in Little Rock, Arkansas.
It's also a felony to resist the government's violent thugs, and the US is fine with bombing innocent people, so I don't put much stock in the US's view on ethics.
As I learned after Josh and Luke Jr. defrauded people who bet against BFL on betsofbitcoin: Actions qualifying as fraud do not necessarily and often do not qualify one for a 'scammer' tag here.
I guess I'm understanding that theymos' criteria for a 'scammer' tag is simply breach of an agreed upon explicit contract.
I think a big part of the problem here is the use of the word 'scammer'. That word holds many different connotations to different people. Clearly theymos wants this forum to operate independently of any established social norms. Which is interesting, but not too surprising considering his political views.
Theymos, you should perhaps consider changing the phrasing of the tag to something more specific. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of this drama relating to people arguing over things they think qualify for the tag could be avoided.