That's always been my question, though I've heard many answers I don't totally agree with.  But ultimately it doesn't matter if I agree or not--it is what it is, and you really have to be skeptical of things that seem too good to be true and to do deals cautiously.  A lot of the folks I see getting scammed haven't even looked at people's feedback or ignored warning signs if they were visible, or they didn't use escrow.

Now, QS didn't steal that 20BTC, but he was involved in a pretty big scam accusation.  The bottom line is that there aren't going to be any consequences from the forum if people scam.  On the other hand, I do miss the old scammer tag.  That was before I registered here, and I don't even know how one went about earning it, but I think it sent a stronger message than the current under-the-avatar trust score.

If Theymos wanted to, he could come up with a list of things that are and aren't acceptable.  It might not be easy, and it might not please everyone, but he could do it instead of doing nothing.  I mean, that's what laws are--they're written rules describing behavior that isn't acceptable.  Lawmakers don't throw up their hands at the complexity of the legal system and decide to not prohibit certain things as a result.