So, if I were to give you a loan...
And I were to hold your collateral, you don't think that would constitute bad intentions?
Honestly, that is not something that would bother me, as long as all obligations to me are followed.
It would bother me. Even if the intention was not to scam, and in the example above I would be jeopardizing the reputation of my main account if I were to scam, it's the deception that's troubling. One is left to question why the deception? It wouldn't be wrong of me to hold the collateral for a loan I granted. I'd like to believe that I'm trusted enough that most of my clients would feel comfortable with that situation. And if not, I'm not going to go out of my way to deceive them.
In my opinion:
- This is misleading because you charge for a service you're not providing. (I think we can all agree on that)
- Apart from the fee, the escrow isn't used because of being a third party, but because of having a trusted reputation. If the deal would be with the escrow directly, the other party likely wouldn't require an escrow. (I'm not sure if we can all agree on this one)
- There isn't any more risk than any other deal in which the escrow deals with 2 real parties instead of his own alt and someone else. (I think violating this deal would be the same risk and result in the same reputation damage as violating a deal with 2 other parties)
I agree with you, and maybe that's not the best example if someone was looking to scam, but that's not what I suspect of QS.
And this is mostly speculation but I wasn't arround at the time: did QS escrow this deal because he didn't want his alt to become known? AKA the main reason to do this was to secure his account farming at the time? Or did he knowingly suggest himself as an escrow to mislead the other party in pretending they are different people?
There's obviously something not right going on. Surreptitiously bulging a the reputation of the alt is the only thing I can see as the benefit of doin the deal described above.