You can also look at it from the point of view that this sponsorship was an investment in his rating here on the forum. Now that that rating has been destroyed, it makes no sense for them to put money into it.
Isn't this an extra argument for negative feedback, if he did that for the sole purpose of increasing his reputation?
No, because the question is only an assumption about the motive why he did it.
Sym-whatshisname said "sponsor". That's very different from "donor". Sponsorship is very likely to be a contract because it implies that the sponsor is receiving something in return. Words matter. No one forced him to call it that, his choice, his contract, his failure to execute.
He basically bought some temporary reputation without paying for it when he decided his reputation isn't worth the money anymore.
Would we judge this case equally if there were no previous 15 pages about Ratimov's case? I believe not and am almost sure there would be no word about negative feedback.
If you say "I'm sponsoring this and here's how much I'll pay" is about as serious of a contract as it gets here on the forum. If I said something like this and then retracted it at the last minute, I'd expect to be flagged up the wazoo. Not sure where you see the difference between that and e.g. a signature campaign or some other promise to pay.
This can be interpreted in different ways, therefore I am of the opinion that it is not enough for red. Signature is payment for some kind of service, or promotion, and if you remove the ad from your sig space, you will not be paid.
In Ratimov's case, he wanted to pay for the improvement of his reputation, but he didn't get it, maybe that's why he doesn't want to pay.
If we are already dealing with assumptions, it seems that 1miau got into a similar situation after the drama against him. He previously started several competitions, but he decided to cancel them all. (He also left the signature campaign.)
However, perhaps a different interpretation of the withdrawal of sponsorship by Ratimov influenced him to change his decision once again.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5457352.msg63204865#msg63204865https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5470339.msg63204867#msg63204867https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5432792.msg63205236#msg63205236https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5431858.msg63205195#msg63205195