Quote from: Altpocalypse on August 27, 2014, 03:39:56 PM

Ok, the donation request by Youngg / @Smokin35 has caused me to create a Bitcointalk account for the first time and I will sincerely forever hate him for that. Cool

I couldn't resist though. I have to address the Sync community with a serious question.

Why are we, as a group, so reluctant to donate a few BTC to help an extremely worthy cause?

I completely understand the hesitation to send BTC to some unknown address only because a guy on a forum / twitter has asked us to. I've been burned by a few scams as part of my introduction into cryptocurrency over the past few months, and I'm sure there are more scams waiting for me down the road. That's a risk I've accepted from the very moment I entered my banking information into Coinbase, bought BTC, and sent BTC to Mintpal, and bought Dogecoin as my first altcoin ever. At any point during that transaction, my money could have disappeared and there wasn't really shit I could have done about it. I knew that and accepted that. ( By the way, I think my first true scam was the original LibertyCoin. That was my first "big loss." ) Moving on....

Crypto is about Risk vs Reward, as is with many things in life. When Youngg / @Smokin35 / @SyncFund / Mike Fiol reached out on Twitter asking for donations to help relocate the new developer of Sync, I was one of the first to donate. Why did I so blindly send BTC to an address posted on Twitter by a guy I don't even know? Maybe I'm gullible, that's certainly a possibility. But it was 0.25 BTC... about $125 or so. I'll waste that much money on alcohol, coffee, and Chipotle this month and won't think twice about it. And if I can possibly help someone relocate from a war zone, why not?

As I said above, it's all Risk vs Reward.

The risks are, you get scammed. Meaning the BTC you donated does not go towards the intended cause. This was all a premeditated plan, starting several days ago, to extract 13 BTC from the Sync community and people on Twitter. Anyone who is involved in altcoins knows this could be a possibility and our imaginations can run wild. Could someone have hacked Mike Fiol's Twitter account along with his Bitcointalk account and use this opportunity to prey on the supposed generosity of the Sync community to steal 13 BTC? Maybe... but I think it's pretty far fetched even for crypto. If his accounts were hacked, including Email since he had correspondence with Coindesk and Altcointoday or whatever that site is, I assume Mike Fiol would have found a way to alert everyone and I assume the Hacker would have larger targets in mind. Or maybe Mike Fiol is not as wealthy as people think and he needs 13 BTC to feed his family. Or maybe he gambled everything away over the weekend and desperately needs 13 BTC. Who the fuck knows? There are a thousand possible scenarios.

The rewards are, you may help someone escape a violent situation and relocate to a more peaceful existence. I know nothing about Iyad Elkfarna except from what I've read on the links provided in the Coindesk article. From checking the information provided by @Smoking35, this forum, and the Coindesk article... this request for a small donation appears to be as legitimate as anything in crypto. Not 100% of course, but the odds are decent enough for me to take a chance. So I sent in a small donation in hopes that I could play a small part in saving a family's life. I'm OK with that risk vs reward.

What it comes down to is this. Do you trust Sync and those involved with it? If you hold Sync as a long term investment, as many of us do, then the answer should be yes. I hold 3 Sync, which is a large chunk of my crypto bankroll. If I have that much faith to risk the majority of my BTC on this project and people behind it, then I trust them enough not to devise some elaborate scheme to scam us out of 13 BTC. Therefore, I couldn't think of enough reason not to throw a few bucks his way. Where are all of these Sync Whales that are risking significant amounts of BTC by staking SYNC long term? Why have none of them even expressed support of this cause on here or on Twitter? It would seem ridiculous to risk investing that much into a long term coin if you don't trust those behind it. No one is asking you to sell your car. But even if everyone only donated a portion of their Sync staking profits, the goal would have been met in a couple hours. That's the risk... donating profit you have already made by holding this coin that has not scammed you, but has paid you.

Sorry this was so long. But I'll end with one more question for the community. Why do Sync owners not trust Mike Fiol enough to help out a cause he must obviously believe in? This is a serious question. If there are valid reasons, please share them. Maybe there are legitimate concerns or maybe some questions can be answered by him.

@Altpocalypse

Well said man. I donated some last night.