Topic: A suggestion to deal with bad BTC PR (Read 1703 times)

Well, I don't see the point in linking to anything specific as there are so many in so many places that I have to question if you're asking about it whether you've actually been reading the forums, but for instance, look at the Patrick thread in long term offers where most of his time is wasted in replying to people who are just happy to throw the word "SCAM" around like it's nothing just because he offers a good interest rate. It's basically become the forum equivalent of the frivolous lawsuit around here and the same way that those need to be cracked down upon in the US the scam calling needs to be cracked down on here. IMHO of course.

Well, I don't see the point in linking to anything specific as there are so many in so many places that I have to question if you're asking about it whether you've actually been reading the forums

but for instance, look at the Patrick thread in long term offers where most of his time is wasted in replying to people who are just happy to throw the word "SCAM" around like it's nothing just because he offers a good interest rate.

It's basically become the forum equivalent of the frivolous lawsuit around here and the same way that those need to be cracked down upon in the US the scam calling needs to be cracked down on here. IMHO of course.

No, it's exactly the same. Only before Pirate it was Bitcoinica and before Bitcoinica it was Betcoin and before Betcoin it was Linode and before Linode it was Bitconica again and before Bitcoinica again it was Bitscalper and before Bitscalper it was Bitcoin7 and before Bitcoin7 it was Mooncoin and before Mooncoin it was mybitcoin and fucking underage kids in Pattaya and before mybitcoin and fucking underage kids in Pattaya it was Mt Gox and before Mt Gox it was allinvain and before allinvain it was ubitex.

Well, my thought is that most of the real "scams" have already gone away and nobody is likely to try that kind of thing again.

Instead we just have a bunch of people yelling "SCAM" at some innocent investors  that got caught in the wake of pirate and so forth.

Pirate is already gone and all the people accusing others of scamming are just hurting bitcoin, so why not a crack down on baseless accusations?

Well, my thought is that most of the real "scams" have already gone away and nobody is likely to try that kind of thing again.

I've been reading about bitcoin for most of the summer and lurking a bit here. It's pretty different now than how it was a few months ago mainly due to the pirate

Well, my thought is that most of the real "scams" have already gone away and nobody is likely to try that kind of thing again. Instead we just have a bunch of people yelling "SCAM" at some innocent investors  that got caught in the wake of pirate and so forth. Pirate is already gone and all the people accusing others of scamming are just hurting bitcoin, so why not a crack down on baseless accusations?

Well, sure. Get rid of the scams and the scam warnings will go away too. I'm with you on that strategy. I thought you were suggesting getting rid of the warnings while leaving the scams.

Regarding JoelKatz's post: it makes me think of Giulliani's New York. The first thing he did is get the homeless and the criminals out of New York and times square to make it more welcoming to tourists. Couldn't this site be thought of as a "times square"? It's one of the first places that people see when they visit. Maybe getting the bad and ugly stuff off site would help with bitcoin overall.

What do you mean 'these days'?
You registered 2 weeks ago and your first post claims you're new to bitcoin...

For instance, the "scam accusations" forum should be hidden from view to anybody but posters with a high post count, and any discussion of scams should be eliminated from the rest of the site entirely.

I can understand all of this. But I still think it should be somehow limited as it seems these days everyone is very quick to cry out "SCAM" at any opportunity and it starts to make it look bad around here. Maybe a warning-ban system to stop the more obvious trolls like Micon and others who go into so many marketplace threads and start derailing them as soon as they can.

Just to check the rules, are people allowed to show up in a thread an post a reply of "SCAM" without anything more thoughtful or even any other words in their post?

I can understand all of this. But I still think it should be somehow limited as it seems these days everyone is very quick to cry out "SCAM" at any opportunity and it starts to make it look bad around here. Maybe a warning-ban system to stop the more obvious trolls like Micon and others who go into so many marketplace threads and start derailing them as soon as they can.

I'm not gonna censor/moderate people who were wronged and want to discuss it or who need help. Talking about it can help to bring about more ideas to combat it, how to be more aware, and remind people not to drop their guard. Attempting to suppress it would do the exact opposite, and allow new people to be even more easily scammed. I do try to keep threads on topic and in the appropriate subforum though. It's annoying to have people complaining about a specific service or person in bitcoin discussion, or derailing threads over it.


It's not intended to stop people from posting, just to warn people dealing with them. Scammers can still be productive.

I do kind of agree with you, but it's kind of necessary because with the large amount of posts on the board, the many pages within threads, the different subforums and subforums for those, and relative anonymity, a user can be scamming many people across multiple markets and via pms as well, so just having a thread about it in scam accusations doesn't do much. Especially if they don't even respond to it so it doesn't show up in their latest posts. Think of it as baby steps for people who've relied on others for decades. Most people expect scammers to be banned, so the tag is an alternative.

And no it doesn't really fit Matthew, more appropriate term would be fraud.

Also, what is the purpose of a "scammer" tag? It certainly doesn't stop these people from posting and in many cases it seems to have been misapplied (on Matthew N. Wright for instance). Why not simply eliminate this silly punishment and let the freemarket do its job and make it so people have to avoid "scams" the old fashioned way: by doing their research and not making bad decisions?

The scammer tag is just a warning.

Why would we hide the scam accusations? That makes no sense. New people should be aware of what is going on and who is a scammer so they do not get taken advantage of.

If we want for BTC to take off in the near future as a legitimate currency by the mainstream, then we must take steps to limit bad PR damage from the numerous "scam" accusations that have taken place on this forum. I believe taht it is very demoralizing for a new user to come here and see that most forum posts are taken up by people cry babying that they have been "taken advantage of" because they chose to make bad investments and it does far more harm to the Bitcoin reputation than it ever helps them in getting any of their money back.

Given that this community is for the purpose of spreading the word on Bitcoin and given given that it is one of the first places new Bitcoiners and the curious are likely to check when they are just finding out about bitcoin, it would behoove the mods here to limit the scam whining from being seen by them. For instance, the "scam accusations" forum should be hidden from view to anybody but posters with a high post count, and any discussion of scams should be eliminated from the rest of the site entirely. 

Also, what is the purpose of a "scammer" tag? It certainly doesn't stop these people from posting and in many cases it seems to have been misapplied (on Matthew N. Wright for instance). Why not simply eliminate this silly punishment and let the freemarket do its job and make it so people have to avoid "scams" the old fashioned way: by doing their research and not making bad decisions?