At this point I'll go ahead and reveal that I am the bet's creator, and that I initially took a large position on the "True" side. By ruling the way they did, BoB effectively took from me over 150 BTC in potential winnings and commissions that I feel should rightfully be mine.
If you were on the True side, then you should be happy with the draw, since it was the False side that should have won.
Having created the bet, you don't get more
authority than other betters, but you
do get more responsibility: you can't blame anyone else for poorly defining the bet.
• BFL shipped nothing. The bet title clearly is about BFL *shipping* a Bitforce SC product. Coinjedi has said himself that the bet title is a part of the bet. [1]
"Shipped" is sadly enough ambiguous by itself due to the precedent set with Avalon's "shipping".
The terms of the bet gave it an explicit definition in this case.
• The pictures were posted after midnight. No matter whether you go by GMT, Eastern time (official BoB time [2]), or Central time (which I believe is BFL time and also Luke-Jr time). Sure, the pics were arguably taken before midnight, but the bet clearly says they had to be *posted* before April.
I am in Eastern time.
But this seems like a technicality.
• The pictures were not credible. They were taken by Josh/Inaba, a BFL employee, and were of a device that was pretty clearly sitting on a test bench at BFL. The bet clearly says the pictures must be credible.
Look credible enough to me. I don't see how Josh taking the pictures makes them non-credible.
• The pictures claim to show a product hashing at about 25GH/s, which Luke-Jr says in a Little Single. There was no such thing as a Little Single when the bet was made. The 3 Bitforce SC products the bet concerns, and their hashrates concerning the bet are those listed in the post linked in the Bet.
More technicalities.
Before I got my Little Single, can you honestly say you would have interpreted the bet to exclude it?
• It is not clear whether or not Luke-jr is a BFL employee. He continues to not answer when asked if he is/has received compensation from BFL. [3] At the least, it looks like he's getting his order bumped to the front of the line.
It is perfectly clear (to me, at least) that I am not a BFL employee.
If you want to doubt me, that's your problem - I'm sure you could ask the IRS somehow or another.
Sure BoB (and Luke-Jr and Josh/Inaba and BFL) will lose face over this, but that does nothing to fill my wallet, and history is quickly forgotten.
No, I wouldn't lose anything if BoB ruled in your favour.
It would just set a precedent for BoB bets being decided on technicalities.
I'm feeling cheated and a little butthurt about it. Wouldn't you?
I might, but I'd also recognize that the real problem were in the terms of the bet not being "cheatable".