I have cried twice in phone calls with a friend (not Xavier btw), because of the pressure from this community. I told him everything and I was highly motivated to continue with my life. I almost wanted to grab the money from Chen Jianhai and run away, but he told me not to.
Thinking is not the same as doing, but it still tells a lot. I hope the "he is clearly innocent" posts authors will keep this in mind. I can't say you stole it, but so far it's still the most reasonable explanation, IMO. Kudos for returning the money though.
Yes I agree. I'm not sure how others will react in similar situations. My only feeling at that time was like:
"The community is so unfair, and they assumed I'm the thief. I should probably get the money so that the unnecessary pain and psychological insecurity can be compensated for."
The problem can be quite philosophical, but I can imagine a thought experiment:
If the society punishes a thief in extreme ways, will the thief actually "deserve" what he has obtained?
If the person is actually innocent, will he be determined to become a thief to get compensation?
I have heard a story:
A kindergarten started charging a fine for parents who are late for picking up their children, in a hope that these parents will have a disincentive to arrive late in the future. However, after a while, the kindergarten discovered that the number of parents who are late everyday becomes even higher.
A psychologist has analyzed that these parents feel less guilty when they face a fine, because they believed that they had already paid for their mistakes, and they can continue making such mistakes as long as the fines are affordable.
So intuitively I feel that the more the community criticizes me, the more I deserve to actually take possession of the funds and run away (because they penalized me like I did steal the funds, and I didn't). Please don't take these words at face value. I'm just discovering what I'm actually thinking and feeling.
I like psychology actually. I'm thinking about the 5000 BTC you donated right after the "hack". This
donation could be interpreted as indulgence for your bad conscience, if you were actually the thief!
About community, that is supposedly unfair. I think it neither fair or unfair, it just evaluates the data. It's not personal! If we are biased in any way, my guess is we are actually biased in your favour, because you have had quite a reputation!
Just to summarize the data:
- the stevejobs email, that was used in the hack, was yours
- you used it in some other activities, where you wanted to hide your identity
- the "hacker" knew, that the MtGox api keys are stored in LastPass. You also knew.
- the "hacker" figured out the LastPass password. You knew the password.
- since some of the stolen funds were returned, we can actually eliminate all other suspects (Consultancy, Tihan), except you and your (imaginary?) "friend"
- let's say your "friend" (with whom you said had no contact for months before the hack) knew the intimate security of Bitcoinica... what is the most reasonable explanation as to who he got it from?
- 5000 BTC can be interpreted as indulgence
If this is all a big coincidence... well... I say the universe has a strong sense of humor!