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Topic: would you return found money to the proven original owner who lost it? (Read 1830 times)

member
Activity: 81
Merit: 1002
It was only the wind.
I would keep it, break it up and transfer it to myself at different addresses and then liquidate it at MTGox. I would never tell anyone. So would most of you. Funnily enough I would return a wallet if I found one with ID (cash included).

Why? I don't really view Bitcoin as currency and if someone makes a mistake sending coins it's just part of the game. Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme that has gotten out of control. I'm sure wherever the real "Satoshi" is, he's sitting on a pile of coins and is slowly liquidating. He and anyone else who got in on the ground floor is making a fortune at the expense of more recent bitcoiners. If you look at the stats, the majority of coins are being held so there is always the possibility that everyone will cash out and the market will collapse. You can play the game if you like, just be aware of what's happening here. I just wish I had thought this whole thing up.

P.S. I do mine small scale for fun and I'm running a slight profit, if they really do ship out some reasonablly-priced ASICs I'll probably pick one up. I'm making a lot more money on my web design and programming business, something to think about.

You're trying to rationalize it. Whatever your views of Bitcoin, they don't morally justify taking the coins, and this is coming from someone who would take the coins, mix them, and hoard them like no tomorrow.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1049
Death to enemies!
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That sounds more to me like you're a kid without a job and an exception of the world owes you. And that you are in the USA.
Not a kid but still jobless. Economy here is seriously fucked up and the government in Orwellian style continue to say that crisis is over and things are improving, the unemployment levels are lowering and so on. In reality crisis have become deeper, nothing is improving at all and unemployment levels are reduced because after few months being unemployed the unemployed status is lost and these people dont show up in statistics. Also many have left the country for better life in other parts of EU and they also dont show up in statistics.

I understand that my current situation is my fault and gross mismanagement of computer backup plans.
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MisteryMiner, you should try working on construction. You know, bricklayer. I bet you'll get a new laptop in no time.
Lets see. 450$ per month for full time job in construction. All living expenses about 350$ per month now. How much time it will take to get 2000$ laptop?

And there is no jobs in construction right now. All builders have left for work in UK and Germany.
legendary
Activity: 1358
Merit: 1002
MisteryMiner, you should try working on construction. You know, bricklayer. I bet you'll get a new laptop in no time.
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 500
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I did sent back 69 coins to Inaba once.
Will he send back all coins when BFL scam will end?

Yeah well...when I wrote that I asked myself for a second: Who is gonna be the first asshole to try to derail this into a BFL issue?

I sent those coins to Inaba@EMC, BFL has nothing to do with this.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
WTF???
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Do you mind me asking where you live? $4000 is not a whole crap load of money to most Americans. It may give them a short live shopping spree but it wouldn't change their life...
I did some bitcoin sells and purchases when the price was low. I exchanged my new desktop computer brought by bitcoins to high-end laptop for increased mobility. Sold the laptop to spend money on my girlfriend. Girlfriend rejected me. My 4 years old workhorse desktop died. My backup desktop computer was destroyed when the place it was kept caught fire and then was flooded by fireman. Now I'm without secure and powerful computer to work on and earn money. No adequate computer no Bitcoins for me.

That sounds more to me like you're a kid without a job and an exception of the world owes you. And that you are in the USA.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1049
Death to enemies!
Quote
Based on that logic, there's no reason you wouldn't murder someone for the 'right' amount of compensation. There is a possibility of indirectly causing someone's death by keeping found money.
Probably You are right. I'm absolute beginner with murders so probably I will leave these kinds of job to professionals. It is much like bomb defusing, you can only make mistake once.

And some trolls in past made unstable people to commit suicide over internet. Even no money was involved, they did it for fun. Not everyone will be comfortable with it but it is how life and internet works.
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I did sent back 69 coins to Inaba once.
Will he send back all coins when BFL scam will end?
Quote
Do you mind me asking where you live? $4000 is not a whole crap load of money to most Americans. It may give them a short live shopping spree but it wouldn't change their life...
I did some bitcoin sells and purchases when the price was low. I exchanged my new desktop computer brought by bitcoins to high-end laptop for increased mobility. Sold the laptop to spend money on my girlfriend. Girlfriend rejected me. My 4 years old workhorse desktop died. My backup desktop computer was destroyed when the place it was kept caught fire and then was flooded by fireman. Now I'm without secure and powerful computer to work on and earn money. No adequate computer no Bitcoins for me.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
WTF???
I will keep all of them. I'm much poorer than 90% of people here.

i dont see how your station in life is of any relevance to the question at hand. Right and wrong dont flip on their head simply because you are poor. Lets be clear im not saying you shouldnt keep the coins or anything, im just saying that there is no good reason why being poor or wealthy should effect the situation.
If I'm rich enough to get 90 coins effortlessly and they don't change much in my life, I will most likely send them back if the person asks me.

In my current situation the 90 coins will change everything. It will be turning point in life. Will never send them back.

Do you mind me asking where you live? $4000 is not a whole crap load of money to most Americans. It may give them a short live shopping spree but it wouldn't change their life...
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 500
I did sent back 69 coins to Inaba once.


legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1006
I will keep all of them. I'm much poorer than 90% of people here.

i dont see how your station in life is of any relevance to the question at hand. Right and wrong dont flip on their head simply because you are poor. Lets be clear im not saying you shouldnt keep the coins or anything, im just saying that there is no good reason why being poor or wealthy should effect the situation.
If I'm rich enough to get 90 coins effortlessly and they don't change much in my life, I will most likely send them back if the person asks me.

In my current situation the 90 coins will change everything. It will be turning point in life. Will never send them back.

Based on that logic, there's no reason you wouldn't murder someone for the 'right' amount of compensation. There is a possibility of indirectly causing someone's death by keeping found money.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 501
There is more to Bitcoin than bitcoins.
I will keep all of them. I'm much poorer than 90% of people here.

i dont see how your station in life is of any relevance to the question at hand. Right and wrong dont flip on their head simply because you are poor. Lets be clear im not saying you shouldnt keep the coins or anything, im just saying that there is no good reason why being poor or wealthy should effect the situation.
If I'm rich enough to get 90 coins effortlessly and they don't change much in my life, I will most likely send them back if the person asks me.

In my current situation the 90 coins will change everything. It will be turning point in life. Will never send them back.
After some thinking, I've decided that the most respectable answer to me is "it depends" - assuming you honestly and selflessly consider your own and the other party's position. This is more respectable then those of us who chose to have it "algorithmically" decided for us by some universal moral code. Deciding for yourself means you take responsibility and freedom to decide. Of course, the least respectable answer for me now is "it depends" by those who just say that as an excuse to keep the coins, no matter what.

It's too late to introduce "it depends" in this survey, but I'd change my "return the coins" vote into "it depends". Having said that, it's hard for me to think of any realistic examples where I'd decide to keep the coins. I mean, Monsanto or Madeleine Albright or The Vatican Bank or Trafigura are far from using and losing bitcoins, right? Wink  


legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1049
Death to enemies!
I will keep all of them. I'm much poorer than 90% of people here.

i dont see how your station in life is of any relevance to the question at hand. Right and wrong dont flip on their head simply because you are poor. Lets be clear im not saying you shouldnt keep the coins or anything, im just saying that there is no good reason why being poor or wealthy should effect the situation.
If I'm rich enough to get 90 coins effortlessly and they don't change much in my life, I will most likely send them back if the person asks me.

In my current situation the 90 coins will change everything. It will be turning point in life. Will never send them back.
legendary
Activity: 2576
Merit: 1186
How about a third option? Enlightened self interest Tongue
But seriously, I would look at whether the person needed it. If some corporation or rich did it, i'm not inclined to return it as I likely need it more than they do. If however it was just some dude who messed up, and actually needs the money, yeah I'd return it.
The answer you're looking for is "keeping the coins".
Your decision whether to make a charitable donation or not based on your evaluation of the sender, is unrelated.

Why do you think this is so?  Taking $1000 from somebody who makes $1000 a month and can't buy food if it isn't returned is of course an entirely different moral situation than taking that $1000 from somebody who makes $20000 a month and to whom it would be merely a minor inconvenience.
No, it is no different.
sr. member
Activity: 286
Merit: 251
I once found a wallet at a pub with apparently over £300 in. I didn't hesitate but gave the bar owner my phone number so the owner could contact me. While doing this the owner of the wallet phoned, and later I was happy to hand it to him. I got a £5 bottle of wine, the cheapest the pub had, for my trouble. My wife was vitriolic, I should have taken the money and left she said, but I would do exactly the same again even if no reward.

I would like to live in a society where I think there is a chance, even a small one of people doing the right thing, of me getting my money back if I am stupid enough to loose it. By doing the right thing myself, I can beleive in that, and that massively increases my pleasure in living, its as simple as that. I'd rather be the guy who returned the wallet than live with the fact that next time I loose something the person will probably just run off with it. Of course, thats probably the case and is not altered by me handing back the wallet, but I would prefer to believe that it isn't!
legendary
Activity: 1358
Merit: 1002
I would return it ofcourse.
In fact I already did it 2 times to the same dude/site.
The most recent was yesterday.
I charge 12% to return bitcoins received by mistake. <-- This is my incentive for the person/service to get their act together if they don't want me to keep 12% of their funds every time they send me coins by mistake.
legendary
Activity: 1722
Merit: 1217
I will keep all of them. I'm much poorer than 90% of people here.

i dont see how your station in life is of any relevance to the question at hand. Right and wrong dont flip on their head simply because you are poor. Lets be clear im not saying you shouldnt keep the coins or anything, im just saying that there is no good reason why being poor or wealthy should effect the situation.
legendary
Activity: 1722
Merit: 1217
One time bitmit accidentally payed me twice for the same sale and i sent the money back =).
hero member
Activity: 793
Merit: 1026
How about a third option? Enlightened self interest Tongue
But seriously, I would look at whether the person needed it. If some corporation or rich did it, i'm not inclined to return it as I likely need it more than they do. If however it was just some dude who messed up, and actually needs the money, yeah I'd return it.
The answer you're looking for is "keeping the coins".
Your decision whether to make a charitable donation or not based on your evaluation of the sender, is unrelated.

Why do you think this is so?  Taking $1000 from somebody who makes $1000 a month and can't buy food if it isn't returned is of course an entirely different moral situation than taking that $1000 from somebody who makes $20000 a month and to whom it would be merely a minor inconvenience.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1049
Death to enemies!
I will keep all of them. I'm much poorer than 90% of people here.
full member
Activity: 174
Merit: 100
I would keep it, break it up and transfer it to myself at different addresses and then liquidate it at MTGox. I would never tell anyone. So would most of you. Funnily enough I would return a wallet if I found one with ID (cash included).

Why? I don't really view Bitcoin as currency and if someone makes a mistake sending coins it's just part of the game. Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme that has gotten out of control. I'm sure wherever the real "Satoshi" is, he's sitting on a pile of coins and is slowly liquidating. He and anyone else who got in on the ground floor is making a fortune at the expense of more recent bitcoiners. If you look at the stats, the majority of coins are being held so there is always the possibility that everyone will cash out and the market will collapse. You can play the game if you like, just be aware of what's happening here. I just wish I had thought this whole thing up.

P.S. I do mine small scale for fun and I'm running a slight profit, if they really do ship out some reasonablly-priced ASICs I'll probably pick one up. I'm making a lot more money on my web design and programming business, something to think about.
Vod
legendary
Activity: 3668
Merit: 3010
Licking my boob since 1970
I found $600 in cash in a wallet in a parking lot.  I notified the business and left my number, took the wallet because I did not trust anyone, the guy came back looking for it and I returned it.  He gave me a $100.  Karma is everything.

Karma is nothing.  What you are describing is morality.
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