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[–][deleted] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I love the "32 dollars, decreasing over time" scheme. It's brilliant.

[–]Capitally 21 points22 points  (22 children)

I'm confused, who are you and why did people ever get the idea that you're Satoshi?

[–][deleted]  (9 children)

[deleted]

    [–]catcradle5 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    You sound almost half as crazy as his blackmailer.

    [–]permanomad 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    By not writing in it, duh.

    [–]QnickQnick 2 points3 points  (1 child)

    It seems like it was just one guy tweaking hard hoping to bluff his way to a trillion dollar payout.

    The dude claims he's Satoshi, Nate Silver (but then he backtracks), a bitcoin developer Gavin, Fontas... The list goes on.

    The dude was (is?) thinking Gwern was singlehandedly manipulating just about every aspect of bitcoin. That goes beyond conspiracy and into paranoia.

    Long read but worth it if you want to read about a blogger trying to unravel a madman's 'theory'

    [–]planetrider 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Asking for a $650 million with no proof was the proof I needed that it was a crazy bluff.

    [–]FourFire 5 points6 points  (7 children)

    He's gwern, it was bound to happen...

    [–]Capitally 18 points19 points  (6 children)

    Who's gwern?

    [–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (3 children)

    Not everyone is a part of bitcoin groupies.

    [–]XxionxX 11 points12 points  (0 children)

    I am a bitcoin groupie and I have no idea who this is. I feel like I missed the memo.

    [–]Whatjusthapened -1 points0 points  (0 children)

    Yawn...

    [–]Migidarra 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    Honestly that would fill up my tank for 2 weeks(I don't have a long distance to work)

    [–]mustyoshi -2 points-1 points  (4 children)

    32$ isn't really a lot of money lol.

    [–][deleted]  (3 children)

    [deleted]

      [–][deleted]  (1 child)

      [deleted]

        [–]buge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        It's not much in America, but in some countries it's a lot.

        [–]mustyoshi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Yeah, and as somebody who works at McDonalds, that's not a lot of money to me.

        lol.

        [–]toxicFork 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        It all makes sense now. They're all one person!

        [–]geekygirl23 4 points5 points  (7 children)

        I understand, it's just such a weird back and forth and thinking about explaining it to someone I know gives me a headache.

        [–]geekygirl23 10 points11 points  (3 children)

        If you ever want to go down a rabbit hole of psychology and figuring out what makes people tick you might try the creepy PM's girls get on reddit. Unlimited supply of data points. ;)

        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        I feel like I probably got on that list after suggesting this girl who posted on gonewild should go to /r/girlsgonebitcoin. Ah well.... I had good intentions.

        [–]planetrider 0 points1 point  (1 child)

        I think you would have had a lot of fun negotiating his price to a more reasonable ten million dollar range.

        [–]Beetle559 16 points17 points  (3 children)

        Keep Bitcoin Weird.

        [–]drcross 7 points8 points  (8 children)

        It's not a nonsensical PM, cyber squatting is a big consideration for people who have a reputation or online identity that defines them.

        [–]geekygirl23 2 points3 points  (7 children)

        I'm mostly referring to the last exchange but cyber squatting your name on a forum is a non issue. You go to the forum, explain, prove who you are and they will usually help you out. If not a court order takes care of it.

        Having a multi message discussion with a psycho person while assuming the identity of all of the people they think you are is not "normal". Going to such lengths to have that discussion makes it even worse. If not deleting the best case scenario for that would have been to send the last message as a response to the first one received.

        Anyhow, I honestly don't care but it is in fact "weird".

        [–]drcross 10 points11 points  (5 children)

        Weird is a subjective term. I prefer not to castigate people by some sort of arbitrary label driven by some section of society. Gwern is principled which, to me, is the greatest attribute someone can have.

        [–]witchspace 6 points7 points  (0 children)

        100% agree. If you ignore people's points just because they are 'weird' you miss a lot.

        In a way you're always behind because what society sees as 'normal' acts as a very slow filter.

        You'd have missed Bitcoin too, new ideas seem so weird initially, even good ideas.

        Having said that, I wouldn't have replied to this particular blackmail message either.

        [–]gdoteof_ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

        Gwen was weird before bitcoin.. Awesome.. But weird. I love reading his stuff and it comes out at such a voracious rate I can't keep up

        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Exactly, this would get deleted so fast from my mailbox.

        Bye, unread.

        [–]hugolp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Its normal that people that adopt or are drawn to such a new concept have inquiring minds, isnt it?

        The interests of intelligent and curious people can seem weird to others, but its not so strange such behaviour from early adopters.

        [–]davidshares 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        Amazing read! Thanks for posting. Now I know why Satoshi wants to remain anonymous. He probably would have every crazy in the world trying to get at his riches.

        [–]theinfiniteidea 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        And the trolled troll trolls....

        [–]hiver 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        This just made me want to communicate with pgp, but I don't really have anything to say to anyone that uses it. Gwern, can I accuse you if being Obama, Bush (Jr & Sr) and the homeless guy by my bus stop for a bit?

        [–]dawnsedge 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        this was thrilling. a digital alexandre dumas.

        [–]kalamiti 1 point2 points  (1 child)

        Satoshi 'Gwern' Nakamoto

        It all makes sense now, the pieces are all falling into place. I'm bad at blackmailing, can you give me any advice gwern?

        [–]gus_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Do your math and follow the trail of statistics

        [–]Isoneguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        I can confirm this as I am satoshi nakamoto.

        [–]etherael 1 point2 points  (1 child)

        His ranting reminds me of the losethos guy.

        [–]catcradle5 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        That's because they both suffer from paranoid schizophrenia.

        (Losethos/Temple OS says that he has it, and the included text sounds very much like the writings of a schizophrenic.)

        [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

        Lol, who is this guy?

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        ..oh...

        [–]nekodojo 1 point2 points  (2 children)

        dude, everyone knows Satoshi is an AI

        [–]jcoinner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        There's a star-man waiting in the sky. He'd like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds.

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B5zmDz4vR4

        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

        Wow, I am getting old.

        If I got mail like that, I would be like "TL;DR"

        [–]imahotdoglol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Subject: RE: i know who you r, give me money

        Message: lol

        [–]Anenome5 0 points1 point  (2 children)

        Interesting read and look into the mind of madness.

        I think his "reverse dox" was to bluster at likely suspects--really anyone and everyone famous in the bitcoin world--and blackmail them for money.

        Actually leading him on or paying would be a proof that the individual had something to feel guilty about. He probably thought that was a genius plan.

        [–]Anenome5 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Well it sounds like you were the first target--he couldn't even get the PGP right. Perhaps after you he gave up? Dunno :\

        I felt scared for you a bit, your gambit of encouraging him to think he was right to get an answer for why he thinks you're satoshi could've backfired if he actually believed it.

        But I don't think he did. Maybe he had some mix of suspicion, evidence, and bluster :P

        [–]phooon 0 points1 point  (1 child)

        This was a very interesting read. Is it at all possible that 'JACK0FNONE' was referring to Satoshi Nakamoto as a collective group (as has been theorized many times before) and that the various names he claims to be 'you' are in fact members of the collective. It would be expected that the founding members of Bitcoin would be closely monitoring, using and most likely being high profile members of the Bitcoin community; creating services (such as ZipZap, hitman services, various drug markets etc) to help push adaption. I truly believe that 'JACK0FNONE', despite very possibly having mental problems of some kind, is very knowledgeable and I would love to speak with him.

        [–]CrystalFissure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Now that was an interesting read.

        [–]mculp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        man, as I was reading it, I was thinking -- "this guy's either schizophrenic or severely abusing meth" -- and it looks like you also came to the same conclusion, mentioning schizophrenia and meth in your final letter.

        [–]nullc -1 points0 points  (29 children)

        I sense no small irony in Gwern whining about being accused of being Satoshi while at the same time he's been stalking around IRC accusing people of being Satoshi himself.

        [–]nullc 2 points3 points  (26 children)

        I've seen you accuse people of being Satoshi. You claim you goal is "correctness", but the behavior I've observed would better be characterized as irresponsible and perhaps more than a little creepy.

        I think objective itself is somewhat suspect— correctness in what? Stalking? You've observed first hand that harm can come to people when even the most non-sensible beliefs arise.

        Every person you might falsely accuse cannot afford the cost of security your accusations may result in requiring. At least thus far your theories have been so unbelievable that I don't really expect anyone to be endangered by them. But what do you hope to contribute to the world from this endeavor? Identifying Satoshi wouldn't grant any insight into Bitcoin— by it's nature we must judge it by what it is, because its creator inherently doesn't control it— any revelation here is likely to only diminish people's wiliness to look critically on the system itself instead of who created it and may bring about tremendous personal harm.

        I think you're skilled enough to gain traffic to your site in a less exploitative way.

        [–]nullc -2 points-1 points  (12 children)

        and the copy over on HN which you posted without any mention of my reply here

        Posted on HN, prior to your response here, and to which I added a hyper-link to the discussion here within a minute of seeing your response and prior to this accusation.

        And may I point out that you seem bound and determined to discuss anything but whether your original comment

        What of it? You've been going around with theories of Satoshi— saying this person or that. Even claiming to have concrete evidence with Moriarty grade precision-pretension "so we can finally rule out claims of his death and knock that theory down from .1% to ~0% probability". I think this kind of sleuthing is creepy-stalker-ish and that you've been careless— because your claims are being forwarded around.

        If you don't see why I find it ironic that you complain about someone privately accusing you of being Satoshi while you actively seek to do so to others (and potentially enable nutball attacks far, far worse) then I can only guess that you are sorely lacking in perspective.

        I work with cryptographers who have been accused of being Satoshi and consider them my friends. The accusations are harmful, they make them— with cause— fear for their own safety and that of their families.

        emphasize to the whole world that privacy is really important because anonymity is highly limited & breakable for even the most competent and motivated person

        I wasn't aware that you were one of the people with the sort of misshapen ethics that admit arguments like "if it can be broken, it's morally right to do so".

        help bring stability to the Bitcoin economy

        I can't help but wonder if you've been taking lessons in rational argument from your blackmailing caller.

        intellectual interest

        Perhaps— just as some might have an intellectual interest in your preference in pornography and the intellectual challenge of compromising your privacy measures in order to discover them... I don't think such curiosity outweighs the risk of harm to others.

        One might wonder why you'd need "hash pre-commitment to secure priority" as part of the satisfaction of an intellectual interest.

        [–]nullc -2 points-1 points  (10 children)

        Please note the vast difference between your initial accusations of hypocrisy and claiming that I was specifically accusing people of definitely being Satoshi,

        Whoa there. I didn't respond naming names only because I am not interested in furthering your rubbish claims, not because I was in any way attempting to diminish or re-frame my disapproval.

        I still consider it hypocritical— but I've also never been one to care too much about hypocricy— I hope, instead, your experience here informs your future actions and you consider what harm you might create for others.

        Really, because the time stamps I saw showed that I replied on Reddit an hour or so before your HN copy.

        At the moment both messages show "one hour" for me. Additionally, my response on HN pointing to this discussion shows 54 minutes ago when your response complaining "without any mention of my reply here" shows 34 minutes ago.

        From my perspective your response feels like procedural adhomenim. I don't really feel that I have any reason to continue that kind of argument. I, personally, believe your behavior on this subject has been irresponsible— ironically so in light of the harassment you've received. Feel free to disagree, but others who share my perspective will not be assisting you.

        [–]nullc -4 points-3 points  (8 children)

        I'm afraid your refusal to justify your claims

        What do you think I need to justify? Do you want a polygraph test attesting to my opinion that you're being creepy and that I felt— perhaps— a little schadenfreude that you also got Satoshi-stalked not so long after I was complaining (to others) that I thought you were being irresponsible?

        means that I am learning even less here

        By "here" I was referring to you getting harassed by the nutbag.

        You seem to be completely impervious to the concern I'm expressing— that your stalking activities may bring similar and far worse down on others. Oh well.

        [–]Lieutenant_Hawkeye 6 points7 points  (0 children)

        God I hate people who write things off as creepy, it's such a useless shitty term that says so little

        [–][deleted]  (9 children)

        [deleted]

          [–]Lieutenant_Hawkeye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Whining?

          [–]lazyplayboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Very little of that makes any sense, replies included. I think you need to unplug.

          [–]asymmetric_bet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          An attention whore moron isn't Satoshi by definition.

          [–]ufaild -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

          So Satoshi's last name is Gwern? Creative parents these days.

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