Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: fuckingACE on November 14, 2012, 10:32 pm

Title: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: fuckingACE on November 14, 2012, 10:32 pm
So a while back people started going on forums asking for anything from .1 to 1 BTC, usually interest free, just like a favour you know, you´re good deed for the day. Me being a funky chicken was like sure here you go, I wont badger you for it, there's no set date to pay back, but its a loan not a gift. So pass on the kindness, pay me back what I gave you and the interest is to help someone else out one day..

Guess what, out of 11 people I helped out, all groveling on the forums and telling people how grateful they´d be for the money not one has come through. To be fair, one guy, hope he dosen´t mind me mentioning his name ·scarecrow· left me heart felt messages literally every 15 days for the last 3 months, telling me that he´s in a tight spot but that he hasn´t forgotten. And tbh for me that's pretty much as good as paying back.

Wtf happened to people being honest and helpful and stuff, don´t mind much about the money tbh, just kinda sux that were all such dicks to each other. And that´s the kinda attitude that makes people not want to help. How good would it be if you knew everywhere you went at every single moment someones looking out for ya..

C´MON people lets do betterrrrrrr
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: paraiso on November 14, 2012, 10:44 pm
Disappointing... I guess the problem is the anonymity of the site and the fact that you don't have the possibility of bumping into the person IRL maybe. The cost of having to 'avoid' someone on the forums doesn't outweigh the benefit of having received free money.

Unfortunately though, I think that when you have people that are already asking for money, especially for this kind of activity, are undesirables. I personally would never consider borrowing money from someone to pay for something like this, but that's just me though.

You're too nice it seems.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: thecrackhead on November 14, 2012, 11:10 pm
Here's +1 from me.To be honest I think you would fell better helping out a established member or donating to the mods or the TOR project.
Just take it as a lesson, I have this feeling that I know you just because I would do the same thing...This applies in real life as well  I feel guilty if I don't leave some change to beggars on the street when I pass by.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: fuckingACE on November 14, 2012, 11:18 pm
Disappointing... I guess the problem is the anonymity of the site and the fact that you don't have the possibility of bumping into the person IRL maybe. The cost of having to 'avoid' someone on the forums doesn't outweigh the benefit of having received free money.

Unfortunately though, I think that when you have people that are already asking for money, especially for this kind of activity, are undesirables. I personally would never consider borrowing money from someone to pay for something like this, but that's just me though.

You're too nice it seems.
Maby, but then its life, I´d rather get burnt than stop being nice to people.. I think I get more from it than them. That feeling you get when you´ve helped someone avoid a scrape, it really makes you feel good about yourself.. Obv never put yourself out too much. Nothing that you can´t afford to lose.. But yeh, I don´t like the idea of everyone being suspicious of everyone.. Also you meet some genuine people along the way.. Think I might make a lil commune somewhere hidden, full of nice people. We can bet on badger racing as entertainment and grow our own drugs.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: fuckingACE on November 14, 2012, 11:23 pm
Here's +1 from me.To be honest I think you would fell better helping out a established member or donating to the mods or the TOR project.
Just take it as a lesson, I have this feeling that I know you just because I would do the same thing...This applies in real life as well  I feel guilty if I don't leave some change to beggars on the street when I pass by.

that makes you a good person dude; lol thanks for the karma. It´s not guilt that pushes me to do it, just the reward of seeing someone happy and knowing I did it. Its an amazing feeling! Funny you should mention that! I just downloaded the new version of TOR and donated a bit! I´ve donated to Mods in the past, really I should do it more, they do a fucking good job and take their own time out to help us.. But really its so much less rewarding when someone dosn´t ask, Its wrong I know, but as you said, you see some person on the street, cold and hungry, and you´re in your nice clothes, smoking on your way home. How can you say no.. It´s al labout thinking of the rest of the world and what you would appreciate if the shoe switched.


P.S Just for being you, which is like me, you get to be.. umm... The supreme chancellor of common sense and niceness on my new commune. Lemme know if you ever wanna take up the offer
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: ZenAndTheArt on November 14, 2012, 11:29 pm
Just out of interest what was their post count?

Your real-world Karma will win out in the end buddy. :)
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: fuckingACE on November 14, 2012, 11:37 pm
Just out of interest what was their post count?

Your real-world Karma will win out in the end buddy. :)

It will, no doubt, humanity is inherently good, just that at the moment we have a lot of bad people influencing us. If it wasn´t for them, the world would be different.

I never lent to anyone with less that 15 or so posts. Doing that is not nice, just stupid. Someone creates a login asks for .5BTC they make a new login ask for another etc.. time consuming, but someone with a few days to lose could rack up a lot. I figured 15 or so posts is an amount that you can´t really fake quick enough for it to be worth pulling that scam.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: Yurnero on November 14, 2012, 11:41 pm
Feels better to give than to receive thants for sure.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: BajoZero on November 14, 2012, 11:48 pm
I give people these loans sometimes too. I haven't ever been paid back, but I assume that I won't be, and I guess if I ever am, I'll be pleasantly surprised.  I give money to homeless people too, even when I know it'll only help them get high.  It comes back around eventually. I think that mostly (with some prominent exceptions like child sexual abuse), both good and evil aren't as extreme as we like to think they are.  They're in the small things.
Z
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: fuckingACE on November 14, 2012, 11:51 pm
It comes back around eventually. I think that mostly, both good and evil aren't as extreme as we like to think they are.  They're in the small things.
Z

I think that there is my quote of the week  man...
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: paraiso on November 15, 2012, 12:37 am
I do a fair bit of volunteer work and also donate money/blood etc and I've funded a few micro loans. I never had much of an expectation of return (I have always been repaid the micro loans) and I get satisfaction out of giving people this money because I know that people don't become beggars because they want to and genuinely benefit from what I do. I don't mind giving money to beggars even if they did have a sign that said they were going to use that money on drugs, because I don't mind if you're using that so that you can escape your problems, even just for a few hours.

I guess what I'm trying to illustrate is, would you feel the same satisfaction if the person you were funding, was a middle class person, with the goal of just making some free coin or just couldn't be bothered getting more coin? I know even though I have done a good deed, I couldn't still help feeling that I'd been taken advantage of.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: fuckingACE on November 15, 2012, 12:47 am
I do a fair bit of volunteer work and also donate money/blood etc and I've funded a few micro loans. I never had much of an expectation of return (I have always been repaid the micro loans) and I get satisfaction out of giving people this money because I know that people don't become beggars because they want to and genuinely benefit from what I do. I don't mind giving money to beggars even if they did have a sign that said they were going to use that money on drugs, because I don't mind if you're using that so that you can escape your problems, even just for a few hours.

I guess what I'm trying to illustrate is, would you feel the same satisfaction if the person you were funding, was a middle class person, with the goal of just making some free coin or just couldn't be bothered getting more coin? I know even though I have done a good deed, I couldn't still help feeling that I'd been taken advantage of.

I don´t think I´d feel as gratified giving it to someone that dosent need it, I probably wouldn´t give it to them if I knew. I guess not so much used, but I´d feel betrayed.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: shitwassocash on November 15, 2012, 01:10 am
Ugh. Hearing that really takes my heart out of the community. I want to believe that a place like SR, this kind of community, can be good to each other without morality having to be legislated.

There was one point I needed a .15 BTC loan. The money I had transferred from mt.gox wouldn't get to SR for a few hours and a vendor had a listing I desperately wanted that was running out quick. I was willing to pay back double as soon as my btc cleared, but I didn't bother asking anyone. I just didn't think anyone would have the trust.



Is that avatar picture you?
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: nuyt on November 15, 2012, 02:58 am
This is why we can't have nice things as a species!  >:(

Sorry to hear that fA, but thanks for posting this thread. I've seen all these people asking for small loans, and thought myself about helping. Kinda glad I didn't bother now, though there have been a few times where I would have liked to ask for a small loan. It'd be nice if we had the kind of community where you could just help people out and not have to worry about getting ripped off.  :'(
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: autistmode on November 15, 2012, 04:33 am
This thread made me feel kinda bad that I've never helped anyone out.  I'm not particularly social in general, so I didn't really pay attention to the forums...had an account made to review vendors who asked for it, but that's it.  The recent downtime has made me feel like I should at least try to be part of the greater community, so I'm looking at social threads like this a bit more.

I've never asked for a loan, even though I've sometimes wished I could...I've never given one either, but I pretty much never have more than 2 or 3 BTC on hand to begin with.  I like to think I'd be timely in paying back, though...I pay back loans from acquaintances in person really quickly.  I suppose it isn't something easily determined until it comes down to it.  I still haven't decided if anonymity has changed my behavior at all yet.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: John Humphreys on November 15, 2012, 04:59 am
Sad to hear about the lack of repayment... but it's very pleasing to see that there are people out there with enough good will to make the micro-loans in the first place.

I'd love to hear some more of the details of the interactions. Have you followed up with any of the borrowers? Do other people have any positive experiences with repayment of micro-loans?

This is of particular interest to me since my research area is "emergent market institutions" and the degree to which people keep to their contracts without official enforcement. Your story has me thinking about whether I could run some sort of mini-bank and trust experiments on SR.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Microloans!
Post by: human5 on November 15, 2012, 07:13 am
So a while back people started going on forums asking for anything from .1 to 1 BTC, usually interest free, just like a favour you know, you´re good deed for the day. Me being a funky chicken was like sure here you go, I wont badger you for it, there's no set date to pay back, but its a loan not a gift. So pass on the kindness, pay me back what I gave you and the interest is to help someone else out one day..

Guess what, out of 11 people I helped out, all groveling on the forums and telling people how grateful they´d be for the money not one has come through. To be fair, one guy, hope he dosen´t mind me mentioning his name ·scarecrow· left me heart felt messages literally every 15 days for the last 3 months, telling me that he´s in a tight spot but that he hasn´t forgotten. And tbh for me that's pretty much as good as paying back.

Wtf happened to people being honest and helpful and stuff, don´t mind much about the money tbh, just kinda sux that were all such dicks to each other. And that´s the kinda attitude that makes people not want to help. How good would it be if you knew everywhere you went at every single moment someones looking out for ya..

C´MON people lets do betterrrrrrr
Awe, bro. You can't just be nice like that, especially in this type of environment where everyone is anonymous. Sure, it feels good to be nice and help people out, but you gotta make sure its worthwhile. Don't help out anonymous drug buyers with no strings attached. Help out those who want to help others if anything.