The Pros and Cons of "Outing" Someone

I love you guys. I just wanted to start a discussion about when it's right to out someone or not, since the "There's a Bad Trader But I'm Not Going to Release His/Her Name" threads always devolve into a discussion of whether or not it's right to out the trader.

The math part was somewhat for my own amusement, but I was just throwing out some numbers to get an idea for how the thought process should look. I invite anyone to disagree with the numbers or even how I'm thinking about it. Starting a discussion was the idea; any and all jokes and comments are of course welcome!

 

I'm just misunderstood man. I just meant I respect how bad traders pull it off.

 

I'm not encouraging negativity for the heck of it, nor am I ignoring the positives. I'm just trying to figure out the right balance (at least in abstract terms , since it's always case-by-base), which includes all the aspects.

And if I'm encouraging "negativity", it's for a legitimate reason. But I will agree that my "bottom line" is probably a bit much, as it's obviously not a closed case.

 

That's fair, and that's actually what I set out to do -- figure out how stuff relates to the bad trader and the community. I essentially assumed no effect on the "bad trader." It's hard for me to predict how the "bad trader" would react if there name is released, but I'm sure others have more experience and insight, and I'm curious to hear those. It may cause them to never send a box at all, but it may also cause them to send it (or send it back at least, as with CJS).

 

I really didn't start this thread with my own individual interests at heart, at least not consciously. FWIW, I've shipped 5 trades in 14 months, so many others have much more at stake.

You're right that the person on the other side of a possible bad trader can and should value their own interests. I don't know if I forgot to include that in my original post or deliberately excluded it because it's hard to estimate. But I would also encourage others to put a high value on the community; that people actually do that is, in my experiences, a big part of what makes this place/community great.

It's always a case-by-case basis. This was certainly abstract, but I just hoped to start a discussion that informed the analysis. I will admit that my post implies too much of a focus on the math results, and on further review that's not what I would want. If I could direct the focus of the conversation -- and lord knows I certainly can't -- I would want it to center on the 4 scenarios as well as the odds that certain actions will or will not get the OP his beer.

 

The joke just went over my head! I'm not the funniest guy, and if you don't believe me, just ask my Posts:Likes ratio. Of course, that might just be due to posts like my first one in here.

 

This is exactly the kind of stuff I'm getting at. I totally didn't consider the "new account" stuff, which complicates stuff further. But I'm also hoping to get at a "general rule."

For the record, I asked for the mods to delete the "math" portion, as I think it's mostly counterproductive, especially since it's definitely underparameterized.

 

26 years and counting, my friend! The geek part, anyway.