Per my original HN post last night which broke the story [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8124119], I still think that he gamed the system. If I remember correctly, he asked mTurkers to create a Stellar account _without_ an identifiable account name so the transaction couldn't be easily backtracked. Also, he did not use his real name in mTurk and impersonated someone else. Not sure if his actions violated the ToS.
It was right for Everett to have come forward and disclose his means. His suggestions to improve the system are excellent. It will improve the Stellar system for everyone involved. Nevertheless, I believe that he should donate his balance to a charity. It will be an honorable thing to do.
It makes no sense to suggest he donate it to charity. He found a pile of people willing to sell him the goods at a price both they and he were happy with. If something like Stellar is to succeed you can't put limits on the free market and the transactions that are allowed to take place using them.
Just because he didn't use his real name doesn't make the transaction less valid. And just because the task didn't use an identifiable account name doesn't make the transaction less valid.
What you're insisting is that you can't buy something from someone on Craigslist using a fake name and meeting in a place that nobody else can tell where you made the transaction. In other words, 99% of Craiglist transactions.
He found a pile of people looking for a job, and willing to perform a set of tasks for a certain price. Nowhere was it disclosed that this was a one-time deal, and by proceeding they would be forever limiting the upside of their personal economic prosperity.
If you disclosed to these people that this is a one-time transaction, and that they will forever be parting ways with their only allotment of currency which might appreciate in the future, and which is currently valued 50X higher, I bet you wouldn't get as many takers.
I think most people are aware you're only allowed one Facebook account thus the fact that it's a one-time deal is implied.
I also think most of the turks probably thought it a good trade: $1-2 USD for 5000 funny money. I imagine most turks, like most people, aren't familiar with cryptocurrencies and the only way they will ever hear of Stellar again is if it becomes so commonplace that the giveaways are long a thing of the past.
Compared to the rates that the other MT tasks pay, I think they made out pretty good.
Per my original HN post last night which broke the story [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8124119], I still think that he gamed the system. If I remember correctly, he asked mTurkers to create a Stellar account _without_ an identifiable account name so the transaction couldn't be easily backtracked. Also, he did not use his real name in mTurk and impersonated someone else. Not sure if his actions violated the ToS.
It was right for Everett to have come forward and disclose his means. His suggestions to improve the system are excellent. It will improve the Stellar system for everyone involved. Nevertheless, I believe that he should donate his balance to a charity. It will be an honorable thing to do.
Sandro