I haven't been on Steemit very long but I have been here long enough to get a feel for the community. Until today, it was a nice change of pace. Comment sections o places like Youtube are filled with absolute garbage that does nothing to contribute to the content. Until today, I had found the exact opposite here. Most of the comments add to the content of the site. If something was questionable in the article or video, the answer can usually, very easily, be found.
As I logged on today my feed was almost completely grayed out. I thought it had to be a glitch so I reloaded, but nope still the same. Then I noticed it was only associated with one person, @trevonjb. My first thought was this guy has tried some crazy bot or something and has gotten robbed. All his videos showing $0 in votes. I click the most recent link and after sorting through all the "reveal this" and "reveal that"........I realize what had happened. People have taken it upon themselves to cast their own judgment. They are now judge, jury, and executioner. I felt bad for the guy.
For those that don't know Trevon James is a pretty popular YouTuber that got his rise to fame from the backs of the Bitconnect platform. As most everyone knows in the crypto world Bitconnect recently shut down its lending platform for whatever reasons. In turn, the masses have decided that Trevon is to blame and they are angry. So angry now that it seems they are attempting to eliminate him from the crypto space. I personally think this kind of retaliation is wrong.
I have followed Trevon for over a year on YouTube. I watched as this guy made cringe-worthy videos about his daily life. I watched as he moved back in with his grandparents to save money to get a fresh start on life before his first child was born. I watched as he stressed about his part-time job not needing him for multiple days at a time. I even watched as he drank his morning coffee before going in to unload retail trucks for 5-6 hours every day. I saw the hopes and ambitions. I saw him never give up.
Do I think Trevon James is a scammer? No. Do I think he took full advantage of a platform in order to better his life and his family? Yes. This does not make him a bad person in my own opinion, It makes him a human being. He was manipulated just like the rest of us.
I think this community needs to revisit the idea that not everything is someone else's fault. No one took control of your hand and made you invest into bitconnect. No one made you invest more than you can afford. You did all this on your own based on your own research. If all the research you did was subscribing to Trevon James and hung off his every word, you had no business in crypto, to begin with.
The last thing I want to say is I too invested in bitconnect. I too "lost" about $620. But I was at least a little smarter than most it seems. I started with $100, I also withdrew $110 after the lending was shut down. The money I "lost" interested profits. I didn't remortgage my home or invest my rent money. I invested what I could afford. I also made $10!
Well said.
He knew, even if you don't want to believe it. We have Steem Power to vote positively, negatively or abstain from voting. We, the users, decide what we want to reward and what we don't want rewarded. I get that you like the guy but he scammed a bunch of people, probably faked being hacked and shows no remorse over what he has done.
Because he hasn't done anything lol. It's not that I like the guy, I don't even know him. I am just able to see what is right in front of me. There is no evidence or reason to believe that he knew bitconnect was going to shut down. The only thing he is guilty of is being successful.
If we use your logic then I am also a scammer. I also promoted bitconnect, I had dozens of people signed up underneath me. They're not blaming me, they did their own research and made their own decisions.
This world we live in today expects a bailout everytime they make a mistake. There is no accountability.
I'm not going after Carlos from NY, even CryptoNick may be clear given that he doesn't know what a public key is. But Trevon and Craig, I've been watching these guys since I first came to Steemit mid 2016 and I am certain they both knew.
Now Trevon is suggesting people are only (people aren't just after them) going after him and Craig because of race...
Them both being in the know is as clear as it was clear that Bitconnect was a scam, some people just don't want to see though. Does that mean investors don't have any responsibility for their own actions? No.
But where you see success I see a thief that needs a lesson or else will do it again.
There is no evidence is just what people would respond when others would say Bitconnect was a scam, to this day there are people who refuse to recognize it.
I can see your points, I guess we just don't share the same conclusions.
I think this is ridiculous as well.
I dont think w had time to know this for sure. I think it was definitely sketchy. But up until the Texas and NC involvement everything was running as they claimed. I think it says something too that they halted lending and continued with the coin/exchange. If they was exit scamming I dont believe the site would have been accessible at all. I could be totally wrong, they could be planning pump and dumps on their own coin now. Time will tell.