The Monero Shame List — MoneroShameList.com

THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO GO ABOUT IT

ThePrivacyDad:

This is such a terrible idea, and not great for Monero’s image.

I mostly agree. I don’t take any issue with having a website that lists all the privacy services that have yet to support Monero. However, framing it around shame is a bad idea, especially when you don’t know their reasons and have not exhausted all possible solutions. I don’t think this kind of approach for this specific issue is conducive to the result that you want.

1. Have the creators of that site even asked those services why they don’t support Monero?

If it had a different name and had asked each and every service why they don’t support Monero and included their answers, it would be more useful. I’ve also noticed that Proton, the biggest privacy company, is not listed. Neither is Tuta or Addy. I find that curious.

Supporting Monero generally means supporting direct payments via Monero, and that is not the case of Proton, Tuta or Addy.

1. If the reason you haven’t listed those services is because you know that they have alternatives, why aren’t you campaigning for those alternatives?

You are not making your case well. People forget that Monero is only a means to an end. It’s the only cryptocurrency that’s anonymous by default, yes, but accepting Monero is not the only way for those services to accept anonymous payments.

GIFT CARDS & PRIVACY-FRIENDLY RESELLERS

You could ask those services to sell gift cards on privacy-friendly reseller platforms like The Proxy Store and Cake Pay, which both accept Monero. The Proxy Store also accepts cash which is easier for the average person. This is what I’m trying to do with Proton.

THE CASE OF MEGA

MEGA used to sell gift cards. Did you know that? I don’t know if they still do, but the platforms they sold it on were websites that were not very well known and, hence, hard to trust. They were not privacy-friendly. However, there was one privacy-friendly platform that MEGA supported, and that was PaySafeCard.

PaySafeCard works like a universal gift card with fiat currency on it that you can use to purchase from any service that accepts it. I used to buy PaySafeCard vouchers to renew my MEGA subscription completely anonymously. PaySafeCard vouchers could be bought online with a credit card, which is not anonymous, but they could also be bought in many stores across the world with cash. That’s how I bought them.

But years ago, MEGA inexplicably stopped supporting payments via PaySafeCards. PaySafeCard also had its own issues. Your voucher could get locked if they suspect something, and the only way to get your money back is to provide them with your ID, receipt, address, and bank account details, so they could send the money to your account.

CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT PAYMENTS VIA THE PROXY STORE

If you really want to compel those services to support anonymous payments, ask them to sell gift cards in the Proxy Store. It’s the easiest and most effective way to support anonymous payments. Supporting Monero indirectly is better than not supporting Monero at all. It’s even better for privacy.

When you ask those services to sell gift cards in the Proxy Store, make sure to tell them they should work as credits (in fiat currency) that are available in small ($20) and larger amounts ($50-$100). Privacy services that sell vouchers that don’t work like credit are very limiting.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There is great power in coming together collectively and asking for those services to support anonymous payments in one way or another. But shaming them like this is not the way. At best, it should be a last resort. But you have not exhausted all the possibilities. And you are not making your case clear, as you aren’t suggesting alternatives.

It sounds like all you are asking is for those services to support direct payment via Monero, when that is not the only solution. I would change the name and tone of the website and start working on compelling these services to support payments via the Proxy Store.