stg83: but this thread is definitely useful for people that are rightly concerned about their games going to people that actually intend to play and enjoy them. And also for providing info about shady traders that have gotten away with scamming people for free games time and again with different alts. This list is primarily for information purposes, what each individual derives from it is entirely up to them.
It's true that it's very useful, however any list is only as useful as it's accurate. The more dubious entries it contains, the less useful it becomes for GA hosts and traders; if I have to verify every name in the list to make sure it's an actual scammer and not just a person who was rude in the Gamersgate thread, then I might as well forget about the list altogether.
It's obvious that the list in its current state wasn't working properly. So in order to improve it I'd suggest the following:
• Create some clear inclusion criteria. "cheated in a trade", "traded/regifted a GA game", "alt account"... etc. As someone mentioned, "scammer" can mean different things to different people, so it would be good if we actually explicitly state why people get added.
• Clearly state when a new person get added to the list, with the reason. I know it's difficult to maintain the proofs (posts deleted... etc), but it's not really necessary. All I want is to be able to check that person X was added on date Y for reason Z for any entry on the list. The scammer's post might be deleted by then, but the post with the reason why he was added will still be there.
• Create a mechanism to allow any person on the list to defend and explain themselves. And be removed if necessary. At the moment it seems any person who asks "why am I on the list?" gets immediately downvoted to oblivion.
My own complaint was not the usefullness of the list or "cyberbullying", whatever that means, but one particular entry. It appears that it's impossible to tell by whom was tort1234 added, when was he added and why was he added. There isn't even any trace of a proof regarding him. And any queries regarding this seem to fall on deaf ears so far (his posts get additionally downvoted).
Had the three points above been implemented, tort's case wouldn't have happened, and even if it did, it would have been immediately resolved.
The wiki entry is better maintained (with references), but not many people actually check it. Most people checked the list on the first post of the thread only.