I do think you have a good point with the ugliness of ganging up on this guy.
My feeling is: if this was actually an "experiment", as people claimed -- and not some lame attempt at proving people are really fluffy teddy bears inside -- then what happens in context of that experiment should stay in that context. We shouldn't be making stabs at this guy's character for doing something that was basically part of the game.
The experiment was asking "what will happen if we do this". We got our answer: "someone will take advantage of it". At least the guy that took advantage of it was willing to fess up, and we all (should have) learned something.
My feeling is: if this was actually an "experiment", as people claimed -- and not some lame attempt at proving people are really fluffy teddy bears inside -- then what happens in context of that experiment should stay in that context. We shouldn't be making stabs at this guy's character for doing something that was basically part of the game.
The experiment was asking "what will happen if we do this". We got our answer: "someone will take advantage of it". At least the guy that took advantage of it was willing to fess up, and we all (should have) learned something.