I joined this thread looking to learn more about Ripple.
I also signed up to create a ripple account, but it seems slightly useless without a source of XRP.
Checking this thread, the third or fourth post was made by a senior member of bitcointalk, and links to this blog:
http://ripplescam.org/having read it, and checked up a bit on their own site, the blog points out some massive holes in the Ripple concept & implementation.
7 months after launch and the source code is still awaiting release.
It looks like a corporate mixing of BTC and current banking transaction system, the nodes do seem to be privately run also...
