Shaming someone caught in the act is hardly vigilante justice. About a year ago, a local tavern was robbed of their cash register by a thief who neglected to hide from the security cameras and who dropped his mixtape on the way out the smashed door. The owner recorded the tape (a collection of Lionel Ritchie soft hits) and merged it with the security camera shots of the thief in action, then posted it to youtube. The crime was of course reported to the police first, but their response was one of filing the report so that insurance could take care of things - not one of finding and punishing the thief.

I don't think this will spawn a new generation of vigilante crime fighters. This is more akin to happening upon an old security tape which reveals the identity of a dumb criminal who robbed your home. Yeah, I'd probably want to gather some data and turn him into the police.

the theft? or making the guy who stole your laptop look like a fool?

I wouldn't want them to. Police have more important things to deal with than stolen laptops.

They had no idea what to do to recover it. They literally said "thanks for the report, but there's not much we can do."