Oleg Volk ([info]olegvolk) wrote,
@ 2008-10-03 21:41:00
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An important update on thehighroad.org situation
It's been a long day. Rather than recount what I already posted in other venues, I'll link to a very concise and clear write-up by my friend Peter. In sum: not content with stealing The High Road, Derek Zeanah is trying to hold my other forum (in which he had zero involvement other than hosting) Armed Polite Society as a hostage to get me to compromise with him on THR.

The Update of the Drama, in which Stakes Rise...

As always, feel free to re-post anywhere you see fit.

I have been acknowledging all Paypal donations but have not yet had a chance to respond to the many people who mailed checks. I offer a grateful "Thank you" here for now and will get back to each and every one of you as I find a moment to do so.


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[info]tarkhil
2008-10-04 03:02 am UTC (link)
удачи, однако :)

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[info]dreamswimer
2008-10-04 03:29 am UTC (link)
well... is Derek paid (regular invoices, bills, etc) for his hosting services? If so then he can be sued on the spot for closing your access to the second site...

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[info]chuckles48
2008-10-04 04:02 am UTC (link)
Good luck on this, sir. I'd chip in for your legal expenses, but I'm in the middle of defending my own, similar mess, so I hope my best wishes will do for the moment.

But I have to agree, overall - giving in to the this kind of hijacking is just, well, unconscionable.

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APS Move
(Anonymous)
2008-10-04 04:06 am UTC (link)
I see that APS is now in "Maintenance Mode" and hope this is indeed due to moving to a new site and NOT from 's nefarious intent. Just bummer 'cause I was in the middle of a post...*SIGH*

-Sin

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[info]bcl
2008-10-04 04:20 am UTC (link)
Oleg, my advice is that you should change your DNS settings for armedpolitesociety.com so that it only points to nameservers that you control or trust. I see that NS.WELLBUILTNETWORKS.NET is listed as one.

Good look with getting THR back under your control.

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[info]riffalike
2008-10-04 05:09 am UTC (link)
Before a poison record gets out with a huge TTL.

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[info]oldcurlywolf
2008-10-04 02:59 pm UTC (link)
he hijacked another site? This guy has no class at all.

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[info]bcl
2008-10-04 04:32 pm UTC (link)
Looks like domaintools has a full history of the registration for the domain. They charge for access to the information though. It may help you prove exactly when then hijack happened:

http://domain-history.domaintools.com/?q=thehighroad.org&page=results#nsmessages

This is why then I register domains for people they are ALWAYS the registrant and I am only the technical and admin contact.

GoDaddy may also be responsible for letting the registrant be changed without notifying you.

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Banned form THR for being helpful
(Anonymous)
2008-10-04 08:45 pm UTC (link)
Well, I was banned form THR for my one and only post, Stand_Watie, was askins about APS and ishida said that he should check your blog. Pure Kustom asked for directions, I provided them and had my post removed and I'm now banned for no specified reason. I've been a member for about a year and a half, I just never had any think worthwhile to add to the conversation before.

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Re: Banned form THR for being helpful
(Anonymous)
2008-10-04 09:35 pm UTC (link)
Frankly, such does not suprise me given the patterns of behavior that Derek and his cohorts have exhibited in the mess. When Oleg gets his forum(s) back, maybe he can rescind your banning.

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Re: Banned form THR for being helpful
(Anonymous)
2008-10-04 10:16 pm UTC (link)
I'm only baned until the 11th, I cleared my cookies so I don't log in and I can still read most things, but I'm locked out of the for sale forums. I haven't met and of the principals in person and I haven't been around the forums for all that long but I believed Oleg was in the right from what I had read from both sides, now I know that Oleg is in the right.

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(Anonymous)
2008-10-05 05:23 am UTC (link)
Well, I managed to get warned by two separate moderators to watch myself lest I get banned without actually getting banned.

At this point, I view every remaining moderator as being in league with Derek. I've noticed that a variety of moderators haven't been seen at THR in a while, and I'm glad for that.

-Wolfwood

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(Anonymous)
2008-10-05 05:36 pm UTC (link)
I'm in the process of being banned right now. I am bomb throwing on a thread, and stirring action against the little thief as best as I can before the ban button gets mashed.

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The Current High Road Situation
[info]thetouristsr
2008-10-06 02:28 am UTC (link)
I am a former member of THR. Sevral months ago I contacted Mike (hso) about the juvenile slide of the forum. In any other forum I would have just dropped out. The problem was that many members knew me and my company. I thought the better way was to have Mike ban me, which he did, so that when it hit the fan I was long gone--and with documentation. The real problem is not you or Derek singularly, but both of you. You took one of the best, most respected forums and drove it into the ground like a spoiled child who didn't get the right toy. The problem is of your own making. In a few months you're simply going to be a footnote in forum history. Just another "Use-ta-could" who couldn't keep his yap shut. I'm glad I bailed when I did.

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www.wellbuiltnetwork.com
(Anonymous)
2008-10-06 04:11 am UTC (link)
To Oleg & everyone else, I had trouble keeping track of all the different links so I put up a website: www.wellbuiltnetwork.com In the end I took "The High Road" and left out editorial comments and other things. Hope someone finds it useful. Derek - If you are reading this I want to thank you for motivating me to learn html and how to put up a web site. Thanks!

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Re: www.wellbuiltnetwork.com
(Anonymous)
2008-10-06 04:56 am UTC (link)
Now, this is an adult example of how to do business. I do not know when this juvenile concept of "everyone has to be liked" began. In some cases where I made the most money I did it in conjunction with people I couldn't stand. Business is business. I doubt this is a new wrinkle; for several hundred years we have heard adages like, "a fool and his money is soon parted." This applies here in cases where ego is larger than a wallet.

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"I'm busy"
(Anonymous)
2008-10-06 02:02 pm UTC (link)
I had to laugh when I read this. When Derek got us evicted from our studio for non-payment of rent, he told me that the reason he didn't pay it was because he was "busy" and he decided he'd rather spend the weekend with his wife.

The reason I didn't pay it, of course, was because I was in Texas because my mother had died that Friday.

Typical Derek.

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Are you guys the real deal?
[info]thetouristsr
2008-10-12 04:24 am UTC (link)
For a couple of guys who supposedly know about sophisticated weapons and deadly armed combat, you fight amongst yourselves like a couple of old queens having a hissy fit.

You wilfully acted in jointly destroying a forum that could have made you a tidy sum. I have not had a conversation about THR during the past two weeks without laughter.

Get together, go out for sushi, have a couple of those fruity drinks with little umbrellas, sing Kombaya and give each other a nice back rub. Then get back to work, go build a forum. If you remember how.

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Re: Are you guys the real deal?
(Anonymous)
2008-10-18 01:03 pm UTC (link)
You must be kidding. Have drinks, sing kumbaya? Let's try a scenario that might not be over your head. Let's say you have a lawnmower. You don't have a garage so I voluntarily offer to allow you to store your lawnmower in my garage. I say yes. While it is in my garage, I use it every week and put gas in it every week. Once in a while, I put in some time to clean the old grass off the lawn mower. You use it once in a while, too. When it needs maintenance, you bring the money in and get it maintained.

Someone now wants to buy the lawnmower for a lot of money. I respond that if they do buy, I want half because I stored it in my garage. You point out that is ridiculous so I lock my garage and call it my lawnmower. If you don't like it, you can try to prove it is yours but its been in my garage for 6 years. I have pictures to back me up.

Now, you suggest that drinks and singing kumbaya are the solution to the lawnmower. It was a good lawnmower and now the lawn isn't getting mowed. If only the two of us had acted adult.

Now the problem in this is that I have participated in conversations with neighbors all around us that it is your mower and that I was just storing it. People know this.

Obviously you are going to have to sue me. Ultimately, I am going to lose and you're going to get your mower back. Let's just hope that the mower hasn't been run into the ground and that the lucrative offer still stands by the time that happens.

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Re: Are you guys the real deal?
(Anonymous)
2008-10-18 04:14 pm UTC (link)
Let's try a scenario from a situation more on the topic.

Let's suppose you're a surgeon who needs a blood transfusion. You're too weak and sick to save the life of a little girl. Her dad is the perfect match as a donor, but you hate each other's guts.

If the hate is kept alive, the surgeon will die, the little girl will die and the father will be left bereft.

Why don't you guys work together, like men would? Where is it wrtten that two people joined in a business enterprise have to "like" each other? Heck, much of the money I made for my clients was for guys I couldn't stomach.

The advertising world is changing. Right now there is an incredibly dirty little war going on to corner the ownership of forums for advertising space. Duh, you and Derek own a very popular forum. Of which I was banned by your foolishness. Talk to HSO. Why I'm bothering to help you is beyond me. I secretly hope you don't take my advice. I just want to say "I told you so."

So during the day you work together. At night, he drives off in his Lamboghini, and you're off to the mansion for swimming pools and movie stars.

Or you two could continue to savage each other in a ridiculous public attack and both be working at McDonalds next year.

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Re: Are you guys the real deal?
[info]mzmadmike
2009-02-27 12:53 pm UTC (link)
Wow, yes, because websites generate so much income no one needs to work...in fantasyland.

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