New Owner Announcement at PF

Pass the popcorn.

Lmao, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but these guys are dirty, liars, already. They are claiming they don't censor anything "only slander" but anyone reading The dumpster under feedback and plainly see they are censoring anything remotely negative about them or controversial or deleting anything that has a question attached to it they don't wanna answer. And who the fuck calls themselves SUPERADMIN? Sounds like a kid that just got his shot at admin at 12 years old. I agree with your points this buy will give them the opportunity for damage control. I don't know how much of a threat they are. They got caught and seem very noob when it comes to forums, ect. I just think that Mr SuperAdmin is going to get a chub off his new powers to be and will probably be changing the rules to suit his own egotistical need for power and control. I can see it already. But...who knows. Lol. Just my thoughts.

Where money is involved, don't take any action personally and don't expect justice which doesn't involve a lawyer. Business is business.... I learned the truth of that saying through a bunch of stupid shit.

What the new owner of PF has is control over a fairly large amateur philosophy community. This site doesn't have that. Doesn't mean it couldn't develop into that.. but it would take a while.

So.. what do you want? The cool stuff that only comes with that larger community? Then just go back and see what you can do to preserve it. If the owner acts like a fascist.. don't sweat it. That's a waste of energy. Just make whatever he's doing work to your advantage. That's what he's doing in regard to you. And if you take this path.. remember not to be a jerk when Ayn Rand comes up. You're proving that she was right about some things... which she was.

If down the line, you find that Ayn Rand isn't working for you.. you can part ways having lost nothing.

I just want to share, though Baden. To me, you should just be some guy on the internet. But you're actually part of the way I realized that my only connection to Europe is the genetics of some of my ancestors. The truth in my world is all Ayn Rand. That actually hurt my feelings. I didn't want to know that. This last paragraph, which probably represents TMI (too much information) has a philosophical connection to your OP. Sort of.

My post "New Owners" was deleted by SuperAdmin for low post quality. Interesting how no other admin felt that way prior to SuperAdmin.

Paul never deleted critical posts. Criticism is sort of what philosophy is all about.

Personally, if someone accused me of being a lying thief, I'd either deny it or own it and then explain my F up, but I wouldn't ignore it.

Anyway, we've moved on. Let's make this thing work.

The outlaw Josey Wales:Calm your boner SUPERADMIN

I had to laugh at that one.

Brilliant. :)

Quoting Hanover

Anyway, we've moved on. Let's make this thing work.

I second the motion. This is home now.

The Rand analysis is nonsense. An entrepreneur bought a site and alienated some of his core customers. They left and started their own competing business. That's the free market in action. Time will tell who prevails, and it may be both.

Their PR was handled miserably. A timely and transparent transition would have eliminated any problem or a competitor.

The motivation for this site is just too make something better.

I am assuming when Paul saw their offer his eyes popped out like the old Cartoons. He deserves it. It was his baby that was his life's work till now. I am sure it was not easy and emotional but it was time and he was ready. He may have jumped the gun a bit. He may not have done his due diligence but he did what was best for him with what was his and the consequences could have been much worse. I think the new owners are slimy, douche-bags. I don't think things will ever be the same unless someone wins the lottery and buy's the site back. I think change is good and I think for all of us here it was what was supposed to happen because it happened.

He didn't make diddly squat for 12 years of work.

Quoting Hanover

The Rand analysis is nonsense.

Well at least I mentioned a philosopher. That's got to be worth something.

Can anyone still get into the dumpster and see the posts?

I doubt that these new guys love philosophy anywhere near as much as Paul or that they will dedicate to much effort to maintaining its standards. As this Nik said, we are here for the money. It looks to me as though keeping Paul as an administrator is the reaction to all of us signing up on this and the other site.

Maybe they think that he can keep everyone around while they sack the place and and get enough twatter fiends and farcebook fools going there to make money off. Imagine a continuous high turnover of new people that are being directed there from those "social" sites. All of them looking for a place to show off their intellectual capabilities or pick arguments about things they have no knowledge of.

I really don't want to leave PF, it is about the only place I spend any time to myself. But I will not stay there if things do get shitty.

We're in a heated battle for most likes, so I played the odds and criticized Rand.

Quoting Sir2u

Can anyone still get into the dumpster and see the posts?

I can see them. I don't know of any restrictions about looking in there.

Baden,
I tried again and can now see the deleted post, maybe a glitch the first time. But just look at the deleted threads, it does make one wonder.

He said he needed to do some work and therefore had to abruptly leave the shoutout box. The work that needed to be done was deleting Sapientia's deleted post in the Dumpster. I am assuming he is done talking but having a good ol' time using his new alter ego as SuperAdmin by using Admin quietly. I am assuming his buddy will have a chat with him and ask he stop digging his own grave and cease fire but like a crack head that got their first taste, I am assuming this will go on for a while.

A clear case of why it's more advisable to judge people by their actions rather than their words.

(Y)

I'd love to continue to watch - and maybe participate some more in - the unfolding drama, but I need to sleep and work. Good night.

I believe he is already dropping the ban hammer on those that are being too critical.

I believe that the admins/mods could reflect on this a bit better aeguilibrium. I don't believe you can see who is banned and who is not unless they start posting in the unmod section. Unless, I am mistaken.

Update. That new guy named VM. US i believe has been banned. All this posts are in the Dumpster and SuperAdmin is currently in the Dumpster. Can't click on VM. US name anymore so I am figuring he is gone. I guess, he is starting with the new people that won't be missed but i am assuming if people don't shut up and stand in line there will be regulars gone sooner then later.

Reply to Sapientia I thought you quit your job, that's why you were back -- all that hobo free time.

Reading thesoren's (or should I say, "thesockpuppets") first post kind of made me wonder if he didn't just read some random Wikipedia articles on philosophy and tack them together in a hastily-constructed post.

I thought they might be the same person too, just because he came out of left field. Notice that -will- admin too, that hasn't posted anything? Who dat? So confusing. This calls for General Disarray.

I just shouted any idea who _will_ is. He has no posts and is and administrator.

I think click on super admin's name and he is viewing my profile.

I'm still open to seeing how things go going forward at PF1. Indicators aren't on the positive side as of right now, but I see some folk haven't made the crossover either -- and that's my primary metric for "waiting it out" or no. At least there's an effort at this point, though I gather the new owner isn't exactly familiar with forum culture. [otherwise that all would have been handled very differently -- forum culture tends to be pretty libertarian in its views on speech, and all this banning and modding whenever the owner feels its convenient to have something not appear is against that norm. Plus the owner would have made an intro much sooner... ah, we'll see what happens]

First impressions aren't everything, after all, and allegations are just that -- allegations. I've been on the receiving end of that enough times to know that, and work with people often enough to know that too.

Reply to Wosret I did, but I was only jobless for about a week. I have a new job. I came back because I'm an addict. :D

Reply to The outlaw Josey Wales Hilarious post, but sadly true probably.

Apparently, Borat didn't know the site was hacked before when I asked him about user info security.

Who buys a philosophy forum to make money anyways... we are all broke and unemployed! Do the owners not know who Socrates is?

Reply to discoii An Aristocrat who didn't have to worry about money? ;)

Ads really would probably generate enough, and then some, revenue -- plus all the connections, etc. that they can use, regardless of whether or not this group stays. Just sayin'. It's got a good google presence.

Quoting Thorongil

Apparently, Borat didn't know the site was hacked before when I asked him about user info security.

I saw that. But it wasn't Porat who replied to you. It was the other guy, Nik. He seems to be more savvy in general.

Reply to Baden I was operating under the theory proposed earlier that these are all socks of the same guy. Could be true. Either way, maybe Borat can be the name for the collective, like the Borg from Star Trek.

Yes, I'm making a distinction now though because Nik seems to be saying and doing all the right things over there (not that I trust him at all) while Porat is kindly doing his best to drive people out of his hands and into our warm embrace.

Good cop, bad cop tactics are used towards the same outcome.

Quoting Baden

Yes, I'm making a distinction now though because Nik seems to be saying and doing all the right things over there (not that I trust him at all) while Porat is kindly doing his best to drive people out of his hands and into our warm embrace.

It didn't take Porat to force me into your warm embrace.

No, the chloroform hankie seems to have done the trick.

He meant to keep me on as an admin from the start, but he failed to communicate it and I assumed the opposite.

Pretty sure Nik is a real guy, not a sock puppet. Mr. Porat's company supposedly has 7 employees according to something somebody found.

As for the deleted threads, I've let Mr. Porat know that I feel he's failing to understand PF's culture of transparency of moderation and is endangering his investment by such actions. But he feels he's being slandered. Will have to wait and see if he can be convinced to address his past productively.

Reply to aequilibrium I see no record of anybody being banned by the new management. All bans this month are by StreetlightX. Who do you think has been banned?

@Paul
If you look in deleted posts there's a banned person. That was my concern, there is no record of it.

Reply to shmik Please tell me the username so I can check it out quickly. I'm doubtful they have the technical skills to rewrite my forum script to remove the ban record.

Ah, you mean VM.US. That account was deleted, not banned. Deletion doesn't leave a record.

I'll wait until he deletes an account that wasn't created specifically for the purpose of criticizing him before I draw any conclusions. At any rate, I get the feeling that Eric is just a business guy who won't be around much once people stop talking about him and Nik will be the one interested in running PF. That would be a good thing.

Ok I couldn't tell that it was a newly created account. Yeh I figure things will blow over pretty quick and return to normal there.

Quoting Paul

But he feels he's being slandered. Will have to wait and see if he can be convinced to address his past productively.

He's not being slandered. He already admitted in the ShoutBox he was the same Eric Porat as the one in the Digital River incident. He then deleted that shout along with several others.

As I said in the mod forum, if he keeps this level of censorship up, he should be consistent and change the guidelines. Although you may be right and he may be smart enough to back off.

I'd suppose that from his point of view it's slander to bring up an incident for which he was found not guilty to make the implication that he was guilty. I doubt that it qualifies legally as slander, of course, as long as nobody actually outright says that he was guilty.

Quoting Paul

I'd suppose that from his point of view it's slander to bring up an incident for which he was found not guilty to make the implication that he was guilty. I doubt that it qualifies legally as slander, of course, as long as nobody actually outright says that he was guilty.

A problem I've had is that I don't understand what their business plan is. Of the possibilities, the one that's criminal makes the most sense to me. His response to the question about his past reinforced suspicion.

Reply to Mongrel A different bidder, who didn't win the bidding, told me that he felt PF would make $350 a month from a single banner ad per page. The site gets a lot of traffic, advertising is a very practical plan. If they market the site better than I did (not hard) and grow the traffic, that number would shoot up. If you look at his linkedin page and his company, advertising is what he does so obviously that's his plan.

Frankly there's a lot more money to be made honestly with PF than dishonestly -- the user data has negligible marketing value except for maybe the posters who used their real names as usernames. And if he were able to get the passwords (which he can't) it would be stupid to use PF's database for hacking people when that makes it much easier to trace back to him and costs a great deal more than if he hacked a database or purchased a black market database. Hackers do not purchase websites, they don't need to.

Reply to Paul VM something. And I don't think he/she was banned in the normal way, I think their account was entirely deleted.I think that he/she was a problem so the new owners made that problem dissapear.