Here's the email:
This is to all ReptileForum.com members.
I have some very bad news to share with you about one of our
moderators. Rich or (iguanairs) has stabbed me in the back.
Rich was one of ReptileForums admins which gave him access to the
entire forum. He was the only moderator with this status and he had more
power than any other moderator. I trusted rich with this amount of power
because I counted him as my friend. I trusted him 100%
However, yesterday he did something that was illegal and very wrong. He
decided to start his own forum because he was not happy about the
success of ReptileForums.com He knew that reptileforums was one of the
fastest growing reptile message boards on the net. In fact, reptileforums is
the 4th largest reptile board anywhere. Rich got jealous and decided to
start his forum without telling me. Looking at his site, I know he must
have been working on it for weeks all without telling me.
Well, once he got this new forum ready to launch, he needed a way to
promote it, so he decided to hack my forums by deleting everything off
the homepage and putting 8 of his own banners all over the homepage that
lead to this new site. He then left a note that said “ReptileForums is
moving, click on the banner to be taken to the new site” along with
some other words which I don’t want to repeat.
After, he did this, he also start to reply to every thread possible
telling everybody that reptileforums is moving with a link to his new
site.
After he did this, he must of told lies to the other moderators,
because he got most of all my moderators to leave with him. He was telling
them that I was being disrespectful and ignoring all his requests which
was a LIE.
After doing all this, he went even further. He then logged into the
admin panel and STOLE my email list of all reptile forums members and he
has been emailing them about his new site. Not only is this illegal, but
it is wrong and his email is a complete LIE.
To even make this worse, 2 hrs before Rich did all of this, he was
chatting with me on AOL about how he liked the new layout which I created.
He was telling me how great it looked and we chatted away for ten
minutes as if we were friends. He did not bring up that he started a new
forum, he did not tell me that he was going to delete my homepage and
replace it with all his banners, he did tell me that has was sending out
emails to my members and lying to them.
After all this happened, Rich finally chatted with me on AOL. I asked
him why he did this. He said because he was mad that I have a popup on
the topsites page of reptileforums.com and he said that I was ignoring
ALL of his private messages to me. THIS WAS ALL A LIE. I did not receive
one private message from him on reptileforums about any of this. I have
PROOF. I logged into the database and there was no private messages to
me from Rich. I also told him that the only reason I have a popup on
the topsites page is because it helps my topsite members receive more
traffic. The popup is a traffic exchange popup which brings in even more
traffic to the topsites page. Why would I remove this??? It is only on
one page and the topsites page is not a page that reptileforum members
would visit.
After asking Rich again why he did all this, he still told me it was
because I did not answer his private messages and because there was a
popup on one page. I asked Rich why he didn’t send me an email or why he
didn’t try to chat with me about any of this and he did not answer;
because he knew he was lying. I caught him and he knew it. The fact is,
Rich never sent any PMs to me and never contacted me about any of this. He
just needed an excuse to start his own forum.
Reptile Forum members….does this make any sense to you???
Heres the big question.
If rich really thought I was ignoring him, then why didn’t he just
leave and start a new forum instead of deleting my content off the
homepage and stealing my email list and lying to everyone???
Rich had no right to do any of these things, it was illegal and morally
wrong. I have spent thousands of dollars on reptileforums and I have
personally coded everything, created the layout, added all the care
sheets and articles and promoted it all by myself.
I trusted Rich as my friend, but I can see that he just wanted to hurt
me. He stabbed me in the back and lied to everyone. If you got an email
from rich, then delete it. He is a liar and a back stabber.
Why would you want to be a part of Rich’s site when you understand what
he did to mine?
Also, you may see posts from users that are posting hateful messages on
reptileforums that are leading to Rich’s new site. This is Rich, he is
using reptileforums to promote his own site. He is using my traffic to
promote his own site. I have worked very hard to earn all my traffic
that goes to reptileforums and Rich is taking it away. Not only is it
against the terms of use contract, but it is morally wrong. You don’t
become a member of another board and start driving other members to your
site by writing lies to everyone and putting down the owner which Rich is
doing.
What makes it worse is, I lost a friend. Rich, if your reading this,
you were my friend and I trusted you with my entire board. I did not
think you would do something like this.
This is a notice to ALL reptileforum members, please be warned of
Rich’s actions and please be aware of his lies.
I have not came into his board posting hateful posts and directing any
of his members back to my board. I have not posted my banners all over
his site, and I will not steal his email list and start spamming them
about my board. I am a bigger person than that. I have morals.
Thank you for reading this.
Joshua Writer
Owner & Founder
www.ReptileForums.com
PS. You have to ask yourself this question: Would a morally right
person, delete content off another’s persons web page and steal their email
list and post hate messages all over the forum? Would they create a
message board behind your back and chat with you 2 hrs before pretending
to be your friend. Would they lie to your members and deceive them? I
don’t think so.
