I'm going to write a whole long and boring post about it below. We literally agreed to settle out of court via phone/aim conversation between me and John Lemp about the night before we were due to go to court after 8 long and bloodied battling back and forth.
Overall, we spent a bunch of cash on both sides paying our lawyers, and accomplished pretty much nothing in the end.
I've agreed to remove posts/threads that they mentioned in the lawsuit, but didn't have to shell out any cash to CB afterall.
This lawsuit, or this just settled suit, is going to change the way we do and say things on WickedFire.
For one, that whole "censorship" outrage is just plain silly. Freedom of speech?! HA! As if that still exists in America... Riiiiight. Sure, you can say whatever the hell you want, but the way our legal system works, if someone thinks you're making it up and you don't feel like dropping $60,000-$100,000 in legal fees to prove it, then you'll see pretty quickly that "freedom of speech" and "censorship" exists everywhere.
But enough about that mindless silliness.
From now on, the rules here are as follows:
You MAY post and say anything you like BUT you MUST be held accountable both online and offline for it.
To clarify this rule:
Example:
Nick says Mike is a facist and a sellout. Mike is offended. Mike sues the bejesus out of Nicky because Mike is a Jew and can't possibly be a facist nor a sellout to boot. Nick laughs because he said it online in a channel or a forum, but Mike says its ruining his reputation, credibility, and business and wants Nick to supply proof to back his statements up. -- If this were taken to court, Nick would lose. Why? Because that's how our legal system works. The legal system doesn't "get it" when it comes to saying things about people.
So although WickedFire hasn't changed, even though many of you think it has, I do want people to keep in mind that being held accountable for what you say about other people and other companies will have a good chance at coming back to you and biting you in the ass.
Now John Lemp may have been a bit sensitive, but I see his point for suing me and WickedFire. We did do a lot of damage to his business by boycotting/blacklisting his company. But that's not because we were out for blood, its because we had members here claiming they were bilked out of A LOT of cash. But when the time came to back up their statements and go on the record.. well.. that's when suddenly everyone decided "hmm, maybe I'm just full of shit and it wasn't really that much anyway or maybe I was at fault too.." -- Minor details they FORGOT to mention eh? Well, that's the reason why we couldn't fight those statements nor will we anymore.
From now on... if you're an affiliate, and you are going to make a thread claiming that a network has fucked you over, you had better do at least three things:
1- Supply VISUAL proof. That would mean screenshots of your stats.
2- Be willing to allow us to mediate between you and the network whom you're claiming owes you money.
3- NOT BE AT FAULT YOURSELF AKA VIOLATION OF TOS AND THEN CLAIMING THEY FUCKED YOU OVER.
4- Be willing to give your full name and information to us to verify you are whom you say you are.
See, we're not against fighting for you guys, but when a mess like this happens, and you promise to come up with proof backing up your claims, and then conviniently fizzle out and turn out to be full of shit, well, that makes us look bad, especially during a rare time where we ask for your help.
- So stop the lying.
- Stop the drama.
- There is SO much cash to be made in this industry.
- Follow the fucking rules (they are easy enough).
- If you have an issue and can't resolve it, use the forum as a LAST RESORT, because you can cause serious harm/damage to a company's reputation.
- Deal with the fact that sometimes, when someone is a smart ass and gets their post or thread removed, there's a much bigger picture behind it in spite of what that baby complains about! Me included.
- This place is supposed to be about sharing information and having fun... so stop harassing the shit out of eachother already. Have your fun and do work, so we can all be rich fat bastards with black cards, even you women!
- I'm done with fighting, so by all means, you guys can fight and fight until you wear yourselves down from it. It took me 2.5 years of it to realize it was a pain in the ass if anything. Learn from my mistakes bitches!
That's all there is to it.
Oh yeah.. for those wondering why this thread is closed.. There's no fucking debate about it, that's why. Get over yourselves, its just a forum for Christ's sake. Follow the rules or fuck off.