The phantom web site owner has surfaced! So he does exist after all.

"I'm updating everything to the newest versions. The Forum is updated, but I have to reinstall a bunch of my modifications. The photo gallery should be updated in a few days. I have to buy a new license to get the newest version of the photo gallery software. The avatars might not be lost, I'm looking at a workaround, but it might take me a few days, so if people want to they can upload their avatars again. If you look at the members list, all of the avatars are still there. Hopefully everything should be back to normal within a week, and there will be new features added".

- Julian

This is the guy that had the bogus Startek $1000 prize giveaway - then disappeared from the face of the earth.

 

It's a wonder StarTech never came after him... and yes that was a total fiasco. He also closed down his Crossfire on-line store about the same time because people were complaining about the lack of service and not delivering the goods after charging their credit card.

I heard from the elusive Mighty last week, shortly after I posted a thread on Feb 22nd asking what was going on with the format here. I got a PM from him asking me for a screen shot so he could see what I was talking about.

do you know how to take a screenshot? I'm not sure what you're talking about with regards top the full page format. It looks the same for me, but I'm using Mac OSX.
__________________
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I PM'd him back with the screen shot, never heard from him again... and things still haven't been fixed.

 

Ummm huh? What's going on.

 

read all about it... https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...light=startech

 

~ i don't have both sides of the story... so no judgment from me either way.


i was trying to be courteous and of assistance to the forum members... so all would understand why there are current software problems... by posting a personal message from him to me...

in order to have the forum function as it is suppose to... i don't think this is the time to run on him. just a thought.

 

In all respect, when you post a personal message on the forum, you have made it public.

Just curious, what happened to both sides of this story? I think that may be part of the problem.

 

I was completely at fault in the giveaway debacle. At the time it was conceived my finances were great, but during the course of it they took a hit which I just recently got out of. I should have been more upfront with everyone about it, but at the time I was finishing up school, had GMATs to worry about, and was starting a new job. The cost of even running this site is more than most of you realize, not to mention the time involved (just because I wasn't posting doesn't mean there wasn't a lot of maintenance and other work that had to be done). Plus everyone thought I was making all of this money through the ads, which isn't the case. Those ads generated maybe $100 in the past 6 months, which is why I took them down So anyway...

I contacted mbepic last month about payment for the giveaway, and he will be receiving a check for $1250 next week. He has the fedex tracking number. So that's finally over. It's up to him to post anything else about it, I haven't asked him to.

As for the site. I'm having some trouble with the upgrade. The files for the image manipulation aren't working correctly, even after a re-install. I have contacted everyone I can think of to fix it. Hopefully in the next week. That's why the gallery is down. That is also why image uploading isn't working. Once that problem is fixed, hopefully very soon, I will be working on getting everything back to the way it was.

I will be in Miami the rest of the week, but should have internet access to continue working on some of this stuff.

 

you couldn't find five minutes to post in the last year or so???

 

Attn ALL:

i respect the frustrations of members here... (if i think long enough... i too might get frustrated) in fact i am not sure of the whole story. i know i can do a search... but the less i know the better right now... i jumped on XFF after the fact...

but the fact of the matter is... he just made himself accountable for it... long overdue? YES!
irresponsible? promising something and not producing transparent results?
yes.
redeemed face?... i believe he did... after all... taking the GMATs indicates he is still relatively young... and in my opinion because of his age deserves...
some breaks... not excuses... breaks...

the good of this XFF.org outweighs the bad here... and he did start this grand unique culture of XF owners.

JM

 

Julian, you pulled a real crappy one on the members of this board for well over a year, all because you did not want competition from that other startup forum when this board was running wild.

One question... was StarTech ever involved with the contest? Because you make it sound as if it was all coming out of your pocket.

There are still an awful lot of excuses in your reasoning. Maybe with age you'll mature you’ll stand on your own two feet and take full responsibility instead of making excuses for everything that goes wrong in your life.

I think you also need to come clean and give an apology to the members on the other board that left here... now that would be a class act.

http://crossfirecommunity.net

Anyway, welcome back.

 

i completely agree, him saying he didn't have the finances means that this whole contest was probably a scam. it was stated that startech was giving the money, not mighty. he does need to come clean and accept full responsibility, and studying for gmat's doesn't mean he couldn't find a minute or a minute in a half to post why the winner wasn't paid and told us from jump startech wasn't involved.

 

Mightyjlr:

Dude, you're infamous.

It's a cliché, but for you, it applies.

It's a hole you dug yourself from what I can tell. It is also a hole you just may be able to dig out of if you play your cards right...

 

woooooh - Just read the thread (had time to waste)... I must say that If I had read this thread last May (when I first joined the forum) the thread would have really put me off (I may still have a look at the other forum).

I feel that we need to put this to bed, I enjoy the forum and raking this muck up will only have a negative effect on attracting new members. The forum will only remain interesting if it continues to attract new members.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I've already stated I took responsibility and that it was completely my fault. Startech was involved, but only in the sense that I okayed it with them first. It was my idea and funded by me. They had been advertising a car for sale on the site and were going to give me a percentage of the sale if it sold. The car wasn't sold through this site, and that wasn't the money I was relying on for the giveaway. I was going to fund it out of my own pocket because at the time money wasn't a problem and I had plenty, and I'm pretty generous. I lost my main source of income during the period of time that the giveaway was going on. I didn't set out with any intention of not paying, nor was that ever my intention. Now that I'm able to, I have sent the money. He will receive the check on Wednesday according to Fedex. The check will be for $250 more than was originally promised.

As for apologizing to members that left... the only person I should apologize to is Roy Wilson, the winner of the competition, which I have. You have by far the best Crossfire forum on the internet here, one that has been running for almost 3 years and has cost almost $4000 to run and maintain. The other members had every right to leave, but I certainly don't think I owe any of them an apology. If you still think otherwise, feel free to share your thoughts.

 

in the interest of this forum, BOLLOX has a point about airing dirty laundry out in the open. IT WILL SCARE AWAY newer MEMBERS and that isnt fair to the forum nor the members involved.

perhaps ISSUES such as this one should be kept to PMs... mighty... already officially apologized twice... if more complaints are needed... maybe PM it.

or XXF should set up an admin only-read only comment suggestion box.

so lets get organized and move on ...with the culture WE ALL CREATED ONE BY ONE in this great forum.



HOOOORAH!


thanks for your time

 

I've been on this forum for quite a while now...I don't post a lot, but I visit on a regular basis. So far, let me count up my investment for this site...hmmmm...that would be NOTHING. Oh sure, I've spent some time here, and I suppose my time could be considered valuable, but I have not spent one penny to support, or develop this site. Someone has, and I am thankful to whomever it is that keeps this site up and running. It sounds to me like Mighty took his medicine, kept the site running, and is still catching grief from folks that are eating the fruit off of a tree they did not plant! I don't think Mighty is the one that needs to grow up around here. Just my two cents worth...

Fritz

 

All, IMHO this is now officially water under the bridge. Done. Over. Ended. Finito. I make a motion that we have the forum admins lock this thread and let it fade back into obscurity because it's time to move on. Springtime is on the way and it would seem to me that we should have more important things to talk about.

 

I'll second that one.

 

In the defense for Mighty, there are really no guidelines posted about the contest and to whoever wins it is not stated when the winner gets paid!

It just took him awhile to get paid but we've learned now that Mbec was already paid!

 

Forum members, since Julien has communicated to you all via this thread, I have updated my original contest post from last year. Keep in tune to that thread for the final word on this amazing story.