Insim under new management!

[Anyerfillag]

To those who have expressed concerns or doubts about the viability of this web site in bad economic times, I respectfully disagree. I am a student of history among other things. While we undoubtedly have some rough times ahead economically, we will get through them.

I have studied the Great Depression of the 1930s.(Not a direct quote, but sumerized to save space) Blah blah blah, my mother can't use a computer. And, I'm old, BTW.  And even when times are bad, people like to be entertained!

Yes we'll get through them but right now I am going through hardship and know of others going through the same thing. Heck, I'm having to send money to my parents as my dad's part time job isn't bringing in anything and my mum's wages aren't that great. If I'm doing that, do you fucking think I would send money in for a gaming website?! The world economic is going down the pan and he expects us to fork out money which would better spent on keeping us going through this hardship?

And I couldn’t give a shit if the 1930s were worse – I’m living now not fucking back then. And shove your History high school education up your arse!

He’s a fucking greedy shite and I’m going to stop typing now before I get too fucking pissed off…

[Devilfish]

That whole speech sounded like it calme straight out of an Employee Motivational Speech handbook. Or Cults For Dummies. Take your pick.

Blahblahgivememoney

--> insert inspirational story here

Blahblahfamilyvaluesblahlovemymom

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!

I swear this guy is doing things by the book. Some shitty book about running a successful e-bussiness and dealing with plebes. I'm insulted.

[calalily]

Why was it necessary to go outside the Sims2 community to find a buyer for Insim and it's sister site? Why wasn't Delphy contacted and offered the site? These are questions I would surely love to have answered.

Cause they wanted to say clearly to the community "Fuck you all".  They took some time and effort to set this up - it wasn't as if they weren't looking for someone to buy it.

Only Pescado can make those kinds of statements. We expect that from Pescado and would be sorely disappointed if he didn't.

I agree - Pescado has earned it with consistency - he provides mods, booty, hosting and help - if that comes with a bit of his persona trolling, at least he didn't fuck anyone over without telling them he is going to do so.

And I couldn't give a shit if the 1930s were worse - I'm living now not fucking back then. And shove your History high school education up your arse!

Actually, the 1930's entertainment booms were about a lot less than entertainment, and a lot more to do with prohibition - it's largely a USian phenomenon.  Not to mention that all the fun to be had was free - my Dad grew up then, and made his own toys, went to dances, and watched sport - not put in a couple of hundreds of investment on a high luxury item like the sims, PC and net access.   

[scrappysim]

His arguments about how people still need to be entertained in bad economic times just doesnt make sense to me.  I agree with that actual statement but if website A is totally free and website B is not then during hard times I go to website A.  During the Depression people still went to the movies and spent a small amount on entertainment, sure, but if all the movie houses on the next block were showing thier movies for free or asking people to help out with the electricity to run the projector if they had any spare change in their pocket (and told the rest not to worry about it ) then thats the block I see my movie on.  

I wonder if Walt knows how huge this community is.  Does he understand the vast Sims 2 community and the unbelivable amount of amazing FREE sims sites that exist or does he believe that he now owns something "unique" and in "demand" within the community?  Insim may be a big site but I, for one, dont use the Insiminator.  I go to the site for the community downloads.  I know that hte majority of the creators that I enjoy will walk away and move their creations elsewhere if this guy doesnt get what the Insim website is all about.  

The mere fact that he has a voluntary subscription payment option with $100 a month shows me that he doesnt get what the community is all about.  He doesnt seem to have done any research about the community he was joining.  Not a smart way to do business.  

[Piratey]

$100 just for no-adverts? lol fail lol

Sad thing is, some idiot will actually select this option.

[Sherry]

The mere fact that he has a voluntary subscription payment option with $100 a month shows me that he doesnt get what the community is all about.  He doesnt seem to have done any research about the community he was joining.  Not a smart way to do business.  

He didn't have time to study the ways of business.  He was too busy learning his histories. 

[whiterider]

Eheh scrappysim, I'm honestly not sure how he can actually be in the business he says he's in. (Cross-posted from InSim, 'cause PMBD gets moar fun bitchin')



I'm not sure how Walt ended up in this position. Clearly he works for a company, or possibly is a company, which does this kind of thing fairly frequently. How, then, did he fail to double-check the seemingly positive information given to him by owners of a site which, as a little research would have quickly revealed, is clearly struggling financially?

Has he not taken over a forum before? It seems that way, as his handling of the staff and members has been frankly appalling.

How can he possibly be in the business of running websites without even basic knowledge of server technology - I understand that he's no expert, but surely by now he has enough experience with websites to know that optimisation is often far more efficient than spending more cash, even if he needs assistance in actually doing the optimisation.


The WaybackMachine indicates that his site has been up since at least 2002. A company which takes over other companies and organisations doesn't survive for six years by doing absolutely no prior research into what they acquire, which is the only explanation I can see for how he ended up in a such a pickle.
Is this not his company/site? If it is... huh? I have no idea what could have possibly compelled him to buy InSim.

In fact, does anyone know where exactly we got the Dirt Cheap Advertising link? I missed that bit.

[Jojoba]

Whiterider, he gave the Dirt Cheap Advertising address in the purely charming email he sent to the moderating staff which Paden posted on page 1(?) of this thread.

I am currently watching the Insim thread with a very blank impression. I am very disappointed and hurt...although it is not a surprise that Kathy and Eric would not be able to keep up with the site, them doing it like this is really shocking. The community there simply does not deserve that treatment. The staff that have kept the site going when the site owners first disappeared off do not deserve all their effort and time to be dissolved by someone like Walt. Its in the support of those members of staff, and the hope that somehow this will be sorted, that I have yet to pull my creations but damn am I really tempted to.

This guy seems so out of his depth and researched this so badly that its almost laughable. Almost.

[whiterider]

Ah, thanks, that must have been the removed personal info, as I don't see it in the email.

[dietofworms]

I don't wish him luck, but I'll bet he finds a way to make money off of other people's work.  He has a fine model to follow, after all.

[calalily]

For the younguns and non-members, here's the post from Insim Adult:

The Firestorm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had wanted to post similar messages here today to what I've posted on the main insimenator site, but between replying to private messages and trying to read and reply to posts where possible, that goal is proving to be unrealistic. Like everyone else in America, I have Thanksgiving Day responsibilities I have to attend to today, so this will have to be my last post for today. I'm going to limit my commentary for now, then do more detailed work tomorrow.

I have already rejected the idea I had floated about mandatory subscriptions for insimadult. Clearly, that's not an option now. I NEVER intended any mandatory subscriptions for insimenator. The only reason I even considered it for insimadult is because, contrary to some comments that have been made, insimadult is not carrying its own weight financially.

So all content will continue to be free. The only question now is whether and how the website will survive.

Even before the transfer, insimadult was barely breaking even. After getting bruised by AdBrite and being placed in their Adult advertising category which is full of hard core ads, I had to pull that advertising entirely and replace it with Amazon ads. I didn't expect the Amazon ads to sell much, and they're meeting my expectations, but I needed to put something there temporarily. Even when the AdBrite ads were up, they weren't pulling much income.

Some have claimed that insimadult incurs no costs because it resides on the same server as insimenator. That is not true. Just the monthly bandwidth costs for insimadult are $70-100 a month above what insimenator costs. In fact, given the current server provider we're using and the terms of their contract, it's actually more because they penalize you if you go over your initial allotment...another reason to change servers (and indeed, providers) since there are other providers who merely pass along the additional bandwidth costs without building in extra penalties. Further, the server's processing resources are impacted by the site to at least some degree, so it would be wrong to assume that those impacts have no role and should not be paid for by the site. To the contrary, they should.

I am trying to find an alternative to PayPal for insimadult. Like many of you, I am not comfortable with the way Insimadult gets around PayPal's restrictions. I am looking at one particular solution, but I don't want to discuss it yet, because I don't want to risk yet another firestorm to erupt. There are too many of those going on right now.

More later.

[Pescado]

Why was it necessary to go outside the Sims2 community to find a buyer for Insim and it's sister site? Why wasn't Delphy contacted and offered the site? These are questions I would surely love to have answered.

The reason Delphy was likely not contacted first is because there is a history of bad blood between E/K and Delphy.

I will never again donate to Insim. I'm not gonna finance this asshat's vacation property or aid in lining his bank account. I don't care if that's what some of my money goes to do at MTS2 cause Delpy doesn't rub my nose in it. (anyway I don't think it does)

I'm sure Delphy does, in fact, use overflow funds for personal purposes, but most of us are not in arms about it because Delphy is viewed as a contributing member of the community, so if he skims some voluntary donations off the top, it's not a big deal: He's still one of "us", so to speak. This Walt fellow, however, is NOT a part of the community. He contributes nothing and many see him as a parasite whose goal is simply to suck the blood from it. Already, the SITE DOESN'T WORK, yet it is plastered with ad crap at the bottom.

[Sherry]

The only question now is whether and how the website will survive.

I think the question is how is he going to make money off of it.  Walt is not a charity, he bought the site, for profit, so him playing off like he just wants to make ends meet is BS.  

I am looking at one particular solution, but I don't want to discuss it yet, because I don't want to risk yet another firestorm to erupt. There are too many of those going on right now.

Yeah I don't think those are going to be dying down until the site does as well.  

I'm sure Delphy does, in fact, use overflow funds for personal purposes, but most of us are not in arms about it because Delphy is viewed as a contributing member of the community, so if he skims some voluntary donations off the top, it's not a big deal: He's still one of "us", so to speak. This Walt fellow, however, is NOT a part of the community. He contributes nothing and many see him as a parasite whose goal is simply to suck the blood from it. Already, the SITE DOESN'T WORK, yet it is plastered with ad crap at the bottom.

That's exactly how I feel.  He may make some money, but I don't feel like things are done with the purpose of making money.  I do hope Delphy acquires insim, I am not going to donate one cent under Walt.   

[neriana]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, I just got to Walt's yammering about the Great Depression. My eyes are rolling so hard I think they may shoot across the room. Oh my god he is an IDIOT. He's one of those people who read an article in Esquire and thinks he therefore knows everything. I'd love to show his imbecility to one of my professors to punish them.

[Missbonbon]

Pes why don't you post your graph over there if you haven't just to make him look like a total asshat.