Insim under new management!

[Paleoanth]

There is an alternative story developing on another site I frequent that says Walt spent the days between buying the site and announcing himself calmly setting up his new server and transferring all the data.  He went off for his 4-day turkey break leaving us to rampage all over the site simply because it didn't matter.

If this were true, wouldn't he be able to immediately restore the site to it's original condition?

[Paden]

Palemato, that's a damn good question. Got any answers, Inge?

[Quorneater]

If this were true, wouldn't he be able to immediately restore the site to it's original condition?

In the alternative story he has already given notice to quit the existing hosting at the end of this month, and has the site data already transferred in its pre-riot condition on the new host's server (he doesn't have his own colocated server - it's just one rented one or the other).  There would be no need for him to bother restoring order on the old one that may only have a few days left to run anyway.   Now he's just waiting for the domain to resolve to the new IP.

[dietofworms]

I'm sorry to say this, but Inge's explanation makes sense.  It's hard to believe that any,  you know, grown human being could be as imbecilic as Walt was coming off.  Unethical, yes.  Completely feckless, no.  As I said before, I suspect he'll come out of this with a stash. He'll sit it out until the "angry users"  move on to something else, and then lure a new audience of sheeplets.  I have a bad feeling about this one.

Inge, if you can reveal your source, I'd be interested in reading it directly.

[Quorneater]

It's just a theory we've been building up between us at http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php/topic,2256.400.html

[itslikethis]

It wouldn't be surprising at all if he had done backup immediately upon purchase.  It also wouldn't be surprising if K/E provided the most recent backup to him.

Worst case scenario, if he does a full restore, each creator who doesn't want to be there anymore just goes in and calmly deletes all their threads, leaving clear messages for any members still there (or new ones who join) with a link to the new site.  He certainly can't ban every single creator and prevent that from happening.  Well he could but it would only make him look worse (if that's possible!).

This could work out very well btw...great way to spam his forum after the fact with links to the new site  So, I don't have any concerns about him having a backup.  If he doesn't respect creators wishes when they ask to leave or ask for there creations to be removed, his name will be even more mud than it is now.

And yeah, the big IF....if he was screwing around with the DB without a backup, he could be SOL unless he finds someone to repair whatever tables he borked.  IF the domain is just down for a server transfer and it comes back up, everyone can just deal with it then.

[Paleoanth]

If this were true, wouldn't he be able to immediately restore the site to it's original condition?

In the alternative story he has already given notice to quit the existing hosting at the end of this month, and has the site data already transferred in its pre-riot condition on the new host's server (he doesn't have his own colocated server - it's just one rented one or the other).  There would be no need for him to bother restoring order on the old one that may only have a few days left to run anyway.   Now he's just waiting for the domain to resolve to the new IP.

This, unfortunately, does make a kind of sense.  Especially if he makes it so that you cannot delete threads or attachments a la TSR.  Then the files are up no matter what. 

However, why did he bother even coming on and introducing himself and telling us of his plans, if he already had this in mind?  Why bother?

[recalibrator]

So, as I understand, we were playing with him and he was playing with us. I think we have now a problem.

[NorthenLight]

If he is playing with us, give EA a poke. Let's see what they think of a non-player selling what is basically their code.

[Quorneater]

However, why did he bother even coming on and introducing himself and telling us of his plans, if he already had this in mind?  Why bother?

To test out the staff, see who would be "reasonable" to his new business model, before letting them have admin powers over the new server.

[neriana]

So, as I understand, we were playing with him and he was playing with us. I think we have now a problem.

We don't know what he was doing or if he was doing anything. All we have is speculation. We don't have a problem no matter what, because Pescado has copies of the sites, and people can and will go there instead.

When something can readily be explained by stupidity, it's silly to ascribe it to conspiracy.

[AW]

Hmm, maybe Pes can be an admin at the new site, too.  

[Paden]

Well, gee, guess I'm out on my ass. It was so fucking worth it!! Stupid fuck comes in, acts like a douchebag on steroids and drives people out! Classic blunder of ego over brains. He has a massive ego. Not much sense, but a massive ego. I honestly think he doesn't have the sense to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the hell, but that's just me.

[HystericalParoxysm]

If he is playing with us, give EA a poke. Let's see what they think of a non-player selling what is basically their code.

EA has utterly no incentive to get involved in such a dispute.  It would cost them money to no benefit to them.  They've washed their hands of the paysite business, crawled in bed with TSR, and pulled the covers over their eyes.  I can pretty much guarantee you any response (if you got one at all) would be to consult your own lawyers.

[Sherry]

If he is playing with us, give EA a poke. Let's see what they think of a non-player selling what is basically their code.

If they are not bothered by TSR they are not going to be bothered by this Walt character, especially if he continues the site with just ads or donations.  Even if he didn't EA doesn't seem to give a flying fuck what anyone does.    There are plenty of people being scammed and EA does nothing.  If people want to donate and continue on there, we can't do much either.  

Now if Walt comes back up, and doesn't remove other creators downloads as per their wishes then we need to attack.  The way I figure Walt apparently has other things to do than to just babysit a forum night and day, and there are several of us, and he has lost most of his staff so I think we can make a significant impact and hope he gets really tired of continuous drama and banning.