But he also did something bad, so that must balance everything 
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Been a lurker for a few months and was planning to contribute when I got my build going. This is my first post. Honestly thought this was Bill Gordon’s forum. This forum will not be the same without him.
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Alright not trying to rehash anything but I just wanna say @CiscoV absolutely had no idea any of this went down and I think that’s hilarious. Everyone let’s make fun of him
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Wtf is going on here
Between this and the ghost scooter riders in SF I’m super confused 
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I need a video of this Mr. outoftheloop
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scooter 
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Damn the machines are rising Skynet is out to get us.
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Good evening,
I’ve been patiently soaking in the updates and following along to others reactions to this very unfortunate situation. I’d like to share my thoughts on what I understand the circumstances to be as of today.
@longhairedboy, I appreciate the recent feedback and your posts about this issue. As far as “how we’ll proceed”, I’m not really sure I’m getting a good understanding of that.
Since September 1st, I haven’t seen a ton of information about the status of some of these members. Our mod group is essentially non-existent now. I assume that @BillGordon and @zach were allowed back but are no longer mods. I also see that Andrew aka @DerelictRobot has returned.
I also see that Mikes’s account is active again, although viewing it is not an option.
Ill come back to these individuals in a moment.
Most importantly, what I don’t see from your post is what the moderators and you will be doing to prevent this from re-occurring in the future. I mentioned in my last post on the other thread what I sort of expected to see. An auditing process to see if moderators activate other accounts, policies on handling these types of incidents, and most importantly, a panel or group that will evaluate these incidents. You mentioned before something about a small committee reviewing this press release, but I’d like to know who they are. Really, Id like the forum to find an established group of people who are not the moderators who can evaluate these issues. Im going to cover why I think this is so fucking serious and needs to be handled that way
I understand exactly what Zach and Bill did that created more issues for this circumstance. I absolutely understand what their reasons were and why they thought it was the right thing to do.
I’m not going to beat around the bush here, both of these individuals should remain moderators - if they’re willing. This circumstance should’ve been handled differently.
In the future when an incident occurs requiring an investigation, the moderator group should AGREE on a plan of action and that needs to be in writing. There is no room for miscommunication at these junctures. They should’ve been told there is absolutely no posting or discussion about this for the next 24 hours and we will reconvene and discuss then. Second, the moderator group needs oversight on these investigations in the form of the committee that I mentioned. There was either miscommunication or disagreement about how to handle this. That committee would’ve saved your ass. Again, here comes the reason why this is so critical.
What I see most damning about the circumstance with @mmaner is not only what he was doing, but who he is and who he was doing it too. I cannot overstate the ethical fucking nightmare this situation is for this website. Multiple vendors have highlighted concerns about this and for good reason. As I see it, whether these intentions were derived from personal disagreements or not, Mike used his power as an admin to disadvantage other business owners he didn’t like or had a spat with, and that put his friends at an advantage. For all we know, some of these individuals may have had issues with his friends, and he was taking out the punishment for them. This issue is wholeheartedly highlighted by what happened to Andrew with the Psychotiller post. Mike gave Tillers business reputation an advantage and smeared Andrews. He took that steps and steps further.
ESK8 is growing rapidly and more and more users have started businesses around this market. This is a home to a large portion of the community and its very important that we have an upstanding reputation when it comes to privacy if you expect to attract vendors here. Several vendors, DRI included as well as eboardsolutions (who I won’t tag) have either started to move on or have raised concerns.
Some people in other threads have vastly misunderstood the legal severity of this sort of situation - which Mike should worry about. @mmaner used admin privileges to hurt several COMPETING business interests while protecting not only his own but his friends. This is wildly unethical, unacceptable, and borderline lawsuit worthy. The fact that less than two weeks after posting this Mike is already trolling the forums again is wildly unacceptable to me. I already heard that he got into it with someone and had a post removed.
Not only was this happening, but you Damon are also a business owner. There are significant conflicts of interest at play here and it would be in you, the site, and the rest of the moderator’s groups best interest to establish written SOPs for handling incidents like this and be able to escalate it to a committee. As business owners yourself, there is some unavoidable conflict. It will not change the outcome of an investigation, it will however save your reputation.
I expect to see a lot more done in the coming weeks here if you don’t expect to keep defending the integrity of this forum to vendors and users. I have defended the process required and tried to keep the dogs off your back - that’s you overly excitable few users out there 
I have created fundraising for this website so the owners and mods can get legal protection, advice, and protocols for just these circumstances. (which are available free online). But I expect to see more from this. You need to show a lot more if you expect vendors to feel comfortable that this won’t happen again and that the integrity of the PM system is intact.
I mentioned what I thought about Bill and Zach. They get what they did wrong. You need the help right now more than you need the pride. They have community support and weren’t a part of the main problem.
Andrew, caught in the middle, scapegoat, whatever you want to call it. He’s a victim of Mikes and despite ANY past disagreements or issues, those cant influence your decisions on this in real-time. And it doesn’t mean shit if you like him or not, he’s a user, a business owner and was the victim of not only Mike but the poor decision making that followed. He deserves a public apology regarding this incident, despite anything else you and him may have in the past. As does Frank from trampa apparently
Mike on the other hand, has become a massive liability to you and this website. His behavior was completely unacceptable and I don’t give a shit what his reasons were. He was well aware of the impact that he could have going after other businesses and while defending his own. He may have had some issues going on, but he was not blind to the decisions he was making.
I understand that Mike has contributed a lot on this site and to this group. But I haven’t heard shit from Mike. No acknowledgment, apology or remorse. From what I can see, he got off easy committing the worst offense to occur on this domain, and his punishment is the same as Bill and Zachs.
Mike, you deserve to be banned for what you did here. Regardless of your intent, your actions tell a story that you’ll never get anyone outside a friend group to believe.
I think the community would accept a suspension for a few months, but you being here right now is a slap in the face to every single person you took advantage of here.
Oh lets not forget Mike, when you felt the pressure on you and discovered the log tracking feature turned on – you shut it off.
You broke a bunch of rules. Here and ethically.
You covered it up amd worsened the damage.
You haven’t owned it or apologized.
You have now put your friends and the people you have good relationships with into terrible positions.
Oh and let’s not forget, you’ve likely been doing this for some time and since you’ve done nothing but try to defend this, we will never know the extent of the damage to other businesses, the extent of the protection you provided to yourself and others and the damage you’ve done to this domains reputation.
This is the worst kind of abuse of power. Its not Jason, but its not that different
I want to move on from this issue, but we have a long way to go IMO
Bill W
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Tldr?
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Worth the read
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I tried but after 3 paragraphs, I zone out. I’m done with reading or causing drama.
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That I’ve seen. Was wondering if there was anything new to it
Totally agree No apologies and on top of that he’s shamelessly antagonizing one of the person he read the pms of, by posting a smug meme with the words: “I have always been here”. Pathetic human being.
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They are filled with small errors as it was a reconstruction from whatever bits and pieces of information I had. Basically the private interactions are not reflected in that.
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I think @Flasher is up to speed on the incident. He was referring to the small novel i just wrote. The only things newer is Bill Gordons recounting of the events in the other thread in this section
TLDR: Re-instate Bill and Zach. Apologize publically to Andrew and everyone else. This was a big F-in deal. Ban or suspend Mike for several months – (as far as im concerned, with his current behavior and lack of accountability, ban) and establish some protocols and an oversight committee.
You need some ADHD testing if you can only read 3 paragraphs
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Don’t get me wrong Damon, or the mods. I think you guys did a pretty solid job/had a good plan and much of this is where it is because of how things fell apart. I dont expect enterprise level responses to a skateboarding forum. But were seeing the ripples of this stone throw already from vendors. I would act aggressively and quickly to resolve these concerns.
Noone who has left will be reinstated after what happened here.
There will be all new mods and no additional admin.
Everyone who broke the rules or broke the trust of admin got what they got and its over now. None of the people who left are coming back. No one is silenced or suspended over it anymore. The 99% don’t even care about any of this and soon the drama surrounding it will be dead.
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