Ruining a Community in 5 Easy Steps (Screenshot Edition!)
Screenshots or it didn't happen!
(I am positive that any relevant link I may put here will not work, so I'm going for screenshots instead. HUGE thanks to everyone who helped me gather these screenshots, including some PMs and private conversations. You guys are great.)
Insimenator.net, previously owned by Eric and Kathy, has been sold to the highest bidder, a person named Walt (whose first act was to post all his personal details, including home address, on the site he purchased, but I'll be nice and leave his details out of it.)
Be warned that this is a wank of epic proportions. It's hard to tell what happened when, who said what and which pirate burned what ship. I've given most attention to the facts that can be supported by screenshots. Hundreds of people were involved in this wank, everyone has their own opinions on it and events may or may not have occured in the order described.
The setup
Insimenator.net had a huge (and nigh unsearcheable) database of downloadable content for the game, had active social and help forums and many, many members. The site was completely free to use. But, in the months leading up to this Epic Wank of Doom, donation drives became very agressive. This included keeping the popular Insimenator hack, after which the site was named, hostage until donations were at an acceptable level. Emotional blackmail and never-ending begging does not sit well with most people, but were apparently quite effective.
Which brings us to part one of the Epic Wank of Doom:
Step 1: I can haz munniez?
Kathy and Eric had expressed a desire to leave the community for a while, and the past months had only been to the site to ask for more donation, but what finally happened was a slap in the face to many users. They sold the site behind the backs of the community who had supported them emotionally and financially and left without so much a “goodbye and thanks for all the fish”.
Details of the financial transactions are shady. This is the info they posted on the auction site where Insim was eventually sold:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/8957efd0.jpg
(Insim information according to http://www.dealasite.com)
This can mean three things:
Kathy and Eric inflated the numbers, presumably in an effort to sell the site for much more than it was worth.
Kathy and Eric did not inflate the numbers and were making a profit of Insim donation drives and advertising on the site, while claiming to be in constant financial problems and begging the community for donations to keep the site running
They inflated the numbers but were making a small profit regardless
What's also unclear is what they were claiming to have up for sale. All content on the site (vB forum style) was made and submitted by the users. Obviously these creations could not be sold. Without those, Insim is just a forum worth roughly 10$. Nothing is certain, but there's strong suspicions that he paid well over 2500$ for it, possibly something close to 10000$, but up to this point nothing is certain.
Step 2: Souprize buttsecks!
Enter Walt, the new owner.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/d979e892.jpg
Walt had signed up on Insim 2 weeks prior but did not bother to contact any of the staff and moderators on the site. Instead, he chooses to announce his presence in a grand public speech where he lays out his plans for the site: there's problems and he's going to throw money at the problems until they go away. Money he plans to get from the users of the site, whom he evidently also expects to pay him for his services.
This was his first post on Insim:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/8096235e.jpg
The entire community goes “Waitwut?”
Shit hit the fan proper after that.
Walt is offered advice by both the mods and users. He largely ignores it, instead opting put up polls everywhere while everyone panicks, asks questions and generally pisses their pants.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/8bdac79a.jpg
At some point, Walt casually mentions to caffeinated.joy (in a PM) that he plans to ban all the users who were being too negative. (This is the whole conversation, as it is full of lulz and gives you a good idea about the way Walt handles things. Talk about banhammers appears in the second screenshot.)
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/dc8c5d24.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/c4270dae.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/94a401f4.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/cc8bc5f7.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/5f729629.jpg
Finally, joy resigns:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/cf7b657f.jpg
Synapticsim give a nice summery of events and reveals some financial data:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/8477946b.jpg
Delphy chimes in multiple times and offers to buy the site from Walt, seeing the epic shitstorm on the horizon. Again, Walt doesn't take all this very seriously.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/be430c0f.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/43b6fe7e.jpg
He is asked questions, but categorically refuses to discuss anything with the community members. Instead of replying to concerns in the oiginal thread, he makes a new one.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/f7c68eb1.jpg
Let it be said that no personal attacks on Eric and Kathy were made at that point. People were still kermitflailing and wanted to know what happened and if the financial data provided was correct. Again, people start asking the same questions, because his culty insistance that “the future is bright” didn't exactly clarify much.
At this point he gets tetchy and makes the now infamous “Get over it” comment. The community goes apeshit. Walt refuses to talk finance with the peasants and tells us to get over it already. Literally.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/e077c8ce.jpg
It being Thanksgiving weekend at this point he logs off and goes to enjoy some of the most expensive turkey he'll even have, and left the site to explode, not to come back for a couple of days while the community was confused, angry and hurt. If there was any more chance to save the ship, it was gone then.
Step 3: Pillage before you burn!
Over at Paysites Must Be Destroyed, Warplan Beige is conceived. Pescado, Pirate King and notorious FOJ, sets to work making a mirror of Insim and Insim Adult (the 18+ section of Insim). And there was much rejoicing.
http://phorum.mustnotbenamed.com/index.php/topic,2233.0.html
By this time Walt is well and truly gone and the community goes from hurt and confused to livid. SimsOasis is founded and many creators begin deleting their creations from the site. The servers melt at various points during this process. The page is up and down more times than a tart's knickers. Much wank ensues. For the complete and unabridged lulz, try these sites:
http://phorum.mustnotbenamed.com/index.php/topic,2228.0.html
http://forums.sim-oasis.com/index.php?topic=8.30
http://www.digitalperversion.net/gardenofshadows/index.php?topic=7852.0
In the end, Walt wants out. He's had enough of it, really, and makes the community a generous offer:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/8d5a18f9.png
At this point, he has already declined an offer of about 2500$. Clearly, this is another suggestion the community is not pleased with.
Step 4: Viva la Revolucion!
Pescado finished slurping the cheezservers and a complete backup of Insim and Insim Adult is now in his possesion. The people following this Epic Wank (hundreds of them, all angry, some of them with admin access) by this point are aching to tear the site down. The gates are opened, the pirates board the ship and the revolution takes place. Messily (as revolutions are wont to be). Some choice moments:
Pescado gives the order to attack:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/0384e577.jpg
The new Insim front:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/4c8772a1.png
Pescado makes Walt a counteroffer he can't refuse:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/85ef9ea3.png
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/a48ae386.png
Kathy and Eric's new sigs and avies:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/6c5ca574.jpg
All this is accompanied by copious use of lolcats and fail macros.
And there was much rejoicing.
At this point, Walt is back in the game and it's his turn to go WTF. The cheeseserver melts again, putting an end to the first wave of the revolution. But not before several moderators quit, most in truly lol-worthy fashion.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/cosmic_charly/insim/af64ad5b.jpg
With a press of the PHAIL button, Walt messes up the forum, makes private parts public, reveals IPs and email adresses, demotes all the moderaters and kermitflairs through the forums.
Step 5: Rebuilding
At the moment of writing, a test mirror for Insim Adult is up. Pescado plans to give full controll of the mirrored Insim to the old moderators. Delphy has offered his help and Walt is still kermitflailing.
This is what's up now: http://isa.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php
For the full rundown of this affair, visit Paysites Must Be Destroyed.