Is Adam Dicker a criminal? You decide.

[S-B]

This story starts with DNF; a barren wasteland that once was a leading forum within the domain industry. While the forum itself played a huge role in propagating the myth that is Adam Dicker, the story really begins with DNF College in the summer of 2011.

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Updates / Reports
These are in no particular order.

• Report by headsupp (Resolved)
  • Relevant Videos
  • Reply to Adam
  • Update: Resolved
  
  
• Report by LannyB (Unresolved)
  • Response
    • Follow-up Questions
  
  
• Report by domainesque (Unresolved)
  • Update: Unresolved
  • Report Details
  • Update: Waiting on Refund
  
  
• Report of Shane Cultra's friends (Unresolved)
  • Update: Unpaid
  
  
• Report by Jeff Markus (Dissatisfied)
  
  
• Report by simmplex (Resolved)
  • Refunded
  
  
• Report by Blenja_Man (Pending)
  • Voucher
  • Update: Work in Progress
  
  
• Report by RandysDomains (Resolved)
  • Resolved
  
  
• Report by swamismith (Unresolved)
  
  
• Report by Charlie (Unresolved)
  • Cover-up
  • Update: Unresolved
  
  
• Report by Jaqpot (Unresolved)
  
  
• Report by anon22339 (Unresolved)
  • Details
  
  
• Report by Joseph Peterson (Resolved)
  • Update: Unpaid after 8 days
  • Update: Paid
  
  
• Report by Frank Schilling (Resolved)
  • Update: Paid
  
  
• Report by Lonewolf5503 (Paypal Dispute)
  • Update: Website not delivered and no longer accessible
  • Update: Lonewolf5503 wins PayPal dispute
  
  
• Report by GermanRaven (Unresolved)
  • Update: Full story
  
  
• Report by ClaudeDauman (Unresolved)
  
  
• Report by bobsranch (Unresolved)
  • Details
  • Update: Legal Letter Received
  
  
• Report by Newby888 (Unresolved)
  
  
• Report by dougasd (Unresolved)

From what I understand, Adam still owes north of $33,000 to previous customers and business partners. As I receive more information, I will update this figure.

 

[discobull]

Discobull has 10 pages of posts, 5+ are dedicated to me.

I have always had an agenda with you? If you honestly believe the ridiculous allegation that 50% of all my posts in this forum have been related to you, I'd suggest you put down the crack pipe because you've had enough. Have a look at the beginning of this thread where I repeatedly attack Shane for suggesting that you're a criminal without substantiation and see if you can explain how that fits in with your latest slime-ball attempt to shift responsibility for this situation off of yourself.

 

[Adam Dicker]

I have always had an agenda with you? If you honestly believe the ridiculous allegation that 50% of all my posts in this forum have been related to you, I'd suggest you put down the crack pipe because you've had enough. Have a look at the beginning of this thread where I repeatedly attack Shane for suggesting that you're a criminal without substantiation and see if you can explain how that fits in with your latest slime-ball attempt to shift responsibility for this situation off of yourself.

You are correct, I rechecked and I apologize to you.

 

[equity78]

I am not in a position to discuss DNF short term or long term marketing strategies with you here in a forum that competes with DNF.

Adam I think it is fair to say if numbers were inflated or if there was a database error causing a discrepancy, that is not strategy. I think you probably would have charged the same no matter the number count, most in domaining sell an ad for a fixed price with no promise of views or performance.The number It helps the advertiser to decide if they want to advertise on a site that gets 20,000 views a month vs 50,000 views a month. Then there is the whole targeted traffic vs broad, forum vs blog, placement etc...

Take domaining.com no mention of traffic or anything just

Banner Ads
Domaining.com homepage:

The #1 spot of the right pane!
300x250px ad space located at top of the right pane of our home page, depending your screen resolution it is allways visible without have to scroll down!
This spot will be equally shared by 4 sponsors maximum.
Cost: $1,200/month

Now I never advertised on DNF was there a promise of views or a CPM cost ?

No offense but anyone who looked at 80 million hits and did not laugh doesn't know much about the Internet. Adam would need to do nothing else in life with that kind of traffic.

30 Blog’s That Make A Lot Of Money Online Income numbers are per month
1 The Huffington Post Arianna Huffington $2,330,000 Pay Per Click
2 Techcrunch Michael Arrington $800,000 Advertising Banners
3 Mashable Pete Cashmore $600,000 Advertising Banners
4 Perez Hilton Mario Lavandeira $450,000 Advertising Banners
5 Noupe The Blonde Salad $200,000 Private Advertising
6 Smashing Magazine Vitaly Friedman $190,000 Advertising Banners

http://www.incomediary.com/top-earning-blogs

techcrunch.com reaches over 731K U.S. monthly people. According to Quantcast

 

[equity78]

Do we know how much has been paid back ? Do some want a website instead of the money ?

 

[Jeff Markus]

Adam charged for email blasts - in these cases its per active member you are billed. Thus the more members, the higher the bill to advertisers. How can this not be fraud or accepted? I'd love to roll back the miles on my car but that would be a crime. I fail to see how this is different.

The case to be made is unlike others, Adam does provide specific numbers - which are used to get the prices he charges for those banners.

He has asked me to email him directly. I do not see any reason his answers would be different from person to person so Id rather have everyone have the same information. This way there are no further discrepancies.

At this time, Adam has read my issues and failed to even address them as actual legit complaints. He is instead focusing on having people email him on the side rather than actually comment on the fraudulent numbers he created.

 

[equity78]

Adam charged for email blasts - in these cases its per active member you are billed. Thus the more members, the higher the bill to advertisers. How can this not be fraud or accepted? I'd love to roll back the miles on my car but that would be a crime. I fail to see how this is different.

The case to be made is unlike others, Adam does provide specific numbers - which are used to get the prices he charges for those banners.

He has asked me to email him directly. I do not see any reason his answers would be different from person to person so Id rather have everyone have the same information. This way there are no further discrepancies.

At this time, Adam has read my issues and failed to even address them as actual legit complaints. He is instead focusing on having people email him on the side rather than actually comment on the fraudulent numbers he created.

Oh I did not know about email blasts that is another animal where yes you may be paying per email so that number matters.

 

[Jeff Markus]

Unverified users/emails were changed to full users. Therefore instantly upping the total user count by over 100K in with users that had never interacted with the site a single time with that email address.

And then of course promoted those numbers and billed people with them.

All I was asking in my post a few pages was back for Adam to comment on 2 specific questions relating directly to this.

 

[WPM]

It's the "Bonfire of the Vanities" meets the "Road to Perdition".

People loving to see someone of stature defaced and the only way out is calling for blood.

Knowing in advance my comments may or may not be welcomed... what the heck.

I know Adam, for a couple years now. Not in person, via chat and phone. We have spoken about doing a few things together, none of which have come to fruition at this moment. I have paid Adam NO MONEY. Granted his communication skills could use a few "tweaks" and he is generous with "positive statements", and in my opinion a nice guy.

I cannot speak to his business ethics as technically we have done no "real" business with the exception of a couple of small niche related domains that related to his company's services.

What I can speak to is my experience with both startups as an employee who didn't get paid, a domainer (with 10 yrs experience buying, not selling... another story) as well as website design.

Start up Company 1990

Startup company was one of the first Mac based software companies that depended solely on the main owner's coding expertise as well as 1 other in house coder.

Short story, company went under due to lack of funding and an owner who couldn't speak the truth as to the financial state as well as his in ability to get the "bugs out" of the program code which was not written from scratch but trying to be salvaged from an existing program he bought the rights to. He actually had us ship "Bad Code" and the SHTF. Needless to say, many of "US EMPLOYEES" who realized it was a start up and "stayed on" longer than we should have with no pay believed in the company and product (we knew it was not good but not to what extent). Alas, first $15k lesson in working for a start up. We were promised many things as well, stock, salaries... if the company succeeded.

Let me be clear, I am not blaming the "victims" in this case. Most people who get involved with start ups want them to succeed and will take a risk.

But as it turns out, the owner was just to embarrassed to let everyone know things were failing and deadlines weren't being met because of his inability to get the bugs out. To be honest, at the time I had no family, was young and could afford the risk, so to speak.

Moral of the story, Honesty is the best policy.

Domainer

Started with one personal domain in 2003, saw the value in virtual real estate, started buying domains for future development ideas as well as possible long term holds until someone comes looking. Life was good and I could afford to maintain the portfolio. Now life is not so good and need to look to my portfolio to start working.

My personal view is, if you haven't gotten into domaining within the last 10 years... then don't. There are NO MORE "affordable" great names available to the "average joe". New gtld etc included. Mom and pop need to sell their stuff on ebay or amazon unless they have deep pockets.

Web Development

IT TAKES MONEY TO MAKE MONEY!!!

My personal experience in trying to find and partner with others in the business who are willing to work for vested interests in ventures has lead me to learn all things web in regards to design, databases, php etc etc. It still takes money to get a site known, ranked and recognized.

I personally have dealt with customers who ordered a "website" for their business. Not a website with maintenance from me, just a website. Many think it's an automatic process that just because you have a site all of a sudden you have a ton of new business. They don't understand what's truly involved with "their role" in getting that site recognized. They may need to hire their own web guy to upload products, maintain databases, contacts, advertising, adwords, blogging etc etc....

When they do realize that, all of a sudden "I" am the bad guy and should refund them.

I mentioned the last thing about the refund because we don't know how many of them "unsatisfied" customers fall into that category in Adam's situation. A website not being delivered and a client not knowing what to do afterwards are two different things.

- end of my words of great wisdom.

In closing let me say, I hope Adam (and it looks like he is) makes things right as best he can and move forward.

Also let me say, I think that the title of the thread with the word "criminal" is indeed slanderous despite it being in a "questioned" form. Many other words come to mind that could have been appropriate, considering. Yes we can say freedom of the press/speech and all that. It is my personal opinion that such a title could and will have irreparable damage to Adam's future.

Call me a shill, whatever. I am not defending anyone's actions only sharing my real world experiences and thoughts.

Regards,

WPM

 

[Jeff Markus]

Holy-high-jacked.com!

I stopped reading right about here... "I cannot speak to his business ethics as technically we have done no "real" business..."

So you have no clue then. Thanks for stopping by.

Why is it asking Adam a direct question results in this sort of answer...

 

[DomainGist]

I am not in a position to discuss DNF short term or long term marketing strategies with you here in a forum that competes with DNF.

You have no problem claiming that DNF is the biggest domain name forum on the web, but a complete inability to verify that.

 

[Jen-Sin]

While we are calling for accountability, let us not condone hate.

Drop the name callings, and assumptions. Seek clarifications and be honest.

Let's close ranks to help the victims, and work together to make this industry a better one.

 

[WPM]

@Jeff

You're welcome.

You see, you try to offer an honest opinion and because you're not out for blood like the majority... you're scoffed at.

This is the problem with humanity in general.

I like many others were made aware of the "accusations" being put forth from reading this thread. I never said they were without merit. And as I have been reading these 77+ pages of comments for the past day or so I felt it necessary to share my experience as it relates to this situation. And also that within these 77 pages it seems Adam is making reparations.

Only sharing my personal experience with "similar" situations in this business. Start ups, domaining and web development. ALL MENTIONED in this cavernous pit of sensationalism.

Now as far as "High Jacking" your precious thread, I thought (and according to the likes a few others do as well) my comment was well within the parameters of the thread.

Don't like it, block me, ban me... whatever. Your opinion won't make or break me.

Regards,

WPM

 

[Jeff Markus]

You're right guys. Im sorry. I'll just post my 2 questions and then leave this thread. Adam can you please let myself and others know what your stance is on these 2 questions which would effect anyone that has advertised on your forum.

Does that found fair and balanced?

1. A numbers of pages back a detailed break down of your forum numbers and advertising rates were posted. Those forum numbers were public and proven by Pug to be false without any doubt.

2. Around the same time you came forward to say you added over 100,000 members/emails to your forum that had never interacted with your forum in any way. You include these in your active user count and based your rates around that in your email mailouts on a per email basis..

Questions:
What is your stance on these two specific things? And should people that have advertised with you contact you for a refund because of these numbers?

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No need to tell us of future plans regarding ad strategy. Just specifially to people that have been effected by the above items mentioned.

Thank you

 

[HeyNow]

Just so everyone knows, Discobull and HeyNow have always had an agenda with me.

Is it any wonder? And what you say isn't entirely true. I haven't always had an issue with you. If I always had an issue with you, I wouldn't have paid money to be a participant at DNF. Only after the TDNAM auction story reported by Wired.com, because you never stepped up to the plate to say you may have made mistakes bidding in TDNAM auctions. Your response, as far as I remember, has always been something to the effect of Godaddy allowed it, I'm gonna sic my lawyer on you, you're banned from DNF, and on and on and on. But I never once heard you state that you made a mistake by participating in TDNAM auctions while you were VP in charge of those auctions. The appearance of the possibility driving up prices at auctions you're are affiliated with as a compensated employee or contractor is not comforting to others who participate in those auctions. I know, Godaddy stated you had no access to "inside information." Some can believe that if they choose, I personally don't. I cannot imagine how the VP of an auction platform would not have access to information about any particular auction there over and above that information outside bidders had access to. In fact Godaddy chose to change that policy after that episode became common knowledge.

Why do I care? I didn't bid against you, but I read a thread here at namepros about some poor guy who wanted SPYWARE.US and was prepared to bid close to $3k to get it. Problem is, he stated, he was bidding against YOU, but didn't know it at the time. He may have known the name of the bidders against him, or perhaps he didn't, but he was in the dark about your status at the auctioneer, so he said. Yes, we all know .US is an anemic extension, but that wasn't the prevailing wisdom back then. Anyway, too bad you don't understand how that episode appeared to the outside domain community. Heck, the conference organizers didn't seem to care. Ron Jackson didn't seem to care. Rick Schwartz and others didn't seem to care. Only the small guys cared, and opined how unfair it seemed to be bidding against a Godaddy VP at a Godaddy auction.

My paltry portfolio of several dozen .us names means little to anyone. But it means and is worth substantially less than it would if outsiders who view the domain aftermarket thought the domain aftermarket was totally on the up-and-up, with a high regard for ethical behavior and auction practices. Unfortunately, the domain aftermarket has missed to boat. And thus far, my personal opinion is that you and those of your ilk have done irreparable damage.

Some "agenda," right?

 

[Jen-Sin]

Wonder what happens to people like me that paid Adam for an email blast, when the numbers were mostly false and he claimed they were all real people. Does this pay back period extend to 2013? I mean a scam is a scam right or is there a time period when after that date people that have been scammed by this guy are sh*t outa luck?

Ya he owes me a TON of money but "my claim is too old". Even though he inflated his numbers on his forum to me to include accounts that didnt even exist.

Does anyone think its ok to sell a email blast on a per email basis when you add over 100k of unverified (spam/bot) emails and claim them as real people??

So its not OK to call him on it now because he is finally trying to repay A FEW people?? What about my 20 emails he didn't reply back to? What about that?

@Jeff Markus, I hear your frustrations.

... Jeff Markus is not a real name so I need him to email me what his issue is. ...

@Adam Dicker, @Jeff Markus claims that he has sent you 20 emails but without any replies.

I hope both of you can resolve this.

 

[Adam Dicker]

@Jeff Markus, I hear your frustrations.
@Adam Dicker, @Jeff Markus claims that he has sent you 20 emails but without any replies.
I hope both of you can resolve this.

Who is Jeff Markus? Please email me and identify yourself via email or here as Jeff Marcus at least so I know who you are. If i don't know the name, I can't respond.

 

[Jeff Markus]

Is there any person I could be on this earth that would change your reply to my questions?

Could any two people that have purchased email blasts or advertising from you get two different replies based on my questions?

The answer is NO because your answer should be the same for everyone that was effected by this. I will NOT give you any means to distract from your actions. You don't need to know anything about me to answer the following questions.

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

1. A numbers of pages back a detailed break down of your forum numbers and advertising rates were posted. Those forum numbers were public and proven to be false without any doubt.

2. Around the same time you came forward to say you added over 100,000 members/emails to your forum that had never interacted with your forum in any way. You include these in your active user count and based your rates around that in your email mailouts on a per email basis..

Question One:
What is your stance on these two specific things?

Question Two:
And should people that have advertised with you contact you for a refund because of these numbers?

 

[domainesque]

There has been a lot of evidence of habitual lying presented which have changed a lot of peoples perceptions of Adam Dicker. Not just related to those who feel that they have been denied money or ripped off, but also questionable claims about past success, the amount of traffic he gets to his website, and using stock images of fake people to present the perception that he has a team.

And it wasn't just one person, like even Michael Cyger stated in his chat transcript there'd be many complaints. It was numerous people from the very beginning, many people from the facebook group, and several employees, Shane didn't find one person before starting this, he simply provided the platform from which they could feel brave enough to share their experiences about somebody who intimidated them.

Adam Dicker has been shown to be a deeply dishonest individual, this thread has been in the public interest. If it helps even just one person being ripped off or strung along then it would have been worth it.

That just two or three posters are currently succeeding in steering the agenda now suggests that rather than invest money in righting his wrongs, Adam Dicker may be investing in shills. It would be difficult to believe that webinvestments and frank-germany are not shills. The quality of their work is shoddy though, no wonder people weren't happy with the quality of their outsourced nichewebsites.com purchases.

Can we just drop this now?! One guy may have did a few people dirty, so what. Registrars do thousands of people dirty on a daily and folks stay tight lipped.

I'll call this thread the Bill Cosby copy cat. Nobody said a word for loads of time but everyone jumped on the wagon quick in hopes of getting noticed after the initial accusations. How about a 70 page thread about how godaddy and NJ auction off property that they don't own? Most registrars are filthy and folks would rather jump on one guy vs fight the bigger issue. Sad...

This one guy owe people thousands. If that not significant enough? It sure is to me.

 

[umask077]

This one guy owe people thousands. If that not significant enough? It sure is to me.

I read somewhere that it was 50k+

 

[domainesque]

I read somewhere that it was 50k+

Did you see my PM I sent you? I got your email. Address I will email you later with more info.

 

[domainesque]

Who is Jeff Markus? Please email me and identify yourself via email or here as Jeff Marcus at least so I know who you are. If i don't know the name, I can't respond.

See things like this is.Then when we tell him remind of the situation he ignores us. Such BS. He conveniently forgets who we are when it's time to pay.

 

[RandysDomains]

He conveniently forgets who we are when it's time to pay.

I'm do not understand why you would NOT contact Adam directly. You keep posting that you need him to answer your questions. I would not answer them either unless I knew who the hell you were. If you think you got screwed, and did not enjoy it, why not email Adam? Every deal is unique, and negotiated between the parties involved. I have posted ad rates on my sites, but I'm open to offers. Also, I am not a shill or a bot or an employee. If you have a legit gripe - email him for God's sake.

 

[Adam Dicker]

Did you see my PM I sent you? I got your email. Address I will email you later with more info.

Responded to your PM, but yous till won't tell me who you are yet.
How can I respond?
All issues are being worked on at the moment.
If you still have an issue and are willing to tell me who you are please email me at [email protected]

 

[equity78]

Responded to your PM, but yous till won't tell me who you are yet.
How can I respond?
All issues are being worked on at the moment.
If you still have an issue and are willing to tell me who you are please email me at [email protected]

Adam any idea how many people have issues and how many been resolved ?

I think it is obvious if someone has a claim they need to give the name they transacted business with to get a resolution. @Shane Bellone would you agree ?

 

[Jeff Markus]

Perhaps if you read the thread from the start you'll see all people at some point emailed Adam. Even Frank Schilling only got resolution when it became public. So why do you think Id have better results in a private email than I'm getting in a public forum? Why do I need a private answer to his public claims?

I'm not asking about unique deals this or that. I might be a friend of his, or not, a former worker, or not, maybe even someone that has never even spent a dollar with him. Think of that if it helps, pick one - any one of those. It should not have any bearing on the answers to the following two simple questions.

1. A numbers of pages back a detailed break down of your forum numbers and advertising rates were posted. Those forum numbers were public and proven to be false without any doubt.

2. Around the same time you came forward to say you added over 100,000 members/emails to your forum that had never interacted with your forum in any way. You include these in your active user count and based your rates around that in your email mailouts on a per email basis..

Question One:
What is your stance on these two specific things mentioned above?

Question Two:
And should people that have advertised with you contact you for a refund because of these numbers?

These seem like very reasonable questions to ask. I also think its reasonable to think the answer would be of interest to the many people that have advertised with Adam. Perhaps we should focus on Adam and more importantly on his answering of these questions.

I have raised valid questions, this thread was intended for this use. So without interfering anything, or implying anything, or any other sort of off topic post can everyone allow Adam (which is on this thread now) time to answer this and address his advertisers.