Turning lemons into lemonade

[Rob Monster]

From time to time, I feel moved to start a thread that I think might help one person in particular. However, considering the collective wisdom of many independent thinkers, this might also help others. This thread is about turning lemons into lemonade. As a self-described incurable optimist, it is one of my favorite topics. In my experience, the folks who figure this out early are better off than the ones who never learn it.

As context, on NamePros, I have met lots of cool people, some of whom have really amazing life stories. In fact, in 2019 alone, I have gotten to know many people here whom I now consider to be my trusted friends whose advice I keenly observe and in some of whom I now blindly trust. There are some folks here that are now practically family. And, yes, Epik also hired some folks here too.

To illustrate what I mean about lemons and lemonade, I will share a couple of examples that will be familiar to some NP members:

- Back in March 2019, a few people in the domain industry thought it would be a good idea to chastise me for protecting lawful free speech. This happened in blogs and also here on NamePros. I am not sure about their intention, but whoever was condemning me, ended up making me a lot more popular. In short, my response to being condemned was to engage with authenticity, and to let the crowd conclude for themselves if the manufactured consensus actually held any water. Well, many of you know how that worked out. Much to the chagrin of my harshest critics, Epik has gone from strength to strength as we co-create without care for who makes money or who gets credit.

- Earlier this year, Epik began to make significant inroads as a provider of escrow services for domain investors. The topic was introduced in a thread on NamePros, and within weeks, our friends at Escrow.com dispatched at least 6 state regulators to our doorstep. Although that process was time consuming, and even a bit daunting, we navigated those inquiries. One of the state regulators was kind enough to leak us the complaint. It fingered the instigator as one Jackson Elsegood. At one point when Jackson thought to engage in more of his nonsense, I let him have it, exposing Escrow.com once and for all. Matt Barrie got cute and he got a beatdown too! Our escrow business is booming, by the way and we are just getting started.


This is what I call turning lemons into lemonade. It is all about perspective. What are some principles:

- Be authentic: An early boss at P&G told me this: "First figure out the truth. Then explain truth." If you don't know yourself well enough to explain yourself, go fix that. If you know you screwed up, go deal with that. Acknowledge your faults. Everyone makes mistakes. Live and learn.

- Listen to your critics: Some of them are smart. They can teach you stuff, even if they don't really want to help you. The ones that point out your errors, probably never read Machiavelli who famously says to never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake.

- Try to find the upside: Is there some new circumstance that you had not considered before, consider whether you can accomplish something based on your unique situation. Most situations are not nearly as dire as you think they are. And indeed some things happen for a reason! That's providence.

- Find your tribe: Almost everyone loves an underdog. As long as you are not an unrepentant ass, people will come find you and share their wisdom for whatever you are dealing with at the moment. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Humility is a great foundation for personal growth.


Here are a few simple examples that I know apply to some folks here:

- Spouse cheated on you? Be thankful, you are liberated. Learn from your mistakes. Up your game. Grow in grace. Have confidence that providence has a better spouse out there. Or go back, but on your terms.

- Lost a loved one? Consider setting up a charitable foundation in honor of what that person most cherished. In so doing, know that you are celebrating, preserving and extending their legacy.

- Lost your job? Perhaps that job was not right for you anyway. Assess your strengths and passions. Start a business, or find something that is more perfect for you. If you are diligent, it will work out great!

- Perpetually single? Consider becoming a Digital Nomad. Live anywhere for almost nothing and see the world. You will have way more stories to tell. I am trying to convince @franka46 to set up a Domainer Dojo.

- Sick or injured? Become an expert on personal health. Develop a spiritual practice. Make new friends. Let your light shine. Do you still think your life sucks? Listen to this guy:

The list goes on. I am sure everyone here has had their share of lemons. Curious to hear your story. If it involves domaining, even better!

 

[JB Lions]

That desire to build not just his own but domainers wallets up and innovate is the lemonade in this year long battle to discredit him and Epik IMO.

Nope, sorry. I actually said in the other thread that he should just stick to business. He's an active CEO, that's good. When problems come up, they get handled, that's good etc. Do that good stuff. That advice would be good for business right? But when you post videos and in them talking about Gab or start threads like this, again talking about Gab. He keeps on bringing the crap over, at the same time dressing it up, pretending it was something else. Then you open it up to response. If somebody quotes him and responds it's on topic. All these fan boy posts are off topic, they're basically empty posts.

And in the first post, if you truly want to mentor people, then actually walk your posts. Saying you let somebody have it, or beat them down, comes across like some junior high stuff.

Try it and you'll see, you would have less of this stuff. Less promotional posts would probably help as well. Where threads are started with the main goal of pushing a product. A recent example, dropping promotions in literally 3 different posts, it really is Captain Obvious type stuff. True discussion of course is always welcome.

 

[frank-germany]

I think you missed the point and object lesson: I am not a Nazi, and neither are you. We both know this so let's dispense with this silly game, shall we, or if you insist on carrying out your little LARP operation, then do so in a thread that is pertinent to that topic. This thread is is about domainers overcoming adversity. If you have something constructive to contribute to that topic, be my guest.

Rob, I don't think you are nazi at all

And I don't think
you think of me as a nazi

I can't possibly be a leftist
and an atheist
( thats what you called me )
and a nazi at the same time

The one who is missing the point is you.

We are talking about lemons.

Means we are talking how you, Rob
posted questionable stuff
and turned it into a promotion
for yourself and epik

thats what this post is about


Here is the lemon you gave me:

you used private information of my persona
taken from your epik database
that has only been known to you
as I 'm a customer of repik

exposed my real name here at namepros
which wasn't done before

in order to discredit me

now that's what I call a lemon

 

[Rob Monster]

definitely we agree on that, Rob

I would sing, but it's not my personal gift. Enlisting help from some folks who are more talented:

Thanks Frank!

 

[Rob Monster]

That is strange, because you can literally chat with your ad manager, provided that you have been advertising with them.

If you have a FB adm

Rob, now the Lord is obviously telling you:
its time to create your own facebook

Cute idea but I was thinking of something different.

Decentralized Facebook is coming though, just as decentralized YouTube is already here:

https://us.tv/

Anyone can run their own instance of this technology on their own domain, and search across all the instances. The technology is called PeerTube.

The replacement of Facebook is the so-called Fediverse. Gab.com is an example, running the technology called Mastodon and using a protocol called ActivityPub. Pleroma is a lighter alternative:

https://www.pleroma.com/

The new project called Toki.com will allow you to have a Fediverse identity based on a modified version of Pleroma.

However, the idea for Facebook is different. Are you curious about it?

 

[Rob Monster]

there are multiple

35:35

Spielberg's Hoax: The Last Days of The Big Lie
https://us.tv/videos/watch/f641bb2e-ec14-46b0-b8fd-aed32ab7fb73

Spielberg's "documentary" The Last Days stars Irene Zisblatt, who claims to have had her Auschwitz tattoo removed by Dr. Mengele, had her skin selected to become a lampshade, escaped from inside a gas chamber, and repeatedly defecated and swallowed diamonds for a year.

In addition, Spielberg's documentary hoax features another woman who claims to have escaped from inside a gas chamber, a Nazi doctor framed with an "experimentation" lie, as well as an African-American "Liberator" who was actually hundreds of miles away at the time he claims he witnessed the liberation of Dachau.

The Last Days of the Big Lie uses Spielberg’s hoax documentary as a jumping off point to expose his “USC Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation” and the greater Holocaust myth.


search for:
Questioning the Holocaust: Why We Believed
https://us.tv/search?search=Questioning the Holocaust: Why We Believed

The Holocaust" is widely known as the murder of six million Jews, mostly in gas chambers deceptively disguised as shower rooms.

But how did these gas chambers work?
Did gas come out of the shower heads? How about water?
What were you led to believe?

We have all seen the terrible imagery of dead prisoners taken after concentration camps were liberated. However, a closer examination of the films and television we've been exposed to tell a very different story. Surprisingly, a large number of the bodies we were shown were the direct result of Allied bombing and strafing attacks.

Questioning the Holocaust: Why We Believed presents surprising information which has led many to question the legally sanctioned version of history. Watching this presentation with an open mind will surprise you and leave you asking questions of your own.

I checked.

It looks like investigative journalism to me. This doctor is being accused of war crimes and the documentary assets that it was Mengele-style experiments but rather stool sample testing for disease.

As much as I enjoyed Schindler's List, I don't consider Steven Spielberg to be an investigative journalist. He is 100% Hollywood: ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, etc.

So, I think the video stands but people can down-vote it and right comments to referencing why it is a bad documentary.

As near as I can tell, the doctor is still a free man and has yet to be burned at the stake let alone tried in the Hague for War Crimes even though Charlie Rose decided to try him in the Court of Public Opinion.

You see, I have first-hand experience with this stuff. According to Huffington Post I am a Nazi:

We all know that's nonsense, but there it is.

 

[Lox]

I might have to go with your story. Here I thought it was just because my ancestors were big and ugly!

example: how the dutch got their funny names . (The vast majority still keep the old & hilarious surnames, some has to change it f.e. the last name pannenkoek (pancake) ... one big TV Ads agency hired an art director - Mr. Pancake ,.. clients laughing

Bye

 

[Cal2]

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,
or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

(- Alphonse Karr? Abraham Lincoln?)

 

[Cal2]

That is awesome.

Glass half full mindset.

Love that.

The things one sees on calendars.... : )

Another not as good for lemons/lemonade, but thought provoking. Think it could be applied to people, as well - some store light in their roots, and others, darkness:

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." - Theodore Roethke

 

[Rob Monster]

I don't think I agree with the 1st line (unless someone can convince me), but turning death into lemonade:

"I think there would be little point to life if it did not end in death.
I do not give up on life simply because it ends in death.
Rather, life is much more meaningful and important because of its perishable nature.
I only have one life to live, and I want to make the most of it."
- Nick Otani

Two thoughts:

1. From a mortal perspective, the notion of a finite window to accomplish something creates urgency that would otherwise not be there, particularly as bodies and mind change through the progression of life.

2. From an eternal perspective, to die to self, crucifying the flesh, is a large part of what it means to be "elect" for the purposes of being a vessel for God's purpose.

My guess is that the author, when he wrote that passage, was focused on #1. History is full of secular folks who did great things who probably had a similar idea. For example, though not widely known, most of the founding fathers of the USA were deists -- moral atheists.

The more interesting scenario is #2 which speaks to notion of life as we know it being preparation and qualification for a version of eternity. The people who initially made America great were very possibly the Puritans who began arriving in 1630 and turned New England into the envy of the world.

For those who are already seated in heaven, to be called home will be lemonade. That said, a faithful servant should be in no rush to get there no matter how many "Lord, take me home" days they encounter.

Have a blessed day!

 

[NickB]

Evolution / Natural Selection is a cornerstone of Biology - there is no if's and but's or fake news to the contrary.......

I would suggest anyone entertaining in not believing to look at the historical fossil records, read up on Biogeography, read why pesticide resistance is evolution in action - short video on it here

With the above you then combine molecular biology to map mutations by time and place to show when species diverged which links to fossil records and shows through DNA how certain animals are linked to each other - for example marine animals can be traced back to coming from land animals or how humans evolved from monkeys/apes which in turn can be traced back to sea based animals......

 

[frank-germany]

- Back in March 2019, a few people in the domain industry thought it would be a good idea to chastise me for protecting lawful free speech. This happened in blogs and also here on NamePros.

Hey, Rob sorry for treating you badly.
I can't believe you were attacked because of your intention to protect "free speech".

Now I understand that you actually are the victim here.
Looks like I didn't get it earlier.

That's unbelievable.
Sorry.

I was thinking you were promoting HATE SPEECH.
Stupid me.

 

[frank-germany]

@Rob Monster , for one thing I am glad you made this thread in the Break Room section so that you can use your freedom of speech appropriately.

agreed.
Thats a smart move.

And no epik promotions this time.
Well done.

 

[Blitzpotz]

After reading the first posts my brain started to develop a personal story. Having arrived here I see there´s another Fight Club in the making. Free speech can destroy creativity at some point.

So why not just promote my business off-topic? However, it matches the thread title nearly perfect.

This thread is about turning lemons into lemonade.

Please write your next thread about turning my domain name Lemon.me into cash.

Leaving home and PC now to buy bananas.

 

[Rob Monster]

and ...


whats wrong with a lemon
in the first place?

I like lemons, Frank. And I actually like you. I think you are bit too skeptical and negative, and that it might give you less joy, but I am sure NamePros would not be the same with out a few resident trolls, naysayers, skeptics and hardened atheists, just to keep things interesting. Keep up the good work!

 

[Rob Monster]

@Rob


what has changed since I asked you to ponder about the necessity of supporting holocaust deniers?

what lemonade did you make out of it?
how could you turn this into profit?


Show attachment 134225



https://www.namepros.com/threads/wh...-and-rob-monster.1128748/page-88#post-7357790



does this in any way relate to you
talking about
"not regretting" to have Jewish friends?

Frank,

The part of "not regretting" was about learning the Jewish moedim or feast days. For a time, I was an observant Jew, in the sense of trying to earn salvation through Torah observance, rather than resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You are quoting out of context to support a false narrative. It is no better than what the authors at Wikipedia have been allowed to do. So, the result is that you are a false accuser and a liar. You might want to rethink that strategy. Whatever payoff you think you are going to get is not going to be nearly sufficient.

Why don't you call me sometime? Here's my number: +1.425-765-0077.

Regards,
Rob

 

[Internet.Domains]

questions stay unanswered

holocaust denier videos online served on epiks servers
protected by Robs decision
not to take them down


I have nothing personal against Rob
so no need to talk personally

he does what he can
thats for sure

Peace!

You really have it wrong. Unfortunately, with your unwillingness to speak to him, you will only continue to be misguided as your accusations are a distance from the truth.

Good luck!

 

[frank-germany]

You really have it wrong. Unfortunately, with your unwillingness to speak to him, you will only continue to be misguided as your accusations are a distance from the truth.

Good luck!

This thread is about turning lemons into lemonade. As a self-described incurable optimist, it is one of my favorite topics. In my experience, the folks who figure this out early are better off than the ones who never learn it.

This thread is about turning lemons into lemonade.

my question was:
how the "lemon"
(hosting a holocaust denier video
and me exposing it)

was turned into lemonade

 

[Internet.Domains]

please help me

I am trying to help. Again, you should speak to Rob.

 

[frank-germany]

I am trying to help. Again, you should speak to Rob.

thank you for support


“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” ~ Deuteronomy 31:6

 

[Rob Monster]

the next related question
which may have not been so obvious
was:

please help me, show me a way
how to turn the lemon Rob gave me

A) exposing my last name which wasn't used at namepros before
and only known to him as I am a customer of epik as a domain registrar

and

B) directly connecting me on a personal level
to one of the worst nazis - the founder of the Gestapo

https://www.namepros.com/threads/wh...-and-rob-monster.1128748/page-89#post-7360779


Show attachment 134228

If you actually want anonymity, you might start by removing your picture and perhaps by using WHOIS privacy on all your domains. I think you gain a lot more by being authentic and a known person.

As for the Nazi stuff, my point there and here is that I am not more of a Nazi than you are. In fact, believe it or not, I am quite sure that I am more like an Oskar Schindler than I am to an Adolf Hitler.

So, let's get back to the topic of lemonade. Frank, you are a pretty old guy. I bet you have a lemons into lemonade story to tell. Right?

 

[Mister Funsky]

EDIT: Not going to get on your level

 

[Samer]

And correct me if I’m wrong, isnt this personal issue settled? (In appropriate thread) we get you hurt...

quit trying bringing it up every window, opportunity!!
The personal stuff should be kept personal, frankly i domain to get away from politics. Save for political, or the “bash Rob” thread you’re avoiding caspiciously

Rob said he would fight all the vitriol, anger, hatred head-on in that thread, which he’s done admirably for 100 pages, defin

Samer

Nope, sorry. I actually said in the other thread that he should just stick to business. He's an active CEO, that's good. When problems come up, they get handled, that's good etc. Do that good stuff. But when you post videos and in them talking about Gab or start threads like this, again talking about Gab. He keeps on bringing the crap over, at the same time dressing it up, pretending it was something else. Then you open it up to response. If somebody quotes him and responds it's on topic. All these fan boy posts are off topic, they're basically empty posts.

And in the first post, if you truly want to mentor people, then actually walk your posts. Saying you let somebody have it, or beat them down, comes across like some junior high stuff.

Try it and you'll see, you would have less of this stuff. Less promotional posts would probably help as well. Where threads are started with the main goal of pushing a product. A recent example, dropping promotions in literally 3 different posts, it really is Captain Obvious type stuff. True discussion of course is always welcome.

I doubt anything i say change ur Rob misconception, u keep trying project...

"Fanboy"? Careful... sensing another "deplorable" ...

i dont know who work for, but i bet u, i dont know ur CEO looks like...

That's the difference.

Samer

 

[JB Lions]

And correct me if I’m wrong, isnt this personal issue settled? (In appropriate thread) we get you hurt...

quit trying bringing it up every window, opportunity!!
The personal stuff should be kept personal, frankly i domain to get away from politics. Save for political, or the “bash Rob” thread you’re avoiding caspiciously

Rob said he would fight all the vitriol, anger, hatred head-on in that thread, which he’s done admirably for 100 pages, defin

Samer


I doubt anything i say change ur Rob misconception, u keep trying project...

"Fanboy"? Careful... sensing another "deplorable" ...

i dont know who work for, but i bet u, i dont know ur CEO looks like...

That's the difference.

Samer

You really need to learn to read. I don't start these threads referencing Gab. Not sure what part of quote and reply you're not getting.

Look at my very post in this thread, it was reply to this:

"Personal attacks and belittling of others are not tolerated."

And I said that should be for everybody. So you either agree with that or not. If you agree with it, then it goes for Rob as well. And I quoted where he did that and just touched on it again in my last post "let somebody have it, or beat them down". You're not touching that part, you're just doing rah rah posting.

So if you want some lemons into lemonade stuff, learn from this thread. Gab has been talked to death already, do we really need more of it? This is part of the problem:

I engaged on that site, in part to make sure that they stayed on the right side of the line.

Now see my earlier post to see if that is accurate.

 

[oldtimer]

Look at my very post in this thread, it was reply to this:

"Personal attacks and belittling of others are not tolerated."

And I said that should be for everybody. So you either agree with that or not. If you agree with it, then it goes for Rob as well.

You make a good point and I don't consider that trolling. But the question is whether all those who keep criticizing Rob mean to encourage him to correct some of his past mistakes or do they just want to destroy him as a person and as a Registrar. In all fairness Rob himself has already admitted that perhaps he was wrong in supporting certain speech and actions made by some of the members of certain groups considering that there were no effective measures taken to keep those members inline and that he has now drawn some lines as to what he allows at Epik. As for the part that falls under free speech being exercised lawfully by certain groups that might be considered undesirable by the society at large then that is something for the courts to handle as far as what limits if any should be put on their activities. I personally see some improvements in Rob's judgment and behavior compare to when all this started and if people here like to see even more improvements in that regards then they should engage Rob in a constructive and friendly manner instead of badgering and attacking him all the time. And people should also understand that he is entitled to have his own political, religious, and racial views and beliefs just like everyone else here.

IMO

 

[Rob Monster]

Rob, I don't think you are nazi at all

And I don't think
you think of me as a nazi

I can't possibly be a leftist
and an atheist
( thats what you called me )
and a nazi at the same time

The one who is missing the point is you.

We are talking about lemons.

Means we are talking how you, Rob
posted questionable stuff
and turned it into a promotion
for yourself and epik

thats what this post is about


Here is the lemon you gave me:

you used private information of my persona
taken from your epik database
that has only been known to you
as I 'm a customer of repik

exposed my real name here at namepros
which wasn't done before

in order to discredit me

now that's what I call a lemon

Well, Frank, I apologize if I have caused your grief of some kind. It was not my intention.

You are most definitely not a private person. Your WHOIS is all over the place based on a reverse lookup of any of the domains you have been pitching recently. While free WHOIS privacy does exist, it is apparent that you choose to generally not use it as anyone with a DomainIQ account could discover.

That said, if there is some post of mine that you feel is personally insensitive to you, just PM me the links and we'll see about having a Mod take them down. It is not worth endlessly revisiting even if the intent was to harmless illustrate a logical construct that we both agree on: neither of us are Nazis.

Have a great Wednesday!