What has been done to limit 4 types of improper behaviour?

[Ategy]

So I was recently kindly advised not to let a particular member get me too worked up, but while the advice was 100% genuine and well-intentioned, unfortunately it was made while being unaware of several facts that remain behind the scenes and/or deleted.

In November a member created a group private message that included dozens of NamePros and domain industry leaders, in an attempt to slander and belittle me with statements such as: "one of the biggest A holes I've run across in my life"

It seems the only action taken was some private message limitations .. however in the weeks that followed there has been no follow up on the 4 important points I mentioned in the group private message in question:

I don't particularly care to a point of him continuously being rude and throwing insults at me.

However:

1- The false accusation of defamation of character is a bit much and in itself defamation of character on me.

2- His continued promoting of his personal business development plans in domain focused forums needs to be addressed.

3- His complete lack of respect for the entire community, NamePros and the very concept of public forums and free speech by claiming he doesn't read what others have to say in a debate he himself participates in, and sometimes even started, also needs to be addressed as it is extremely unprofessional behaviour.

4- He needs to respect the fact that just because people don't agree with him, that it isn't always some sort of conspiracy or personal vendetta against him. In fact, if you go back and look at all the discussions and debates and the way he has treated myself, others and the community in general, it is quite clearly he who is consistently lashing out at me.


@ThatNameGuy .. I invite you to take a step back and actually read everything I've said to you over the last couple of years .. then go back and do the same with everything you've said to me. Please also include our personal conversations and all your since deleted posts (which I'm fairly sure you kept on record). In the beginning I even took my own personal time to help you and give my personal advice and help you in private. Yet at some point along the way something snapped in you and you blanketed me into some conspiracy group intent on .. confronting you?

Seriously .. I hope one of your business ideas eventually pans out .. but you need to respect the fact that this is a domain focused community (even more specifically the forums that contain the word "domain") and it is both wrong and dangerous to assume automatic value to random domain names based on your associated business concepts. More importantly, that when people challenge the quality of your domains, that it is not necessarily a challenge against your business idea nor you personally.

While I'm curious as to why the member continues to be here despite saying his "last words" back in November .. but I'm more curious as to why no significant action has since been taken to ensure the points I outlined above were addressed?

Points 2, 3 and 4 are points that should be of concern to the entire community. However I specifically would like to know what was done with regards to point #1 as the member in question used the NamePros platform to call me an A-Hole to a significant number of industry leaders .. and much more importantly to falsely accuse me of slander and thus actually slander me while doing so!


I understand that sometimes things are done behind the scenes, and that some action might have been taken. But from the community side it appears as if very little of significance has been done. So I invite @NamePros to let us know, and to let me know specifically with regards to point #1 above.

Thanks ...

 

[JB Lions]

Just out of curiosity, why would you keep somebody around who has been banned 5 times, 6 if you count the account closure for a day after he DM'ed a bunch of people? You say use the Report Link, people have, but what's the point if there is never real action on NP's part?

 

[Ategy]

Again today:

Wow! 1,783 words in your post directed at me Ategy.I didn't read your entire post as usual, but I did count your words I know you think that I'm bad for the domain industry because I "only" hand register domains I think are appropriate for business's, but you are simply and sadly wrong. I believe they call this place NamePros, and many of my peers and even other members here view me as a "Name Pro" regardless of how you try to spin me" I don't participate in Auctions or what is referred to as "Drop Catch" or NameCult whatever that is?...i just create names, and I'm sorry you're offended

Couple days ago seems moderators needed to remove things from this thread:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/domaining-what-keeps-you-in-the-game.1174349/

The list goes on and on and on ...

We hope everyone can learn to become constructive members. However, if it persists, then we eventually give up, and they won't be able to return.

Well then I think now it's time ... I originally wrote rest of this around New Years but decided not to spoil anyone's vacations as well as hope the new decade would bring in some change .. guess not .. same thing over and over again. Seems like 2020 is no different from 2019 or 2018 .. so ...


Despite his extremely unacceptable actions, personal attacks and slander against me in November, last night (some night around New Years) I really REALLY genuinely tired and was hoping with the new year we could start fresh and mend some bridges .. and I took some time to try to explain something in the most polite and constructive way I could .. because at first he seemed to finally be listening ...
https://www.namepros.com/threads/epik-vs-epic-and-happy-new-year.1170483/page-2#post-7566332
... but in the end it's just the same community-disrespecting behaviour as usual.

2372 Words for Naught
Ategy...i'm now back to not reading your posts, however just for fun this time I counted the number of words in your rant/diatribe about me.

Happy New Year to you too Ategy I actually took more than a few minutes to read your entire post that brings two very close words to mind;
Diatribe and Diarrhea...btw, I'm drop dead serious about these two words coming to mind, and these are the same two words that would come to mind regardless of who wrote it.

That's on top of ...

Much to your chagrin I'm not going anywhere, but I will leave you with a few of the domains I recently hand reg'd for my newest portfolio... YumNames.com;
Yum21.com
YumCasual.com
YumHomes.com

... as he continues to self-promote off-topic. He doesn't even make an effort to connect the domains to the conversation .. he just constantly mentions random off-topic domains.


MUST READ LOOOOOOONG HISTORY OF MANY MANY MULTIPLE MULTIPLE CASES: So when added to this previous post that only lists a fraction of examples of unprofessional behaviour and it's one of *MY* longer posts .. so that should say a lot in itself.
https://www.namepros.com/threads/deplorable-domains-thread-deleted-content-behaviour-and-moderation-issues.1144448/


Then add to that the significantly worse infractions last November when he sent a group NAMEPROS private message to dozens of community and industry leaders attacking me with FALSE and SLANDEROUS accusations (not the first, second, third or forth time ...)

Rob etal....four words come to mind when dealing with the likes of Ateguy and the rest of the cabal on NP who are determined to have me booted....Defamation, Entrapment, Stalking, and Harassment.

@ThatNameGuy - We have reviewed the post you reported and can see some clear heated debate and personal opinion, however, we are not seeing any personal attacks, threats, or antagonistic intent in the post.

...

Rob Monster, instead of putting you in the awkward position of having to boot me from your new gig, i'll save you the trouble. And a final word to Ateguy, one of the biggest A holes I've run across in my life, regardless of what you say in your diatribes and rants, I've done just fine in the domain industry just as I have and will continue to do in life.

I've made a genuine effort to not just be polite, but also to be helpful, and was really hoping we could all move along. But after his posting again yesterday (again, around new years) enough is enough.


Seriously .. I don't understand how NamePros allows the community to be disrespected to the extend it has been. When someone throws insults it's already bad. But to participate in a debate and deliberately taunt the fact that he completely ignores by not even reading key discussion points is 200% unprofessional. The whole point of a forum is to have mature dialogue and learn from each other. If you don't have time or don't want to participate then that's fine. But to completely and deliberately ignore members, while actually taunting their own deliberate ignorance at what others have to say to me is worse than taking a leak on your servers .. it's childish, unprofessional and disrespectful and quite frankly pathetic.


Also ... Most importantly ... If there is any chance he will be reinstated before the end of this new decade, then please STOP deleting his posts .. because every time he gets banned and returns, new members can't see him for who he really is and can't see his true colours (until as usual he starts at it again like clockwork).

 

[equity78]

I know he has. The gist of today’s problems is Ategy went into a thread he opened and started posting. If someone is so offensive you should not engage with him in his threads.

He is only here because he doesn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of running him out. And because people still reply to his threads.

There is an annoying as hell guy like him at every company I ever worked at. You just ignore as best as you can and report.

Excellent point, when you go into the post, Namepros is not going to ban someone, it's heated debate.

Threads here are very different, a thread where someone asks for help or an appraisal is one thing.

A thread where it seems someone is just pontificating, it's best to ignore. If everyone would agree to ignore troll posts it slows down real fast.

This is not the first troll, many years ago there was someone in .tv that would go out their way to troll, people responded and it was back and forth.

Then I said Ignore and a lot of people agreed and basically did a double pronged strategy. Not only was the troll being ignored but those who refused to ignore him were also ignored, did not have phone calls or emails replied too.

Because if you want to troll you can troll, Namepros is not going to stop that. There are many things I don't like here, but members are allowed to do them.

When it comes to advice, I have found when someone is not asking for advice they get pissed real quick when you offer it.

1) Some people here despise other people, when that person they despise (but that person doesn't know) offers advice, it gets heated fast.

2) Sometimes it's not even trolls, I remember a new member pmmed me once and said, "The education threads are cool but I don't really care, I don't want your advice, I just want your money, I am only here for money."

Now I was not giving him money but members do have the right to say I am just here for business. I have had a few members this past year tell me they stopped logging in because they see Namepros as mostly hobbyists and as one told me, "I am a grown ass man, with no time for games, this is business and I take it seriously." My reply to him was that's a tad over the top, how much business did you expect to do here?

Namepros is going to give infractions and close accounts based on rules, someone not wanting your advice or telling you they don't like or respect you, so long as there are no threats, probably is not going to get that person banned.

Over generalizing statements where one says why everyone is here, is just wrong, some people only read discussion, don't sell. Others only sell, I have been friends with someone here for many years who only uses the marketplace, whenever I say did you see that post by "so and so" he says, you know I don't read that shit.

The biggest thing in my opinion is when someone who is considered a troll or douche or whatever posts, people should just report that, not engage, because now it's on, you engaged they are going to go back at you, others join in on both sides and the mods have a lot to do then.

If people just ignored an annoying post that's allowed, it will move down the list fast. If it's a violation thread, report it.

In this particular case, the dm's in my opinion (which means nothing) should have meant a ban, that's above and beyond disagreeing.

 

[bmugford]

Seriously .. I don't understand how NamePros allows the community to be disrespected to the extend it has been. When someone throws insults it's already bad. But to participate in a debate and deliberately taunt the fact that he completely ignores by not even reading key discussion points is 200% unprofessional. The whole point of a forum is to have mature dialogue and learn from each other. If you don't have time or don't want to participate then that's fine. But to completely and deliberately ignore members, while actually taunting their own deliberate ignorance at what others have to say to me is worse than taking a leak on your servers .. it's childish, unprofessional and disrespectful and quite frankly pathetic.


Also ... Most importantly ... If there is any chance he will be reinstated before the end of this new decade, then please STOP deleting his posts .. because every time he gets banned and returns, new members can't see him for who he really is and can't see his true colours (until as usual he starts at it again like clockwork).

I agree.

After 5+ bans the same issues persist - constant intentional trolling, antagonizing, disrespectful behavior.

There is also constant self-promotion by spamming domains that are in no way relevant to the discussion.

I am seriously sick of this nonsense as well.

There are others members that are also doing nothing more than creating worthless threads to just antagonize/troll others and/or spam domains. This adds absolutely zero value to the forum.

Allowing this to happen over and over again just reflects poorly on NamePros and turns away more and more legitimate users with actual value to add. It is no wonder so many long time established members, like Kate, have disappeared recently.

Brad

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

Just out of curiosity, why would you keep somebody around who has been banned 5 times, 6 if you count the account closure for a day after he DM'ed a bunch of people? You say use the Report Link, people have, but what's the point if there is never real action on NP's part?

We hope everyone can learn to become constructive members. However, if it persists, then we eventually give up, and they won't be able to return.

It's something we try our best to avoid, but it's inevitable sometimes.

 

[Ategy]

Re: https://www.namepros.com/threads/catchy-vs-vanilla.1175361/#post-7615918

=

= Are you kidding me?

I give up .. if NamePros doesn't see the actions of this user over the last 3 months as way of the line of disrespect not just to me, but to the entire community, then I all I can say is that NamePros is 100% wrong.

I just don't get how on Earth that could be considered anything resembling professional behaviour !?!?

 

[karmaco]

He should have been banned one of the 82 times he referred to domaining as cyber squatting.

Ategy I believe they will ban him again when he gets out of line which he without doubt will.

I would wager they consider you and him a personal clash, friendship gone bad etc due to your pms with him that led to a falling out of some kind. He enjoys getting your goat and you let him. Report but don’t engage.

 

[bmugford]

I would wager they consider you and him a personal clash, friendship gone bad etc due to your pms with him that led to a falling out of some kind. He enjoys getting your goat and you let him. Report but don’t engage.

He has accused multiple people of stalking, harassment, and other nonsense for posting on a public forum.
I am not sure he understands how public forums work.

He has taken this nonsense to email, blogs, and DM as well.

At some point if everyone else has an issue with you, the issue is not everyone else.
It is you.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Every one of his threads goes the same way...

1.) Talk about how great I am.
2.) Namedrop to make me seem more important and credible.
3.) Spam a bunch of unrelated domains I own.
4.) Talk about how everyone else is a "hoarder", but not the guy with 1500+ domains and limited (if any) sales.
5.) Talk about how messed up the domain industry is and how I have all the solutions.
6.) Belittle, insult and demean others; people who have actually had success in the field.
7.) Accuse others of stalking and harassment for responding on a public forum.
8.) Rinse and Repeat.

Brad

 

[Bob Hawkes]

If people just ignored an annoying post that's allowed, it will move down the list fast. If it's a violation thread, report it.

This is hard advice to always follow, according to human nature, but it really is the correct advice. The reason a lot of useless threads get high in popularity is because of people entering a debate. Simply ignore, or if clearly against rules, report.

Your entire post is well written, @equity78, and thank you for sharing your sensible advice based on long and deep involvement with NamePros and domaining.

Bob

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

I am free to assume anything I want.

An assumption doesn't make a person right, and stating an assumption as a fact is irresponsible.

You may know of members who have left because of problems on NamePros (e.g., disagreements), but you've stated that Kate did and you do not why Kate hasn't been around lately.

Some people will clearly never learn.

You say report, don't engage. Great advice in theory, but what is the point if you can get banned 5+ times and keep returning to cause more problems?

We understand why some members feel that way about him, but we have seen different sides of him. He has shown remorse when we point out what he did wrong and why it was wrong.

We may arrive at a point where we feel trying to help him abide by the rules is not worth our time anymore, but we are still hoping for the best.

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

How many strikes until you are out?

When we, the moderators, believe there is no chance of a resolution.

Unfortunately, many of the direct conversations that we have with members regarding these things are not public, so you only see part of what drives our decisions. Typically, you only see the parts that have caused problems or upset you, which is why it's understandable that you have lost hope and believe we should ban permanently. Based on the interactions we've had, we still believe it is worth our time to work with this member.

If you see value in making sure this kind of trollish behavior is able to stick around

That's opposite of what we've described we're trying to do.

We're trying to provide an opportunity for him to abide by the rules and become a contributor of the community.

Until then, we have placed additional restrictions on his account to try to avoid further disruption and speed up the learning or banning process, which will be determined by his actions moving forward.

 

[NickB]

We hope everyone can learn to become constructive members. However, if it persists, then we eventually give up, and they won't be able to return.

It's something we try our best to avoid, but it's inevitable sometimes.

As moderators you should be able to review posts from members that have a questionable history and not need to rely on "reports" - you warn someone, that person tones it down for a period of time and once their "probation" finishes they start again knowing they have a clean slate - vicious cycle continues???

The odd infraction I understand, but constant bans and warnings? Surely there is a cut off point? If there is, when is that? How far do do you have to go to be permanently banned?

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

As moderators you should be able to review posts from members that have a questionable history and not need to rely on "reports"

We rely almost entirely on Reports for multiple reasons, including that the rules are mostly reflective of what the community wants and if members are not concerned about enforcing a particular rule, then it may not be all that important anymore to the community.

The odd infraction I understand, but constant bans and warnings?

Bans are almost always permanent and not to be confused with account closures.

Accounts can close automatically when too many warning points accumulate in a short period of time. Depending on the infraction, the warning points may stay active for longer periods of time. This system generally works well and gives members an opportunity to learn from their mistakes without continuing to disrupt the community during their "time out" of sorts. The "time out" tends to increase each time, and it's very rare for members to wait and come back to do the same thing again. Unfortunately, there are some exceptions.

There are also restrictions if we feel they are necessary to mitigate disruption.

Surely there is a cut off point? If there is, when is that? How far do do you have to go to be permanently banned?

It is a judgment call that we make based on the history of our conversations with them, their (apparent) willingness to improve, etc. There is no exact science to it because every situation is different.

We hope that helps.

 

[Ategy]

You say use the Report Link, people have, but what's the point if there is never real action on NP's part?

That's probably my biggest frustration with NamePros lately. While I'm sure they likely actually do a lot of prevention and moderation behind the scenes. It's very frustrating that they don't SEEM TO actively monitor the most problematic of members. Many of us pay $120 a year, and while individually it might not be tons, collectively it most certainly does add up. It's for reasons like this that I've said I feel it seems like NamePros doesn't care, because we want to be active members not NamePros police. NamePros most certainly is huge and it 100% is not unreasonable for them to ask members to report things .. nor is it unreasonable for them to ask us for help and be understanding in certain situations. But to ask us to police and report somebody who has been banned many multiple of times comes off as there being insufficient moderator coverage. Or maybe even that we have a differing definition of what moderation actually is.

Again .. I don't want the moderation team to be offended and have me think they don't do anything. But in my mind it is the responsibility of a moderation team to pro-actively be involved in the day to day discussions of the forum .. and most definitely be ACTIVELY and CONSTANTLY on top of the most problematic cases. If this is not what the current "Moderation Teams" are doing, then maybe rename them to "Administration Team"?

MORE IMPORTANTLY .. I respect the fact there's likely things going on behind the scenes .. but NamePros in turn needs to be aware of the fact that we can only see what we see. And while you're likely doing quite a bit .. as members we simply don't see it. As @JB Lions made his excellent point .. all we see is the member getting banned for a short period, and then return with the same problems .. repeat repeat repeat ...

EVEN MORE importantly in my mind the more important but less obvious issues I made points #2 & #3 in the first post have never been address with the member even once.

We aren't asking NamePros to monitor every single post in the forum .. as much as I think that would be appropriate, I'm not asking for that .. what I think many of us are asking for, is that at the very least you actively monitor the most problematic cases. And that instead of telling us that it's our problem that we need to police and report, maybe just tell us "yes .. the team will take special care to proactively be on top of the more problematic cases".


Because ultimately getting us to report and post like this is only going to get problematic members to be even more frustrated with the other members of the community .. it certainly can't help.

 

[creataweb]

Now I see why members like Kate left the forum.

 

[NYJimbo]

The only way to deal with ThatNameGuy is to block him. He is an instigator. The only thing he likes to do is brag about his questionable successes in his past and make sarcastic comments or replies. I view him as a useless member of the forum.

 

[NYJimbo]

He has accused multiple people of stalking, harassment, and other nonsense

He knows exactly what he is doing. This is a dirty trick he uses to stop people from making the slightest negative comment against him. I've seen it used on other forums. Basically the guy threatens to report you or actually does and then YOU get chastised, instead of him. Children use this technique when fighting.

 

[lock]

Namepros is tame as hell compared to other forums for trolls. If you have a problems with crap call them out in actual thread. There are BS claims made all the time. If mods read from beginning to end instead of problem backwards there might be better resolutions.

 

[Internet.Domains]

Imagine the scenario where a few established members could get someone banned because they disagreed, got in contentious battles or simply did not like a person. I find it very professional that the mods are taking an educational approach versus a cut throat banning approach.

We all should find comfort that the mods are not trigger happy to close accounts. Domaining has many cultures and different personalities involved. There is no normal. Celebrate that. Enjoy it. Relax and smile while domaining takes you for a ride.

Peace and cheers!

 

[JB Lions]

Imagine the scenario where a few established members could get someone banned because they disagreed, got in contentious battles or simply did not like a person. I find it very professional that the mods are taking an educational approach versus a cut throat banning approach.

We all should find comfort that the mods are not trigger happy to close accounts. Domaining has many cultures and different personalities involved. There is no normal. Celebrate that. Enjoy it. Relax and smile while domaining takes you for a ride.

Peace and cheers!

This is a truly ridiculous post. Again, he's been banned 5 times plus an account closure. He should have been banned 2 years ago for spamming. You were also in on the DM -
The Last Word - NamePros Community

That should have been the last of it. If 5 bans and an account closure isn't worthy of a ban, what is? Rules are nothing if not enforced.

Unfortunately, many of the direct conversations that we have with members regarding these things are not public, so you only see part of what drives our decisions.

Tells me he's sweet talking you and you keep falling for it.. What is public is 5 bans/account closure. It's not a complicated thing. He's a spammer and a troll.

 

[JB Lions]

I am going to ignore you said that. I hope this can become a teachable moment.

Don't ignore it because it's true. You're trying to make a ridiculous argument for keeping people that have been banned 5 times/account closure. He would have been banned at most places a long time ago. Sometimes you try to defend some ridiculous stuff, think there is another thread about trademarks. - https://www.namepros.com/threads/cybersquatters-give-us-all-a-bad-name.1173583/#post-7596733

Trying to defend spammers, trolls and cybersquatters. Then talk about what's good for the industry? Doesn't make sense.

In addition, if you find someone to be a troll, annoying, or a rules violator, why put in all the effort to ban? Isn't it easier and more productive to just ignore?

Cheers!

This doesn't make sense either. How about some obvious reasons. Less work for mods. Less junking up the forum. People like to talk about why so and so doesn't post here and you defend the type of stuff that keeps people away.

 

[bmugford]

Alright, let's use criminal justice as an analogy. You say there has been multiple violations and infractions. Bank robbery is a violation of the law and so is jay walking. The penalties are very different. Armed robbery is a violation of the law and so is not using your blinker when changing lanes. The penalties are very different.

My point is that "maybe" (I don't know facts) the violations of a particular member doesn't require a ban. Instead it requires education, a teachable moment. Just as Drivers Education will teach how to use a blinker when changing lanes.

In addition, if you find someone to be a troll, annoying, or a rules violator, why put in all the effort to ban? Isn't it easier and more productive to just ignore?

Cheers!

Well, I don't think this really rises to the level of using an actual criminal analogy.

However, If you want to put it in those terms, multiple bans would be a habitual offender.
Normally habitual offenders would face more severe penalties as they don't learn from their actions.

If your driver's license is revoked (5) times, at some point they are going to quit giving it back to you.

And no, I don't think it is more productive to just ignore disrespectful, demeaning, offensive comments. I think it is more productive to confront the nonsense.

Brad

 

[Ategy]

Sorry for starting this on New Years Day .. as long as you don't close/delete it, please feel free to take your time to respond after the rum/eggnog has left your system. The reason I bring it up can be found from this post which I posted elsewhere today that continues to show a problem with my second point .. and i was just curious as to why nothing was done in November...

@Ategy try not to get too worked up. This thread is a fantasy, just like his others.

The problem is that most of the damaging and hateful things he's said has unfortunately been deleted. For about 2 years now he's been rude to not just myself and a handful of other specific members, but also to the NP and domaining community as a whole. I have no idea why he even attacked me. When he first started out in his first week at NamePros he reached out to me and I took a significant amount of my personal time to message him privately to offer help/advice. Then sometime in the year after that he launched into me accusing me of being part of some conspiracy group stalking him!? (I still don't know where that came from as especially until then all my posts had been very factual, data/logic based and clinical as most of my post typically are).

I have actually previously asked NamePros to NOT delete his slanderous, antagonistic and obnoxiously rude posts so that specifically his true nature would not be hidden to others. But for some reason NamePros continues to delete his stuff, ban him, and then allow him to return? So you need to keep in mind he's has countless posts where he's been extremely rude and slanderous to fellow members of this community that you haven't seen because they have been deleted or exist only as private messages.

In November he started a couple of private messages and included dozens industry and NamePros leaders in those private group messages in an attempt to slander me and literally call me "one of the biggest A holes I've run across in my life" (which is ironically actually a compliment coming from him .. lol). The irony is that if you go back to all my posts that crossed his, I've always used logic, math, facts and data to make my arguments .. it was never anything close to being personal for me, like with everyone else at NamePros, I was simply offering my opinions and advice (heavily supported by logic/facts/data) .. then instead of admitting his concepts have been logically disproven, or even simply try to defend his ideas by using logic/data/facts of his own .. he then chooses to throw insults and false accusations at me and others in the community and then even go so far as to say he doesn't even read my posts (yet somehow also claims I'm wrong and am being slanderous .. lol .. ironically actually making him the only one actually being slanderous)

So while it might feel that @ThatNameGuy frustrates me for very superficial and benign reasons, and his nonsense, false accusations, rude behaviour and general shenanigans generally do more and more (particularly since his group private message attacks in November).. but what really bothers me is his constantly posting his fantasy business concepts in ways that gives the impression it's domaining .. and then reinforcing his supposed authority by constantly reminding the community that he has named dozens of businesses 40 years ago (wrongfully thinking that coming up with usable business names automatically makes your concepts good domaining strategy .. which to be clear is NOT the case)

Then not only does he post things that should not be in "domain/domaining" related forums, and not only does he continue to insult people .. but then he repeatedly uses these discussions to "subtly" promotes his domains and even worse .. to look for suckers partners to either invest time or money into helping him develop his concepts. In effect what he does is grab dozens or even hundreds of otherwise worthless hand-registrations, presents a grandiose fantasy business concept where he paint a portrait of making tons of money, then leaves bait indirectly fishing for investors, or even worse, developers who he tries to get to essentially do all the actual work.

That is the specific reason why I continuously stand against his non-domainer concepts (or in this case bad domainer concepts) in an attempt to defend this community and particularly newcomers from his dangerous and misrepresentative ideas. Ironically if he simply presented then honestly as theoretical and fantasy business concepts IN AN APPROPRIATE VENUE, then I'd actually have zero issues with his posts (whether or not they are good or bad business concepts). If his intentions were clear and presented appropriately in a proper venue then I'd likely still think most of them were bad business ideas, but it wouldn't bother me because it wouldn't be dangerously misleading to newcomers in the DOMAINING industry when reading his usual nonsense in DOMAIN related forums!

Ultimately I would flip the question back to you. Each post and thread ask yourself is this contribution helping others to better understand name uses and opportunities, or how to invest in, promote or sell domain names. There should be a place for different approaches and views if offered in a positive manner.

While I'll be the first to state (because I like facts to be clear), that in this particular thread, @ThatNameGuy thankfully seems to be focused on the specific "Epik" domain names, but as stated multiple times, my biggest issue with him is that his posts are not about domain names .. they are about fantasy business development concepts to which he's acquired the relevant (but otherwise worthless/useless) domains.

So unlike most of his posts .. at the start I didn't really have an issue with the existence of this thread .. although I obviously strongly disagree with the merit of the actual domains in question (two-word "epik" domains). That is UNTIL like clockwork he started dropping some of his other non-related domains he's trying to push (his Yum domains).

What's 100x worse and annoying is that like usual, he adds unrelated domains but tried to justify it with empty statements like ..
"Much to your chagrin I'm not going anywhere, but I will leave you with a few of the domains I recently hand reg'd for my newest portfolio..."
or often it's more in the tone of: here are some other names I registered that you probably can't see the value in
Again, I want to be clear that I'm paraphrasing the later one because I can't be bothered to search likely deleted posts, but he's always cross-promoting his other domains and business concepts, and usually in a condescending way. All of which I can take with a grain of salt .. but what makes me cringe is that he almost always does this without even saying a word of how it related to the current discussion. Like WHY did he mention his Yum domains? If he had used them in a way to show some parallel logic to back up his Epik domains, then maybe I could stomach it .. but he very clearly did not!