What's going on with Epik and Rob Monster?

[MapleDots]

I'm catching the tail end of this, seems to be some kind of controversy...

https://domaingang.com/domain-news/rob-monster-off-twitter-after-christchurch-massacre-controversy/

Must be something odd to evoke this type of a response from one of our members.

 

[Rob Monster]

An interesting career Rob, how many languages do you speak or familiar with? I'm just curious

Fluent in Dutch, English and German. I lived in the right places for a while.

I learned Japanese and for a gaijin, learned enough to come across as respectful but as an expat in Japan working for a US company I mostly spoke English in part because the Japanese wanted to learn English!

I studied French for 6 years in high school and lived in French-speaking Belgium for a summer. I can read it and speak it with a decent accent but conversationally the French speak too fast for me to keep up!

 

[DN Universal]

No doubt -- the Holy Spirit is a reforming fire. And when the Holy Spirit comes up short, providence is quick to deliver correction.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18

I believe God gives warning shots (falls) but sometimes we have to fall hard.

GOD is the "All Seeing, All Hearing and All Knowing" nothing escapes his presence. I prefer his Mercy as I am only a man who he created...

 

[Rob Monster]

GOD is the "All Seeing, All Hearing and All Knowing" nothing escapes his presence. I prefer his Mercy as I am only a man who he created...

Agreed there. It is safe to say that God does not miss much.

As times goes on, I increasingly conclude that all is providence. Mercy is one of its flavors. However, not everyone gets that chastisement is also one of its flavors.

Yes, you can work your butt off, but really it is God that ultimately who arranges and empowers. I have seen it too many times to deny it and the scripture is pretty clear:

Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Lamentations 3:37

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. - Philippians 4:13

Etc, etc.

The hard part is discerning God's will and then trusting that He will arrange it and supply it. Theologians call this "Waiting on the Lord". That is not easy.

Galatians 5 describes the working of the Holy Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law - Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)

Good teaching here on waiting on the Lord.

https://www.gotquestions.org/wait-on-the-Lord.html

 

[tonyk2000]

Fluent in Dutch, English and German. I lived in the right places for a while.

I learned Japanese and for a gaijin, learned enough to come across as respectful but as an expat in Japan working for a US company I mostly spoke English in part because the Japanese wanted to learn English!

I studied French for 6 years in high school and lived in French-speaking Belgium for a summer. I can read it and speak it with a decent accent but conversationally the French speak too fast for me to keep up!

Great Speaking the most romantic language ... French. And with added Japanese which is like another Universe. And with Dutch and German. My respect to you!

 

[Rob Monster]

Great Speaking the most romantic language ... French. And with added Japanese which is like another Universe. And with Dutch and German. My respect to you!

I need to learn Spanish. Right now you need it to communicate with gardeners and contractors. In about 20 years, you will need it to communicate with the captains of industry.

One of our sons lives in Phoenix - just moved there for a job working at Five Stars. In the field, most of the business owners are Spanish-speaking natives of Mexico. They increasingly run the place.

I also like reading Greek and Hebrew. If you use a Bible tool like BlueLetterBible.org, the interlinear translations let you see the exact source texts. I have found that to be immensely helpful.

I look forward to the day when I can run Epik while traveling the word 24/7. Currently I am Huatulco, MX working off of a sunny deck overlooking the Pacific. Work hard, play hard -- be productive but have fun too.

 

[tonyk2000]

I need to learn Spanish.

Would not be hard after French. I'd say it is much easier, you read and pronounce exactly what is written I speak Spanish daily and can read in Portuguese, Italian and French as the result. All roman group...

 

[Rob Monster]

Would not be hard after French. I'd say it is much easier, you read what is written I speak Spanish daily and can read in Portuguese, Italian and French as the result. All roman group...

Spanish is easy, yes. Speaking it this week.

For the young folks, and single folks, I found the single best way to learn a language is to have a girlfriend/boyfriend who speaks the language.

Youth exchange programs are also great but can be a crap shoot if you get paired up with the wrong family -- happens all the time.

 

[tonyk2000]

In about 20 years, you will need it to communicate with the captains of industry

And probably to live in U.S., at least in some parts like Florida.

 

[oldtimer]

In short, anyone who defies the censors is asking for a serious beatdown. It is frankly only by the Grace of God, and his infinite mercy that I stand before you today as the CEO of Epik.

I believe that God was looking after you all along and wanted to make you an example of how people can find strength in the face of adversity and turn a bad situation in to something good.

God sees things differently than we do, from childhood either directly or indirectly our mind is trained (brainwashed) by the society and the environment that we are brought up in to think in certain ways, we come to believe that those who think the same way as us as being good and everyone else as being bad and evil. It’s much easier to hurt someone whom we think of as being bad, but the thing is that those bad guys think of themselves as being good and us as being bad and so conflicts, animosities and Wars are justified and to some extent promoted against those whom everyone considers to be different. We tend to consider the rest of the World to be wrong and bad since it’s easy to pass judgement on people that are far away and that we might not be very familiar with and yet sometimes we live in the same environment as those who we consider to be the enemy and as such our disdain for them shows up in the form of hate, prejudice, and discrimination. The truth of the matter is that we all are bad in certain ways and we all have the potential to be good if we are educated and guided to breakaway from our existing mindsets so that we can ascend to a higher level of existence that is based on logic and compassion and not on all the old ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines that have already failed us.

Some people think of Nazis, Terrorists, and LGBTQ as bad people and yet they themselves engage in actions and behaviors that are far worse. How is it that we have come to accept abortion as being okay when in reality what we are doing is mass murder of the most innocent and helpless among us and how do we justify denying countless number of people shelter, food, and healthcare when we very well know that that is going to cause so much pain and suffering for so many people who otherwise might have been able to be healthy, happy, and productive members of the society. And how do we justify promoting and facilitating addiction, delinquency, lust, greed, cruelty, killings, and War when we know that countless number of lives are going to be torn apart by our actions.

We might be all bad in the eyes of God, we shouldn’t single out just one guy, we should work towards reforming Humanity as a whole.

IMO

 

[bourbon]

Thanks, well, now you are up to speed.

Prior to March 2019, I was probably not that well known on NamePros. What happened in March 2019 was that a few adversaries tried to use Twitter to finish something that started in October 2018.

See here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/so...y-24-hours-to-transfer-or-suspension.1107245/

The digital censors have been hard at it since at least October 2018 which is when they tried to shut down Gab.com. I did not exactly realize what I was walking into, but now, in retrospect, it is evident.

In short, anyone who defies the censors is asking for a serious beatdown. It is frankly only by the Grace of God, and his infinite mercy that I stand before you today as the CEO of Epik.

Looking ahead, I have no idea what the future holds for us, but I remain convinced that I was called to do this thing that we have set out to do. There is some more context here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/so...t-do-domain-names-have-to-do-with-it.1161411/

And yes, I started with P&G in 1991, and for a number of years was Product Manager for Pampers, first in Germany, and then in Japan. I traveled all over the world, and then moved to Seattle in 1999.

Is the incoherent attack dog known as Samer and/or Sonatime attached to your company in some way? He seems to be in a tizzy about something on your behalf?

I don't condone censorship, but I also don't think this is a battle that will be won on Namepros. Many of these posts seem more suitable for a personal website than for a domaining website. I think the mods should edit the first post and add in links to all of your replies in this thread + whatever statements were made so that no one feels the need to bump the thread and cause new users to fall down the rabbit hole.

I'm new and I obviously can't speak for everyone here, but I personally joined Namepros with the expectation that there be a reasonable level of professionalism on display. Putting business owners in a position to have to read past your views on George Soros or porn or the fact that you think abortion is cold-blooded murder shows both a lack of discretion and a complete disregard for our time. This isn't Twitter and this isn't Tumblr. None of that is any of my concern. I'm here to learn about the industry and the companies who populate it.

 

[JB Lions]

Is the incoherent attack dog known as Samer and/or Sonatime attached to your company in some way? He seems to be in a tizzy about something on your behalf?

I don't condone censorship, but I also don't think this is a battle that will be won on Namepros. Many of these posts seem more suitable for a personal website than for a domaining website. I think the mods should edit the first post and add in links to all of your replies in this thread + whatever statements were made so that no one feels the need to bump the thread and cause new users to fall down the rabbit hole.

I'm new and I obviously can't speak for everyone here, but I personally joined Namepros with the expectation that there be a reasonable level of professionalism on display. Putting business owners in a position to have to read past your views on George Soros or porn or the fact that you think abortion is cold-blooded murder shows both a lack of discretion and a complete disregard for our time. This isn't Twitter and this isn't Tumblr. None of that is any of my concern. I'm here to learn about the industry and the companies who populate it.

Some of us have tried. The first time it started to go off track with religion, conspiracy theory etc. it should have been split off with warnings. This is really a Break Room thread now, has nothing to do with a review anymore. And yes, you'll notice some "influencers" hopping in a lot of threads.

So what has happened to this thread. Lots of pages I've missed.

What is the latest on Rob's (Epik's) stance on mass shootings, flat earth, dinosaurs in Bible times, etc.? This thread seems to have went completely sideways.

Not sure why this keeps happening.

 

[Rob Monster]

Is the incoherent attack dog known as Samer and/or Sonatime attached to your company in some way? He seems to be in a tizzy about something on your behalf?

I don't condone censorship, but I also don't think this is a battle that will be won on Namepros. Many of these posts seem more suitable for a personal website than for a domaining website. I think the mods should edit the first post and add in links to all of your replies in this thread + whatever statements were made so that no one feels the need to bump the thread and cause new users to fall down the rabbit hole.

I'm new and I obviously can't speak for everyone here, but I personally joined Namepros with the expectation that there be a reasonable level of professionalism on display. Putting business owners in a position to have to read past your views on George Soros or porn or the fact that you think abortion is cold-blooded murder shows both a lack of discretion and a complete disregard for our time. This isn't Twitter and this isn't Tumblr. None of that is any of my concern. I'm here to learn about the industry and the companies who populate it.

Reality check.

This thread got kickstarted again by @TCK when he posted here:

Some folks engaged and here we are.

As for @Samer or @sonatime, they are clients but not otherwise affiliated. The Epik staff are badged. There are a couple of Epik equity investors that are NP members but only 1 is active, and the other is @Braden Pollock who sits on the Epik Board and is rarely seen on NP.

As for the Epik staff who post, I don't script them, edit them or censor them, directly or indirectly. There are some passionate Epik clients. Some of them are unapologetic truthseekers, and some of them are just authentic folks who speak their mind.

As for this thread, if you follow the history of it, you will find that it started as a public beatdown for defying a censorship order from the Prime Minister of New Zealand. It then evolved into an "Ask me Anything" thread and since then has become a mix of stuff.

The main Epik thread is this one:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/discuss-your-epik-experience.1146613/

It was started by Epik client and all around good guy @Bob Hawkes.

Censorship remains a huge issue for domain investors. There are far too many cases of people losing their domains simply because someone decided to take it away or decided to sinkhole it. With the recent rollup of registries by Fadi Chehade, this issue of digital sovereignty is becoming a bigger topic, e.g. here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/the-fight-for-org-is-it-about-money-or-is-it-about-control.1167444/

 

[Bob Hawkes]

It was started by Epik client and all around good guy @Bob Hawkes.

Just to clarify, unless I am confused, I did not start either of the threads, although posted in them (this one long ago). This one was started by another Canadian @MapleDots. We used to both have a maple leaf icon leading to confusion.

I am indeed a happy Epik client, although should in balance say I am also generally happy with many other registrars I use.

Bob

 

[Rob Monster]

Just to clarify, unless I am confused, I did not start either of the threads, although posted in them (this one long ago). I am indeed a happy Epik client, although should in balance say I am also generally happy with many other registrars I use.
Bob

I stand corrected. It was actually @dande who initiated that thread!

https://www.namepros.com/threads/discuss-your-epik-experience.1146613/

You did have some winners in there like this one:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/discuss-your-epik-experience.1146613/page-4#post-7329902

Thanks for correcting!

 

[sonatime]

Nothing specific but the consequences may impact all of the above. Although we listen to others' perspectives and opinions, we need to do the due diligence on what we accept as fact or truth which we may or may not act upon and/or encourage others to do likewise. Bottom line, we must take responsibility on what we accept as truth and our resulting actions. Sorry if that is as clear as mud.

Your post is clear as bell I think most of us appreciate experiencing life with least amount of undue influence or coercion of whatever form. But as 20th century proves and last couple of decades that is a wish dream. We live in a time of extreme social reengineering and information and ideologies overload.
It is nice just to have time to compare notes with some friendly banter.

 

[DN Universal]

Just to clarify, unless I am confused, I did not start either of the threads, although posted in them (this one long ago). This one was started by another Canadian @MapleDots. We used to both have a maple leaf icon leading to confusion.

I am indeed a happy Epik client, although should in balance say I am also generally happy with many other registrars I use.

Bob

This is how we are all supposed to get along in the Name Pros Community. If someone mis-spoke, kindly remind them of their recollection and allow them a chance to make the necessary correction and/or apology. I welcome these type of conversations anytime.

 

[bourbon]

Reality check.This thread got kickstarted again by @TCK when he posted here:

Reality check: You're the CEO of a company.

Reality check: You didn't have to take the bait.

Reality check: You didn't have to respond publicly.

Reality check: You could have respectfully declined to engage further or posted a link directing that person to a personal blog or separate off-topic discussion area.

Regardless, you're an adult who likely isn't interested in being lectured and it's the moderators who were meant to feel the brunt of my criticism. I do feel that you could have handled certain things in a more professional manner, but it's also undeniable that lack of sufficient moderation has put you in an awkward position.

None of this is what anyone would or should expect when clicking on a thread in the 'reviews' section of a domain website. @TCK will definitely be getting coal in his stocking this year, and I will be vacating Namepros in search of greener pastures instead of whining about all of the things I don't like.

 

[Rob Monster]

Reality check: You're the CEO of a company.

Reality check: You didn't have to take the bait.

Reality check: You didn't have to respond publicly.

Reality check: You could have respectfully declined to engage further or posted a link directing that person to a personal blog or separate off-topic discussion area.

Regardless, you're an adult who likely isn't interested in being lectured and it's the moderators who were meant to feel the brunt of my criticism. I do feel that you could have handled certain things in a more professional manner, but it's also undeniable that lack of sufficient moderation has put you in an awkward position.

None of this is what anyone would or should expect when clicking on a thread in the 'reviews' section of a domain website. @TCK will definitely be getting coal in his stocking this year, and I will be vacating Namepros in search of greener pastures instead of whining about all of the things I don't like.

That is too bad.

As for the mods, they don't mind the drama and frankly this thread is pretty invisible most of the time. Passers-by like you draw attention to it now and then, as if there is some forbidden fruit in it. Possible.

 

[sonatime]

Is the incoherent attack dog known as Samer and/or Sonatime attached to your company in some way? He seems to be in a tizzy about something on your behalf?

I don't condone censorship, but I also don't think this is a battle that will be won on Namepros. Many of these posts seem more suitable for a personal website than for a domaining website. I think the mods should edit the first post and add in links to all of your replies in this thread + whatever statements were made so that no one feels the need to bump the thread and cause new users to fall down the rabbit hole.

I'm new and I obviously can't speak for everyone here, but I personally joined Namepros with the expectation that there be a reasonable level of professionalism on display. Putting business owners in a position to have to read past your views on George Soros or porn or the fact that you think abortion is cold-blooded murder shows both a lack of discretion and a complete disregard for our time. This isn't Twitter and this isn't Tumblr. None of that is any of my concern. I'm here to learn about the industry and the companies who populate it.

ouch, those are some strong words. I'm just a fan of Rob Monster and his presence here on NP. Even if the thread doesn't seem on topic the major themes overlap.
I don't know Samer and I can't speak for (insert appropriate pronoun here) but when you arrive on a forum wanting to fix a popular thread some have been engaging for a long time because it offends your professional sensibilities or doesn't meet your needs there will be resent. Np is a free for all, you can find anything you like or need here or start your own topic.

 

[bourbon]

That is too bad.As for the mods, they don't mind the drama and frankly this thread is pretty invisible most of the time. Passers-by like you draw attention to it now and then, as if there is some forbidden fruit in it. Possible.

My brain craves knowledge and creativity, not drama. If I click on something in a domains forum, I want it to be about domains. Maybe they should add 'We don't mind the drama!' after 'buy. sell. discuss domain names'.

Also, quite a bit of the interaction here simply doesn't register as genuine. There's an underlying desperation and an almost.. role-playing?.. -like aspect to some of the participation that's very strange to observe and disconcerting to be a party to. Probably not explaining in the most articulate way, but generally just not a good fit. #lastpost