Prev: I wonder if trucks are safe....
Next: EFF launches browser "fingerprinting" app: panopticlick
From: whistleblower on 10 Feb 2010 11:39
On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 12:32:24 -0800 (PST), Jagara wrote:

> I am happy with the software being submitted to freeware sites
> I am also glad that it has had such an uptake - I basically wrote the
> software for myself and published it online.
> I am amazed at the number of downloads - the feedback I am getting is
> that it is hard to find freeware programs of this sort that are still
> being developed..
>
> Guy

--The Great $Pricelessware $Racket--

This is the story of Pricelessware which you won't find
on the Pricelessware website: www.pricelesswarehome.org
___________________________________________________________

Executive Summary:

The owners and supporters of the Pricelesswarehome website
are abusing the alt.comp.freeware newsgroup by using it as
their debating forum for private website business affairs
and of trying to dominate and control the unmoderated ACF
newsgroup by attacking anybody who speaks out against
Pricelessware abuse of ACF. Smears, false allegations and
intimidation campaigns are the tactic. Some PWH Cultists
are suspected of unlawfully selling 700MB CDs of freeware
for personal profit and of otherwise making ISOs available
for others to download/burn and sell. No control is in place
to prevent this.

Here's the full scoop. A story of a coup de'tat, netkopping,
hate campaigns, probable unlawful selling of freeware and
cultist behaviour, akin to any other political/religious cult.

1.Abuse of alt.comp.freeware by Pricelessware Cult:
___________________________________________________

history.....
The Pricelessware.org (PW) website was started in year 2000
by a few well-meaning people who posted on alt.comp.freeware
(ACF) about freeware. Their original aim was honourable,
namely, to produce a list of freeware programs to reduce the
number of regular requests by people who posted on ACF asking:
"I want a program to do X, Y or Z". These people could easily
be pointed to the Big List, as it was then called.

But most of the original people involved have long gone and
control of the PWH website was taken over by a different
group of people with bigger aims. Some have bloated egos,
others are control freaks who like to play fascist netkop
or moderator of an unmoderated newsgroup, others saw $$$ in
freeware. PWH Cultists are nasty people filled with hate.

Susan Bugher has an ego bigger than a hot air balloon and
led the coup de'tat 5 years ago against the incumbent
webmaster. She then became the new PWH webmaster.
Soon after she took control, Bugher created the new
Pricelesswarehome.org website (PWH) as the ousted webmaster
refused to hand over the original Pricelessware.org domain.
_____________________________________________________________
Susan Bugher's announcement of her coup victory July 1, 2004:

"My position as webmaster and point person for
alt.comp.freeware was ratified recently by alt.comp.freeware
newsgroup participants when they supported my request to move
the Pricelessware List web site."
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware/msg/521900774efb7511
_____________________________________________________________________

Note how Susan Bugher described herself as
"point person for alt.comp.freeware".

Note also how she states "ratified recently by
alt.comp.freeware newsgroup participants" as though everybody
on ACF was involved. The truth was very different.

Under Susan Bugher, one aim of the new regime was to remove
the seperate identities of PWH and ACF by giving a clear
impression to the outside world that ACF and PWH website
were merged into two sides of the same coin: ACF being the
place where regular PWH business was conducted for later
inclusion on the PWH website. Anyone reading the PWH
website during Bugher's era could not avoid the inescapable
conclusion that ACF was a subsidiary of the PWH website, and
that Susan Bugher ruled as the 'High Priestess of Freeware'.

Further, the website gave the strong impression that most all
posters on ACF were actively involved in debating and voting
on PWH issues. This has always been a blatant deception, as
it is only a minority of people over (say) a 12 month period.
To keep PWH uppermost in peoples' minds, regular threads
and votes were started by Bugher to agree this or that and
anybody who dissented was simply ignored. That has been the
pattern of PWH Cult behaviour on ACF for years.

Thus, PWH has no debating forum attached to its website but
it is stuffed full of ACF information, including ACF posting
guidance, (the wrongly named) ACF Glossary, all carefully
dressed up to support the 'two-sides-of-the-same-coin' aim.

_______________________________________________________________
Here's a small list of URL links on Pricelessware which
contain direct references to alt.comp.freeware as though it is
a subsidiary of the PWH website:
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/new2008/newsgroup.php
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/new2008/wareglossary.php
_________________________________________________________

In the process of expansion, the PWH website adopted the
appearance of a dog's breakfast.

Susan Bugher was mostly responsible for all that but had
ACF support from Ron May and other minions who rarely or
never post onto ACF about freeware, and therefore add no
value to the newsgroup.

She developed a PWH Cult 'following' and in the eyes of
her mindless minions, she could do no wrong. Anybody who
dared to say "boo" to Susan Bugher was immediately attacked
by her minions, who would appear out of nowhere to protect
her and abuse dissenters.

Obviously, her expanionist strategy resulted in ACF being
regularly smothered with PWH business activities which have
nothing to do with ACF.

Further, each year PWH goes through a laborious process of
nominating and voting for its latest "Pricelessware List"
(PL), which is presented as the "Best of The Best" in
freeware.
Although some good programs are included, in actuality it is
little more than a "Favourites List", mostly nominated and
voted for by non-ACF regulars.
Constructive suggestions by non-PWH groupies about how the
PL could be enhanced have been completely ignored, probably
because the PWH groupies fear it might devalue the PL.CD
that gets produced for 'FREE' distribution (see below).

A mere 46 people took part in the PL 2008 process and only
a handful of those involved ever post on ACF about freeware.
IOW they are not ACF freeware people, but PWH groupies and
obviously keen to get their favourite programs onto the PL.
One example is iNcReDuLoUs but there are others including REM,
the appointed 'PWH Manager'. (NB: REM was recently exposed for
posting abuse to a dissenter by using sockpuppets to hide his
identity! Several other PWH groupies are known or suspected
of playing similar tricks, eg Franklin is a mass
sockpuppeteer.)

Ron May was personally responsible for rigging a vote last
year to get the PWH Glossary named as the ACF Glossary.
Attempts by non-PWH people to get this sorted out were ignored
by Ron May, Susan Bugher, Craig and others, who regularly
refer to the fake ACF Glossary as though it is the de facto
Freeware standard and should be used on ACF. It is not and
most ACF people will decide for themselves whether a
particular freeware program is 'nagware', 'donationware' or
whateverware without Pricelessware groupies dictating to them.

The PWH crowd have long justified their use and abuse of ACF
by claiming that "PWH is owned and controlled by the people
who post on ACF". This is clearly untrue because requests
and comments about PWH from non-members of the PWH Cult are
ignored. In fact Ron May has all dissenters, and anybody who
disagrees with him about anything, killfiled, and claims not
to see their posts. He conducts character assassination and
innuendo hate campaigns against them from the cowardly hiding
place behind his killfile.
He is fond of sending abuse reports (LARTS) to newsserver
admins to get dissenters' posting accounts closed. This is
blatantly done to silence those who expose the PWH Racket.

Countless requests to the PWH crowd by numerous people on ACF
to move their private website business affairs to another
forum have all been ignored, using the false aforementioned
tactic "PWH is owned by ACF...". A few years ago a dissenter
created a new newsgroup <alt.comp.pricelessware> exclusively
for PWH use, but the PWH crowd ignore it because (presumably)
it does not have the public visibility of ACF.

present day.....
Susan Bugher gave notice of stepping down as webmaster effective
end June 2009 and endless recent threads about electing a new
webmaster to replace her have dominated the newsgroup for some
time.

The new webmaster (Craig) was not 'elected' by ACF people
but mysteriously 'appointed' after being singularly
nominated by Ron May. One PWH minion actually raised an
objection to the underhand ploy by Ron May but was ignored
by him and the rest of the PWH Cult.

Other threads about the PWH website design/page layout have
also dominated the newsgroup.

None of this is about freeware and ACF is the wrong place
for PWH website debates.

Ron May is running this year's misuse of ACF for the new PWH
"PL 2009". No debate about this ever took place on ACF yet he
claims "PWH is owned and controlled by ACF". hhmmm. How so?

Is it any wonder that people believe there's a Pricelessware Cult
trying to dominate and control ACF for its own reasons?
Is it any wonder that people believe there's more to PWH and the
PL than altruistically producing a list and CD.ISO of freeware
programs for so-called "FREE" distribution? hhmmm.

All this clearly demonstrates that ACF newsgroup is being
used as a debating forum by the PWH Cult for their private
website business.

This is wrong wrong wrong.

2.Unlawful Pricelessware freeware ISOs:
_______________________________________

When it became known that the person posting as �Q� provides
Server space to host the PWH/PL CD ISOs for downloading/burning
and distribution, he was asked to provide material evidence
that each program on the ISOs is authorised by the author.
Such information ought to be immediately available. �Q� claimed
such information probably existed but after much blustering,
passed the buck onto a person called "vince" who he claims
handles all the necessary approvals for CD.ISO inclusion.
Who is "vince"? He is yet another PWH groupie who is virtually
unknown on ACF and never posts about freeware! IE: he's just
another PWH groupie who has nothing to do with ACF proper.

When it was pointed out to �Q� that HE hosted the ISOs and
therefore HE should be in possession of material evidence
regarding authorisation, he eventually stated that "PWH is
only 'sort of' owned by ACF" and described the request to
see the evidence as coming from a k00k, thereby deviously
sidestepping a perfectly reasonable request to see it.

Let there be no doubt that the reason �Q� cannot provide the
evidence is that it does not exist, meaning that in some cases
freeware programs are being unlawfully distributed. Therefore,
the PWH ISOs are unlawful and people associated with PWH are
aiding and abetting unlawful copywrite infringement and
numerous other laws in the United States and elsewhere.

�Q� has not posted much on ACF since being exposed, but at the
time of writing his Server still hosts unlawful PWH/PL CD.ISOs.

Further, given the amount of 'stick' that PWH people have
received about their abuse of ACF, it's inconceivable they
continue with it for altruistic reasons. The obvious
explanation is that some PWH cultists are themselves SELLING
freeware CDs and are determined to carry on regardless. Sale
might be dressed up as a donation or preparation, postage and
packing costs. In any case, since the ISOs are freely available
for worldwide download by anyone from �Q�'s server, other
people are almost certainly downloading/burning and selling
them for profit. This means that �Q� is knowingly aiding and
abetting unlawful activities and he cannot disclaim liability.

3.List of URLS to download PWH/PL ISOs from �Q�'s server:
_________________________________________________________

Pricelessware Website CD.ISOs available for download:

PL2008:
http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2008CD1.iso
http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2008CD2.iso
MD5 checksums:
http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2008CDs.md5

PL2007: http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2007CD.iso
PL2006: http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2006CD.iso
PL2005: http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2005CD.iso
PL2004: http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2004CD.iso
MD5 checksums:
http://downloads.remarqs.net/pl/PL2004567CDs.md5

4.Summary:
__________

a) it is quite likely that someone is going to get caught
in a trap for selling a PL CD and will be prosecuted under
law. To avoid this, the PL ISOs need to be removed from
�Q�'s download server and no more added UNLESS each program
included is covered by explicit approval from the program
author. These approvals need to be transparently available.

b) some of the PWH crowd may be subject to formal complaints
to their ISPs for abusing a Usenet newsgroup to conduct
private website business on. To avoid this, they need to move
Pricelessware debates to a new site.
The easiest place is the (existing but currently unused)
newsgroup <ALT.COMP.PRICELESSWARE>, but a PWH website forum
would be an ideal alternative. That is what most other
website owners do. ACF is the wrong place because it exists
to debate freeware, not privately owned website business.

- regards from your friendly whistleblower - :-)
From: Bear Bottoms on 10 Feb 2010 16:13
whistleblower <bonitabaygroup(a)gmail.com> wrote in news:hkunf4$842$1
@news.eternal-september.org:

> On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 12:32:24 -0800 (PST), Jagara wrote:
>
>> I am happy with the software being submitted to freeware sites I am
>> also glad that it has had such an uptake - I basically wrote the
>> software for myself and published it online. I am amazed at the number
>> of downloads - the feedback I am getting is that it is hard to find
>> freeware programs of this sort that are still being developed..
>>
>> Guy
>
> --The Great $Pricelessware $Racket--
>
> This is the story of Pricelessware which you won't find
> on the Pricelessware website: www.pricelesswarehome.org
> ___________________________________________________________
>
> Executive Summary:
>
> The owners and supporters of the Pricelesswarehome website
> are abusing the alt.comp.freeware newsgroup by using it as
> their debating forum for private website business affairs
> and of trying to dominate and control the unmoderated ACF
> newsgroup by attacking anybody who speaks out against
> Pricelessware abuse of ACF. Smears, false allegations and
> intimidation campaigns are the tactic. Some PWH Cultists
> are suspected of unlawfully selling 700MB CDs of freeware
> for personal profit and of otherwise making ISOs available
> for others to download/burn and sell. No control is in place
> to prevent this.
>
> Here's the full scoop. A story of a coup de'tat, netkopping,
> hate campaigns, probable unlawful selling of freeware and
> cultist behaviour, akin to any other political/religious cult.


This does not in any way change the undisputed facts of the PWH Cult behavior
and the harmfulness they caused my freeware web site.

Who do you think you are netkopping dude? I'm responsible for me.

--
Bear Bottoms
Owner of Freeware website: http://bearware.co.nr/
From: whistleblower on 10 Feb 2010 16:23
On Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:13:05 +0000 (UTC), Bear Bottoms wrote:

> whistleblower <bonitabaygroup(a)gmail.com> wrote in news:hkunf4$842$1
> @news.eternal-september.org:
>
>> On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 12:32:24 -0800 (PST), Jagara wrote:
>>
>>> I am happy with the software being submitted to freeware sites I am
>>> also glad that it has had such an uptake - I basically wrote the
>>> software for myself and published it online. I am amazed at the number
>>> of downloads - the feedback I am getting is that it is hard to find
>>> freeware programs of this sort that are still being developed..
>>>
>>> Guy
>>
>> --The Great $Pricelessware $Racket--
>>
>> This is the story of Pricelessware which you won't find
>> on the Pricelessware website: www.pricelesswarehome.org
>> ___________________________________________________________
>>
>> Executive Summary:
>>
>> The owners and supporters of the Pricelesswarehome website
>> are abusing the alt.comp.freeware newsgroup by using it as
>> their debating forum for private website business affairs
>> and of trying to dominate and control the unmoderated ACF
>> newsgroup by attacking anybody who speaks out against
>> Pricelessware abuse of ACF. Smears, false allegations and
>> intimidation campaigns are the tactic. Some PWH Cultists
>> are suspected of unlawfully selling 700MB CDs of freeware
>> for personal profit and of otherwise making ISOs available
>> for others to download/burn and sell. No control is in place
>> to prevent this.
>>
>> Here's the full scoop. A story of a coup de'tat, netkopping,
>> hate campaigns, probable unlawful selling of freeware and
>> cultist behaviour, akin to any other political/religious cult.
>
>
> This does not in any way change the undisputed facts of the PWH Cult behavior
> and the harmfulness they caused my freeware web site.
>
> Who do you think you are netkopping dude? I'm responsible for me.

Sorry, BB. Methoughts you were in jail...again

<VVBG>
First  |  Prev  | 
Pages: 1 2 3
Prev: I wonder if trucks are safe....
Next: EFF launches browser "fingerprinting" app: panopticlick