The Great $Pricelessware $Racket
in [Freeware]
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From: Me.Here on 1 Oct 2009 22:02 On 2/10/2009 9:06 AM, Bear Bottoms wrote: > Lew<Silat(a)Drafted1970#54.com> wrote in > news:fqn9c5pntimb52kg266e8bn5nn7qt0je32(a)4ax.com: > >> On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:24:40 +1000, "Me.Here" >> <me.here(a)home.on.the.net> wrote: >> >> >> >>>>>>>>>>> // snipped for brevity // >> >>> What accusation? I agreed with the OP and then you asked a question. I >>> answered, now it is up to YOU to prove me wrong. We all know you can't >>> because it's in black and white so this is the standard bullshit reply >>> all noobs like you sprout when you know you lost the argument. IT IS >>> FACT - deal with it and no, I'm not going to waste MY time on something >>> I already know to be correct. >> >> >> #1 BearBDoll bootlicker has spoken. It must be so. >> >> Lew > > How ignorant. > Meh... I don't see that idiots posts - had him killfiled for months, so no biggy BB. -- MH
From: Me.Here on 1 Oct 2009 22:12 On 2/10/2009 8:54 AM, Craig wrote: > On 10/01/2009 08:29 AM, Me.Here wrote: >> Some of the EULA's no doubt don't allow redistribution > > Accusation w/o proof, because there is *no* proof. Yet another lie from > the sock. > Ahh, selective quoting again I see. Must have picked up that little gem from one of your PWHomies. As I've been subscribed to ACF since Dec 1999, I hardly think that qualifies me as a sock so to say I'm one and still respond to me means either: a). you know I'm not a sock and therefore, you're a LIAR b). you're an absolute IDIOT. Either way, I'm over you. Welcome to MeHere's Thunderbird 3 Filter. PLONK! -- MH
From: Mark Warner on 1 Oct 2009 22:26 Bear Bottoms wrote: > Mark Warner wrote: >> >> Time to adjust your meds again. > > Very lame. Such a childish argument only means you are aghast at being on > the defensive when you have no defense. The fact is Mark, you have chose > the side of a bunch of losers and ingrates who have little concern for > this group but for their own promotion of PWH. > > This is ACF, not PWH! Your momma doesn't seem to mind. -- Mark Warner MEPIS Linux Registered Linux User #415318 ....lose .inhibitions when replying
From: Craig on 2 Oct 2009 00:24 On 10/01/2009 07:12 PM, Me.Here wrote: > PLONK! Finally. Are you really gone or, is it a ersatz-plonk like HB's? -- -Craig
From: whistleblower on 2 Oct 2009 04:32
"VanguardLH" wrote..... >NOTE: The following unrelated newsgroups were OMITTED in my reply (to > prevent in helping Flann from spreading his flame post to > UNRELATED newsgroups): > > alt.free.newsservers > 24hoursupport.helpdesk > >The original post to which Flann replied: > http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware/msg/f3bc6408ca7ed034 > > >Flann wrote: > >> Newsgroups: alt.comp.freeware,alt.free.newsservers,24hoursupport.helpdesk > >whistleblower's original header: > Newsgroups: alt.comp.freeware > >So bonehead you just had to propagate your flame by spewing your >retort into UNRELATED newsgroups. You became a troll when you chose >to flame the other groups not originally included. > >> References: <af8563c7a319a237bbedc79d3cbf8157(a)msgid.frell.theremailer.net> > >whistleblower's original headers: > Path: ...!news.dizum.com!sewer-output!mail2news > X-No-Archive: yes > >Why do you think posters hide behind remailers? > >whistleblower's original headers: > X-No-Archive: yes > >He (or the remailer that he chose to use) wants his post discarded >(where this header is honored) but doesn't get to specify when. Google >complies by discarding his post after 6 days. I also comply but my >expiration is immediate. He considered his post too worthless to stick >around for even a week. Since you are so concerned about XNA, if it pleases you, here is another copy of the Pricelessware story without "XNA: Yes". I believe it should be held in the ACF archives to provide some history about what is going on. --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 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 - :-) - 1 September 2009 - |