Ok, I've been working on a reply to SamClemmons accusational post for a while. It seems quite obvious that there are people out there that will
never be pleased despite
anything I do. For all of those.... well you know where you can go stick it... :sneaky:
For the rest of you that do not just blindly followed the masses, here is my version of everything that was brought up. Keep in mind that everything that was referred to in SamClemmon's post is
based in fact. I do not contest that. However most of it has his own hateful spin put on it. Let me elaborate with my version of everything he posted.....
Start a box pass. Yeah. And I can put a bunch of mid and low range sticks in it and I can tell everybody they have to "put" BETTER than they "take" (newbies are so stupid and generous they'll never notice) and by the time it gets back to me I will have doubled the quality of cigars in my humidor for the cost of postage on the box once. Wait! I can add another rule where only one cigar can be taken that I didn't put in there that way all the good ones will get back to me... I'm gonna do this right now...
Yeah, I did that :lookup:. This happened probably around a year ago - maybe more. I don't have the time to look up every detail here. I don't remember my exact wording as to whether I proclaimed "equal or better" or just plain "better" replacements. The simple matter is that the "unspoken" rule is that you always put equal or better then you take out. I simply made it official in the rules. Yeah - that was my own fault. If I did, in fact, word it as "replaced with better", well that was my screwup. I was properly chastised for it at the time, and I let the pass disappear into oblivion.... or so I thought until SC started his witch hunt. The "one cigar other then mine" was a rule that I though of at the time because I was starting it with a great number of, as SC put it, low to mid-range smokes. I did that becasue at the time, the only active passes were all high-end - premium smokes. I was trying to make a pass for the non-cigarsnobs of the time.
Hmmmm the Fuente DVD PIF thread... hmmm... Those guys are having way too much fun sending cigars and a DVD to each other and building friendships where I am not the focus of attention not to mention the focus of all those cigars getting sent to other guys and going to waste..... I've got it. I'll turn this dvd pay it forward into DVD Pay it To MEEEE! For roughly a buck and ten seconds work I can have all these mooks sending me the cigars.
Here's another classic SamClemmons spin on the truth. The Fuente DVD pif had been active for a while and seemed to be petering off. I had just recently bought a DVD-burner and thought it would be a nice gesture to allow people to have their own copy of the DVD instead of having to watch it once and never see it again. My exact quote was:
"I wouldn't mind getting in on the next round of this.
Not to cause trouble or anything, but I have a DVD burner.... I could make people their own copy if they were interested...?
Dave"
Nothing was said about me profiting from this. As a matter of fact, the only thing
I said about the cigars was this:
"Alright, I got it. Now, if I go making 10 "backup" copies for my brothers, does that mean I have to send out 10 cigars as well? Can we have some sort of minor rule change for folks that may not want to see the original?
Just a thought
Dave "
The only thing I was asking was whether I had to send out cigars with the DVD or if I could send out the DVD alone. The immediate reponse was from Triple_D:
"I think people should send you gars for making them a copy to cover the DVD-R and your time. Since you made 10 I would suggest sending the original back to SSAL with a stick. As far as that goes I want another copy of it and will send gars to reimburse you. Thanks "
I never asked for payment like SC claimed. It was suggested by a true BOTL.
Now, as far as the $1 and 10 seconds... it obvious SamClemmons has no knowlege on this matter at all. Granted, it didn't cost me much, but lets add it up...
DVD $1
Case: $negligable, but still a factor
Custom printed label: $negligable, but still a factor
padded mailer: $0.95
postage: about $1
Sure, it's not a lot - but well over double SC humorous claims. Also, it takes me approx 15 minutes to burn a dvd and print the custom label. Hardly the 10 seconds he spouted off.
BTW, for anyone interesed, they can see the conversation as it really happened without SC's spin on it...
http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?...0&hl=fuente+dvd
Hmmm... My baby was just born and I know that new daddy's usually have a contest of some type but I really have no intention of sending any of these slobs my fine cigars... That's it! The NO CONTEST contest. If I do this just right I can I can have these guys sending ME cigars instead of the way it's usually done.
Uh guys. I don't have any cigars to send, I'm down to my last few, and I don't have any money being a new dad and all and well, instead of a contest I'll just have to tell you...
(Note to self. Great response though no cigars yet. Remember to state pathetically as possible that there is NO PRIZE when you hold a contest.)
Gonna have to post something that'll keep the admiration for me going without costing me anything and... wait, that's it! The NO Prize Contest. Perfect.
Not much response on this. Just my usual groupies.
I'm still not quite sure what he's referring to here. But it seems pretty clear that if I ever stated there was not going to be a contest, then why am I being criticized for not having a contest? DUH!
Can someone please clue me in on what he's talking about here so I can provide a better explanation?
Need a little quick cash... hmmm... I know I'm a retailer but nobody looks at that thread. Bet I could ge away with selling some stuff in the trade room...
"Refill Ink Cartridges Cheap"
Damn, nobody said a word about me posting this here and the cash is rolling in.,. hmmmm.
"Norton Firewall, Virus protection"
Worked like a charm. Selling these things separately for twice the price of the combined package on EBAY. I am, of course, a genius at this. God I'm great and still nobody notices that a retailer is selling in the trade room PEEEERfect.
Ok, first of all, I already explained that I was not a cigar retailer, thus did not think it was appropriate to post in the "Hot Cigar Deals" forum. It seemed more appropriate to post in the "Buy/Sell/Trade & Group Purchases" forum. See?
SELL is even in the title. No one complained or commented about it until SCs post. I was unaware that I was doing anything wrong. If someone had just
said something instead of building up their hate level then I could have rectified the matter. As a matter of fact, I still maintain that, based on the forum description, there was nothing wrong with where I posted it. The only mention of "retailers" is "This forum is also open to Retail Cigar Shops..." in the description of the "Hot Cigar Deals" forum. It doesn't say anything about retailers ONLY being able to post in the "Hot Cigar Deals". As a matter of fact, with a quick search I found
18 posts from MrJerry seeling his coffe in the "Buy/Sell/Trade & Group Purchases" forum. How many complaints has SC made about those? NONE! He's not pissed that the offers were posted in that forum, he's pissed that
I made those posts in that forum.
Refill Ink Cartridges?? Ok, now he's just making stuff up! I never once made a post even remotly like that. It's not a service that I offer, nor one that I use. This is just ludicrous!
The Norton Firewall & Virus protection claim - yeah I did that. I offered the following deal:
http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/index.php?showtopic=7536
I think it was quite clear that I was offering two packages. One was just Norton Anti-Virus. The other was Norton Internet Security that
INCLUDES Norton Anti-Virus.
I was unaware that you could purchase them for less on eBay - but then again, I was unaware that it was a crime against nature to sell something for more then you can find it for on eBay and even worse, to actually make a little profit for your business <GASP!>
Despite SC, I had a good response from the brothers here at CP and other online boards, so I was able to make this offer:
http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/index.php?showtopic=7953
It seems quite clear again that, first of all, I was not selling them separately. Norton Internet Security
INCLUDES Norton Anti-Virus. I thought I made it quite clear that it was a package deal and I was not offering it separately.
Since he ended with with re-stating his claim about the wrong room, let me reiterate... It's not the "Trade Room". It's the "Buy/Sell/Trade & Group Purchases" forum. You're allowed to post thing for sale in there. There was never any post about retailers not being allowed to post.
Shoot. I hate my logo and the Chamber's book is coming out... maybe I can con these morons into designing me a logo for nothing. Hey, maybe I can con them into designing my WHOLE add for nothing... Worth a shot.
Okay guys, It's the "BEST Logo designer NO prize contest"
They're going for it! I got logo's out the Whazooo and if I keep panning them they'll keep designing them. Lemmings! It's so great to have my own personal band of broth... uh, marks to feed off of.
Man that was the greatest slight of hand yet. I even got ol' Moki to pay actual cash to have some of this stuff done. Cool.
First off all, I never said I hated my logo. I asked for some criticism on an ad I had designed. Ok, it was pretty crappy to begin with - that's why I came here for advice. I am unaware of ever having offered a contest. I think SC is just spouting out lies hoping no one else will notice he's a hate mongerer. I had at one point asked if people would be interested in a contest - there was on interest so I let the matter drop.
As far as Moki paying money to his staff -
I NEVER KNEW. I certainly can't be blamed for something that I was in the dark about, can I? Oh wait, that's right, SamClemmons is involved - I get blamed for EVERYTHING. Sheesh.
Whoah, this is a great website I just stumbled into, free computer stuff just for scamming guys to sign on to all this ripoff stuff. Hmmm, I'll have to put a disclaimer on this one just in case.
Uh guys, I found this website and they're giving stuff away! Now this may be a scam but it could be REAL good for all of us (and by "us" I mean "ME" of course). We'll all get free stuff just for backing each others play (and by "We" I mean "Me" of course). Since I found it I'm first ( by "I" and "I'm" I mean "NOT YOU" of course)
so just follow this link I'm providing and allow yourselves to be sucked in to the "Let's all benefit ****!) Who? Oh. He's not here!
I assume he's referring to the Freeipods, freeflatscreens, and freedesktoppcs websites. First of all, I never "scammed" anyone. The disclaimer he refers to is valid. I stated from the beginning that any email address you used to sign up with would receive a lot of spam. So I advised everyone to use a "disposable" email address. I don't consider that a disclaimer, I consider that good advice. As I explained in the post about the free stuff sites, it's not just going to fall into your lap - you'll have to do a little work for it and sign up for a trial offer. There's no scam involved. Thousands of people have already gotten their items, and thousands more will
still get theirs. I have seen a number of forums create what are called "conga lines" for these deals. Once the first person has their deal completed, then the next person in line collects all the referrals, and so on down the line. I had hoped to start one here before it was shot down. A great example of this can be found at
http://www.gratisoffersguide.com/
By the way, for anyone interested, there's a new deal being offered from the same company for free handbags. Check out that site for more information if you're interested. In regards to his quote "Since I found it I'm first" - well... yeah. I brought the idea here. Why shouldn't I be first in line? It was my idea. This isn't being greedy or anything - it's just common sense.
Need a few more guys to drink the coolade... hmmmm... Got it! I'll give them something that I already have and will never use but it's a business expense and I already have it! Bandwidth. Of course, anyone with an ISP account already has free bandwicth included in their contract but these people are soooo stupid I'll bet not one of them knows it.
'Free Web hosting... well almost free, all you have to do is...'
Wait!
'Free Domain Names'
Well not exactly free, say $5.00 or $10.00 bucks if you want one. I mean it isn't free and I certainly can't afford to GIVE you anything that isn't FREE. Right?
Ok, once again SC is spouting his ignorance. First of all, bandwidth has nothing to do with an ISP account - it is associated with a web hosting account. It's not free - I don't get it free, and I don't have an unlimited supply. I pay for this from my provider to include in my web hosting plans. It's not a business expense - I pay for it. I offered a plan that I sell through DWF Computers for $35 for anyone that signed up for one of the free offers listed above. That plan includes 50 MB of web storage and 1 GB of monthly bandwidth. It is not free for me, I have to pay for it. Now sure, I don't pay $35 for it. If I did and sold it for the same amount, I'd quicly go out of business. So I'm sorry if I actually try to make a profit in my business SC, but without it, any company would quicly go bankrupt. So sure, it doesn't cost me $35, but I do incure a cost and am paying for that out of my pocket for anyone that wanted to sign up.
"Free Domain Names"....? Once again,
SC is making a bold faced lie and hoping his popularity will get him out of it. I never offer free domain names. I stated in my offer:
"If you need a domain name (www.yourname.com) I can set you up with the best prices I know of - $5-$10 depending on the domain type you want (.com .net, .info. .us, etc.). If you don't want to spend any money, I'll include a subdomain free. (http://yourname.greatcomputerservice.com). "
I wasn't selling you the domain name - I would lead you to the best prices I was aware of. As I even stated - a domain name isn't necessary, so you could in fact have the plan completely for free. Everything can be seen here:
http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?...8842&hl=webhost
"Anybody know how to do animated GIFS???"
Wow, not one answer. I think these guys are starting to catch on.
Gee, I wasn't aware it was against the rules to ask if anyone had skills in a particular field. Well screw me for even thinking about asking.
Geez. I know I promised my family to set up a website so we can all share our pictures and the like but I just don't feel like going to all the trouble. Hmmm, maybe I can get one of the suckers to do the work for me! It worked before. I'll have to be careful on this though, somebody might want me to send them something for their trouble.
"Need website help but there are a couple things you may need to know. First, it has to be FREE, I may be a nice guy but I'm not rich. Second...
Once again, this is taken completely out of context and hist SC little spin to make me look like the bad guy. Here's the whole story...
The link:
http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?...7912&hl=picture
What I was asking for is not uncommon. There are thousands of web site scripts available today. CigarPass itself is run on one of them, the "Invision Power Board". Many scripts are free, some are not. I was looking to create a site for fun, and was not looking to spend any money on it. I wasn't asking for anyone to create the script for me, just point me in the right direction. As it turns out, there is a script that did exactly what I was looking for. It's called "MailGust" - and guess what, it was free. So gee, maybe my request wasn't so outrageous after all, now was it?
So, I think that about covers it. It seems pretty apprent that my reputation has been thoroughly trashed here, so most of you will look at this as not give it a second thought. But to those of you that can read this without bias, I think this clearly shows that there are certain members here (I'm not just talking about SamClemmons now) that are just hateful spiteful people. They use their influence as FOGs to try and turn everything to
their way of thinking, regardless of what's right or wrong. With them it's "My way or F*&% You". I'm sure you'll see some humorous and some vicious replies to this. That's fine. I've gotten out what I needed to say.
Let me close with this.... with the exception of the failed pass and the free stuff sites, NO ONE - not one single person ever complained about anything listed here until SC made his post and a few choice members blindly backed him up. If anyone had an issue with anything here, they could have PM'd me or even asked me outright on the board about it. No one did.
Don't be a sheep and follow the so-called leaders blindly. Use your brain and be your own person - don't fall into the trap of "piling on" to the next poor sap just because one of the FOGs denounces him. Make up your own mind on the matter and don't be afraid to disagree with anyone. It's a public board - it's your right to not be pushed into someone else's crusade.
I'll still be around, but as I'm sure many of you are aware, I quitting cigars due to the cost of health insurance of a tobacco user. As a few people have told me, that makes me not as important around here, so I'll just stick in the background and jump in from time to time.
Thanks for reading,
David Frank