At eBay Live!, I was doing a class about not breaking eBay rules. I told the audience that you could link your email address inside your eBay listings. A guy interrupted me. He had just been to the eBay Developers Conference, and it was announced that email addresses would NOT be allowed inside listings anymore. Something about fraud concerns.
I went kooky. I left my class, and started calling cell phones of eBay staff I'd met at DevCon. They confirmed yes, email addresses have to come out. If an email spoof artist goes to a listing, he can now see the right email address matched with the right eBay user ID. He can then BETTER fake a fake eBay email by knowing your email address and your eBay user ID. Instead of writing, "Dear eBay User" or something, he can write your eBay user ID. You might think the email is real.
And when would eBay crack down on email addresses in listings? No formal date ready to announce, but expect somewhere around Sept or Oct 2008. Best to start changing clients' templates now, we were told.
We were also told that eBay was going to no longer allow links from the About Me page as part of the new links policy. We heard the new links policy was still being discussed, and no announcement was ready, but we were under the impression something was going to change in some way!
A few clients heard about these announcements, and wanted to be compliant early. They wanted these changes made, and we charged them for these changes. They now have templates without email addresses, and links gone from the About Me page.
And today, eBay announced a big NEVER MIND to the links policy changes we heard about in May, June, and July. Never mind. Not making ANY changes. Carry on as you were.
Which means that those same clients might have to pay for our time to put these things back. I feel awful about it, but can't sell our time for free. We didn't cause this problem. Nobody should be punished for trying to be compliant with rules ahead of schedule.
I had the whole new links policy in this blog, remember? T&S told me that was probably where the links policy was going. I acted on that info and what I learned at and since eBay Live.
I'm just as frustrated with everybody else. I want to go by the rules. I am told the rules. We want clients to go by the rules. And this is a case where some clients will have wasted money in a rush to go by rules they were told at eBay Live and since that they would HAVE to go by.
I'm sorry to everybody. I gave you the best information I had in each moment. The same info came from other sources too (I think CA's webinars gave some of the same info and advice). We all did the best we could!
The what is that this group is a private, anonymous support group helping people who want to leave the Chasidic community. I'm not a religious person myself, and I believe strongly in individuals' rights to choose their own lives, paths, and how they want to worship or honour whatever they believe in. Not everybody born into an insular community wants to stay there, and I appreciate an organisation that helps people find themselves.
I showed this link to a Mormon friend, and he thought that the Chasids sounded like the extreme Mormon polygamist groups. Extreme religions are extreme religions. They work for some people. They don't work for others. If they don't work for you, you should have the right to leave.
If you're anything like me, then you have XM Radio, and you listen to comedy stations a lot. In between the ads for marital aids and how to surprise your lover with that new toy, you hear commercials for how you HAVE to go visit Branson, Missouri.
The commercials promise new resorts, "more shows than Vegas," and all kinds of family-friendly fun. OK I know it's a nearly religious place, but I had to see it for myself. So on the drive back from eBay Live in Chicago to Tucson, I decided to book a night in Branson.
My first mistake was NOT being brand loyal, as I've been lately (blog post coming soon about that), to Hiltons. I love Hampton Inns, and usually stay there. Just tried a Homewood Suites and liked that too. But I found a Radisson on sale for Branson, and figured that would be a step up given their reputation in Europe.
Mistake. As I checked out 20 min after checking in, I told the clerk (who asked what was wrong) that the room could only be enjoyed by someone elderly with no sense of sight, smell, or cleanliness. There seemed to be some in the lobby. I told her the room needed to be cleaned by a crime scene unit. And it did. The bed had hair and blood in it. I kid you not. The bathroom light didn't work, but I could still see a giant bug walking around. The room smelled like human waste. And that's where I'm starting.
We escaped to the Hampton Inn, and were mighty grateful.
We didn't really get to see Branson, but it appears to be a long street of cheesy motels that invested mostly in neon. There is mini golf on every block, and there are lots of shows. Most singing Christian families and some clean bumbling redneck comedy. I assume there are places to eat, but didn't really see any. It just looked like a motel strip, almost like you'd find in Florida outside of Orlando, just with more neon and pretense.
A bunch of coupon places bought out entire radio STATIONS. You could listen to all these AM stations in the drive in, and each was for some place you could go to to get your Branson coupon book. And the tape looped.
So you can skip Branson. You really can. Even if you like Christian entertainment pretending to be Vegas-style shows, you can probably have a better time somewhere else.
I am shopping around for a new laptop since I'm reaching the end of my patience with my IBM Lenovo ThinkPad T60 whatever the hell it is. I don't know about you, but for $2500, I shouldn't have to reboot my computer 4 times until it notices it has a built-in keyboard and track pad. It's already been back to IBM twice, and had to get most of the parts replaced. I could send it back again, but I'm just so fed up with the whole thing. I haven't even had it two years, so it's under warranty, but it's just so unreliable.
So I'm looking for which laptops will do the XP "downgrade." I checked Fujitsu first. I had a Fujitsu in the 1990s, and it was an AWESOME work horse. I never had a single problem with it, and it lasted me 4-5 years. So I was thinking of trying them again. They told me that all of their laptops that come with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate can be ordered with the XP downgrade. They told me they don't support anything that goes on with the OS, but they do support the hardware.
I just got into a live chat with HP, and asked them which computers can work with XP. They told me that all of them do. You can get ANY HP computer right now, reformat it, and put on XP. However, their approach is different than what Fujitsu said.
HP said I would have no warranty on the computer. ZERO. If the motherboard fries, I can pay to have it fixed. If I have any of the hardware problems I had with my IBM Lenovo, HP would charge me to fix it since it would then have NO warranty.
No thanks! I don't care how nice your screens look. After this laptop experience I'm having now, I can't run the risk of NO warranty. :(
Thanks to Solid Cactus for letting us come around a week or so ago for a training day. Another As Was staffer and I headed to lovely Shavertown, PA to give some Solid Cactus workers a webinar. Our hopes is to help them with some of their internal workings so that Solid Cactus clients will see projects go faster and more smoothly.
As Was is available for training! :)
I believe I'll have an article in the next eBiz Insider, so check for that.
Every day, e-commerce merchants are faced with demanding customers. Most customers are demanding within reason; "help me with product x?", "where is my package?", and "have you processed my return?" are common questions that merchants must deal with. And of course, we all know that customers do get unreasonable now and then, for example, by demanding a refund while demanding to keep the product they purchased.
But every demanding customer - no matter how nice or how frustrating they may be - is actually an opportunity. Merchants have the chance to really "wow" the customer with friendly, personal service; with a timely response to their inquiry; and by completely exceeding the customer's expectations. When merchants get this right, they not only make one customer happy, but they often gain a customer for life, and/or gain that most precious of all marketing treasures: word of mouth advertising.
Think about your own experiences. When have you been a demanding customer, and somebody really wowed you with great service? Didn't you mention that great experience to at least one or two friends? If you're an e-commerce merchant, don't you want to be THAT COMPANY that will get talked about in such a positive way?
So, when it comes to those demanding customers, we all have a choice. We can choose to get frustrated, annoyed, or upset with them (and it's understandable when we do). But we can also choose to look at them as a positive challenge with the potential for a big reward at the end. Because the bottom line is that providing great customer service comes down to one thing - it's all about the attitude.
It has areas for eBay discussion, off-eBay discussion, and some forums relating to what my company does. Don't care what my company does? Don't read or post there. :)
The rules are no porn, no spam, everything rated PG or G :), and mutual respect. Anybody not being respectful can expect to get moderated or eventually banned. Otherwise, we are looking for open and honest discussion so that we can all help each other.
I've been listening to some commercials for banks. They claim they are helping you save, but I'm confused. Evidently, the idea is that if you spend money, the bank will take the change up to the next dollar, and move that from your checking to your savings.
I think the idea is to inspire people to get money into their savings accounts. The problem is how the hell will I reconcile my checkbook and accounts when what I've been spending doesn't match how the bank is moving money for me? Is this really helping? Doesn't this make more work for me?
And how much will my savings grow by moving amounts like 57 cents there every time I use the debit card on that checking account?
I'm just not sure that this is worth the hassle and reconciliation troubles.
I showed a client the 4th revision of his template this morning, and got this email back. He has given me the OK to put this in my blog. I won't say who he is.
This is really good we both like it. It almost tastes like non-kosher sushi without fish... at least I can think so 'cause I never had non-kosher sushi.
And there you go. Does it get more glowing than the idea that our template might be as good as non-kosher sushi to the kosher?
Well, I didn't get the chance to share this with IMA members before the Board surprisingly terminated my IMA membership, so here it is now.
HEY IMA MEMBERS including former members, recently former members, soon-to-be former members, and you get the drift.
Our RocketPlace conference is in 2 months in Las Vegas at The Rio. We have a track for PowerSellers who want to learn the newest and best tips, advice, techniques, tools, strategies, and more to improve your eBay business. We want to help people grow with eBay's changes.
Please use discount code IMA to get $25 off your registration. You can also get another $50 off if you pre-pay your hotel room through our registration process.
Some may wonder why I even take the time to keep posting about the IMA. I think the best answer is because in this blog, we look at marketing. We look at how individuals and companies put themselves out there... what corporate image they have... and the things they do that can help or hurt their image. That's marketing, and that's what we do here.
I think the IMA is hurting their image more each hour. I post about it for the same reason people watch America's Funniest Home Videos. You KNOW the guy is going to get hit in the private area with the ball his toddler kicked, and you watch it anyway, and maybe you laugh because it's not you. But you don't turn it off.
The IMA is like a car crash in slow motion, and those frames are still moving. Every minute, something else totally wacky pops up...
* The IMA's law firm specialises in defending people's First Amendment Rights. Well, maybe we should hire them.
* The IMA's law firm specialises in class action lawsuits. Maybe the angry people leaving the IMA should hire them.
* The IMA is telling members who want a full refund to talk to their lawyers. One person posted a blog comment here saying she wanted another $50 back to that her refund would be full. The IMA wants her to deal with a lawyer who probably charges at least $250/hr to fight or accept a $50 refund?
* The IMA Prez posted a blog comment this morning, and then gave a statement to another blogger saying he doesn't read the blogs. Huh? Then how did you post the comment?
It's an Abbott and Costello movie. It's The Three Stooges. I can't believe the IMA keeps stepping in it. I keep laughing. I keep watching the slow motion car wreck, and somehow, I just can't turn it off yet.
In reality, I'd like to stop posting about the IMA. They're kinda boring, and I'm giving them way too much free press. But I've never seen one person or one organisation step in it so much and so often. It's amazingly bad marketing, and I can't ignore it!
Good morning, and time for another fun and informal look at the idea of trade secrets. Accrording to the wikipedia article, which sums it up nicely, trade secrets are things that aren't known to the public, bring economic benefit to those who hold these secrets, and are trying to be kept as a secret. Trade secrets are traditionally protected by making people sign Non-Disclosure Agreements and/or Non-Compete Agreements. That way, if they find the secret out or are told it, they are not allowed to tell anybody else, nor are they allowed to use what they know to compete against the company holding the secret.
Take Best Match. I would think that the exact algorithm of how that's done would be a trade secret. eBay wouldn't want competitors to figure it out and use it. They wouldn't want sellers to figure it out and try to manipulate it. And if the algorithm were 100% public, it might hurt eBay financially. So that might be a trade secret.
Sharing a trade secret you know when you are under confidentiality is a major no-no! If the company who had the secret can show that you hurt their business because you shared the secret or used it to compete against them, that is a really serious offence. So we always suggest that people keep secrets as secrets!
So evidently the IMA's most recent announcement in their forum is that their lawyers have said that bloggers are sharing "corporate trade secrets," and the lawyers will be coming after us for that. I'm trying to break this down logically.
The blogs mostly centre around some truly poor behaviour seen from the IMA President and how his pals covered it up. This behaviour was poor enough that he was allegedly suspended from the IMA forums for a few days, so evidently the President's pals even felt that he was out of line.
The blog comments centre around former and current IMA members expressing that they didn't think their membership dollar was worth the truly negative experiences that they had. Many are very unhappy with the board's recent actions, and their lack of forthcoming about things. Many are unhappy that the board is hiding behind confidentiality when everybody involved has publicly waived any confidentiality to which they might have had the rights.
The blogs mostly centre around people telling their stories honestly. There is still a First Amendment, and we can all tell our stories.
The thing I find interesting is that a lawyer somewhere is charging the IMA an hourly rate to suggest that the public discussion of the poor behaviour of the IMA President and the allegedly unethical behaviour of the IMA Board are trade secrets. A lawyer somewhere is being paid to say that the communication of former and current IMA members disliking their IMA experience is a trade secret.
By definition, trade secrets are the proprietary ways a business gets things done. And if you are saying we're sharing a trade secret, then you are saying that we're sharing information about processes the IMA uses to get business done their way. So by this definition and by syllogism :), the IMA gets things done through the unethical behaviour and manipulation that we have been describing in some blog posts and comments here and on other blogs around the blogosphere. I think I have a pretty good syllogism working for me here. :)
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? It's just too bizarre!
I recently got my AAA magazine, Highways, and they were going on about "staycations," the new "thing" in travel. I hadn't heard of it. Basically, it's where you stay mostly local but go somewhere nice to have that resort, camping, or other experience as if you went further away. So for example, rather than going and staying in a resort in California, I might stay here in Tucson or Phoenix.
So I thought that would be a great idea for the 4th of July weekend. I started fishing around for ideas, and pretty much most of Tucson and Phoenix are on sale right now. It's summer, which often means temps over 105 by late in the day, and for Tucson, our monsoon season of usually-daily thunderstorms. So think over 105 and somewhat humid, and maybe stormy. Everything was on sale! :)
Miraval and The Phonecian were not on sale. :( But everything else was. I ended up stumbling on a place when poking around SpaFinder.com, yet that hotel didn't seem to show up in SideStep.com. Hmmmm. It was the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass outside of Phoenix in Chandler. It was on 2 zillion acres of Native American land, so it was near the local casino in case we wanted to get smoke-filled and not play roulette. :( The Sheraton had a 2.5-mile man-made lake, pools, golf, tennis, a 5 Diamond restaurant, other eateries, and the Aji Spa. They only wanted $138/night after tax, so we went for it! Just one night, this past Saturday.
I was trying to think of when was the last time I went somewhere (stayed in a hotel) and didn't turn on my laptop. Didn't do work. Didn't call people. Didn't check voice mails. Didn't write emails. OK, I did Twitter the above picture (click to enlarge) from the pool lounge chair, but that was it! I even forgot my cell phone charger in my car, and it kept dying. So when is the last time I had a day or two like this weekend with truly no work and not even THINKING about work? I realised it was never. I kept going back in my mind... every trip I could think of was attached to at least some business. I eventually landed on my trip to New Zealand in 1994, but that was before As Was really got cooking.
So basically, it was never. I've never given myself some time away from work. This weekend was really nice.
The propertly was lovely. Bed very comfy. All very clean. Great food. Friendly staff. Nice pools. Spa was excellent. Thanks to my husband for choosing to not get a service and insisting that I spend a little more on mine. What a guy! I think he narrowly escaped being called Mr. Levitt a few times. :)
And most of the people I met or overheard were also on staycation, or fake-ation as I've been calling it. Lots of people from Phoenix... this was probably 10-30 miles away for these people, but was 90 miles away for us. The woman in the spa said she had JUST done her staycation down in Tucson at our Westin La Paloma. I looked at that one, and decided to not do my weekend in my town. But we swapped stories, and it was funny how many people were doing these local resort getaway things.
I have to recommend doing this! All in all, it was very affordable. Sure, the Best Western would be cheaper, but the idea is to do the resort thing so that you can feel you're on vacation and relaxing.
I hope that my December vacation/honeymoon can be my first real vacation, really away, where I'm not engulfed with work and on the laptop all the time. I'm guessing my husband hopes so too. That's usually what I'm doing on all trips... I'm going to be on the east coast this coming week, and I'm mostly talking about staying in the hotel room and working from each stop around the tri-state area. So I could use a real vacation, and I hope December will be that first one since 1994. :)
Just letting my readers know that the IMA has announced to their membership that they hired a powerful law firm, spending the IMA's money, to take down blogs. Evidently, they want AuctionBytes to stay up, but want to take down the blogs that have told the full truth. So in case I have to take down certain posts relating to what has gone on, just know this. The truth won't go away. Sometimes, you can wield power and money, and threaten people, and make some things go away.
Someone in the IMA thinks I have an agenda, and he's right. My agenda is for the truth to be out there when the Board tries so hard to hide it, hush things up, and remove people who disagree. I want the membership to know what is really going on behind the scenes. If you know the whole story and you still want to stay, good for you. But as Steve keeps telling the membership, they don't know the whole story.
My agenda are the dozens of people who have commented in blogs, called me, and written to me privately who said that Steve or the IMA hurt them or their businesses. I want to make things right for those people. Nobody asked me to. I just think it's the right thing to do. Steve, Ben, and the IMA should have to answer for how they have hurt people. People feel defrauded right now, and I didn't do that to them. Their leadership did that to them. I was emailing Steve and Ben to tell them to stop before they go so far that they can't undo it. I think that line was crossed the day the Board overruled the Ethics Committee, which I didn't do and can't be blamed for!
The members should know that that is how the IMA is now going to spend its money: getting high-powered lawyers to take down the blogs of IMA members they kicked out who just want the whole truth out there. IMA members should look at how hard the Board is trying to quiet me and others. We must really be on to something for them to want to spend the IMA money on big lawyers to scare us. We wanted and want transparency. The IMA doesn't, and is willing to spend your money to try to shut us up.
If the IMA truly has nothing to hide, as it has stated, then it should just come out with the entire story and clear the air. If the IMA has done nothing wrong, as it maintains, then surely telling the whole story with nothing changed or left out would be easy. So let's hear it already. Where is that public statement explaining what's been going on? You have everybody's attention... this is your big chance to tell the truth. I still suggest the truth. Give it a try!
I am not the IMA's biggest problem.
I am a girl with a microphone and a few people standing around to see what I say next. If the IMA is as strong as Steve claims, then a little nobody like me, a little punk who got kicked out, shouldn't have the power to do any damage. I am not the IMA's biggest problem. The truth and reality of what has gone on the last two weeks is their biggest problem. I just happen to be the girl who doesn't mind standing up and speaking into the microphone. I may not always get it right, but I sometimes think that somewhere out there, someone is glad I'm doing it.
The IMA can pretend I'm their biggest problem, but I'm just the scapegoat. I'm the closest distraction they can try pointing at, but it's not working. The IMA is never going to really be able to hide the truth or sweep it all under the rug. And where am I getting these truths? From members who email me, comment here, and post in other blogs. Members want the word OUT, and they are coming here for the freedom of speech they can't get on the IMA forum right now. This is the IMA speaking out, and I want the IMA to hear these people. Like me, they wanted change and a better experience, and I want that for them in the IMA. I think a new Board with new direction can provide that; that would be an org I could get behind (again).
As my husband just reminded me, this is a fart in a windstorm. How many people care about this right now? How many are affected by this? Dozens? It doesn't deserve the time any of us are spending on it. Good night, and may the IMA do the right thing for the membership. They put that money in your bank account. How would they want it spent?
Steve gave an interview to AuctionBytes where he claimed that the IMA has more members now than last week. I saw 225 last week when I happened to post that number, and the membership page now says 230. But there are some major flaws to the IMA's ability to count.
Here is a screen shot from part of the first page (companies are alphabetically arranged). You'll find that:
Amazing Keys and Amazon are listed twice.
As Was (that's me) is still in there when I'm no longer a member.
Auctiva is listed three times.
So right there on the first page, that's four that I'm showing you that can be removed as duplicates or no longer members. Outside of my screen shot, 1 Choice 4 Your Store was listed twice. That's 5 we can remove, so that's 225.
I think the reality is that it's just another manipulation of a pile of wangled information or facts.
We really don't know how many members the IMA had last week. We don't know if they took down people who left. We don't know if they added people who joined. We don't know if they count ChannelAdvisor 5 times. They're listed 5 times, but if you ask me, that's one membership. As vendor members, we get to pay once, but bring in multiple people from our staff. But maybe they'll call that 5 members to make their numbers sound higher.
It would be like me working with a husband and wife who paid me once and signed up as one company, but me treating it like I have 2 clients to make my numbers sound higher. So I don't do that. :)
So who can really say. All I know is that duplicates look suspicious, and people who I know are no longer in the org are still listed. Again, I'd like to see how the IMA page looks in say late September. Surely, I won't be listed anymore, and everybody who was forced out or left would be taken off the page.
I'd also like to know how PESA has seen their membership grow during oh the last week or so. :)
IMA President Steve Grossberg posted this to the IMA forums today:
I know I have thought long and hard
about this. The conclusion I reached is I have nothing to be ashamed of,
nothing to run and hide from and I was elected to my position. During times of
crisis strong leadership is what is needed. I think my past track record shows
I can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. I feel the same holds true for
Ben and Cathy.
So we intend to provide that strong leadership as this is
our duty. I do not think it is fair to call for anyone's resignation without
knowing the facts. Some has chosen to resign for various reasons, and it is my
opinions leaders should not resign from a leadership role while the going gets
tough unless they did wrong as to me it is an admission of guilt.
You see the lynch mob mentality and media frenzy, crazy far
fetched accounts of things from hobbyist blogs etc has started already days ago
without knowing the facts, could you imagine how it would appear if we
resigned.
Make no mistakes, this is a crisis, but also make no
mistakes strong leadership will pull us out and emerge us as a stronger organization.
Thanks to all of you who have expressed your trust and
support in us
Oh, mind if I comment? :)
If you don't think resignations should be called for without facts, then give people the facts already.
Leaders resigning is an admission of guilt? I think some of us need to learn humility. When you are guilty, you should admit it. People who are resigning because they don't want to deal/work with the President or Board are not admitting guilt. Maybe just defeat after thinking they could change things.
I love the way he goes for the emotional stuff... lynch mob, media frenzy, and my personal favourite, "far fetched accounts from hobbyist bloggers." Who would that be? I get my information from ME because I lived this. Other bloggers are getting their info from me and other former IMA members. There is not a bad, disrespectful, known liar in the bunch of us who are finally coming out and telling our stories.
You can say that you did "NOT have sexual relations with that woman" all you want, but when a whole bunch of us are holding stained dresses :), someone isn't telling the truth. So either the Prez isn't telling the truth, or there is a giant conspiracy of a bunch of people who otherwise have nothing to do with each other, and we're all speaking out just to mess with Steve. Which is more likely?
My hopes is that leadership isn't just strong. We saw strong leadership today in the form of heavy-handedness. The IMA threw out some of the best people it had, and why? No reason. Well there has to be a reason. The only possible reasons can be to remove the well-liked and powerful people so that the Board can be in control OR to remove members who might vote the Board out. What other reason do you kick people out?
I can imagine how it would appear if the Board resigned. It would be great. Two IMA members I can think of would be devastated. I imagine they will be crying, so I won't name them. But everybody else? I think it would be the right thing to do. I don't think an org can go on with leadership known for alienating people, lying, libelling, and being a dictatorship that kills any dissent. I just think that can't go on, and I don't think eBay would want to be close to that organisation.
Larry Phillips, former IMA Board member, has given me written permission to release his statement as follows. I have not edited or changed it.
IMA Saga: July 5-6, 2008
The following are events that I do not believe have been posted anywhere, and it's what has transpired since last Friday night.
Cathy and I came to agreement on Friday night that all four of us would resign. She indicated to me that she was ready to go, and one of the other three had already agreed, and the third would agree when told the other two had resigned. On Saturday afternoon, Steve and I spent about two hours on the phone. At the end of the call, we agreed that I would stay on in an interim role to effectuate a successful transition to a new Board, but the other three would have an early transition date (their choice, not mine. I recommended 30 days for everybody) . Steve indicated that his transition date would be dictated by how long it took to transfer his name and address off all corporate papers.
I wrote a draft resignation, and posted it in the Board Forum. About 3 hours later, I was called to join a conference call with the three of them, plus Eddie, who was now the Chair of the Moderation Committee. I was basically told the deal was off, and they weren't resigning. After about an hour on the phone, we had come to agreement. During that time, I asked several times "What about the membership?" Steve and Ben were quite quick to respond "We don't care what the members think." Steve and I were to both write apology letters, and Eddie would post a zero tolerance policy regarding attacks in the Members Forum. Steve and I would have the right to approve each others letters prior to them being posted. They were sent to Eddie, and published early Sunday morning. I agreed to this for the good of the organization, but was quite uncomfortable about it.
I started a discussion in the Board Forum indicating that there needed to be checks and balances in place, and was immediately shot down by all three remaining Board members, and that the Board needed to be ultimate authority for everything. Steve made some very dumb statements during this period. He tried to say that the Board is the ultimate authority in all corporations. And I told him, yes, but the Board is not normally the officers of the Corporation also. He said “name one corporation that does that”. I gave him Disney, and said, if we go down the list of every Fortune 500 company, the overwhelming majority of the Board members are not employees or officers of the corporation. That’s the check and balance. Because in our case the officers and the Board members were the same, we needed to either change that structure, or put in another check and balance. He just refused to accept that. I then decided that I should resign, because it was clear that the Board was only interested in maintaining their own power. I carefully constructed my resignation letter to say nothing confidential, and first sent it to the mods to get their approval prior to issuing. I waited about three hours and received no response, even though I saw Eddie on the Forum. I then sent it to about 18 members, indicating that I was ready to post to the Forum, but was still waiting for the mods to approve.
After seeing Eddie respond to another poster, I realized that Eddie was not going to respond, so I decided to post. My post was removed within 5 minutes. Things totally deteriorated at that point, and most of the other events have played out on the Member Forum.
IMA - Response to BOD Resignation
Please allow me to provide some clarification, because you obviously do not
have a good understanding of the situation. Lanae resigned in early June,
long before any of this happened. By the way, she resigned because she was
tired of Steve's abuse. That left 6 members. With Steve, Ben and Cathy
firmly partnered, the best that could ever be hoped for was a tie. And
again, that's before any of this happened.
The vote to change Steve and Debbie's sanctions was only attended by Ben,
Cathy, and Cyn, because Steve was suspended, I was not permitted to go
because of Steve complaint against me, and Kim was not available. They
presented false evidence, and Cyn went along with Ben and Cathy. Kim
resigned out of emotion on Thursday, because she was embarrassed at what she
had been talked into by Steve, and within hours retracted her resignation.
Ben accepted her retraction, and she even made a motion that was approved.
Then Steve came in on Friday, after his suspension was over, and said it was
illegal to accept her retraction under Florida law. However, when asked for
the specific statute, he did not provide anything. Nonetheless, she was off
the Board. They had a joint meeting with the Ethics Committee, attended by
Ben, Cathy and Cyn. After that meeting Cyn resigned. At that point it was
Steve, Ben, Cathy and me. It was three against one, they would not agree to
any checks and balances. They said they didn't care what the members
thought, they were elected, and if the members wanted them out, they could
vote them out. That's when I said time to resign. When we started that
process they immediately changed the bylaws to make it almost impossible to
make happen.
DO what you wish, but I just don't see how you can continue to support that type of action.
Kim Wren, former IMA Board member, has given me written permission to release her statement as follows. I have not edited or changed it.
From here forward Board of Directors will be referred to as BOD's.
On July 2nd I felt like being on the BOD's was a losing battle with me in a
3 against 1 situation - please note that at that time Steve Grossberg was on
a "leave of absense" and Ben Mandell was acting president - I was told by
several that Steve had no access to the BOD's forum during his "vacation".
During a phone meeting with Ben, Cathy, Cyn and myself I resigned from the
BOD's. I then posted that information to the general forum, as well as the
BOD forum. The post to the general forum was removed quickly - but it was
moved to the private BOD's forum - so I still had access to it as no one had
taken away my access to that forum. I was later told that someone was going
to call me to try to talk me out of quitting.
A few hours later on July 2nd - A couple of things were said to me that were
very aggravating - regarding my resignation. Since the BOD's had not taken
away my ability to read the BOD's forum, I rescinded my resignation, and
edited my resignation posts. Again, my access to the BOD's forum was left in
tact.
Ben, who was acting as president of the IMA - per Steve's request - allowed
me stay on the BOD's forum. The entire board also proceeded to treat me as
an active board member:
Informing me of a couple of meetings on July 3rd.
Allowing my vote as a member of the BOD's in what was going on currently
Allowing me to post on the BOD's forum continually Making personal calls to
me to discuss BOD's and/or IMA matters
I was treated as a BOD's for nearly 48 hours.
On July 4th Steve returned to the BOD's forum and reclaimed his position as
president from Ben. Upon his return I questioned his motives on some things
and he promptly removed me from the BOD's forum. He stated that I had indeed
resigned, and proceeded to quote FL law. He failed to mention that the
rescind was indeed accepted (by action) from the acting President - Ben
Mandell - as well as the other acting BOD's at that time; or that the letter
of resignation I wrote could not possibly have seen by Steve since he was
"away" at the time it was posted, and later altered - before his return to
the forum.
A guy just called me to see if we can do a template for him. He's listing with a system I've never heard of. He doesn't know if they can take our templates.
I take the time to get into a live chat with the company because I can't get to any of their help files. I ask my question. They treat me like I know their system and use terms I've never heard of relating to how their system works.
The potential client is in the chat, and the support person tells him that he should give me access to his account to I can get to know the configuration area. THAT'S A BAD IDEA! This guy hasn't signed my contract! I think it's unprofessional to expect him to 1) do your customer support for you, and 2) give a stranger his password to this system!
I was NOT impressed with that.
Long story short, they don't take our templates as templates. Evidently, you can load up a bunch of HTML that gets dumped somewhere, but they don't give us codes or tags... so picture 1 wouldn't drop in. Description wouldn't drop in. I guess it's our block of HTML and the item info somehow before or after each other. I don't think that's the best way to go.
So they don't work with our templates the way things should, and I'm not impressed with their customer service. I tell the guy that I'm not impressed with these people, and I don't think we can work with them.
He starts berating me... that he's a big seller, and this company is helping him make so much money, and how can I just shoot them down... and I must have so much business that I don't need to take the time to get to know this system... and lots of companies can give him what he wants so why won't we, and I must just not care about what his business needs... and makes this into an emotional issue.
I asked him why I should allow him to yell at me and berate me, and why is he making this an emotional issue. He starts yelling that he was going to spend $5,000 with my company, and now he's not because it's a good thing that he knows that we're an emotional company (HUH?) and people shouldn't just sell on eBay, they have to do multi-channel things and this company helps him with that and I just must not........ oh the yelling just seemed to go on.
This is where I am thinking that this is not the right client for us. :) I believe that everything happens for a reason, and the right clients find us. This is NOT the right client. Good luck to whomever he hires. I warned ya! :)
As of today, the IMA membership page lists 230 companies. But I'm still on there, and some companies/people seem to be on there twice. So that's not an accurate count.
I know of a bunch of us who got forcibly removed from the IMA. Others are leaving and getting partial refunds. Once the IMA cleans up their database and doesn't list us, it will be interesting to see how many are left.
Some said they plan to stay to have the power to vote the current Board out. So it should all be very interesting.
Without a warning first. Without any correspondence. Without any suggestions. Without a note from moderators.
Payment Details
Amount:
$599.00 USD
Subject:
ima dues
Note:
membership dues refund cancellation of membership
Oh, they owe me SO much more, including an apology for the libel and to clean that up.
Edit: I just noticed that I got a full refund. I wonder why others are only getting a pro-rated refund? We should all be getting full refunds.
So the IMA is going to throw out everybody who doesn't agree. That's really a shame. You now get to have your very own club and treehouse, and anybody who stands up to lies, inconsistent behaviour, and unethical behaviour just has to go. Funny how the people lying, being inconsistent, and being unethical not only get to stay, but get to run the organisation!
Well, I will continue pursuing the refund of the rest of my money plus damages. They will not get away with what they did.
Evidently, while many of us tried to take a relaxing long weekend, the IMA was hard at it. I returned this morning to read a few interesting topics.
* Nothing really happened but the President is sorry for whatever happened. He's vowing to never be a jerk again. Hands up, those who believe that he's had a true moment of self-awareness, is really sorry, and will never do it again.
* What's left of the Board is passing new rules like mad. These seem to be designed to reduce the power of the membership. For example, the old by-laws said that 5% of the group can meet IN PERSON and hold a vote. The new rule says 50% of the group would have to meet IN PERSON to do things like that.
* Evidently they're also passing a rule that you're not allowed to say anything bad about the IMA on the IMA forum.
* The remaining Board members are SO threatened by the power that the people who most recently stepped down from the board might have that those people were forced out of the IMA. They intended to stay in the IMA, but evidently woke up today to find that they had no access to the forums, and pro-rata refunds in their PayPal accounts.
They're offering a pro-rata refund for anybody who wants to leave now. I think they should be giving full refunds if not more. The organisation was severely not as promised, not as described. Everybody got lied to. Things got manipulated. People are still wondering where their posts went while mdoerators each say "I didn't take that down" and evidently, posts are NOT going through the typical process of how things get moderated. The Board are just taking things down or editing things.
I filed another grievance on Saturday against Steve. He posted to the general membership an offer to send anybody who asked a copy of private emails I had sent him weeks ago. Evidently now, he won't email those, but if you call him, he'll read them to you. Thanks to those of you who offered to record the phone calls.
But let me get this right: the President of the IMA wants to have private phone calls with any member who'll take the time to talk to him so that he can read them private emails I sent him, and badmouth me? I'm going to suggest that the President of the IMA not make any more moves without consulting his lawyer as it's my guess that his lawyer would NOT have advised that he do this, especially after my first C&D.
I suggest that people speak with their dollar. I don't think we can teach these people that we will stand for this type of Star Chamber. eBay and online sellers deserve better than a small group of people trying THIS HARD to quiet things.
We have a damn popular store here in town. It's called Frost. It deserves a few posts for being so WONDERFUL. It's a gelato store that has a guy from Italy making everything by hand. It's the most delicious thing just about ever. It's in a nice shopping centre about 10 miles south of me, and they opened another across town. The shopping centre includes a Starbucks, Einstein Brothers Bagels, a bakery, many nicer restaurants, some upscale clothing stores, Whole Foods, and Chicos.
Frost often has long lines, sometimes out the door, just about every minute it's open, even in our Tucson winter. So wouldn't you love to be located next to Frost? Wouldn't you kill for the retail spot that gets all that traffic?
On one side of Frost is Sauce. It's OK, but I find it a bit overpriced. But it's a decent place with reliable quality. They're often quite busy. On the other side of Frost was "Old Brazil." Until last week. :)
When Old Brazil was not yet open, I was excited that someone was going to do Brazilian food. When they opened, I made sure to go in and meet the new owners. I was disappointed. It was a furniture store. I asked if they'd be serving any food. They said everybody was asking them that, but no, just furniture.
I knew they'd fail. Even next to Frost. I rarely saw anybody go in or out. You have the retail spot next to the most popular store in town, and you are getting NO traffic. You have put the wrong thing in that spot.
I take no pleasure from a business failing, but when I came back from eBay Live, and drove up that street, I noticed the Old Brazil sign gone. The windows are covered in white paper. They are gone.
So it's not just location, location, location. A bad idea can fail in a great location... a nice shopping centre at a well-traffic'ed intersection. It takes more than location to succeed.
In our continuing series of legal info from a non-expert, let's look at libel and slander today. These are words that are getting thrown around a lot in reference to the IMA, so let's be clearer about what they are.
Slander and libel are similar things. Slander is when something is spoken. Libel is when something is written or in images. Otherwise, they're basically the same. They are both flavours of Defamation.
They are when that communicated "something" is a false statement attempted to be passed off as fact that is put out there with the intention of doing damage to someone. Typically, something has to be false to be defamation. Telling someone the truth, and the truth hurts my company, may not be defamation since it's the truth and why shouldn't people know the truth. Telling someone the truth when you are under confidentiality would be against the law since you can't break the confidentiality.
But back to defamation. You can define that as the act of trying to create unjust injury to a person, company, or reputation by communicating something false. Let's use an example.
Someone posted to the IMA that there was someone who was going to destroy the forum, take it down, and was just waiting to press the red button. If this is false, and evidently it was false, then this is libellous. It's libel because if you read this communication, which is passed off as hard fact, you will start to change your opinion about the object of that statement. And people wrote in how horrible that person was to plan to do that. Well, that person was never planning to do that... so that person has been libelled.
That person has been defamed. That person's reputation may suffer. His/her business with people in the IMA may suffer if members think of him/her as the person who was going to destroy the forum for no reason, even though that's not true.
That person should never have to deal with this, and that person should not see business interfered with. That person has the right to sue, especially if he/she thinks that the lie has hurt business.
And that's why the law is there. You can walk into a room and say that you don't like me. You can say you think I'm a jerk. These are probably rude but legal. These are your opinion. But you can't walk into a room and announce that it's a shame that I'm killing puppies every other Thursday (when I most certainly am not killing anything any day of the week!). That would be a false statement passed off as fact, designed to cause injury.
It's illegal. I am not sure if you can be arrested for it, but you sure can be sued for it.
With all that's going on in the IMA, it appears that not everybody understands what a cease and desist letter is. I've sent out a few in my time, so let's look at what they typically are.
Once upon a time, I found a website company who decided to copy every page off my website, describing what they offered with the exact paragraphs I used to describe what we offered. They even included some sarcastic comments I had written into some of the text at the time.
I sent a ceast and desist letter. It just means "stop doing something or else." It's the first step, a warning shot, towards saying that you will stand up to whatever is being done. Cease. Stop! Desist. Stop. It's about trying to get someone to stop doing something.
It is NOT necessarily about enforcing confidentiality. So when the IMA Board says that they are getting lots of cease and desist letters, those may not be people telling them to keep quiet on matters or explanations of what's going on. They're unlikely to be that since the IMA isn't saying anything about matters... I don't have to send a letter to get someone to stop doing something they're not doing. :)
My cease and desist was to get Steve to stop libelling me. I believe a couple of other C&Ds that I know about were to also ask that defamation stopped. That does not mean people can't talk about things. It is not an automatic gag order. It is a formal way to tell someone to stop something, and the implied threat is that if they don't, you will pursue legal action.
So the idea that the IMA BOD can't talk about a certain thing because of C&D letters doesn't make a lot of sense, and seems to rely on people not really knowing what a C&D is. If the C&D tells someone to stop talking about something, like asking someone to stop defaming and libelling people, then that person SHOULD not do that action anymore. But I don't think anything legally stops him from saying, "I've been asked to stop maligning people," since that would be true.
The IMA by-laws are here. As of when I'm writing this, there is no word "confidential" or "confidentiality" in there.
At all.
I searched the page for "confid" and it's not there.
The word "private" is in there a few times, but mostly pertains to money or fears of conflicts of interest.
Gosh, I'm worried about conflict of interest too but not for those reasons.
That means that nobody is under confidentiality. I'm not. The Board's not. The Ethics Committee isn't. I'm sure that they like to keep things private for obvious reasons. I'm sure it's a handshake thing that Board members and committee members don't make discussion public. But in a case like this current problem, the Board can't hide behind claims of confidential information. The membership is demanding transparency.
With no grievance process formally outlined and no confidentiality stated, it can technically all be public.
Don't let the IMA hide behind claims of confidentiality. And don't let them pretend that openly discussing what happened will cause more problems than it solves. It only causes problems for Ben and Steve, and it can only LEAD to solving the problems they are causing.
Edit: The IMA is changing their by-laws constantly now that they got caught breaching them.
In April, I joined the IMA at the Gold Level, costing me $599. I enjoyed the discussion forum, which seems to be the centre of the whole place. Nearly all of the members there seemed like nice people who just wanted to see their businesses and lives improved. I'm glad they have each other!
I wanted to support the IMA, and posted frequently to answer what questions I could. We had IMA brochures and pins in our 2008 eBay Live booth. I plugged them in a talk I gave to the 2008 eBay Developers Conference. And I never gave them the free ads a Gold Member can have. I never filled out my profile that's linked from my name on their home page. So I was not even promoting my company to the membership as much as my $599 would let me.
I have a story to tell about what has been going on, and I am not under confidentiality. I will not quote anybody but myself. Anything that I did not experience, I will say "allegedly" since I don't know these things for sure. But this is what happened to me, and I can back everything I'm saying other than what goes with "allegedly." :) And apologies to someone who suggested I keep this to five paragraphs... the story is just too long and wild!
After coming back from eBay Live, we were trying to think of what to do to help sellers. CA put on a great webinar, but we realised we had other info we wanted to get out there, so we scheduled our own webinar. I mentioned it in the As Was area of the IMA forum (Gold Members get their own places to post about what their companies are up to), and found Steve, IMA President, derailing my topic, complaining about eBay, and trying to make it sound like there is no need for my company's webinar. Well, hey, I don't need that. Other IMA members and I posted for him to please not hijack my topic. He still wanted to say that IMA members should be leaving eBay. I said my forum's not the place for that crap.
Around the same time, I started noticing that there were just not that many active forum posters. It seemed like every time someone had a good question about eBay or their eBay sales, loud people rushed into the topic to complain about eBay, bash eBay, or just trumpet how they're leaving eBay. This doesn't help someone with a question, and is going to alienate people. I decided to speak out about that.
I wrote a long post last Thursday 26 June in the public IMA forums mostly stating that I wanted to see more topics stay on topic and that we should all be supporting each other. If someone wants to keep selling on eBay, and they have a question, we shouldn't have members hijacking those topics to tell people to stop selling on eBay or to bash eBay. Long story short, just about every member who wrote back in agreed with me.
I don't think Steve liked how many people agreed with me because he just started writing in odd, off-topic things about how I'm bashing people like ChannelAdvisor and I'm against their webinar. I replied that that wasn't true at all, and I'd never posted anything remotely saying that. Even other members posted backing me up. That wasn't enough. Steve went on to tell the IMA how unprofessional I am for putting down CA (which I hadn't done).
I started privately emailing Steve (and BCCing other people so there would be a paper trail) to say that he was libelling me. He was lying to defame me, and that he needed to stop. He needed to apologise and let the membership know that he was making it all up. He didn't. He kept on posting these sorts of things, and starting naming other vendors I was supposedly badmouthing... yet he had no proof of any of this. He would twist something I said into something I didn't say to try to get the membership riled up against me. I just kept responding that these were lies and libel, and he needed to stop doing it and apologise.
So a forum topic about how people should be nicer to each other, not hijack topics, and be more supportive turned into attacks from Steve as he tried to hijack my topic. SURREAL. Surreal to see the Pres telling people that I think I'm better than everybody else, and I am trying to say that our webinar will be better than CA's webinar (when I'm not saying that, and you won't be able to quote that because I didn't say that). But he can put that up unchallenged and unmoderated. SURREAL!
The thread got so ugly that it got locked, but not without a last word from Steve kind of summarising all of his lies and trying to make it sound like they were all true. He told the membership that I was only there to line my pockets, and other things to make me look like the bad guy. Oh and did I mention that Steve also decided to post to the IMA forum something from a private email I had sent him? I can only assume he was shooting for tortuous business interference on that one.
I woke up not knowing how to respond to this continued harassment and abuse, so I copied some of what he had written, pasted it into my As Was IMA forum, and responded to it. Meanwhile, his lies were still up... nobody had moderated that at all. I really think that topic could have used some moderation earlier on! That topic eventually got removed, but I felt like I had to beg for it. I found out later that it's against IMA forum rules to copy things from one topic into another. A mod notified me. I apologised, and took my entire post down.
For those of you keeping score, libel is illegal. I can sue for it. I can't sue you for saying I'm yucky or you don't like me or you think I'm a jerk. But I can sue you for defaming and maligning me and my company in a business forum where I am surrounded by people who are (technically) current and potential business partners as well as current and potential clients. And if you're the President and you're not apologising? It probably seems even more true since the President couldn't get away with saying these things unless they're true, right? :(
I then went to work on my grievance to the Ethics Committee, which for short I'll write as EC here. I wrote a VERY long email explaining what had been done, the lies and the libel, and that these were all on purpose. Yes, I had evidently broken a forum rule by quoting someone in a new topic, but that was a mistake. I didn't know the rule, and when I was made aware, I apologised, and took the whole thing down. Where is the apology I deserve? Who is going to make right all the lies written about me? The by-laws and forum rules are unclear... will someone please make those clearer? It was a long letter, but that was the centre of it.
What did I want? A public apology. I just wanted Steve to write a public post (that could then be locked) saying that he was sorry, that he had no right to repost a private email without consent, and that the things he said about me and my company were false and that he has no proof of any of them. I just wanted the truth out there so the libel would go away. I'm willing to let him make it right, but he has to be willing to make it right for that plan to work.
The EC doesn't have to tell anybody anything. In fact, I got an email on 1 July 08 saying that there was an EC grievance AGAINST ME. It didn't say who filed it or what the claim was, so I was never given the chance to defend myself. It just told me that for breaking that forum rule, I was getting a 1-day suspension because I knew the rule and broke it anyway. Huh? It then went on to say that for slandering Steve and the IMA in the forum, I was getting a 3-day suspension. Huh? It didn't say anything about what I said that was slander. With slander being illegal, it would be nice for you to tell me what I've done that's illegal. I was also told that I was getting 60 days probation, though again, with NOT knowing what I did, it's hard to know that I won't accidentally break a rule again!!!
Now this was also weird because when I got questioned by moderators about some things, they made it sound like they understood I had broken the rule by mistake, and appreciated that I apologised and took my own post down. They made it sound like I would probably get a letter of reprimand or whatever they send to people who make mistakes and break forum rules. I wasn't told anything about being up for slander, so getting a 4-day suspension was odd, especially getting a 1-day suspension for purposefully breaking rules that the moderators knew was an accident from not knowing the rules. And if I committed slander, which is hard on a written board when slander is for spoken words, why aren't you asking me to publicly apologise and take back what I said?
This gets even weirder because I also got questioned about why I would call one of the board members an "ally." HUH? You are asking me why I wrote that in a PRIVATE email to Steve? Why does that matter? Nobody could tell me. I can only guess that Steve filed a grievance against somebody and used my private email to what... complain that I had become friendly with someone? I can't even IMAGINE what could be the problem there. But when you are power hungry, and you're not doing a good job cutting someone down, you start working the periphery. I think Steve was losing the battle he created against me since public opinion didn't seem behind him (and maybe neither was moderator or EC opinion), so he had to start working on anybody who also might like me. Read your history books... these are old tricks. :)
And it gets even WEIRDER if you imagine that I can't see anything that's going on with the board or moderators or EC. I can't get into those discussions and see what people are saying as they are deciding things or reading complaints. I have no idea what anyone has filed against me. I don't get to read it and then privately email people to try and sway them. But Steve does. Did anybody take away his forum access while there was a grievance against him so that he couldn't see what I was saying? Did he avoid reading it? Did he NOT contact anybody and try to sway them? Did he play NO part in the BOD overruling the EC? Can we really trust this?!?!?!
Although the EC can't tell me what came of my grievance, we do know that Steve didn't post for around 2.5 days, even though he was in the middle of a heap of topics he had started, and even though the forum was going crazy about this issue. Now would be a good time for the President to speak up and calm people's concerns. So I will say that allegedly, he too was suspended, though allgedly, it would be for a shorter time than my suspension. As I write this, I still have no access to the IMA forums but he's back. So according to the BOD, I'm the badder guy. ?!?!?!
I sent a long email back to the VP since he seems to be on every committee, and I demand explanations. I list all the unethical things the IMA has done. I want to know when I'll be getting an apology. I want to know what slander I committed. 5 days later as I write this... no reply. Hey, I shouldn't have to ask for or demand this information. If you're going to indict, sentence, and immediately carry out the punishment, you should at LEAST be honest and transparent enough to describe what I did.
This is where I start putting two and two together because allegations are coming out that the Board (BOD) overturning something the EC decided. So maybe the EC decided I should get a letter of reprimand and the BOD decided that they couldn't allow this to come out with their own Pres looking so bad. The EC meets, and decides that they can't be quiet about this... the membership needs to know that with the BOD never having overruled the EC before, and with nothing in the by-laws that allow the BOD to do that, the BOD overruled what the EC suggested for both me and Steve. That's "allegedly" but I think that's backed up by what's on the IMA board and some blogs by now.
The BOD is losing control, and starts reacting wildly. The EC Chair, who is also a moderator, allegedly gets a 7-day suspension. No grievance. No review or investigation. No process. Immediate suspension along with another board member, both suspended allegedly on the claim that they breached confidentiality. So the BOD thinks the EC breached confidentiality, but only suspends two of the EC members? And that's a light enough problem that you will welcome them back when their punishment is over?
Board members are quitting like mad. Lanae's resignation was announced last week I think. Kim allegedly quits on 1 July, and allegedly posts that it's because of this, yet that post is removed. Cyn allegedly resigned from the BOD and left the whole IMA over this today. The IMA website still says:
Steve Grossberg - (President) Ben Mandell - (Vice-President) Lanae Paaverud - (Secretary) Steve Grossberg - (Treasurer) Larry Phillips Cathy Aggelopoulos Kim Wren Cyn Lizana
Three of the seven are now gone, and I think they could be in danger of losing anybody but The Wonder Twins, Steve and Ben. I was reading another blog post, and agreed with what someone had commented... remember how loyal Ben was to Joe in PESA? Well cosi fan tutte because now it's Ben [heart] Steve. I wonder who will be next.
And how is this for a coincidence. During my suspension, I had access to my private messages in the forum. I could read them, send them, etc... This morning, JUST as Steve is coming back to the forum, I can't log in at all. I'm told I have an invalid username. I reset my password. Nope, still can't get in, not even to see private messages. I ask a moderator if my account is deleted. Nope, I am set to forum access NO, private message access YES. I said could someone higher up have gone into other controls to totally knock out my access. The only possible answer was yes.
Welcome back, Steve! Sorry to hear that your vacation from the forum didn't make you feel less threatened by me.
The BOD is allegedly telling members that nothing is going on, but whatever is going on is confidential. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! Now it's a compounded problem. First, it was forum posts breaking the rules, and the moderators not acting because they wait for posts to be reported. Well that needs to change! :) Then, it was libel. It went beyond rudeness, disruption, bull****, and breaking forum etiquette to libel, defamation, and lies designed to hurt me and my company in front of a business audience. Now, I think most people forgot about me! :) Now, the questions are ALL about BOD transparency and these secret processes. People have so many questions.
The answer is that this is The Star Chamber. This is an increasingly small group of people passing arbritrary rules, flying in the face of their own by-laws, and making it up as they go along just to try to have control and power. How can you expect to have any fair hearing of your grievance when the VP is on the EC, and the person you're complaining about is reading and possibly involved in the discussions?!
I am still demanding answers and an apology. I still expect Steve to correct the libelling he did. Otherwise, I am not afraid to bring the matter to my attorney. I had emailed cease and desists while he was doing it, and that didn't work. All I can say is that I don't take these things lightly. You're welcome to dislike me. You're welcome to tell people you don't like me. But when you stoop to purposeful libel even after being told to stop by myself and others, I will not enable you and just sit quietly, doing nothing. I will not wait to see what the IMA does next. I didn't pay $599 for the President of a trade association to tell the membership a bunch of things he made up and can't prove but are designed to make me look bad and unprofessional. I should get a refund if not a settlement for damages.
I have demanded an apology for 9 days now, and that is what I want at this point as well. I expect the libel to be cleared up. I expect Steve to tell what IMA membership he has left that he made up those claims about me and my company, that they were false, and that he is sorry. That's really all he needs to do for me. As for his membership, the board, the committees, and any entity that governs the behaviour of non-profit corporations, I think he has a lot more answering to do to them than I need. I'm an easy check mark on his to do list, and that's all I want.
And that is the story of where the IMA crap that started last week started. :) The rest of it? The BOD made their own bed. At that point, it has nothing to do with me or Steve or libel or slander or forum posting. It's now a much bigger, uglier thing, and you can't gag people into submission... not when one of them isn't under any confidentiality at all.
What do I think of the IMA now? I think it's a great organisation with a lot of potential, but it will be killed by its own board. They left PESA claiming not enough transparency and complaining about non-profit status. OK, here is NO transparency, the board pooping on their own by-laws, and the President who is the Treasurer. Oh and the President who is evidently the biggest negative force in the group... even got himself kicked out of another group for verbally abusing people quite recently. And this is your poster child? This is the model of the IMA? This is our leader? The guy who is libelling me is our leader?
I think that the IMA needs a fresh board, fresh direction, and clearer by-laws and forum posting rules. It need to outline grievance processes and appeals, since those aren't clear, and those need to be more transparent too. If someone files against me, I should know that and have the chance to defend myself! I think a lot of changes need to be made for the IMA to be able to continue and be a worthy organisation.
I think that with renewals coming up soon, many IMA members will choose to speak with their dollar. The IMA has 229 registered users today according to their website. We'll have to see what that looks like say in October (many members told me their memberships renew in September). Are they growing? They're going to need to change or die! Shooting themselves in the foot the way they are is just not going to work... not when people are calling for transparency, and I'm not afraid to tell my story.
The last question then becomes will my suspension really be over tomorrow? Will I be back on the forums to post? Or will the IMA decide that my story and truth are SO dangerous that I have to be kicked out of the club? Will there be a formal process against me? If I can be found guilty of slander without them having to provide any evidence or quotes of what I said, what will they pretend I'm guilty of now? If they hold a board meeting to decide if I get kicked out, who is left on the board? Is that process detailed in the by-laws? We don't want to go making up more by-laws on the fly, now do we.
As for the comments, it doesn't look like the IMA has many supporters, at least not many who are willing to put that in writing.
President Steve is out of his alleged-suspension after only 2.5 days. Well, then I should be back on the boards tomorrow morning.
The next question is: will they answer any of the questions I've been asking? Will the Board and Ethics Committee give me any of the information I've wanted? And more importantly, will they be cleaning up the libel and defamation that is still out there because they never apologised or told people they made up those false statements and claims?
I think it would be really good and important for the IMA to clean that up and apologise. But I'm just a tiny fish in a large ocean of bigger problems now. Once the IMA acted in ways unsupported by their own by-laws, they opened a kettle of fish much bigger than I am. Once they posted that the problems boiled down to their Ethics Committee being too young/new to know the right thing to do, they opened a major kettle of fish. After all, the Ethics Committee are mostly or wholly made up of moderators and board members who have never been questioned before.
People's posts were getting taken down, including one from a board member saying she had resigned because of what is now going on. Evidently, if you don't agree with certain board members, you can expect your posts to be removed, and if that doesn't shut you up, evidently part of the Board is willing to suspend you immediately without any grievance or process.
And we all get to pay for this!
So it's a giant cover up. Wonder what is SO bad that they have to do all this covering up? Just think for yourself and connect the dots. It's all there.
In January 1984, Huey Lewis and The News released their chart-topping album, "Sports." "I Want A New Drug" was a big hit in the USA.
The producers of the Ghostbusters movie wanted to hire Huey Lewis and The News to write a song for their movie. They turned it down as they were working on music for Back To The Future. Allegedly, the producers approached Ray Parker, Jr. and asked him to write something that sounded like "I Want A New Drug."
And he sure did. Got sued!
If you use Rhapsody, here are some helpful links to find those songs:
Second step to what's going on at the IMA becoming fully public. AuctionBytes is following it now. I've heard that AuctionBytes knows WAY more about this than even I know, which means that EVERYBODY is ready to talk and already talking, at least to AuctionBytes. The IMA won't know what came from where.
The IMA will not be able to hide a pile of unethical things behind "confidentiality." Not everybody involved is under confidentiality, so this WILL fully come out.
I ask the IMA to right this while you can pretend it's under your control. Once the whole story comes out, you will no longer be in control of the story and what is known publicly about it. You will not be able to spin it the way you want. You will no be able to "avoid confirming" things with AuctionBytes because they will have heard too many consistent stories from too many people.
Fix it now while you can pretend that this is all going very well and going your way. Do the right thing. I'd rather see you do the right thing than not. But I will be among the people standing up to injustice, and at the rate you're losing Board Members and suspending Committee members because they didn't do things the way you wanted, you're going to have very few allies left soon.
In June 1985, Scritti Politti released their "Cupid and Psyche '85" album. "The Perfect Way" was a hit in the USA and the UK.
In 1986, El DeBarge released his self-titled solo album. "Who's Johnny" was a big hit, and used in the (lame) movie Short Circuit. Sure, we can all believe that Ally Sheedy fell in romantic love with a robot.
Anyway.
Who's Johnny is a freaking rip-off of The Perfect Way. I have NO idea how El DeBarge didn't get sued. If you subscribe to a music service, see if you can find these songs, and compare for yourself.
If you use Rhapsody, here are some helpful links to find those songs:
http://www.rhapsody.com/scrittipolitti
http://www.rhapsody.com/eldebarge
Holy poop on a stick. I'm listening to them back to back, and I can't believe El DeBarge didn't get sued. Evidently I'm the only person to write about these two songs as I can't find anything on the internet.
I am still deciding what to post and when based on my experience with the same organisation. I'm not under any confidentiality, so should I decide to air the whole thing, it will be VERY interesting for many people. These are people who are trying REALLY hard to suppress the truth right now, and play power games. Well not just play but win.
I believe in total honesty and total transparency, and that is NOT going on right now in the IMA. I hope that the unethical things are outed and righted. Otherwise, I think they will implode and quickly cease to exist.
Alex, the GuruOfSales, interviewed me at eBay Live. Here is that video. ;)
Unfortunately, I just found out that Alex can't speak at our RocketPlace conference in Sept 08 because of another speaking engagement at the same time. But we'll get him at some point! :)
Do NOT be confused by GoToWebinar's loose sense of time zones! This webinar takes place at:
11am Pacific Time 12pm Mountain Time 1pm Central Time 2pm Eastern Time 7pm UK time
We're going to focus on the changes that we feel most affect sellers' listings, feedback, and DSRs. We'll talk about what eBay has announced, how that's already changing, and what we suggest that you do.
Come learn what can make your sales FCD! :)
Yes, we'll record it and make it available later in the week.
