Jul/090
Verpets answers our call for help!
Thank you for coming and answering us, Verpets!
The first issue in the 1k attempted buy out of VPL. There was no offer to buy VPL. I think this is a case of mistaken identity – CPVR, was the username who offered you this 1k called JJS on the old vpl? However, maybe where this confusion arises from is the fact that while there was no offer for VPL for 1k, we did indeed discuss buying out the site back in August 2008. I contacted CPVR directly asking if he would be interested and asked for revenue stats etc. He said he’s not actively looking to sell but would consider offers (standard response to this sort of enquiry) and so showed me revenue proof for the last few months from google adsense. I won’t be so unprofessional as to give the figures out in public but they were in the XXX range per month. From this me and bubbles (skye, who co owns sites with me) realised we could not afford to offer a fair amount (would have been a multiplier of about 10 or 12 on the monthly revenue which we did not have the budget for) and so did not respond any further to the deal. We did come back to the idea of a VPL acquisition earlier this year and contact CPVR about it – again with NO OFFER. I remember the PM I sent CPVR – “Sorry we never continued our discussions last summer, would you be interested in talking again about a possible purchase of VPL?”. CPVR’s reply was plain and simple “No thanks”. Maybe this short and sharp reply was a result of another offer from someone else he received for 1k at the time and him having the general opinion that anyone who wanted to buy his site wanted to do so at a measly amount?
So anyway, that sums up our ‘1k buy out’ with VPL – it never happened, there was no offer, but there were discussions. Is this a case of mistaken identity? Is it just CPVR exaggerating what happened because ‘content is king’ (but saying it a million times doesn’t help it become more so, by the way). If CPVR is sensible enough to admit the facts, I will accept a full public apology on VPL and an edit to every post made about this issue to correct it.
Going on from this, it seems that CPVR has a sudden urge to target Verpets due to the fact I’m not willing to suck up and run a contest to get HIM members. Untill a time when I believe VPL can help Verpets (apart from stopping the negative comments coming from it which just show VPL to be a truly feeble force on the net if all it does is post good about the sites that play ball with them). VPL had little to do with Verpets’ original growth (I don’t remember any threads on VPL about it in the past?) and I plan on continuing my work on it without any notice of which sites VPL decided to support. If it was up to VPL, Neopets and Mara would both be dead sites in a month and guess what, I don’t see that happening either.
Quick note about a couple of issues raised in CPVR’s slurs against Ver – the idea that we ‘clone features’ (IE the pet status, feeeds from facebook). They are totally facebook concept, I have no problem with that but have you ever seen them applied on a pet site? Absolutely not, making them original ideas for the concept of a pet site which has so far proved extremely popular and we will continue to grow it as time goes on. Furthermore, your twits that ‘rescreatu is eager and we’ll take your ideas and market it as ours’ only serve as evidence against you if you did indeed decide to rip off our site features – who would be the one cloning sites then eh? Although, I do question your involvement in rescreatu anyway – one minute you’re telling bubbles you’re making xx,xxx a month out of affiliate work with the owner of rescreaetu, then you’re posting on VPL saying you’ve had to move back your family back in with your parents due to a lack of funds.
While I could probably go on all day about things that CPVR says in general, I’ll keep this post specific to its original intentions – to clear up the issues around me/verpets. I end with a warning to CPVR – read up on libel. Your blog posts and unfounded accusations of colluding in a hacking are, at the very least, scandalous and unfounded and if I ever see a post on these issues come up on your forums then I am going to have to consider a stronger response to your actions. I run sites professionally and libel is a serious issue for me and could well be for you if you’re not careful.
Oh and, I’m not even going to address the issue of me being a part of the hacking of VPL. I just point CPVR back to the libel area we covered just now. Learn to control your anger against the sites that don’t want to be a part of your little group – help them all you like but VPL isn’t going to be a neutral and helpful force in pet sites if only those who pander to your every request get good coverage.
Cpvr responds with the following information:
We have a direct “message” that says something like this from Alexander Zander Schumautz[[Vancouver, BC]] “I was going through your messages and saw Joe’s offer, then I took VPL and tried to sell it”
Zander did this and tried to destroy our relationship with Verpets.