Author Topic: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game  (Read 6064 times)

Pi

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #20 on: March 20, 2015, 09:23:06 am »
Check out who owns IMVU. 'best buy capital' is the one that made me snicker. Dragoneer is now glorified Geek Squad lmao
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an hoopoe

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #21 on: March 20, 2015, 01:30:57 pm »
Dragoneer has a Q&A journal going, but is contradicting himself by claiming that IMVU will be hands off and not interfere with FA while admitting that IMVU now controls all of FA's finances:

Quote
5) Who is the site admin now?
Dragoneer, and he has been given complete independence and authority by IMVU to run the site as he sees fit, and has been given budget to make the improvements the site has sorely needed.

[...]

IMVU is hands-off
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316

Quote from: Dragoneer
The site's funding is a separate pool. I no longer have access to any of FA's financials. My business is not handling the finances (we have finance teams now) but focusing n the site, and only the site.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44920347

Quote from: November
Q&A time:

Why did it take two months to announce this?
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44918886

Quote from: Fender
Because while the site was sold, both groups (FA and IMVU) were drafting discussion, planning the future of the site. We weren't trying to hide things from the community, but make sure that both communities were on the same path across the board.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44918899

Quote from: November
I don't find that very believable exactly because I have experience in mergers and acquisitions. You said that IMVU acquired FA in January, which means that unless this deal materialized overnight, there was a discovery and due diligence process prior to January during which metrics (such as the frequently touted "many furries") and financials are reviewed. If you didn't hash out a continuance plan during this stage and was doing the planning during the two months after the acquisition, what were you doing? Clearly not planning, given the absolutely ineptitude of your readiness to respond to the community's concerns since this announcement.

Speaking of community, you say that you were "[making] sure that both communities were on the same path." Who was making sure? You? It's absolutely insulting to think that tens of thousand of users with their intellectual creativity and property was kept utterly in the dark so that one person could decide what path the "community" wants to go.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44919181

And Dragoneer stopped responding.

JigsawJones

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #22 on: March 20, 2015, 02:49:35 pm »
Dragoneer has a Q&A journal going, but is contradicting himself by claiming that IMVU will be hands off and not interfere with FA while admitting that IMVU now controls all of FA's finances:

Quote
5) Who is the site admin now?
Dragoneer, and he has been given complete independence and authority by IMVU to run the site as he sees fit, and has been given budget to make the improvements the site has sorely needed.

[...]

IMVU is hands-off
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316

Quote from: Dragoneer
The site's funding is a separate pool. I no longer have access to any of FA's financials. My business is not handling the finances (we have finance teams now) but focusing n the site, and only the site.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44920347

Quote from: November
Q&A time:

Why did it take two months to announce this?
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44918886

Quote from: Fender
Because while the site was sold, both groups (FA and IMVU) were drafting discussion, planning the future of the site. We weren't trying to hide things from the community, but make sure that both communities were on the same path across the board.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44918899

Quote from: November
I don't find that very believable exactly because I have experience in mergers and acquisitions. You said that IMVU acquired FA in January, which means that unless this deal materialized overnight, there was a discovery and due diligence process prior to January during which metrics (such as the frequently touted "many furries") and financials are reviewed. If you didn't hash out a continuance plan during this stage and was doing the planning during the two months after the acquisition, what were you doing? Clearly not planning, given the absolutely ineptitude of your readiness to respond to the community's concerns since this announcement.

Speaking of community, you say that you were "[making] sure that both communities were on the same path." Who was making sure? You? It's absolutely insulting to think that tens of thousand of users with their intellectual creativity and property was kept utterly in the dark so that one person could decide what path the "community" wants to go.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6592316#cid:44919181

And Dragoneer stopped responding.

Neer's stupider than I was giving him credit for. That IMVU left him in charge is the first blow to their credibility.

BTW, what does Yak think of our new Ant Overlords?

ColeTrain

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #23 on: March 20, 2015, 05:07:40 pm »
BTW, what does Yak think of our new Ant Overlords?

I think he's too busy playing TF2 to care.

Gourd

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #24 on: March 20, 2015, 09:55:11 pm »
Wait, shouldn't all the planning for the future and making sure both ends are on the same terms come BEFORE making the sale? I feel that's a bit backwards to buy something before being entirely certain what the acquisition will entail in the long run.

ProvincialTwit

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #25 on: March 20, 2015, 10:40:35 pm »
I don't think it's the buyer that failed to do their due diligence in this case.  At the very least it's probably far more likely our dear mister piche, much like some manner of furry Gregor Samsa, will awaken one morning to find he has transformed into a nobody, with the site entirely removed from his grasp and no recourse.

Also I have to wonder if this means he's somehow a full-time employee of IMVU now; like the whole thing was just a scheme to get himself a paying job doing fuck-all but "maintaining" the site.  And if that's the case, does that mean he can't even hold down a simple computer janitor position any more?

Conan

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #26 on: March 21, 2015, 12:54:46 am »
I don't think it's the buyer that failed to do their due diligence in this case.  At the very least it's probably far more likely our dear mister piche, much like some manner of furry Gregor Samsa, will awaken one morning to find he has transformed into a nobody, with the site entirely removed from his grasp and no recourse.

Also I have to wonder if this means he's somehow a full-time employee of IMVU now; like the whole thing was just a scheme to get himself a paying job doing fuck-all but "maintaining" the site.  And if that's the case, does that mean he can't even hold down a simple computer janitor position any more?

The more he opens his mouth, the more painfully obvious it becomes that he does not understand what he has done. Like most of the other tech jargon he blurts out on a regular basis, I don't think he understands what an "acquisition" means, or perhaps he is just having a really hard time adapting to the fact that he no longer owns the site. His stomping around and yelling "NO! They won't!" almost comes off as if he's in denial, shouting to drown out the thought that his decade long ego trip is about to come to it's conclusion.

I think the extent of IMVU's due diligence was realizing they found a complete sucker who was going to give them what they want without a fight. His due diligence was huffing around thinking he's smart enough and know's what's "good" and "bad". It's been mentioned before, but the fact he wasn't sure what the transaction documents involved and had to ask the CEO of IMVU for clarification is a giant fucking red light itself. He clearly did not run it past a Lawyer or bother to read it very carefully.

The site is now owned by a company with a Board of Directors that represent various venture capital groups, all with an immense amount of experience running businesses. The idea they'd keep Piche in any position where he is directly in charge of a product for any period of time is absolutely ludicrous. I expect that once they figure out how they want to "move the community forward" and notice the site is costing much more to run than it's making, they will start putting people above him until he moves far enough down the totem pole that he's nothing. I suspect he will quit "in protest" over whatever they do before they can fire him, his one last gasp before becoming irrelevant and returning to his career as Computer Janitor.

Based on what he was saying when he was working at Amazon, which was along the lines of "I have to work 12 hour shifts" etc, he may have finally reached the point where FA was costing more than he could afford. What with the constant moving, new house, and surprise trips to pick up cats that Sciggles collected. He saw an out and jumped on it without thinking, much like he's done in the past with just about every choice he's ever been given. I would suspect that he's getting paid for the time being to fuck around and create an excuse for them to get rid of him later. I just wonder what he will do when he finally realizes he fucked himself, his "friends", and his community over


ColonThree

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #27 on: March 21, 2015, 05:24:06 am »
Also I have to wonder if this means he's somehow a full-time employee of IMVU now; like the whole thing was just a scheme to get himself a paying job doing fuck-all but "maintaining" the site.

He has previously referenced "his boss" on IMVU, so presumably this is the case. Now that running FA is his only job these days, and he can't use "busy doing work" as an excuse, does this mean we'll finally get the new UI updahahahaha I can't do it. If the sale was completed about 2 months ago, what have they been paying him to do these past 2 months? Is he engaging the community by posting shit on twitter?

I hope he's enjoying these care-free days of getting paid to fuck with FA to his heart's content, because there's no way it can last. Eventually IMVU will want FA to be something more than just a tremendous money sink, and then it will all fall down around him.
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venthewolf

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #28 on: March 21, 2015, 09:04:17 am »

an hoopoe

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #29 on: March 21, 2015, 11:11:55 am »


http://new.spring.me/#!/dragoneer/q/207732784?

Dragoneer is denying having written that, despite the fact that anyone can go to the link and see what he wrote. Check out his response to being confronted with that screenshot of his formspring answer:

https://twitter.com/aldude999/status/579341464905199616



Also, it turns out that people on IMVU are stealing art from artists on FA and selling it as content on IMVU (IMVU profits from this because you buy the art with in-game credits you have to buy from them) and have been doing so for years, and dragoneer says he will "discuss it" with his boss at IMVU:

Quote from: Novemurr
Spectacular failure of due diligence & disclosure by @Dragoneer that @IMVU users have profited from stolen art from @furaffinity for years!
^
https://twitter.com/Novemurr/status/579317710313689088

Quote from: Novemurr
@KravenBlueberry @Dragoneer @IMVU @furaffinity http://www.imvu.com/shop/web_search.php?keywords=furry+poster&within=all_products&page=1&cat=&bucket=&tag=&sortorder=desc&quickfind=new&product_rating=0&offset=&narrow=&manufacturers_id=&derived_from=0&derivable=0&sort=score … Have fun: 370,545 products found
^
https://twitter.com/Novemurr/status/579318740485058561

Quote from: Dragoneer
@Novemurr Protecting furry art *is* what I do, and it's not something I accept. Period. I will discuss it and bring it up.
^
https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/status/579331964047613953

Dragoneer also took shots at e621:

Quote from: dragoneer
@JefferyCore @leviwolstrom @Novemurr @furaffinity Are you going to ask Bad Dragon to financially reimburse artist posted to e621, too?
^
https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/status/579341234545823746

And white knighted IMVU:

Quote from: Dragoneer
@Foxxel @Novemurr @duskdargent I worked at Amazon. Amazon has listings with items with stolen art. It's the users, NOT the company.
^
https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/status/579341049602117632

Dragoneer made and then very quickly deleted this tweet:



Apparantly IMVU also makes it very hard to remove your art from their site requiring a lengthy process and a DMCA, and if your artwork being sold is adult it will be behind their paywall so you have to register and pay $20 for an adult account. Discussion here:

https://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/1353961-FA-IMVU-Discussion?p=5111915&viewfull=1#post5111915
« Last Edit: March 21, 2015, 12:39:46 pm by a pigeon »

Rowedahelicon

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #30 on: March 21, 2015, 01:38:05 pm »

nrr

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #31 on: March 21, 2015, 02:41:47 pm »
He has previously referenced "his boss" on IMVU

That alone is what makes this whole IMVU thing worth it. Not only will he be accountable to the furries to maintain any of his social capital at all, but he'll also be accountable to someone at IMVU, for whom this will become a game of grading against metrics. Which metrics in particular remain to be seen, but I do suspect it will begin to involve balancing a budget, keeping support ticket counts down, and giving the site an overhaul as it has since several years so sorely needed.

Like I mentioned here (in response to PheagleAdler), he has a lot of political equity in FA currently within IMVU in exchange for the financial equity he cashed out in the sale. The thing about that resource is that it's very finite.

Quote
Quote
See, but here's the thing, Neer is still part of FA, he still controls it. That's a bit different from "letting it go."

OK, so, I think you're confusing financial equity with social or political equity. Dragoneer currently has none of the former since he cashed it in with IMVU, and it's currently disputed exactly what share of the equity in FA he had at the time of sale. On the other hand, since IMVU has granted him a position controlling the direction in which FA drifts, he happens to have a lot of social and political equity.

In simpler terms: Dragoneer doesn't own FA any longer, but he does still happen to dictate how it works.

On the financial equity front, the disputes come down to who has what documents, who can substantiate which claims, and with whom what agreements were made. If Arcturus did the legwork to document that, yes, they were the owner of the claimed 50% legal interest in FA (by whatever instrument, be it stock or any other commodity), there may be a good case to be had. At this juncture, though, any litigation to come out of it will be purely on principle since the costs involved will very likely outweigh any of the benefit.

His livelihood depends on it now. There's no turning back. Also, I wonder if he and the ladyperson will be moving to California at some point. It's implied that he's in the management chain there somewhere, and even SV companies tend to keep their managers close.
im glad the "I saw a furry IRL" thread is so good at bringing goons together

YOUR PARTICIPLES AREN'T THE ONLY THINGS DANGLING

uncia2000

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #32 on: March 21, 2015, 04:53:57 pm »
Dragoneer made and then very quickly deleted this tweet:



Sean's going to get fired before he even gets to CA with comments like that, whether by "mistake" or otherwise. I'm surprised he hasn't gone for the old plan A when drama comes along - more often of his own making than not - which was to try to go into hiding for a few days until it boiled over.
Heck, a couple of days in and he's still not even getting the meatshield admins to help put up a concerted "defense". Distributed management was never really his strong point...

At least the fandom as a whole is in a better place than it was online ten years back, IMO, despite all the obvious issues around and about.

(Oh, and hiya again, y'all. Yes; I know most of the details behind the transfer of FA over to Sean in the first place, too - and right back to the start on FA1 - but that's another story which other parties probably don't wish to be dragged out again.)

Rowedahelicon

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #33 on: March 21, 2015, 05:31:07 pm »
Well I've been banned finally, from both the forums and the main site.

Is it time to post all the information I've promised him I wouldn't reveal?

Gourd

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #34 on: March 21, 2015, 05:32:03 pm »
I came here immediately to ask why you were banned. And my answer is yes.

Rowedahelicon

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #35 on: March 21, 2015, 05:34:45 pm »
I came here immediately to ask why you were banned. And my answer is yes.

Forums say


Quote
You have been banned for the following reason:
Account has been closed for disruptive commentary, posting rumors-as-facts and attempting to intentionally spur further drama on the site.

Date the ban will be lifted: Never


and the main site says

Quote
   
Your account has been permanently banned for the following reason:


Account has been closed for disruptive commentary, posting rumors-as-facts and attempting to intentionally spur further drama on the site.



The suspension will be lifted after the amount of time specified below.


Should you feel that this is a mistake, please send an email to our accounts department


uncia2000

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #36 on: March 21, 2015, 05:43:43 pm »
I came here immediately to ask why you were banned. And my answer is yes.

I must be getting slow nowadays...

==

@Rowedahelicon: Someone has thin skin on FA but suspensions and bans do seem to be handed out far more freely than they used to be, these past few years.

Just as well you didn't post facts like staff hacking into PMs and causing years worth of drama of the back of that, then, rather than "whispers and gossip"? ;)

nrr

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #37 on: March 21, 2015, 05:48:51 pm »
Sean's going to get fired before he even gets to CA with comments like that

Damn, I missed you. (:

(Oh, and hiya again, y'all. Yes; I know most of the details behind the transfer of FA over to Sean in the first place, too - and right back to the start on FA1 - but that's another story which other parties probably don't wish to be dragged out again.)

You know, actually, you should chronicle that somewhere.
im glad the "I saw a furry IRL" thread is so good at bringing goons together

YOUR PARTICIPLES AREN'T THE ONLY THINGS DANGLING

an hoopoe

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #38 on: March 21, 2015, 06:19:03 pm »
An interesting comment (check out the stuff about IMVU being a "lean" company!) which has been doing the rounds on twitter, I don't know where it is located on FA though:



(Oh, and hiya again, y'all. Yes; I know most of the details behind the transfer of FA over to Sean in the first place, too - and right back to the start on FA1 - but that's another story which other parties probably don't wish to be dragged out again.)

Oh! How wonderful to see you again. I found that little book you sent me, long ago, recently when I was sorting out my books.



Quote
Heck, a couple of days in and he's still not even getting the meatshield admins to help put up a concerted "defense"

From what I've seen over the past few years, he can't get them to do that any more. The only one I've seen stick her head above the parapets in the past year or so is one Quoting Mungo (who sticks to the blandest and easiest things). Chase styles himself "Über Admin" & "Dragoneer's First Officer" on his FA profile:

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/chase

And even more grandly: "Director of FA" on his twitter profile, and yet I've not seen him say anything about this current IMVU thing or indeed anything admin'y in public for a long time.

An interesting little thing is that Chase has abused his admin powers to give himself a custom avatar which is over 500kb in size (the limit for everyone else being 550kb):

http://a.facdn.net/1424255659/chase.gif

while that might be considered a mere bagatelle I feel it indicates what qualities he brings to the table as the "Uber admin" of the site. I'm sure a lean company won't be happy with persons of such quality.

Edit:

Chase also gave his own boyfriend a rules breaking 301kb avatar:

http://a.facdn.net/20150321/dyluck.gif
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dyluck

So the 2nd in command of IMVU's FA is someone who breaks the sites rules for himself and his BF. Good job.

Edit Edit


Conan

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Re: FA sold to 11 year old commercial internet game
« Reply #39 on: March 21, 2015, 07:02:09 pm »
Heck, a couple of days in and he's still not even getting the meatshield admins to help put up a concerted "defense".


I wonder what their opinions of the sale are, and when they found out about it. Kind of makes me think Yak delaying the new UI is a "fuck you, pay me." thing.