Quote:
Originally Posted by Vendetta21
hahaha now he gets to be reminded about what a colossal douche he was to the people who actually cared about this community for like the next 3 months until they all get banned while simultaneously trying to pretend he cared/cares about this community
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It's clear that you don't know fully understand the larger picture Vendetta. You probably don't realize that long after the money had dried up, I was still paying people people like Tass a significant amount of money out of my own pocket. I stretched myself as thin as possible and even opted skipping mortgage payments to try and keep things going. I had thousands of dollars in obligated payments each month that didn't just go away. I took big risks putting tens of thousands of dollars in leases in my name so that I could help us all succeed. When advertising money goes away or the hardware breaks, they don't just tell you it's ok and that you don't need to pay for it anymore. The people surrounding me weren't responsible for those 4 and 5 year leases.
I am not saying I am perfect. Yeah, I did crumble under the enormous pressure of a failing business model that happened to feel the heat of the economy. Would I have handled my communication and choices upon reflection? Absolutely. Do I stand to gain anything by spending a ****load of my time to bring FFR back up? I really don't. I have debt, taxes and lease payments still banging at my door each day. Do you know how much of that FFR's current revenue would cover if I didn't pay anyone to help? Probably about 5% of what is due each month. It wouldn't even come close to taking care of a single server lease payment.
As a matter of fact, it would probably benefit me more financially to scrap FFR and recycle it's metals for money. I realize very much so that there are going to be some who see it from one side and others who understand my reasonings for bringing it back online. It's very easy to hit that power button and not deal with any of this but that isn't the right thing to do.
It's easy to attack me for the events that happened before FFR went down and I admit that I pulled an asshole move by turning recluse and not being able to handle it but don't forget that I cared very much about FFR since it began in 2002 and spent years working hard on FFR as a hobby. I truly cherished the community and the dedication of the people involved. I wanted nothing but the best for the FFR community. Try to tell me that if you had companies approaching you waving huge cash in front of your face that you wouldn't take the bait. As a matter of fact Jason and I were approached by a huge media company on the east coast in 2006 that offered us $5 million payout over 3-5 years if we agreed to let them own 51%. I remember sitting in the hotel room with him in New York making the call to tell that company 51% was not acceptable because we didn't want to lose control of FFR. We know it would kill the deal. It was the ****ing hardest decision ever. We only ever accepted money when we were able to spin off percentages of sub-companies such as Rithum. Would you have made the same decision or would you have taken the money and run? I put the most on the line and while I feel immensely bad that I couldn't continue paying tens of thousands a month in salaries, I ultimately suffered the most financially.
You have a right to be bitchy and upset if you want. I don't feel like banning you or anyone else over that but don't pretend to know everything or the decisions that I had to make. I respect Tass a great deal but kept most of what I was going through from him. I have been through hell you can't imagine.
There is still more to all of this but I wanted to speak honestly and openly so that I can just tackle things head on. Yeah, it sucks and I have a bazillion bruises but FFR is back purely for the community. I am done with my aspirations of the little guy sticking it to the big gaming companies.
Cheers,
Synthlight