For years, cry-baby extortion lawyers (and I mean that quite literally in a few cases) and their ilk continue to send their written or emailed complaints to Oscar regarding ELI website matters although he doesn't own ELI. It should be obvious to even the casual reader that I started and run ELI. And yet, nearly every complaint that I hear about goes to Oscar. They do so because they feel that Oscar will handle matters quietly and discreetly. After all, it's the lawyerly way and I frequently defer to Oscar if I can. And yet, Oscar is not my daddy.
The problem is, I am not a lawyer, not even close. I am outspoken publisher, blogger, writer, and Internet broadcaster. And last year, I was blindsided by a lawsuit relating to ELI. I can't even mention the name of plaintiff without taking a legal risk. And yet through a strange set of circumstances, I still can't but I am patiently waiting. I supposedly live in the U.S. where Freedom of Speech is supposedly the law of the land.
ELI has always worked best by being transparent and open. Unfortunately, because I now have enemies that are looking to "put me into the ground" I've had to engage in LESS transparency, become more secretive and guarded, and withhold information I normally wouldn't with the ELI community and ELI readership. I even put myself into exile for nearly a year. Well, I want everyone to know I don't like any of this one bit.
In the last few weeks, there have been more ELI drama that I have not shared and I am tired of the secrecy. You can thank my many enemies for that. They know who they are and they have done plenty. However, some of my enemies began their shenanigans years ago and I am considering going back into my email archive and revealing more of what I know. Over time, I've been compelled to share LESS information. My enemies actively read ELI and they take what is written piecemeal, entirely out of context, and try to club me, Oscar, and ELI with it. They remind me of religious fanatics that take one verse from the Bible out of context and club you with it.
Everyone needs to know that my enemies are NOT YOUR FRIENDS. They will do everything they can do put me, ELI, and the entire ELI community out of existence. If they do that, you know what happens next? They will come after YOU, the extortion letter victim, the innocent infringer.
They will legally threaten and bully you and force you to spend thousands of dollars to try to defend yourself. They will issue propaganda telling only one side of the story without anyone speaking for YOUR side, the innocent infringer. They will try to guilt and criminalize your behavior over a small transactional matter.
None of us who work or contribute to ELI are full-timers. We do it as time permits and yes, we do ask for monies for ELI Premium Services but that only covers a very small portion of what the ELI volunteer and community gives. Did you know most of the ELI Support team get ZERO dollars? IN fact, they contribute personal or business resources to help out whether it is time, web hosting, money, editing services, moral support, legal services, etc. But they do it out of gratitude, friendship, community, camaraderie, and a sense of justice.
I didn't say that to solicit for more money (at least for now). If I do solicit money, I will tell you why and I will do it directly and for what purpose. I am pointing out that despite the fact that there are 2 faces on the website banner (mine and Oscar), ELI has grown to a far larger group of volunteers. Some have revealed themselves, others prefer completely anonymity. We respect and work with all who want to work and stand with us.
ELI enemies are alive and well. It has gotten nasty and personal. They have become emboldened especially since I went into self-imposed exile last year. But it wasn't enough. The attacks continued. And I took a big legal bullet in trying to help out a $100,000 extortion letter victim. Yes, you read that right. That is not a typo. It is a 6-figure extortion letter from an alleged poet utilizing an ambulance-chasing law firm in the Atlanta area. I took a big legal and expensive bullet on a PERSONAL level. Yes, I made a few dumb mistakes along the way (I am mature enough to admit that) but the mistakes were not made on MY BEHALF. It was on behalf of an extortion letter victim and others similar to him.
This rant is pretext of a new "Gripes and Complaints" page specifically to deal with the criticism that there has been no formal mechanism to file complaints about ELI. Well, there is now.
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/gripes-and-complaints-about-eli/I have more announcements to make in the weeks and months to come. So stay tuned. I am done being Mr. Nice Guy and I am going to remind everyone that Oscar is not my daddy. The days of "secretly" crying to him are over.
Topic: Oscar is not Matthew's Daddy (Read 3815 times)