What's Going on at MOFIB?

[Anonymous]

I am not computer literate enough to know how to do that.

I will just go to photobucket and delete the photos....

 

[mpedersen]

My official response to the request from Luis emailed above.

--

Luis (with BCC’s)

The email below is the first email you’ve sent me in almost 4 years...and it happens to basically be a form letter sent to others..not even a truly personal message. My initial response was something along the lines of “go to hell”...but more profane.

I have not removed anything from MOFIB, nor have I altered data in the database (although I see quite clearly someone else has in certain threads). I have simply blocked MOFIB from loading my images from my server as I am no longer willing to foot the bill of hosting content for the benefit of MOFIB’s audience. In no uncertain terms, YOU do NOT have my support in the current course you have selected to go, and I refuse to abide while MOFIB continues to monetarily benefit from my generosity. You are welcome to take that personally if you like.

Per your request, I have “reconsidered my actions”. I have revised the image block to more thoroughly convey my reasoning, and what is required to change my mind.

We did not incorporate MOFIB so that you could help hijack the website in 2009 when we caught John with his hands in the cookie jar twice. Let alone to spend 3 years supporting and fighting with the very same corrupt individuals, ultimately so that you could install yourself as the new “dictator” to make MOFIB your personal property. Not only was this last act against the bylaws, but it was likely also against state laws. Your flagrant disregard for doing what is right is insulting and condemnable – I chose extremely poorly in you and John as my initial board members, but perhaps it was due to my own misguided hope that the typical aquarium hobbyist could buck the trend of mismanagement and infighting so common in hobbyist organizations.

The worst part is that you fail to see MOFIB for the utter joke it has become. I (and the marine breeding community as a whole) don’t need your “privatized dictatorship” version of MOFIB one bit – my accomplishments and contributions as a breeder are well documented in other places. You don’t understand it – YOU BLEW IT. You and your fellow cronies blew the one shot we had at a centralized breeding community. So there’s really no loss these days if MOFIB remains or utterly vanishes, except that a couple pivotal contributions (such as Andy Rhyne’s Triggerfish Success) are not necessarily duplicated elsewhere.

Luis, you have but two choices.

a. Right the wrong and turn over custodianship of the MOFIB to a legitimate Non Profit Organization to manage in an archival fashion, thus disbanding the toxic community and culture of abuse and corruption that has been enshrined in MOFIB. (people aren’t going to stop breeding, and the only value in MOFIB these days are the aforementioned “pivotal” contributions of folks like me)

b. Continue this never-ending train wreck knowing that you will never have the support of a large core of influential marine breeders. If you choose this course I will continue to prevent MOFIB from loading content from my server, and if that is a problem for you, I welcome you to delete my user account again and delete all content associated with it. The problem of “embarrassing content” thus easily solved.

Best of luck running your dictatorship...there is no benevolence shown, so I’m certain of where it will head. If you email me again with any threats or further condescending language, please understand I will likely simply block any incoming messages from you.

Matt Pedersen
MOFIB’s founder (or did you forget that? )

 

[mpedersen]

I am not computer literate enough to know how to do that.

I will just go to photobucket and delete the photos....

that is the only way to do it from Photobucket...but...know that when doing blocking the images as I did, I'm able to restore them. Initially, before the hotlinking block was in place, I simply renamed the directory (which is restoreable as well). If you delete your images as a form of protest, you won't be able to restore them unless you manually re-link every post you ever made. It's your call...

 

[Anonymous]

I guess it doesn't matter. I don't have any good pics, just the frogfish egg raft. They never hatched and she ate him so...

I am sorry I attacked you guys. I believed what Amie told me about you guys. Now, she has found someone to attack me if it makes you feel better.

The thread goes on for just a few comments. Luis told the "members" that the site was owned by the members, I questioned him, she deleted the post. Now, I am told it costs quite a bit to run the site so that is why they need memberships. I have a feeling the new homepage will have quite a few sponsors. I can see it being very lucrative.

 

[bookfish]

Thank you Suzy, and please join us at MBI if you get a chance.-Jim

 

[mpedersen]

Luis told the "members" that the site was owned by the members, I questioned him, she deleted the post.

How can the site be "owned by the members"? Who are the "members" referred to? It was made abundantly clear that the site was "given to Luis" although to this day, I doubt he actually has any REAL ownership or control of the website. The domain is still publicly shown as property of MOFIB the "organization" in a whois search at this time...this means Luis cannot legally do anything with it!

I have a feeling the new homepage will have quite a few sponsors. I can see it being very lucrative.

There was a time, very early on, when I questioned Stephen Kennedy if a for-profit venture was really what he wanted MOFIB to be, that is to say what he thought it should be when he purchased the MarineBreeder.org domains that he contributed to the group effort (and yes, very much so, MOFIB was SUPPOSED to be a group effort). I could go into details, but suffice it to say that the same crowd of people was content to sit back and let me do all the work with no real intention of it ever being the non-profit they were clamoring for in the first place.

No doubt, MOFIB COULD INDEED have been quite lucrative, but I will certainly wouldn't hesitate to point any sponsor future sponsor of MOFIB to this thread with one simple request - "know what you're supporting". There are true NON PROFITS out there that are getting the job done...MBI is run by a TRUE non profit. MASNA is a non profit. I think the Breeder's Registry is a full on non profit as well. All viable candidates to take over MOFIB's web presence in an archival form, and all organizations who could truly benefit from funding themselves.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you Suzy, and please join us at MBI if you get a chance.-Jim

Thank you, Jim. I really am sorry. If I knew then what I know now, and if you knew what I think I know....you'd be just as confused as me! But, I am blonde so maybe you could figure it out.

I would love to join you, but I have only a few things going on at my home, and nothing you don't already have covered. The only fun things I don't see posted much about are species I am dabbling with at our local aquarium. If I don't try to get points for those things, could I post them there?

 

[Anonymous]

Luis told the "members" that the site was owned by the members, I questioned him, she deleted the post.

How can the site be "owned by the members"? Who are the "members" referred to? It was made abundantly clear that the site was "given to Luis" although to this day, I doubt he actually has any REAL ownership or control of the website. The domain is still publicly shown as property of MOFIB the "organization" in a whois search at this time...this means Luis cannot legally do anything with it!

He just said members, and when I questioned it, it was deleted.

I have a feeling the new homepage will have quite a few sponsors. I can see it being very lucrative.

There was a time, very early on, when I questioned Stephen Kennedy if a for-profit venture was really what he wanted MOFIB to be, that is to say what he thought it should be when he purchased the MarineBreeder.org domains that he contributed to the group effort (and yes, very much so, MOFIB was SUPPOSED to be a group effort). I could go into details, but suffice it to say that the same crowd of people was content to sit back and let me do all the work with no real intention of it ever being the non-profit they were clamoring for in the first place.

No doubt, MOFIB COULD INDEED have been quite lucrative, but I will certainly wouldn't hesitate to point any sponsor future sponsor of MOFIB to this thread with one simple request - "know what you're supporting". There are true NON PROFITS out there that are getting the job done...MBI is run by a TRUE non profit. MASNA is a non profit. I think the Breeder's Registry is a full on non profit as well. All viable candidates to take over MOFIB's web presence in an archival form, and all organizations who could truly benefit from funding themselves.

I will let any sponsor know my feelings when I see one on the new MOFIB page. I am a consumer of quite a few aquatic hobby sites. I have inside fish, outside fish, a parrot, two dogs, and my husband and I spend quite a bit on them. I WILL BOYCOTT ANY SPONSOR OF MOFIB. And, all their customers on their FaceBook pages will know it. Any author who writes for their blog will also hear my thoughts.

Mwp, when did the conflicts begin on MOFIB? There was a time when you guys were friends, right?

 

[Ummfish]

Hmm, so Luis owns it in full, and there are no members, but there are still members, and still parts of the website that are members-only, but there are no members, and Luis owns it in full despite the fact that the domains aren't in his name.

Yeah, sounds about right.

Suzy, if you like the story, check this out: http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic128192.html

 

[Anonymous]

I think MOFIB has booted me. I can't tell for sure because I can't, of course, read the private message that presumably tells me that they've booted me since I have no access to private messages. Thank goodness Luis removed all the politics from the site. Well, he must have. He said so, right?

Luis, your board sent me an email telling me I got a pm from you. I click on it, and learn I don't have "permission" to read it. Seems a bit passive aggressive to me. You will have to tell me your message here.

Now that I can't send pms on your page, I will have to message you here. First, when I was doing all the busy work Andy told me to do, getting the lawyer all the files and information, jumping through the hoops for the State of Texas, spending hours reading lawyer gooblygoop, etc, etc, did you know Amie was going to f it all up? Were you in on it then? Was Andy?

And, you have seen how people have been manipulated. What makes you think it won't happen to you? Right now, you are right where everyone reading this thread have been. You are the puppet that people can see, and blame. We all know what is going on behind the scenes. You think you have a voice, a say in what happens? The knife going in your back won't hurt until it begins twisting, and pulled out, then you will hemmorage just like everyone else has.

Aquagirl, you called me an ass in our last private message. Maybe I am, I don't communicate well in forums. But, you are next in line. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, so Luis owns it in full, and there are no members, but there are still members, and still parts of the website that are members-only, but there are no members, and Luis owns it in full despite the fact that the domains aren't in his name.

Yeah, sounds about right.

Suzy, if you like the story, check this out: http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic128192.html

Luis is just a puppet. He thinks he owns it, maybe. I am going to make a Facebook group to discuss this in private. Anyone who wants to join, send me a message.

 

[Anonymous]

Andy, you linked to this thread? I read it once, months ago. A year ago? Who knows....

 

[Ummfish]

I did link to this thread. This thread started right after Matt got voted out and its been going ever since. Given that MOFIB could hardly be trusted to be the place where discussions about MOFIB could happen, this thread became the place to record the events for posterity. If you want a history of the whole event, this thread is about as close as they come. Rather than have someone type it all out again, your question is answered, I believe, on page two.

 

[Anonymous]

That does explain it. I had thought the timing was that, I just wanted Matts thoughts on when it started going bad.

Luis, you moved me out of the "marketplace" forum so I can't bump my website. You are forcing my hand.

 

[mpedersen]

Mwp, when did the conflicts begin on MOFIB? There was a time when you guys were friends, right?

Let's see...the first conflict was this massive tear to incorporate the group, spearheaded by Christian Hoffman and Stephen Kennedy. Difficult to do with ZERO finances and a group that was simply not ready. It was like what, 2 months in? That was the first distance between me and Hoffman, and SPK vanished after that for months, never doing one iota of work. Yes he was a "cofounder" in theory, but in practice he was an absentee volunteer, who mainly only contributed the domain names that the website users selected as preferential to use. That relationship blew up when he came back all in a huff that we were finally moving to incorporate... the GROUP had selected an LLC as the best option given where things stood...and here was this absentee person thrown a wrench in the works at the 11:59 PM moment! He said he couldn't be a partner, and in short, John Lauth took his place at Steve's request. I should have known better than to take him up on this "offer" of the domains...as later on he tried to hijack the website away from the group through his ownership of the domains. I should have known better than to take John as Steve's replacement, give than John has many times wound up being a proxy for Steve.

That said, we did incorporate and things went good for at least the first few months. The conflicts truly began when John Lauth first completely mismanaged some MOFIB donations and expenses for MACNA. Luis and I agreed it could have been a misunderstanding (John told me on a phone call he was keeping some donations because he felt he had earned them...), but if it happened again we would then be forced to second guess the first as well as dealing with the second. Post MACNA John then became extremely difficult and unresponsive, which in a nutshell brought the entire process screeching to a halt (remember, prior to incorporation I technically only answered to myself, but once I brought on John and Luis as collaborators, they sought to "reign me in" and thus, I put most ANYTHING I would do to a VOTE...but when you have board members ignoring votes on simple things, it quickly becomes insulting to see them online doing other things).

This all came to a head when trying to have the domain names which had been donated by Stephen Kennedy and WERE actively used transferred into the corporate account...instead of that happening the domain names were transferred to John in a personal account. We had a board voted mandate that I was managing this stuff and that things should be in the corporate account, so he was clearly violating that. He was withholding these donations in a private account AT THE REQUEST OF STEPHEN KENNEDY, demanding access to the MOFIB bank account (which there was no way I could do in good conscience given his track record with mismanaging MOFIB funds he had been given and he had NOT been authorized by Luis and Myself to have...remember our board was only 3 at the time). Since domains are an asset no different from cash, let me put it to you this way - if you volunteer for a non profit, solicit donations, and then place them in a private account...what is that called?

When John refused to hand over the domains (which again he was bound by multiple votes to do) and resign (this was strike two), I had little left to do but to call a vote for his removal. Luis apparently saw this as an aggressive act probably too extreme to tolerate (earlier in 2009 he and I had a disagreement about the only member of MOFIB put on "read only"...yet that was 100% justified by breaking the agreement that user had to be allowed to participate in the first place). I guess Luis felt that calling for John's removal was simply an intolerable act...as if I had somehow turned on MOFIB (HA...remember WHY I had to call for a vote to remove John), and thus my actions were "punishable"?

So instead of doing what was right (and what HE was legally obligated to do as a board member), he instead tried to call for a board election unilaterally (also against state law). So when I was the only one still actually following the rules, I became a problem for BOTH of them. They took advantage of me being gone on a vacation (no internet - edit->info I entrusted Luis with to explain why I wouldn't be responding, which he used it to his advantage to do the following) to quite literally hijack the website off the corporate server (what do you call taking corporate assets and placing them in a private account??), tell the members I had resigned (what is a publicly written lie called? edit-> this may have even been done within hours of my getting on the airplane to START my vacation), and then install a replacement. It was arguably a well orchestrated coup and wasn't at all remotely legal. In the end, I had two choices. Take it to the state to have MOFIB dissolved (because this other stuff is probably too pety to be pursued across state and international lines), or let the system (aka. the corporation) persist to hopefully fix things.

Since that day, MOFIB has not persisted without a culture of corruption and abuse. Anyone who tried to fix it wound up run out of town (edit - anyone who spoke out against it only got it worse). I was just the first. Ultimately, both John and Luis got what they wanted. John was listed at some point as the treasurer...Luis insisted MOFIB was "NEVER" a "business", as if he never signed the incorporation papers we sent to him. And now it IS "just a website" in his eyes, and it's "all his" and the abuse of power continues unabated. Luis seems himself as some hero of the community no doubt, but the truth is NOTHING has changed. I am convinced that the only way for the breeding community to move past this never ending blight is to lock it up and keep it for archival purposes only. Breeders need to find some other place to gather - thankfully now there is no shortage of options.

If you had read the entire 26 pages here, you will probably see most if not all of this documented with strong factual evidence (some of the earlier stuff with SPK would be here, because it predates when things got bad outwardly to the public). Whatever was done on MOFIB's message boards are probably not very reliable, as there was no shortage of censorship and presumably altering of facts in the public and private records.

(editted for typos only unless otherwise denoted)

 

[mpedersen]

Luis is just a puppet. He thinks he owns it, maybe. I am going to make a Facebook group to discuss this in private. Anyone who wants to join, send me a message.

No need for FB and I wont be a part of that - have the discussion right here in the open, transparently. And no, again, I don't think for one second Luis really has the basic level of understanding to even accurately self assess whether he owns the website or not, let alone how to run a website either.

 

[mpedersen]

I did link to this thread. This thread started right after Matt got voted out and its been going ever since.

Funny thing...let's not forget that no such "vote" ever happened...they made it up after the fact.

 

[Anonymous]

I would be more comfortable talking in private.

 

[Anonymous]

I think MOFIB has booted me. I can't tell for sure because I can't, of course, read the private message that presumably tells me that they've booted me since I have no access to private messages. Thank goodness Luis removed all the politics from the site. Well, he must have. He said so, right?

Are you booted from the "marketplace" forum as well?

 

[Ummfish]

I don't know what you mean. I can't log in. What difference does it make which forum?