Pending lawsuit regarding THR (Updated November 1, 2009)

[Oleg Volk]

Direct quote from Rich Lucibella:

Derek Zeanah claims it  was my intent to transfer ownership of THR to
him. In support he quotes a May 2006 email from me:

"Derek-
Provide me your full info.
I'm gonna change the NetSol contacts to you."

I find it unfortunate that Derek chooses to misrepresent my statements
and position, especially in light of our phone conversation of early
August. I thought I had clearly articulated  to Derek my position and
my willingness to join this fray in the most direct and
confrontational manner imaginable, should he choose to draw me into
it.  Derek appears hell bent on that outcome, given his out-of-context
quote. If Derek wishes to insist on claiming me as a co-conspirator in
his attempt to hijack this domain, I'll be more than happy to resolve
this issue in a most efficient and direct manner.
TheHighRoad.org domain was owned and paid for by me from inception in
December 2001 thru May 2006. Beginning 2005, I attempted to transfer
Domain Ownership to Oleg Volk, as the name was one of his choosing,
the staff was handpicked by him, and the originally forums were
personally delineated, described and designed by him. On December 2005
I reached out to Oleg and Derek replied:

"I guess I've been nominated to handle the renewal.
It looks like it's currently registered to you.  Would you prefer to
renew it (and I'll send you a check), or transfer it, or something
else?
Thanks."

I asked that we transfer. Derek responded on that date that he was
unable to create an account with Network Solutions to accept transfer
of the domain. In the end I responded:

"I've paid you up for another year. You don't owe me anything, but
please effect a transfer ASAP before this falls thru the cracks
again."

Justin Guyett was witness to  this email exchange. To my knowledge and
understanding, Derek was representing himself as Oleg's agent in this
transfer. I had no personal relationship with Derek and would never
have knowingly subsidized a site for him; nor would I have transferred
the domain name to him.
On May 16, 2006, Derek approached me to see if I wanted to co-locate
TFL at his location. I passed on the offer but reiterated the need to
move the domain:

"BTW, I really need to transfer ownership of THR. Can you assist?"

Once again, Derek had troubles effecting the transfer. It was in this
context that I emailed him, stating

"Derek-
Provide me your full info.
I'm gonna change the NetSol contacts to you."

Derek finally effected the name transfer to GoDaddy.com and that was
the last I heard of it.
At no time was I aware that Derek was acting as anything but Oleg's
personal agent. Had I been aware that Derek was acting for his own
benefit I would never have transferred the domain name to him. It is
my position that Mr. Zeanah had fraudulently misrepresented himself to
me. If he persists in publicly hiding behind my statements, taken out
of context, I will have little choice but to join this legal fray,
recover the domain name thru the courts and pursue Mr. Zeanah for my
legal fees.
Best regards-
Rich Lucibella

[Manedwolf]

Looks like a good bit of the other inmates there are mumbling about an uprising, too.

Good.

Lousy pirate. You can't do a mutiny if over three quarters of the crew are on the side of the original captain.

[220_SWIFT]

It sounds to me like DZ is throwing a temper tantrum, and is acting ridiculous.  FWIW, I side with Oleg.

[Manedwolf]

Yeah, he just deleted the other thread I mentioned, and banned the since-2005 member.

Damn, how many people is he going to shoot on his own boat for insubordination? He's going to run out of members.

[buzz_knox]

I would guess that from Derek's POV, speaking broadly, it's some variant of the "I've been mowing that 1 acre strip of my neighbors property for 20 years and my fence has been over there... legal-argument applied to THR.

Adverse possession requires that your activities reflect an interest in the property that is adverse to those of the property owner's.  If you carry out those actions with the neighbor's permission, they are not adverse to the neighbor's interest and thus you can't claim ownership.  You weren't established ownership, you were just doing the neighbor a favor or the neighbor was doing you a favor.

I'm not getting into the legalities of the current situation, but just wanted to insure people understood what the argument really entails.

[Kestryll]

It seems I was banned for posting Rich Lucibella's quote on THR..

So the truth is another hostage.

[Manedwolf]

It seems I was banned for posting Rich Lucibella's quote on THR..

So the truth is another hostage.

The bodies are piling up over there. Insane.

[dasmi]

Oleg, speaking as a long time APS member, I think maybe it's time we get APS moved away from Derek's control.  Once he realizes this conversation is happening, you can bet he'll come down on us as well.

[Oleg Volk]

Derek Zeanah posted:
***************

Put a couple of members in 7-day bans, hoping they'll cool down and become productive again.  I hate drama

Users are kentucky_smith, kestrell.

Time may show it should have been permanent.

I guess you better become productive. Work makes freedom, eh?

[Oleg Volk]

Once he realizes this conversation is happening, you can bet he'll come down on us as well.

I have no access to the databses, remember?

[dasmi]

I know.  I'm thinking about the domain itself moving to a new board.  Pain in the ass, but don't you think APS is danger of being locked up like THR?

[Manedwolf]

Oleg, speaking as a long time APS member, I think maybe it's time we get APS moved away from Derek's control.  Once he realizes this conversation is happening, you can bet he'll come down on us as well.

If he wants it brought up in court as an example of acting petty, foolish and malicious.

[Oleg Volk]

If Derek messes with THR, two suits would be filed instead of one. Not much extra effort or cost.

[Doc2005]

Okay, so as I read over at THR, Oleg is alleged to have full access to his log-in.  The same is said of all moderators.  Can anyone clarify?  Is Oleg locked-out of THR?

If Oleg is locked-out, it seems a pretty stiff degree of explaining that would have to take place to justify that same.  Sorry if my confusion sounds dumb, but this is a lot of info to drink-in, in such a short time.

Doc2005

[scout26]

I've always seen THR and APS as two different rooms in Oleg's House.  It always seemed to me that Derek was caterer of the party at Oleg's House .   THR and APS in my mind have, is and will be Oleg's.  I haven't spent much time at THR in past year or so, being mostly over here, but I hope this matter is quickly resolved.  

I'm willing to sacrifice Fistful to settle this matter.  

[Mike Irwin]

Dasmi and everyone else...

Rest assured that Oleg and the rest of the staff are talking about what we can do to A) protect APS in the short term and B) make sure that APS moves forward long term.

I won't jump into Oleg's leaf pile by providing the few (and very likely incomplete) facts that I have regarding how APS is owned, hosted, accessed, etc., but rest assured that we are not sitting on our hands.

As Oleg notes, however, movement is not at all easy right now because the APS databases are being held hostage. We've done what we can to try to ensure that APS is not hijacked, but given the current situation, it's not a lot.

[roo_ster]

I'm willing to offer up fistful's left kidney as a peace offering to settle the dispute.

The rest of him is too valuable as a scapegoat to sacrifice in this matter.

[dasmi]

Yeah, I'm sure you guys are on top of things.  APS is my outlet during the day when work tries to swallow my soul.  I don't like it when my sanity is toyed with

[Mike Irwin]

"Okay, so as I read over at THR, Oleg is alleged to have full access to his log-in.  The same is said of all moderators."

Well, I've spoken to one moderator who says that he has been both demoted AND banned. Judging by what I'm seeing in the membership rolls at THR, he's not lying about his being banned.

So, we're left with a single conclusion. The claims that all moderators have access is, at best, true only in the sense that at least one long-time moderator was summarily unpromoted and then banned.

[220_SWIFT]

Okay, so as I read over at THR, Oleg is alleged to have full access to his log-in.  The same is said of all moderators.  Can anyone clarify?  Is Oleg locked-out of THR?

Oleg posted over their within the past twenty minutes, and he is still listed as admin.  Beyond that, I have no clue.

[Gewehr98]

Mike is correct.

While I certainly agree that THR and APS are Oleg's intellectual property, the maneuverings to date have somewhat tied his hands.

Let Oleg, Rich, et alia get their game plan and war chest together.  In the meantime, I urge all to remember that we really don't want to send a big honking beacon to Mr. Zeanah goading him to turn the switch off here at APS. 

I was just over at THR.  Derek has no qualms about removing those who question his authorita'. Threads that discuss the situation as seen on sister or other forums are being dealt with posthaste, it appears.  If enough flak goes that direction from APS...

[dasmi]

Sorry, had no choice

[Gewehr98]

Interesting.

It does show Oleg posting there as recently as 1:38 PM today from this thread starter, also created in his name:

Today, 11:13 AM          #1
Oleg Volk
Administrator
 
 
Join Date: 12-19-02
Location: Nashville, TN
Posts: 8,957
   
New RKBA podcast up
http://www.urban-shooter.com
Ken Blanchard's site has a podcast with some of my commentary in the middle of it,
__________________
Oleg "Peacemonger" Volk
Prints | A Human Right | Gallery | BREAKING NEWS | September 4: 5 new RKBA Tshirts
Although my title says "Administrator", Derek Zeanah disabled my account and banned some of the dissenting moderators.

[Nolo]

Take a quick gander at Oleg's sig...
It seems that that's Oleg's way of squeaking the word out to folks.
Seems he isn't banned, but he is tied up in a corner.

[Mike Irwin]

Not saying this is what is happening, but it's very easy for an admin to hijack someone's account and post from it.

Last April 1 the admins and mods kinda here at APS kinda got out of hand with some practical jokes that had us REALLY screwing with each other's accounts...

That was all in good fun, thought, and everything was undone.