I'd like to believe you MobbyG. But its really weird this going on right after the previous show where you guys pulled a prank about having info about Hyperion's "most ambitious project" when you did not. You also raised the recent drama level with your public announcement at quiting Amigaworld.net. And then you also made a statement about standing with Bill P., which is a bit odd in one aspect: Now you both each have your own anonymous secret entities out there, Bill P. with the anonymous Netscape exec killing a bounty that was not even all his money and now you with this anonymous Amiga.org owner thing.
Can't someone just cut through the BS and say whats what?
Allow me to step in here. This is not MobbyG's issue, well, I guess it is, but
it's by NO means his fault, nor did he have anything to do with the things that went down today. He provides a GREAT service to the community and under no circumstance should anyone be upset with him in
ANY WAY, SHAPE, or FORM.Back in August, as I announced the sale of Amiga.org, I was contacted by the Amiga Roundtable folks to whom I responded that "I could not disclose the info, but would be happy to let you guys use your program to announce it when possible".
I then contacted the new owner(s) and suggested that "since they were nice enough to ask, I think we should give them the scoop".
It wasn't until AFTER the broadcast started this morning that either myself, or Bill P (who will be serving as the site's admin) knew anything about the new owner's choice NOT to disclose their identity.
To that end, let me say this...
I KNOW this is frustrating for you all. I UNDERSTAND how everyone in this community feels they have a vested interest, hence some inate "right" to know everything. I'm not going to sit here and tell you otherwise, but...
None of you have heard me disclose the owner(s) name(s) to date. I'm contractually obligated not to at this point, and would never violate that trust.
While there would have been much better ways to handle today's situation, if the new owner(s) want their identity to remain private, then I -- and even moreso, we all -- have to respect that.
Now that we've had the round-table (such as it was), I can assure each of you of several facts in this situation;
- First and foremost, the proverbial check has cleared. This is a done deal as far as I'm concerned and agreements have been finalized. I'm just waiting for the domain transfer request to take my name off of it.
- Bill P is *not* the owner. He is, quite simply, a middle man in this endeavor, and is now responsible for facilitating the web site's day-to-day operation. If this were a corporation, you could think of Bill P as the CTO (Chief Technology Officer)
- Neither Bill McEwen, Bill Buck, nor Doomy (aka George Campbell) are involved.
- Things should not change around here for the foreseeable future, save that I believe Bill P is much more in-tune, energetic, and enthusiastic about the Amiga and the community than I am, so I think things will improve from here on out.
- No admins or moderators (save for BillP) should change.
- There is the potential to upgrade the site to the new 4.0 software level which essentially rolls everything I've added on into the core of the site.
- I have made two suggestions to Bill P and the new owner(s), the first is to develop a backwards compatible theme (if possible -- though doubtful it is) and to consider giving away free hosting to all Amiga projects, events, and user groups through the use of subdomains, such as we do for the UGN.
All this being said or given -- and if you take me at my word -- the owner's identity will come to light eventually. Until then, does it really, really matter?
Wayne
