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by
Joe Gandolfo- jgand@pcfootball.net
10-by
Joe Gandolfo- jgand@pcfootball.net
10-31-02
I was wracking my brain trying to think up a
subject that I could write about for this new column. I was
recently turned on to an abandonware site where I was able to
find a lot of the older games that I played back in the day. I
was going to write about how I was going to set the way-back
machine for 1987 and go back to the days when I would pop NFL
Challenge into my rig and watch X's and O's go at it.
Alas, it was not to be.
Not because I couldn't think of anything to
say about the game, but because a couple other subjects have
dropped themselves right into my lap. Well, they didn't really
drop into my lap. More like they sprang out at me from a thicket
tackling me to the ground, getting on top of me pinning me to
the earth, rubbing themselves all over me like a couple of
sex-crazed demons and then hightailing it back into the woods
giggiling to themselves as I dusted myself off and picked the
dead leaves out of my underware.
That is the situation that I find myself in
right now. I had pretty much forgotten about all of the girls at
Maddenmania.com that insist on talking smack about this site -
until I got a reminder.
Recently in our forums here, one of our
members recounted the activities of a certain member of the MM
boards. His post is as follows:
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quote: |
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Originally posted by TrueChiefsFan at Maddenmania
somebody asked about Packer....he
joined Bretts site..i guess he loves the bashing and
flaming he gets from GC.
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I am wondering this: how does TrueChiefsFan
know that someone over here is being flamed or not? I am here
all the time. Every morning I come in here, and I review every
single new post that had been made since the night before. In
going through every single post I have never once seen anyone
at these boards flame Packer, let alone GoChiefs. So what is TCF
doing? Is he just coming over here, looking at a couple of GC's
posts relating to Packer and then assuming that Packer is being
flamed? Who knows.
But it didn't stop here.
Later on Packer did make a return to
Maddenmania, as he has access to the site since he is not banned
from there. When he did go back he was greeted by the populous
over there with open arms and a kiss on both cheeks. Facial, not
the other kind!
TCF also greeted him back to MM.com, but he
also added yet another shot directed our way:
Posted by TrueChiefsFan on 10-28-2002 06:41
PM:
just remember packer....you have guys who appreciate you and
find you funny over here... that other site i know you were
at...there were a couple who flamed you...so stay here ok we
don't tolerate flaming
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Posted by packer on 10-28-2002 06:56 PM:
who?
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Posted by packer on 10-28-2002 06:56 PM:
and where?
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Posted by TrueChiefsFan on 10-28-2002 07:29 PM:
um...
Hmm, very interesting. When asked about the
identity of the person(s) who flamed him TCF has no answer for
him. Could that be because he has no information to give him?
And could it be that he has no information because the alleged
flaming never happened?
Yes, and yes.
This is not the first time that TCF has
attempted to stir up trouble at a board that is not named
Maddenmania apparently. I give you a post from another member of
our boards about this. The names have been changed to protect
the not yet banned at MM.com:
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Posted by The
Answer on 10-24-2002 05:18 AM: |
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Yeah he came to MP a long
time ago and posted for like a week, he was like
"Yeah you guys are pretty cool over here, I don't see
why there's so much hate" ...and then he turns around
and goes back to MM and posts "Man MP sucks all they
do is flame each other, the quality of the boards is
really crappy, I don't know why anyone would want to post
there"
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So TCF apparently is talking
smack about Andy's site as well as ours. Sounds like someone is
bored, and I'm not reffering to TCF……
Somebody explain something to me.
Why is it that people who keep saying that we are nothing but a
"bullshit site" keep talking about us as if we were a
threat to them? Why do people who were glad to be rid of some of
the members of this site insist on stirring up old grudges? And
why do those people not accept that their actions speak much
louder than their words?
And why is it that when word of
their exploits reach the screens of administrators at other
sites that those exploits are met with shock, indignation and
dissapointment? Another member of our boards related the history
of Maddenmania to an administrator at another board. This is
what he had to say:
Posted by phenom
on Yesterday 10:27 AM:
Upon telling the MM story to an
admin at another site
This was his response...
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quote: |
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Originally posted by Yankee
21
Wow, that definately didn't sound like a fun site to
belong to. All of us here are pretty much one big family
who like to get new members. If we have problems with any
other member, we can usually straighten it out without it
getting out of hand.
The admins at this site Baseball Guru( James, who is the
one who runs this place) and AddictsSports (Josh, who owns
the site) are very good and fair about everything, so
unless you do something that really, really deserves
getting in trouble for, then you should be happy here.
Hey, only 12 posts left until you can get your avatar!!! |
If only David Branda was able to
settle issues he has with people without using the
"ban" button.
If only David Branda was able to
accept that people have the right to not be bullied, harrased,
flamed and discriminated against by his moderators.
If only David Branda would
reailize that the more he talks about the posters at
pcfootball.net the better it makes us all look.
If only David Branda would
realize that whenever he talks about us on MM.com he is giving
us free publicity.
Oh wait, scratch that last
thought. That's exactly what we want.
It doesn't surprise me that David
Branda would condone this kind of behavior at his site. After
all, he has to find some way to hang onto his base of
pre-pubescent console gamers, and the way to do that is by
keeping them entertained. Maybe that's why he hasn't locked the
"Where are they now" thread. If he did, then his
minions wouldn't be able to talk smack about all of us.
It amazes me that someone who
keeps insisting that this site is nothing but an anti-MM site
keeps trying to fan the flames of this so-called feud by saying
that we always talk smack about them when no one here has
mentioned them in a period of two weeks. To quote our fearless
leader:
Posted by Bret on Yesterday 05:16
PM:
i too am sick of this, but I'd
like this posted publically somewhere. for some stupid inane
reason our regulars here are the ones always accused of being
anti-MM and always starting shit, but no one from here has
mentioned MM fora couple weeks now, and even with the imboden
mess, no one even told him "please come back, branda lies
to you" nothing like that.
Exactly. To my knowledge no one
here from this board tried to contact Imboden after he had been
contacted by David Branda and was subjected to his spin
doctoring. No one here tried to convince him that David was
evil, even though we knew that David was saying the same thing
about us. We feel that we are better than that. Besides, Imboden
has to decide for himself who to believe. He is a big boy and he
has a mind of his own.
I have to shake my head whenever
crap like this pops up, because it takes away from the real
business at hand - talking about football and the computer games
they spawn. In the larger sense, David Branda is unimportant in
the overall picture. Same with TCF, they are both a very small
part of our world. Yes, I said our world. Like I said before, we
are not part of the Madden community. We cover all football
games made for the computer ever made, so that makes
maddenmania.com part of the pcfootball.net community. David
Branda knows this, and he knows that he is no longer the big
fish in the small pond, he is now the sardine lost in the ocean
and he can't stand it. So much so, that he may not be above
making crank calls to people on this site.
I haven't talked about this
before because I didn't think it was important. But having given
it some thought I thought that I should mention it. A couple of
weeks ago I was at work doing my job, answering phones, taking
messages, word processing, etc. About mid-morning I got a phone
call that went like this:
Me: Good morning, thank you for
calling ****-*** Corporation, this is Joe, how can I help you.
Caller: Joe, I work for an office
supply store and was talking to your ******* ***** last night
and he thought that we should get together. But I don't want to
be with someone who is as rude and inconsiderate as you are. And
I don't appreciate someone who keeps stalking me the way you do.
Me: Excuse me?
Caller: Oh, don't pretend that
you don't know what I'm talking about! You sit there behind the
safety of your desk thinking that you’re a big man who has
nothing better to do than leave me crank calls on my answering
machine.
Me: Dude, I don't even know you
ok?
Caller: Oh you think that your
such a big tough man over there don't you you fudgepacker.
You're a fudgepacker!
Me: Kiss my ass pal!
Caller: (click).
Now notice that the caller never
identified himself by name. But judging from his
"half-female" voice I really didn't need a name. At
first I was really pissed that someone would pull this kind of
crap with me. As the day went on I kept thinking about it and
something occurred to me that I hadn't thought about at the
time. The caller on the other end of the phone may very well
have been David Branda, who was now trying to up the ante in
this "feud" by harrassing me at work.
Now, I have no proof of this
whatsoever, but I do have my suspicions. It would be fairly easy
to find out where I work as the company I work for now has a
website where our main phone number is listed. We also have a
list of the officers at our company which was probably how he
was able to give me the name of our MIS Director. So from there
it is a simple matter of picking up the phone and acting like an
asshole.
David, if that was indeed you on
the phone that day I would like you to do me a favor. Go out to
Logan airport, buy yourself a round trip ticket, fly out here to
SoCal and kiss my ass!
If that wasn't you on the phone,
then never mind. Lord knows I have better things to do with my
time than to sit here and talk about what is said about us at
MaddenMania all day long.
I would much rather talk about
the effort to create a third-party roster editor for Madden
2003. I would rather talk about how much fun NFL Challenge
was/is to play. I would rather talk about how much fun I've had
now that I've found The Games: Winter Challenge again, and how
I'm trying to better my time in the luge and trying to stay on
the course in the downhill.
But, no. This ridiculous
"feud" that David wants to keep alive just keeps
coming back and coming back and…well, you get the idea.
David, here's the bottom line -
nobody cares about you or or the fact you are making what was
once a great site into a haven for teeny-boppers. If you want to
make yourself into a console only site, that's ok. Once you do
then maybe we can get the PC posters over here where they can
talk amoungst each other without fear. Fear of being flamed,
fear of having their sexual orientation called into question by
some pimpley-faced scrub who doesn't know a blitz stunt from the
hole in his ass.
If you really want to continue to
talk smack about this site, then be my guest. As for me, if you
really want to feud with me, then I will give you something to
feud about….
Don't look now David, but the
Angels won a World Series before your Red Sox could, and it
looks like your Patriots were just another one-hit wonder who
are about to get bitch-slapped by a guy they didn't think could
hurt them! Plus, if the Celtics do get lucky and get to the
finals they will get rolled by the Lakers, and the Bruins aren't
going to get a sniff at a Stanley Cup!
Sucks for you chowd!
How does that taste?
The other subject is one that I
found out about this morning. Apparently there is a stat program
for Madden 2003 that can be used to import franchise stat logs
into HTML to be used on Online league sites. This is the
situation as told from MFL2k2's perspective:
Here is the siutation, I
created the Stat Program to be used by All-Madden on All-Madden
sites. This was intended to bolster the All-Madden community. I
asked the former All-Madden head, Tim, to not distribute it or
place it in a location that it could be stolen. He agreed.
Well as many of us have come to realize Tim's word is worthless.
On my end, he accepts money to install a script in a location
that it was not to be installed in, he sells it to another
Madden website, Madden Mania, then takes the money and runs.
So I have worked a little bit with Madden Mania helping the get
the script setup and the guys here at All-Madden have setup
experince already.
So now after I have been robbed by Tim some punk wants to come
along and tell me to create a readme file so it can be easier
for you? LMAO! The analogy about the Amazon sales rep is close,
but let me edit it some.
An author writes a book and Barnes & Nobel orders 10,000
copies of it. Joe Schmoe orders a copy of it directly from the
owner of Barnes & Nobel. The owner of Barnes & Nobel
flees the country because he has been embezzling money from the
company and never paid the author any of the money. New owners
take over from the criminal who fled and ask the author if they
can still sell his books. The Author says no, you can only let
people read them in your store. The store owners ask, "what
about the people who paid for it", the Author says I guess
we both got f**cked by the crook didn’t we!
What happened is that Tim also
charged $30 to league owners to use the utility, but only if
they were hosted on all-madden or MaddenMania. Tim took the
money from the league owners and then apparently did not deliver
the program! Also, as of a couple of days ago, Tim left his post
as administrator of all-madden and took the money he got for the
utility with him! Now a lot of people over at all-madden are
really pissed that they have been ripped off, and the new
administration has been left holding the bag.
Here is my take on this
situation:
- For ripping people off the way
he has - Tim, you are officially a piece of crap! For you to
pull this on your fellow gamers is perhaps the ultimate sin
that you could've commited. Do you honestly think that
people are going to forget about this? I know I won't, and I
won't let anybody else forget about it either. The reason
that this act is so heinous is because you took money from
these guys! It would be different if no money changed hands.
Do yourself a favor and don't show yourself around any
Madden board anymore. Take your 30 pieces of silver and go
straight to hell you fucking thief!
- Props to Mark Nordstrom,
Raistlin and MFL2k2 for trying to come up with a solution
that will be fair to all involved, save Tim - he doesn't
deserve any consideration. It is my hope that they will be
able to track the guys who paid for the utility and be able
to get them the program they paid for. I hope that you won't
have those guys pay for the program twice because that would
just be too wrong. I know that you guys aren't responsible
for what Mark did, and are probably bearing the brunt of him
ripping everybody off right now. But charging people twice
for the same program would just make everything that much
worse. I don't envy you guys your position right now, and I
wish you the best of luck.
The whole situation sucks, and I hope we never
have something like this happen again. And for those of you who
are developing utilities for Madden 2003 take note of this
situation. If you do decide to charge for your programs do so
with caution, and understand that people will be wary of paying
for something if they think there is a chance they will get
ripped off.
In other words, do right by your fellow gamers
and don't betray them like Tim did.
Until next time…
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