Quote:
Originally Posted by kang
I think one of the things that generate antipathy towards Rennlist is that people are told that their membership goes to support the site, help buy servers, fast internet connections, etc. The owner always says that Rennlist was not his “real job” (he puts it in quotes too). He also states, over and over, that he is not generating a profit. The implication is that he is running Rennlist as a hobby, and that money comes out of his own pocket to run it. The implication is that it is running in the red.
The reality is that he probably makes 100’s of thousands of dollars. He probably pays himself and his wife a salary, so technically there is no “profit” in an accounting sense. I seriously doubt his “real job” amounted to much of anything. If I recall, his “real job” was a consultant, helping people with computer networks. You can say your “real job” is as a consultant and only work one day a year at it.
Like most people, I have no problems with someone coming up with a business and making a boatload of money off of it. The problem people have is that it was always implied that Rennlist was a money losing hobby. If he just called it a business (which it is, I think it is (was) incorporated) and said he made money on it, people wouldn’t have a problem with it. People do feel like they were tricked into paying memberships. Look at all the strife non-members get. The owner never made any serious efforts to contain that.
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I never had any problem with John making money off the site. What the hell? You start a business, put time and effort into it, and then you are expected...to just not make money off your efforts? Bah- crap. My problem with Rennlist doesn't involve John's income. My problem with Rennlist involves the money spent to run the site....or more specifically
the lack thereof.
-In my opinion, the moderators at that site did nothing but cause trouble. Of course they did- they were probably volunteers, working without pay.
What's wrong with that?
Well, it is actually a great idea, since it keeps costs down, something a small business of course needs to do. The problem: Tell me, what type of "personality" wants to be a "cop" for free- ?
I'll tell you what type: one that simply enjoys power and nothing else. Also, people with zero interpersonal skills and NO TACT whatsoever! John employed these volunteer moderators to great savings, but the problem was that they ran ROUGHSHOD over the [paid-!] members of the site for the slightest discrepancy...while letting ridiculous posts go unchallenged. Over at Rennlist, I was constantly called "******" and other derogatory terms which questioned my sexual orientation and despite the fact that I complained several times, nothing was done. Hello?
OH holy hell! I am currently banned on Rennlist. Why? It started with me calling another poster...get this...
---Y'all sit down now...cuz' it's going to get real ugly here---
"an OLD IDIOT"
Yeah, pretty bad huh. Well, that's what you get with volunteers. And if they aren't volunteers, then either he wasn't willing to pay enough for DECENT moderators or he doesn't have
any clue how to pick employees! In any case, the money spent on yearly dues was NOT being spent properly on the site in my opinion, and the only term I can use to describe John D's tutelage over the site is "mismanagement".
Remember those couple of days about a year and a half ago when John came home from a vacation, saw a bunch of complaints about posts....and then blew up?
He shut the place down for a few days. The whole thing was shut off. I didn't do anything to cause that- I was away flying and didn't have a chance to post. But I couldn't post in any case. What were my dues dollars doing for me then? Nothing. Yeah, that's a great management style boy...I ought to try that with my airline some time, not show up for work and just tell them later "Sorry, I couldn't fly because I was pissed off".
Bah-! I rest my case. I'm glad he got out of the kitchen: It was obviously too hot and he couldn't handle it. Good ridance.
N!