BT Warrior Forum Meltdown
UPDATE 9/8/11:
Thank you to TekHouse (“BeeTee“) for making a complete idiot of himself on our site, trying to astroturf this very blogs comment section no-less. It appears though that we achieved our goal, BT Warrior Forum has been returned to it’s original free status:
BeeTee says: And the normal unrestricted access is back too.
All evidence on their site has been deleted but this blog will remain for future reference.
Over the past year there has been a steady increase of pressure on BT Warrior members to donate. For those of you not familiar with “BT Warrior” it’s a forum and BT user community run in association w/BT or in some type of partnership with BT. This ‘donation fever” has culminated into a series of fits waged by BT Warriors frontman TekHouse. Yesterday he blocked access to the entire forum with a simpering little message about how donations were needed. This morning TekHouse has decided to block key sections of the forum from members who have not yet donated. Yes that’s right, they went ahead and blocked peoples access to key parts of their community because they haven’t donated. I will update this blog periodically w/real time info but for now here’s some interesting screen grabs:
UPDATE:
After posting a link to this article it appears TekHouse or some Mod over at BT have deleted my accouint.
UPDATE:
Really juicy thread over at PBnation, check it out here.
TekHouses response before thread deletion
UPDATE:
PBnation deleted our thread. Simply amazing the turn around time it took for their mods to act on it, mere hours. Especially considering that the thread didn’t even violate their rules. Be on the look out for a new thread.
UPDATE:
New PBnation thread here.
UPDATE:
Literally seconds after reposting the thread, it gets deleted and I recieve an infraction – here is what it says:
“Reason: Inappropriate Content
——-
If a thread was deleted please do not just repost it. Please go to the TTMA forum and discuss it with the Mods there. They will do their best to answer your issue and work with you.“
UPDATE:
New thread posted in the PBN TTMA Forum here.
This is hilarious, wow! Paid mods that don’t know how to mod? This is the quickest way to kill a forum – text book execution. I always remember the idiot quotient being pretty high on their boards so I can’t say I’m too surprised.
Looking forward to all the juicy details!
I know how much we pay for our site, (not a lot), but if they have the traffic that it is so much money to host, then it is their own fault for not using that traffic to make money in advertising to offset the costs. It’s their own dang fault really.
Wow, that is crazy. Sounds like someone is broke and wants money. I know I won’t be paying to visit that site.
I was a member of this forum until a few minutes ago. I was very respectful in my comments to his decision offering to provide info on the hosting service I use to lower his costs. I know that you can get unlimited hosting for under $100 a year, sometimes much less. I was immediately banned until 2014. Put out the word. His 9,000 members will disappear and his so called experts will leave for sites that offer his services for free. I see a competitor BT forum poping up real soon.
It’s so standard for the paintball industry. Why doesn’t BT or KEE kick in the cash for the user community around their products? Their forum statistics doesn’t include ‘active users’ and while yes they do have 9000 members, the forum is really, really slow. Some sections don’t see posts for months, perhaps even years. Notice in that last screenshot it’s that moron pleading for donations for of all things ‘new team patches’. New team patches is what’s bankrupting them, OK, how about just cut that out along with every useless feature they bought through IP Board. Paintball is a business to people like TekHouse, they’d rather just raise the price.
Vince said it, this is text book for failure. I am very surprised after reading his posts and gauging the amount of time he’s been running the site that they are still operational. Seems to me this guy had it coming, he just didn’t know it.
Like Captain A said, with 9000 members, he could of been paying the bills and adding money to his pocket using google adsense, adwords, etc. This man is full of failure right now.
Cheers
Dan, you seem like a sensible guy – register on our boards.
Murdoc, ‘paid mods’ says it all. If they want money they better be prepared to show their books… which obviously isn’t happening.
Oh man this is rich…
Empire just supported the site with an official donation. So they must be doing something right.
And the normal unrestricted access is back too.
Paid Mods huh? Where do I sign up!
I’ve been hearing whining from other places that they can’t afford a subscription or hosting etc. If the $20 a month is going to break you, GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS! Clearly you are not smart enough to generate a pittance of cash flow to afford less than a $1 per day.
I understand the dude who runs the forum could use some donations for his forum – but don’t fuckin’ restrict site access if people won’t/can’t donate to your $1500.00 goal. Do you really need $1500 to run your forum? Get out of here dude
Thanks for posting this Art. I’ve never even heard of this forum, so I highly doubt its the “best paintball forum in the world”. Is there something special about this forum that would make me want to pay to be apart of it? Our forum is free to join, so it PBNation, Moongobbies, Walkons, Central Oregon, etc.. and all these forums have a lot to offer to the paintball community. What makes this one so special? It’s sucks that this guy has to be so rude about it as well. I agree with Cappy, there’s usually other options, you just have to look.
The owner posted on pbnation in reply to Arturo, the paid ‘mods’ are not moderators. They are the various software modifications that the forum must be paying for licensing.
Yeah we already know that, thanks.
This TekHousE guy just posted this on PBnation:
Based on the content we have built up over the years…Yes I am.
TM-15 Topics: 493 – Posts: 7438
TM-7 Topics: 918 – Posts: 12,261
BT-4 Topics: 3580 – Posts: 37,381
SA-17 Topics: 43 – Posts: 468
TOTAL Topics: 5034 – Posts: 57,548
And those figures are ONLY showing the range of exclusive BT gun forums. The other areas such as general community areas, events, reviews etc. Are in addition to that.
Compare that to what is on offer here for example? Not really in the same league, you would have to admit. It is obvious where BT owners are going for support and information on their BT products.
Bottom line on this matter is, we have always supported BT owners, and right now continuing that support is becoming more costly. We are not trying to make money here, we are trying to maintain our service. It’s that simple.
No amount of talk about ‘cheap’ shared hosting etc. is going to change the fact that we have moved beyond such options long ago. The site has real fixed costs and those are the facts. Our members that care about seeing us stay online, and there are a dedicated group who do contribute to us regularly, will continue to do so. Those that have only leeched content, well, what can I say? We have to at least attempt to minimize that happening. As I do not think that is very fair on the existing contributors.
I welcome the help extended to us from Empire Battle Tested as I stated earlier in this topic. That is going to really be valuable to us. And they are continuing to get us new products for reviews etc. Which allows us to bring valuable content to our members.
As for blogging with childish drawings of genitalia and rampant speculations, well..I leave that to those people involved. It’s not something I am worried about.
Google IP Board. Look at their rates. Google Fatcow or any number of other web hosting services. He could easily make the switch to vBulletin or other forum softwares to reduce his costs if they are truly too much. The post that got me banned I was simply offering to reference TekHouse to the hosting service I use. Something has flipped a switch in the guy and now he is taking it out on his user base. As he stated, his name is on the contract. Therefore it is his decisions in the type of services he chooses, software licenses he purchases etc. It seems his bad decisions have led to him now charging his community. There is something he is not sharing with the rest of us. If he was honest with his user base. Say he lost his job or really hit financial issues because of bad investments whatever it may be. I know of the tough economic times that we are all facing, forcing some to give up their hobbies to pay “real” bills. If he would of came out and let his needs known and explained the situation, this whole thing would have went down differently.
OK,
now the Pbnation topic has been deleted it seems. Must have been done by their admins I suppose?
ANd the BT Warrior forum is all new! Latest version and I have to admit looks pretty good.
BeeTee,
If you aren’t worried about it then why are you spending so much time on our site trying to defend BT Warrior? That doesn’t add up.
And yes we noticed that the thread got deleted so we posted a new one. Sorry but it looks like someone from your site is going to need to cry and bitch to pbnation again.
Let’s see if they cave again.
Hey, sorry I thought I was helping since i can still see their forums.
I’m not defending them, I was just reporting back.
I cannot find your new pbnation topic though? Where did you put it?
Unlike the admins at BT Warrior and Pbnation we won’t delete your precious ‘content’ on our site. This way people can plainly see that you are defending BT Warrior.
The posting was deleted again, but rest assured we’ll get the word out. Keep on crying honey.
Hey BeeTee, you mind identifying yourself? Or will you remain comfortably anonymous.
He is clearly a BT Warrior, lol. Look at him go.
GUys i’m not defending anything, I did not like it that we nearly had to pay at their forum either. Sure I am still on the site as I own bt stuff and need help with it.
What’s wrong with you all? I thought I was doing you guys a favor..
“Compare that to what is on offer here for example? Not really in the same league, you would have to admit. It is obvious where BT owners are going for support and information on their BT products.” – BeeTee Warrior
“Bottom line on this matter is, we have always supported BT owners, and right now continuing that support is becoming more costly. We are not trying to make money here, we are trying to maintain our service. It’s that simple.” – BeeTee Warrior
“I welcome the help extended to us from Empire Battle Tested as I stated earlier in this topic. That is going to really be valuable to us.” BeeTee Warrior
“As for blogging with childish drawings of genitalia and rampant speculations, well..I leave that to those people involved. It’s not something I am worried about.” – BeeTee Warrior
Yeah BeeTee, you aren’t defending anyone…
Hey that is what I cut and paste from what TekHouse wrote at pbnation. Look at my post up there. The top line says:
This TekHousE guy just posted this on PBnation:
That was me…the rest was form pbnation.
Turns out BeeTee is actually just TekHouse. Next time you try acting smart again at least try spoofing your IP. Talk about childish…
Author : BeeTee (IP: 88.115.187.129 , a88-115-187-129.elisa-laajakaista.fi)
How is the weather over there TekHousE?
WHat! You guys are mad..
We’re doing just fine TekHouse, I think it’s you having the meltdown. Come out of the closet whenever you’re ready, we know who you are.
Are you still hurt TekHouse? How about now?
Owned.
Seriously, as said before… Fatcow. Unlimited Bandwith, Unlimited Storage. 70 bux a year. 19 cents a day.
Those are prices that the homeless can afford… if they could get a credit card and didn’t stink of wee.
Greeny-weeny
Welcome to Varttown!
You really can’t call it a “Donation” when you make people pay… its more like a fee! boo hoo hoo I can’t play paintball because I have to support this site. OMG you are fucking baby. Maybe you should learn how to make money through your site before you try and make other people pay for it.
Incase you are not sure what donation means I looked up for you BeeTee
1. a VOLUNTARY gift (as of money or service or ideas) made to some worthwhile cause
Key word there, you retard is, VOLUNTARY, VOLUNTARY, say it with me now… VOOOLLUUUNNNTAAARRRYYYY. Once you make it mandatory its not a donation. You are trying to scam people to pay for this site w/o showing any credible evidence that you are paying this yourself.
man this sounds alot like another person i knew wanting to charge a shitload of money for hosting a site, what a crock of shit.
If I don’t sell gear there, the website must not be that important.
And before some half ass opens his mouth, I have just under 1000 positive feedback between PBN, MCB, CC, & other owner groups + ebay, with no neutrals and no negative.
So as I said, if I’m not selling there, that site isn’t that important.
The odd thing about this post is that…2 of us pay for EVERYTHING out of pocket. Granted our little forum is much smaller and gets no traffic, but we seem to do ok with the resources we have. People be crazy.