Saturday, March 29, 2008

Imposter accounts

Impersonator accounts
I am writing this post to bring to light a bad situation and warn people about it.

Any and all email accounts that contain the word “daveranaenterprises” are not mine. Yes, they are the name of my company. Ironically, they were originally set up for me at my request by someone I trusted.

On February 28th of this year, I decided to start my own company Daverana Enterprises. Even though I informed Joel Wideman at the time that I had only started working to get the company going three days before we spoke, he asked if he could make a “small” announcement at DAZ | Studio forums about how we would eventually be looking for cover art. He told me that if i would give him the title of Art Director so that he would have the cred, then he would slush art for me.

What he did was to make a splashy bragging post asking for not just art, but fiction. I didn’t even have guidelines up and I had not finished getting my site hosted. I had no email accounts set up to specifically deal with subs from people. i had only my personal gmail account set up.

I quickly became very worn out. Joel was frantically IM’ing me to answer all the questions that were being posted at DAZ and this consumed most of my time for several days that I should have been doing other things. So one night while I was very tired, i asked him to do me a favor and set up two gmail accounts artdirector.daveranaenterprises@gmail.com

and editor.daveranaenterprises@gmail.com.

I asked him to set them up FOR me. I told him to use the company name. He did so.

When we had our final falling out, Joel went and changed the passwords and security questions before I could. Then he passed them onto a third party. the accounts are still live.

Had he closed them down, I would have had no problems with that. Instead they are still live and claiming victims.

Janrae Frank wrote:

You changed the passwords and security questions for the accounts. I want those accounts back.

What do you mean “back”? I expended the effort to obtain them. That, and the emails sent to them, was my contribution. A contribution you made clear was unappreciated and unwanted.
Regardless, I no longer have the passwords. But if you really want them, ask Tommy Tutone.
Janrae Frank wrote:
I have reported them to google as stolen and if they are not returned to me within ten days, I will speak to an attorney.

Joel Wideman wrote:

Stolen? How do you figure? They were never yours to begin with. As you’ll recall, _I_ created the accounts. According to Google, that makes them _mine_. You have no legal standing here. Even so, I don’t have the passwords. I’ve already told you so. Threatening me is just a way to attack me. I haven’t attacked you, I’ve merely distanced myself from a former friend.
You told me that when things get rough, Jean gets to thinking she’s being attacked, and lashes out at people close to her. PROJECT MUCH?!?

Joel Wideman joel@joel-wideman.com http://joel-wideman.com/
http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/0/0/-/?refid=572895720

see you’re getting a little rattled, so I’ll combine your recent emails and address them together.

1) I’ve removed the images featuring your characters from the sites which I control. Likewise, I expect you to remove my artwork from the sites which you control. I’ll forget about the money you owe me for the one image. For any others, I do not offer refunds on commissions.
2) Google told you that, did they? Funny, they typically are slow to respond to such reports and when they do respond, it is with references to help files. What they actually say in their TOS however, is that one cannot transfer licenses without their written permission. That is to say, Google is as likely to remove the accounts as they are to give you the usual runaround.
Furthermore, I am not in possession of your property, however dubious that ownership may be. I do not use the accounts. I do not have any of my addresses listed as the secondary email. I do not have the passwords themselves.
3) You accuse me of treachery. The truth is, I’m not the one guilty of betrayal. That is what you did to Jean. Again, this is projection. All I’ve done is taken my ball and gone home. You know why? Because you tried to shit in my face and call it ice cream!
4) You speak of war, as if I have attacked you. I do not want war, Janrae. I wish to remember you as a friend who had a falling out with me, not as a bitter enemy.
I’m not going to engage in your type of war, either. I’m not going to make absurd threats of illegal acts. I’m not going to launch an unsophisticated smear campaign via a two-bit internet community. I’m not going to look for you posting about me under every rock on the internet then make some stupid whingy post about how you’re picking on me and it’s oh so unfair. That’s not a war. That’s an internet slap fight.
5) I know you want to hurt me. I don’t really know why, but I know that you do. But you know who else you’re hurting? Lilac. She’s trying to stay out of it, but the more you attack me, the more you’ll be attacking her. And she never hurt anyone.
Who else are you going to turn on? Who else are you going to hurt? Natalie? Stephen? I don’t think you and me can be salvaged. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, there is no you and me. But do consider that you will not do well all alone.
Tags: imposter accounts, joel wideman