Curmudgeon's Lair

As the situation with Joel gets hotter and hotter, i have begun simply forwarding his emails to Dwerenat and choosing not to reply to them myself.

I had intended to not tell Joel that I was starting a company until I was ready to launch. However, I did tell the following people about my decision: Phil, Tabi, Niwi, Nat, and Steven.

Then I got an IM about it from Daniel who had been informed by Niwi. Niwi, Joel, and Daniel are my core regulars at my chatroom. I naturally assumed that if Niwi had told Daniel, then he had probably told Joel. Niwi had not told Joel. He had told Daniel and a few close friends at Kingdom of Loathing. So I inadvertantly let the cat out of the bag to Joel. I had been planning from the start to give the position to Tabi once matters were far enough progressed.

I just went through my IM logs of my conversations with Joel. He jumped upon it with all four feet so to speak. He asked to be artdirector because he wanted the cred and started making propositions. He wanted to jump ship from Jean and wanted me to pay him $150 a month, which is $50 more than Jean is currently paying him.

I don't know where he thought I would be getting the money to do that as he is well aware that I have to do things on a quarterly basis because of my royalty periods. I told him to keep working for Jean.

He asked if he could do a post about it at DAZ |Studio community forums. I asked him if he thought Jean would see it. Jean has cycles and she was in one of her cycles that troubled me. I have known her since 1979 and I used to be married to her.

I thought it best to keep quiet until I could handle Jean and the project at my own pace. I had discussed it with a friend at sfreader, and I knew that it was not something that could be kept underwraps. I wanted to try and get some of my books reverted before telling jean about it.

After Joel asked for permission to make a small post, I also extended permission to Steven and Nat. I gave all three of them the same talk. It's early, it takes time, and so forth.

Of the three of them, the only one that failed to understand what I was asking for was Joel.

Had I not mistakenly assumed that Niwi had shared the news with Joel, as he had with Daniel, I would never have told Joel. Three times in the past I tried to include Joel in my projects and once I let him talk me into a project, a MUD, that I had no idea how to handle and he assured me that he was perfectly capable of doing it all. In the end, I spent several hundred dollars on the MUD and have nothing to show for it. I ended up doing 90% of the work which was a huge learning curve for me and took a lot of time from projects I had going that would and did make money.

The terms relating to the mud included giving Joel 25% of my royalties.

I am not going to go into the rest of the failed projects.

Joel always had his hand out asking for money, asking me to buy him DAZ add-ons for artwork that he never produced. Before it was over with I had spent over a grand on Joel and his projects and had nothing to show for it. This is a matter of public record. I have the receipts on the projects.

Joel's post at DAZ created a lot of unrealistic expectations as to how fast things could happen.

I had not wanted Joel in the first place; I had wanted Tabi. But at that time, Tabi was getting ready to leave for England.

I got Joel the gig with Renebooks. I persuaded Jean to buy his novella.

It turns out that Joel treats Jean as shabbily as he has always treated me.

I intend to hang this skeleton from the yardarm, as i do everything else. Sometimes airing it out helps to gain clarity.

Joel Wideman wrote:
> I never gave the passwords to a third party. Why are you telling
> people this?
>

Dwerenat wrote:

Just so you know, this is dwerenat, not Janrae. Janrae is sick of
hearing from you. I have all of the correspondence regarding this
issue. Let me refresh your memory. Do the words "Ask Tommy Tutone." or
"I dont have them anymore, Tommy Tutone has them." mean anything to
you? I originally thought you changed the words to some dumbassed
reference to that dipshit popsong from 1982 (Just the sort of drivel I'd
expect you to listen to). Then I thought about it and it turns out
you're even thicker than i originally thought, not to mention petty,
vindictive, well you get the picture. You see, until Janrae met me in
1996 she wasn't listening to anything but Classical and Jazz. She never
would have heard of tommy fucking tutone, so how the hell would she have
played into your cunning plan? Considering how many different
permutations of Tutone reference could be gleaned from the names of his
songs including the one in question (867-5309) I figure this just
another sad attempt at a mind game. Did you figure on getting someone
to waste time on a wild goose chase? Please.

This is getting stupid Joel. You are the one creating the friction
here, not Janrae. You're the one who's being an antisocial twatwaffle
about this, and everybody knows it. She posted the statement(s) because
considering all the BS you've put everyone involved through it was the
only safe thing she could have said to keep people away from those
addresses. Your behavior throughout this entire sorry affair has been
thoroughly Nick-worthy. Let's just clear the air here while I have your
attention. You are a self centered, immature, lying, passive aggressive
Jackhole. You need to grow the hell up, sweetie. And for the record,
asshat:

You did not quit, you repeatedly fucked up and got your dumb ass fired.
You were informed from the beginning that everything would be approved
in committee, I was there when she informed you of this. Are you going
to call me a liar too, Nicky?
No one was making decisions or having meetings behind your back, Joel.
You just happened to get your whining ass fired the day before our
second scheduled meeting which you were also aware of. We discussed
this during the three way chat we had in IRC. I guess you're on a first
name basis with selective memory loss, is that it?
Or are you just a narcissistic little man that always has to paint
himself as the victim?

Yes, you created those email accounts, but you created them for daverana
on Janrae's instructions, not for yourself. A little food for thought:
If you gave the email accounts to a "Tommy Tutone", and you did Joel,
why are these accounts still active. they didn't bounce the test mails
we sent. So either you or this tommy has the account and it's active.
Either way you look like a real shithole, boy. Very nice. You really
come off as the bigger person here. /sarcasm.

I've been asked to inform you that she has no desire to hear from you
again. Ever. Why don't you try acting like the evolved being you claim
to be and give up those emails, sport. It's not like you can put them
to any useful purpose anyway and it might make you look like less of an
asshole. But that's up to you. Either way it won't change much.
You're still a toad, and none of us need to hear from you again.

Love and Kisses

~The Old Monster~

Over the years, many people have tried to hold things hostage that were precious to me.

This included my daughter and my work and my career. Many times it involved threats to reveal things about me that most people would rather were kept secret.

My motto became this "I have no skeletons in my closet. They're all hanging from the yardarm."

Another skeleton has been added to my collection. I have withheld more information about Joel than I have made public.

In hanging this latest skeleton up to dry and allow the flesh to be eaten from its bones by the turkey vultures of the internet world, I had two purposes.

I wanted the public warned about what was happening so that the unwary did not sub to the compromised accounts.

However, I also wanted it public just how intransigent Joel has been toward my attempts to get it settled in private.

Over the years the internet has become a court of last resort for many and not myself alone.

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.

Joel Wideman said:

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

Joel Wideman Wrote:
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.

(edited to add bolding so that the speakers were clear)