To those interested in what happened to Taintedworld.net

[Guest]

So what happened to Tainted World Dai?

Hello again. I want to say first off to the users of TW, sorry for what happened last year. It was a bad time of my life and I gave up on a lot of responsibility including the site. Earlier in 2010 I lost my job due to me losing my cool at work, a lessoned I learned in keeping friendly with coworkers. It started a spiral for me of 4 months of losing sight of who my friends, personality and Tainted World meant to my life. The site crashed due to an error with the ad count in the database. Simple fix, pop into mysql and delete the broken entries. But I didn't. I was too distant and apathetic towards any responsibilities in my life and through away any professionalism with it. I simply let the site hosting expire at the end and conceded to being a recluse for the remainder of the year. I made no attempt at contact or to explain the situation, showing how little I cared for anything at the time. My actions were completely unfair and only lead to resentment for what I did. My words probably don't mean much now and asking for forgiveness would be far remove considering most of the community has moved on. I can only say that I'm sorry, I let my own troubles get to me.

So what changed?

It took a few friends to get me to come back to my senses. I want to thank Phil and Kathy for helping me get my hope back. I was lost for a long time and I let it affect others as a consequence. A lot of trust loss and actions not easily forgiven. I understand completely to those moving on to other sites.

So what did Tainted World mean to you?

TW was a project I truly loved to work on. It started with me meeting Jake a party. I've gotten to know him as a very good friend and someone that shares my goals for building a community site. I told him that I was interested in building a forum with him, since I was getting into site design. I went ahead and made a forum on my old domains I had, omegateam.com, and Jake moved over his forums to the site. I eventually thought the forum deserves its own domain and told Jake I'd be willing to buy it and set up the site on it. So again we went ahead, bought the domain and added it to the server. I set up the forum, customized it so it matched what they wanted to look, added what add-ons they wanted and set up the bells and whistles for the site. The investment of time I had and work for Tainted World I did the past 3 years would show how much I loved the site. I took to myself to learn how to create better Google rankings for the site so it can be easily searched. I made sure whenever the site crashed or went down to look into the issues and put in preventive measures. I paid for the servers out of my own pocket to keep it afloat, even when the advertisement money was nowhere close to breaking even. My presence wasn't much on the site since my actions were not visible to many, but I did do a great deal to keep the site running, with upgrades to better servers, creating a growing user base. Jake told me it took him to get 1000 users in one year with his forum. I was able to help build it to 10,000 users within the first year, up to 25,000 around July 2010. My contributions were to the growth of the site and I believed it shows.

The people whom I readily proclaim to help that growth are Jake and Champ. Honestly those 2 clearly made Tainted World what it was. Champ provided the most in time, moderation and contribution in my opinion. I believe the site wouldn't be where it went if it weren't for her, and I'm grateful that she stuck with the forum through the years. Jake as well, the original owner of Tainted World and whose enthusiasm for the music really helped nurture the site. TW was his own child of labor, more so than mine, since he gave it his effort to be a part of the site, posting, uploading, and creating topics and announcements for the site. The moderation team as well whom helped to organize and clean topics and upload; Aion, Byou, CAT5, Prism, Missa, Doe, others I'm missing, I want to say thank you for your work. I'm sorry again for what I did, for letting it end without a notice.

So why not give the domain to them, if they were as much as part of Tainted World as you?

When I re-registered domain, I asked myself if anyone would be willing to come back. Considering what I did the option was not something I many would even consider. I initially mailed Champ on last.fm attempting to maybe get a response but that was a no go. I then talked to Jake again after 6 months of no contact or even a hello. I spoke with him that I wanted to rebuild TW, I accepted what I did and acknowledged to him what I did was an act of self-centered destruction and abandoned meant of those who gave to the site. I know trust in me was fairly nonexistent and for me to ask them to come back would be an insult the new site they created. But I wanted to anyway. I then apologized to Ito, and the TW team discussed if they should reconsider me again. I was presented that I could come back on the condition I hand the domain name to Ito or another member. This was the compromise they propose and initially I accepted. I told Ito in an aim message that I would hand over the domain and would like to help work on the site in exchange. I was told they had their own database created and their main site ready to go. Truly I brought back the domain because I wanted to work on it again with my own forums, database and main site. I thought long about the compromise. I initially agreed but when I started working on the seoulmuzik.com site with Jake, I just didn't feel that would be right with me. All the work, money and time I spent towards the site I'm not willing to give away. Selfish it may seem, but I built the framework of what TW was, and I simply don't believe another should take what I have built for 3 years.

I did leave and it's not something many of you would come back too. I left no ability for the users to redirect to another home. As I'm writing this now Champ just messaged me back on last.fm explaining to me what she knows and her thoughts on my actions. I feel neither anger nor hostility. I simply want to keep what I worked hard for. Everyone has moved on, it’s something that still does linger with me, but I accepted my actions and will move on with the site. I wish the best of luck to all those at the new site and a happy start to the year.

[CAT5 9075]

Hello Dai. I think I've rarely addressed you directly, and at this point, you may not care to hear what I have to say. But...

I can't make any major decisions, since I'm just a mod, and I can only speak on MY OWN behalf. Personally, I think we should be able to come up with some kind of compromise that will benefit both parties. Don't you think so? What would you propose?

Because, honestly, having two Tainted Worlds is just silly imo. Regardless of what happens, kai, manda and the rest of the staff aren't what makes TW. And frankly, neither are you. I believe what makes TW is the loyal userbase we've acquired over the years. The people that have continuously visited TW, throughout all of the ups and downs. Those that were willing to start over, time and time again. Those are the very people that have followed us to this current forum. I think we should be mature about this and come together to act in their best interest - not try to divide the community.

I know that you, kai, and manda all take pride in what you've accomplished...and I wouldn't know what exactly to propose, but there MUST be some way that you all could work together and turn this situation into something positive and productive. Maybe I'm just being blindly optimistic, but you 3 are obviously talented, creative individuals - and if you all would think outside the box for just a second, I'm sure you 3 could help take TW to new heights. Kai and manda can handle the database, you can handle the main site....and I'm sure there are many other things that could be done to enhance TW, right? I dunno...I'm just rambling now, really. =/

I know this post is pretty hopeless, but hey, it's how I feel about the situation. We should all try to set our personal feelings aside for a second and look at the bigger picture....take it as you will (this goes for not only dai, but the rest of the TW staff too).

[Champ213 1858]

Well.... you read my message on last.fm, so I don't really have much to add to that, except one thing:

As far as I'm concerend, TW doesn't belong to you, nor Jake, or Ito or me or Kai and Manda or whatever. It belongs to our users, some of which have been with us for years, followed us through all problems, gave money when we needed it, found us again, sometimes after months, when we crashed. It doesn't matter who holds the domain or the name, Tainted World will always be where our users are. And whatever it says on the banner ontop, that is always where TaintedWorld will be.

The users are the most important thing and the only reason I'm still doing this although I hardly even listen to jrock anymore and the whole thing sometimes annoys the hell out of me.

[ginHigure 22]

Poor Dai, its understandable. After all is only a site, plus your life is more valuable than a simple/complex site.

Don't worry about, as long as you figured yourself out is fine, which is the important thing. WB!

[doaseternity6 93]

Personally I can forgive but I can't forget. At the end of the day you really left us hanging and I don't think it would be wise to put the site back in the same situation. You're saying you don't feel comfortable with this site being taken from you after putting all your effort and money into it but you forfeited that when you left, it wasn't/isn't being taken from you and I think you need to get that out of your mind. This site belongs to all of us users and without you we built it back up. we may not have the numbers we once had but this is the actual userbase that counts, even if they can be a handful at times, these are the people who cared enough to help us come back and together we will continue to build. I'd rather avoid having rival sites as I think that's a bit ridiculous and I believe we could come to a better solution but tbh whether you give us the domain back or not, whether we have to re-brand or whatever may come out of this, we'll figure it out...we've already proven that we can move on and do the damn thing. So at this point I wish you the best of luck and I thank you for coming back and apologizing but If we can't work something out with you, we'll be 'aight too.

[Ito 2438]

First off, I would like to clarify to everyone that this is Jake and my creation. With that out of the way, lets move on.

Dai, you did a good job at being a webmaster. You put a lot in to this project. But I never felt that I handed over the right to Tainted World to you. When you left us, put me on limited profile of facebook and blocked me on aim, I felt like I had been betrayed, that Jake and my project had been taken from us. But in the end we regrouped, moved on, and revived Tainted World. You were a great help, but we have moved on with out you and found people that we have gained trust in that have taken your place. I now consider them to be my friends and have put a lot of work together with them.

Now you come back to us apologizing, I understand that your situation sucked and you needed a lot of help. But you hurt us, we felt betrayed. You now asked us to put our precious project, our community, back in your hands when we already feel like we have been going strong with out you. I don't even think I need to explain why I was apprehensive. You have something that we felt was ours, the TaintedWorld.net domain. We had been waiting for the domain to expire and then repurchasing it, seeing as we had thought that you had dropped off of the face of the planet. So obviously we would (as still do) love to have that domain name back. But we weren't ready to give you back the power you had on the original TW. Even working with you felt like it would have to be like walking on eggshells. It was obvious that you were going to have to gain our trust back before we wanted you on the team. When I told you that, it seemed like you understood what I was saying and where I was coming from.

Around 24 hours later is seems that you have flip flopped. Not only are you refusing to give us the domain, but you are setting up a site to rival ours, more or less treating it like we had to join you to continue. Honestly, I felt furious, like not a word said has sunk in. My rage has calmed and I am trying to look at this clearly now. I have no problem on you working on a project, and I can say that I really hope that it turns out amazing. I am a huge fan of jrock, and if you make a forum and database that is amazing, I will be the first one to use it and enjoy it. If you make something outside of jrock, I hope turns out awesome as well. Just please don't take our own work and turn it against us. I understand what Tainted World means to you, it means a lot to me if not more. But you left it behind, and Tainted World moved on. If you want to slowly gain our trust back, fine. If you want to move on and do something better, more power to you. But please don't try and take Tainted World from us. It's not your's and you can't have it, although you can be apart of it.

[ramrod 108]

i miss the old TW... lost so many download threads D:. But this one is cool

[jurideluhi 6]

yep.agree with ramrod bout lots of download threads. old TW was very awesome with all the systems karma(LOL),custom icons and title(i like this very much).

the new TW is a pleasantly refreshing forum to start with again. personally,as long as TW forum exist,I'm very happy with it.(tw is the most visited website for me after all).

[Guest]

jesus christ at all the fucking melodrama going on in here.

This site (deadeyes-star) is fine. It's pretty legit and holds a very similar feel to the original site, but if anyone were to ever to want to attract more users, it would be very hard. Instead of just saying "oh go to taintedworld.net" it has to be "oh go to http://www.taintedworld.deadeyes-star.com

I'm not opposed to a change, nor am I opposed to keeping things the way they are. But I do hate not typing in a simple address to get here @_@

[kai_desu 340]

I'm not opposed to a change, nor am I opposed to keeping things the way they are. But I do hate not typing in a simple address to get here @_@

Bookmark it.

And we were in the process of getting the old domain back so you didn't have to type out the long URL if need be, but... -coughs- someone doesn't want to give it back to the community.

[LIDL 692]

^ I train my brain to memorize that, and now i am getting used to it

But i wonder if possible, it can be rename as taintedworld.org instead?

Since this board is not commercial, so .com are kind of misplaced, don't you think?

I think i saw the old board is already up again? Is that a rival or what? :/

It's not quite about old TW or New TW for me though.

It's the people in it. They makes me stay, not just the URL

[kai_desu 340]

The .org domain is a little on the expensive side last I checked (was a while ago).

.com domain isn't avaliable. Someone else already owns it.

And yes, the "old" TW/board is rival.

[Number Girl 48]

I've gotten used to this place, to be honest. The old site had some things I'll miss, but I can live without. The only thing I won't miss is the frequent downtimes and crashes from all the traffic. The place was TOO easy to access probably.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I have 3 versions of tw bookmarked: Tainted World, Tainted World 2, Tainted World 3 .

I haven't been a member for that long, I only joined shortly before taintedworld.net closed, but I do think it's amazing that the users have been able to rebuild this place at least twice.

[LIDL 692]

yea, like said before, TW is like a rubber ball.

No matter how much it's falling down, it will always bounce back.

[Seiji 156]

I have 3 versions of tw bookmarked: Tainted World, Tainted World 2, Tainted World 3 .

I haven't been a member for that long, I only joined shortly before taintedworld.net closed, but I do think it's amazing that the users have been able to rebuild this place at least twice.

I think so too!

I'm here for over a year now and many things happened in this time. And it was great to see that even after the loss of the domain the forum was back after a short period of time.

I can't really say anything to that domain-thing because I'm not so much into those things, but for me it doesn't really matter whether it's the simple one or not.

The people who are interested in it will find it anyways.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

The only thing I miss from first TW is all the threads.

It was a huge database of shit. lol. Especially the "Random bands to cure people from indie obsessions"-thread. Shit was so awesome.'

WB btw!

[LIDL 692]

i miss mitsu's picture spam/flood on old TW cbox

[jun 1]

the only thing i miss is the old downloads too~ it was the first time i thought omg thanks for all those random blogs who saved them.

i'm the last person who should have an opinion here !

i don't know who is more right

but i know if you guys weren't here tainted world wouldn't exist until dai changed his mind??

that makes me mad at him although i totally understand how is for someone to get depressed and leave everything.

but then what? one day you just decide to turn back and have no consequence.

generally it's sad this argument

[ficsci 50]

I was just a lurker in the old TW, so I don't really know what really happened before, but I like the way it is now. And I think Dai should be welcomed to work on the new TW if he wishes, but to have an "ownership" over it is kinda... I mean, I really thank you, Dai, for starting this community, but personally, I've always felt like neither the old or new TW ever belonged to any particular individual in the first place.

[Champ213 1858]

I mean, I really thank you, Dai, for starting this community

He didn't start it, Spike760 and Ito did. He hosted the site for roughly 2.5 years. Then he went AWOL, didn't fix the site when it crashed nor set up a redirect to the new board (an effort that would have taken 3 minutes) to help salvage the community and didn't respond to any of our messages for over half a year.

And well, we offered him to work with us on this site, but as he said, he wants "his own forum and site" but after what happened we were not willing to give him this one. *shrug*

[ficsci 50]

^ ah okay, I do think you're perfectly justified there

[Erin 19]

the only thing I miss from TW is this

Oh, and maybe the downloads.