let this be a warning and a proof of how united the j-community can get... so thieves/detractors, beware...
A Warning for Philippine-based fandom groupsas posted by Polidread in the pinoy_cosplay ML, jan. 07, 2006During the last quarter of 2005, MIKE ABUNDO bought the domain and
created
an online cosplay forum answering to the name "PINOYCOSPLAY.COM"
doing so, he has bypassed an already existing yahoo emailing list named
PINOYCOSPLAY, which was already active and in existence in the year 2000,
during the years following the first major anime conventions in the
Philippines (ANIME EXPLOSION & ANIME QUEST of the years 2000 - 2002)
Members of pinoycosplay mailing list who are also active administrative
members of FILCOSPLAY.TK, (a cosplay forum created during 2002, and thus
older than pinoy cosplay) pointed this out to Mike Abundo.
Mike Abundo denies his knowledge of the existence of the pinoycosplay ML,
saying if it existed it was an old and inactive group anyway, and it did
not register highly in Google searches.
When NOELLE DE GUZMAN, founder of the pinoycosplay ML, spoke with Mike
Abundo, he admitted that he did not, in fact, make a google search for
the
keyword term "pinoycosplay" before buying the .com domain and creating
the
forum.
Mike Abundo, in the latter part of the conversation with Noelle de
Guzman,
proposed that the pinoycosplay ML merge with his pinoycosplay.com forum,
saying the mailing list would benefit from the boost of traffic that
would
soon visit his pinoycosplay.com site, claiming that his .com site was far
more accessible to people everywhere.
Noelle De Guzman rejected the offer and said the Pinoycosplay ML will not
be affiliated with Pinoycosplay.com under any circumstance. Mike Abundo
chose to keep the name of his .com site, saying that he has already
invested his monetary resources into the creation of his forums which, in
reality, uses the format given by the invision.net service providers on
the creation of an online bulletin board/forum.
Mike Abundo bought the site domain name pinoycosplay.com to lead to the
www.invisionfree.com/pinoycosplay forum.
Since then, Mike Abundo, who is also a member of Filcosplay forums, a
cosplay oriented forum not unlike his own pinoycosplay forum, has
frequently made various attempts to lead members of the Filcosplay forums
to his own pinoycosplay forums by posting his site links within the
threads
of conversation in the Filcosplay forum, often times in a blatant manner
thru hotlinking and making off-topic posts that pertain to his
pinoycosplay
forum site.
additionally, Mike Abundo has often criticized the Filcosplay forums by
emphasizing the advantages of his Pinoycosplay forum - like
accessibility.
Pinoycosplay forums do not require member registreation to enter, in
contrast to Filcosplay forums which require this. Mike Abundo claims that
this enables more user traffic to his pinoycosplay.com site as this
registers higher on Google searches and has more memory recall than a
long
series of link names like filcosplay's "WWW.INVISIONFREE.COM/FILCOSPLAY"
link.
Also, as filcosplay uses the "WWW.FILCOSPLAY.TK" link as an
alternative to
its original "WWW.INVISIONFREE.COM/FILCOSPLAY" link, Mike Abundo claims
that some people would have difficulty going to filcosplay, as the
filcosplay.tk link suffers from regular downtime, unlike his
pinoycosplay.com site, which is a more direct connection to his own
forums.
The filcosplay forum moderators have generally ignored Mike Abundo's
actions, reprimanding him only when his actions were excessive, but
allowed
him to remain a member of the filcosplay forums.
-----------
Early this january 2006, the Filcosplay forum moderators have found out
that Mike Abundo has bought the domain name of "WWW.FILCOSPLAY.COM" and
uses this as a link to his own pinoycosplay.com forums.
When Mike Abundo is confronted by the moderators of Filcosplay, he
says he
will gladly give the www.filcosplay.com domain to filcosplay, only
when the
moderators make a public announcement of Mike Abundo's "generous
donation"
to filcosplay.
As of this writing, many filcosplay members have aired their concerns
over
Mike Abundo's actions.
Meanwhile, the Filcosplay forum moderators are making plans with how
to act
against Mike Abundo's virtual act of cyber terrorism.
----------
Other anime/manga/cosplay/fandom related groups should be warned against
making future connections or working with Mike Abundo. Take utmost care
against this person and his underhanded dealings.
pertinent links to this report:
http://www.invisionfree.com/filcosplay or
http://www.filcosplay.tk
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pinoy_cosplay/
http://www.mikeabundo.blogspot.com
http://filcosplay.com
http://www.pinoycosplay.com
The Filcosplay.tk vs Mike Abundo update...as posted by eva_guy01 at the pinoy_cosplay ML, jan.08, 2006Mike Abundo strikes again, replying to Filcosplay's allegation of
internet identity theft.
In a nutshell, FC moderators and members has expressed their concerns
and disgust against Mike's actions: In December 20, 2005 he bought the
Filcosplay.com domain and LINKED/REROUTED it to his PINOYCOSPLAY forum.
In return Mike (in my opinion) has responded in vague and off-point
answers. But for every answer he gave, more questions arose, whereas
the flow of logic stemming from his reasons for his actions seemed
flawed and to my opinion, rediculous.
Already some of his own forum members from Pinoy Cosplay forum had
visited the Filcosplay thread. One even went on for several pages
defending Mike, only to be shot down by Mike himself with posts
contradicting the PC member's attempt to clear his name.
Now Mike Abundo has shifted the topic to now seemed to be an offer:
He will donate the dotcom domain, in exchange for adding his name in
the Filcosplay forum announcement thread as the official Filcosplay
dotcom donator, and that it should be pinned so everyone can see.
The response was anonymous, a big fat NO. But the mods insisted on
making this black and white by making an official polling by the mods
themselves.
The result came in today: out of 19 mods, smods and admin, 12 have
voted to NO. And for the record, nobody has yet to vote for YES.
Even if the voting wasnt complete, the fact that more than half of the
total FC officer membership has voted to NO clearly states it.
Filcosplay has decided to keep its TK domain, and now has announced
that Mike Abundo is no longer welcome in Filcosplay.
For more information, you may go to http://www.filcosplay.tk and check
out the Filcosplay/RealWorld/Chitchatters/Filcosplay.com thread. I
must warn you, its was 12 pages long in just less than 24 hours.