Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Does The HighRoad.ORG Have Something To Hide?

The post I mentioned in my last blog, about the problems between Oleg Volk and Derek Zeanah has been removed from TheHighRoad.org.

I also posted the following thread, and it too was either moved or removed:

The High Road - A Schizoprhenic Mess (later changed to Our Community In Trouble)

Since I am about to talk about a gun forum, would hope that the moderators do not shut this down. An earlier thread started by someone else was shut down because it was in the wrong forum when it could just have easily been switched to an appropriate forum by the moderator. This one, placed here, could not be more appropriate since it deals with The High Road forums which are definitely gun related. That other thread was at:

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=400102 (The thread has since been removed, I guess someone wants to hide the truth of the goings on here at this site, and the new mirror site.)

The High Road is currently involved in a legal battle, or should I say are the site administrators Derek Zeanah and Oleg Volk. Oleg has gone as far as filing a complaint in Federal District Court if I understand correctly, and he has started a new High Road at TheHighRoad.US.The new site can be seen here:
http://www.thehighroad.us According to the complaint the name TheHighRoad.org belongs to Oleg, as does this site. You can see the complaint here:http://www.geovario.com/legal/Complaint1.pdf

I have heard at least part of Oleg's side of the story. To be fair, before making a decision as to which site if either I would like to frequent, I would hope that Derek would give us his side of the story. What say you Derek?

We the users of TheHighRoad.org are a community of firearms enthusiasts who came together because of this site run by both of you. Why not clue us in to your side of the story in the hopes that we can help you guys find a solution to the problem, and so that we can remain a single community instead of separate smaller memberships at different sites.

All the best,
Glenn B

Here is the message I received from one of the site administrators at TheHighRoad.org regarding them moving (or was it removing since I cannot find it and they did not say to where it was moved):

Mr. Bartley,

Derek has deliberately not posted about this because he does not want to wage any sort of public fight, because he thinks such fights are not "The High Road" and because he thinks they are bad for the board. Which they are.

Your post has been moved.

John

Public fights bad for the board - what is bad for the board? My thread was not a fight public or otherwise. My post was an inquiry to find out Derek's side of the story, and a try at helping them find an amenable solution to their problems. It seems though that Derek Zeanah and his minions would rather shroud this whole mess in secrecy, and keep the site membership ignorant of the fact that there has been a parting of ways between him and Oleg Volk.

I must say, now that I have seen how Mr. Zeanah apparently wants to treat the membership of The High Road, all I can say is that it appears some credence has been given to Oleg Volk's side of the story if only because Oleg brought it out into the light of day, and it seems Derek would keep it locked in a dark basement. If not then why is it that Derek Zeanah and his administrators and moderators are moving or deleting threads in which THR members are telling the rest of the membership about this affair. That they don't think a public fight is High Road sounds like pure balderdash to me when it seems by their actions that their plan is obvious - they evidently want to cover all of this up in an attempt to keep the membership ignorant of the fact that there is a problem.

I look forward to using Mr. Volk's forum as opposed to that of Mr. Zeanah since it appears my posts on the subject will be deleted from the site of Mr. Zeanah, and it appears as if Mr. Zeanah prefers secrecy to being open. I would have preferred, as I noted in my earlier blog, to use both sites until this mess was decided by the courts, or by mutual agreement between Derek and Oleg, but it appears as if Derek or his administrator(s) would like to keep me and others like me in the dark. I am not a mushroom, I do not like being kept in the dark and being fed bullshit.

All the best,
Glenn B

6 comments:

Humble wife said...

Funny how *self important* the blog world has become. Sad because it seems to have been a place that you liked...but I must confess as soon as I close this comment I am going to burst out laughing on the mushroom comment...ROLLING HERE...no high road for me, I am going to try and read this mushroom thing to Bill without laughing...
Jennifer

Glenn B said...

I don't know about self importance, The High Road was a community of sorts. It is important to me, and to the others who are forum members I would guess. It is also important to those who run it. I don't know that anyone in this is bloating temselves on a diet of self importance though. I tend to think it is a misunderstanding between the 2 main administators of the forum. Hopefully it will blow over.

All the best,
GB

Anonymous said...

Glenn,
The "High Road" was an ocassional stop for me, so I didn't notice the flap until you posted about it. It will be intersting to see how it works out.
BTW, you said something about the moderators possibly shutting down the suject matter, This sounds very wrong.

Anonymous said...

There was a response to one of your posts on THR.us that I had a little trouble with. (I had trouble with the response. I liked your comment.) The first part of the response suggested that the two men claiming ownership of the blog wouldn't want to comment due to pending litigation. That I could understand, although I appreciated the extent to which Oleg did describe his view of the situation.

But then there was a suggestion that the mess was in the capable hands of people who know what is going on, along with the implication that ordinary forum members shouldn't even ask what is going on. This carried a little too much elitism for my taste. You could say as much about any church, political party, or club you might belong to: "The experts have it well in control; the peasants shouldn't trouble themselves about it. Move along, now." Perhaps my paraphrase makes it sound more extreme than intended, but that's the way it came across to me.

Anyhow, all the best to you, too.

-- RL

Glenn B said...

Yeah, I have seen that sentiment echoed again and again in various posts throughout different threads on the subject of the trouble at THR. Those comments almost are all made by moderators, and staff members - the people who screwed up a good thing in the first place.

All the best,
GB

Anonymous said...

The whole thing is ridiculous. Rich Lucibella of TFL used to own the site. He gave it to Oleg. At least that was his intent. Derek instead transferred it into his own name. That's theft. Any of the discussions about who screwed up what or anything else is nothing but rationalization of that theft.

And yes, Derek and crew do want it kept quiet. Not to take "The high road", but because any honest analysis says the site belongs to Oleg. Funny how Derek only decided he was the owner when there was a chance to make some money.

If Oleg gets THR back, I'll be back. If not, I won't.