--part one--
curtis ray, insidious_plots, and the many incarnations of the dcbg...
(with so much info missing, it hardly makes sense...)
this is an email i sent to someone who asked about the history of the dcbg...
this person's first language is not english, so, among other problems, i am trying to use simpler, sort of "dumbed down" english...
it is missing alot of important stuff...
and it is the "clean" version...
there has been ALOT of trouble and controversy, but, i do not list that there...
alot of the details of WHY things happened is not there...
a guy by the name of "Curtis Ray" used to have a site helping people to use dreamkey and dreampassport...
but, he was only really interested in glory... he wanted people to tell him he was great... he was lazy and only copied stuff from the web on other sites...
he rarely figured out anything new because all he knew was what he found on the web and he really only bothered to collect it to get people to tell him how great he was...
i thought that if people were showed how to use the browsers and were given a group where they could share what they figured out, it would be alot better and we would all learn more...
so, i started a message board... (and, actually, had started another group before that, "Dreamcast Web"...) he was afraid people would go to my board more than his site... so, he started a yahoo group and invited me to help run it, since he knew i had good ideas and he could just use all my ideas and not have to work himself...
it was called "The Console Browsers Group"... he eventually changed the name the "Video Game Systems Online" (the VGSO)... he was always changing things...
we did alot and figured alot of things out...
but, he always did things that no one liked... he wanted it to be a private group where people had to join the group to get the info... i always said the info should be free to anyone who wanted it...
it is a very very long story...
all he wanted was glory, so, he got bored and left and gave the group to me...
i did not want it, i just wanted to be a member... i never wanted to be in charge... i wanted a group where everyone was equal, no one in charge...
i made ALOT of changes... including opening it to the public so all could see the info and even non-members could post questions...
we also started making faqs and guides... before we did that, all there was were posts and you had to search the messages to get info...
curtis did not want us to post guides... he wanted people to have to ask for info... then, he would answer so people would tell him he was a genius... but, he always took info from other people and would rarely tell anyone where he found the info...
so, if you wanted to know something, you had to go to him... and that is the way he wanted it... so they would need him...
when he left and gave the group to me, i made alot of changes and, when he found out that we were getting popular all over the internet because of the changes, he came back and wanted to be in charge again so he could take all the credit...
in the following months, he caused ALOT of trouble... he wanted the group back and no one liked the way he ran things, so, they did not want him back in charge... we had done alot more good things without him... so, i would not give it back to him...
i did not want to be in charge, but, we did not want HIM in charge... so, i refused...
he said the group was his and wanted to DELETE all our work...
so, i moved the entire group and all our work and we became the "Dreamcast Browsers Group"...
that was december 1, 2001...
at one point, he took all the guides from the group and posted them on his site and said that HE wrote them all...
he did alot of bad stuff...
he tried hacking the group and the bookmarklet lab, he caused alot of problems that would take us weeks to fix, and no one wanted to help fix them... he terrorized me and my family, including doctoring photos of my dad and my brother in very distasteful ways, to say the least...
for a long time, me and miss mary were miserable because he would not leave us alone...
he wanted his group back... he did not like that the group had become famous without him...
but, it is because he ran it badly... i changed things so that no one was in charge, everyone could add guides and links and everyone was equal and so people started to hear about us and more and more people came and used the site...
and he STILL comes back from time to time...
we will see him again... he ALWAYS comes back,
every few months...
he wants to see the dcbg fail because he wants to be in charge of it... if he can't be in charge, he wants it gone...
he takes credit for everyone's work, he told planetweb that our work they put in pw3 was his... but, the webmaster of planetweb.com knew that i was at least involved, so, she got my name in the credits, too... but, she does not know it was all MY work they used, not his... i taught him how to do all of it...
i figured out about using bookmarklets on dc, i
figured out how to put webpages on vmu and pw3 uses those ideas and he tried to take credit for it all...
nobody knows most of this stuff... karl does... kefka and drobb know some of it...
but, it is such a long story, i don't bother telling people...
and to tell it all in public would mean more trouble from curtis, so, i don't bother... he has left
us alone for now, so, i don't care if people know what i do... i don't want to be in charge, i just want everyone to help each other with no one in charge...
alot of people think curtis is great and they say i am lying when i say bad things about him...
see, THAT is one reason why curtis wants the VGSO deleted... most of my proof is in there in the message archive and he knows it...
so, that is PART of the story...
a very small part, though...
the timeline shows some stuff, but, not alot...
here is the link again... http://tinyurl.com/43ih
i think karl and drobb were there at the very beginning... i think they joined on the first day curtis and i opened the first yahoo group...
they might have even been there at my message board before curtis started the yahoo group... i don't remember...
many people have come and gone, but, me, karl, and drobb have stayed...
and, yes, i have read every post ever made to
VGSO and DCBG... almost 16,000 posts... which is the only reason i know so much about dc browsers...
but, there is still alot i do not know... but, the group has all the info... so, WE ALL need the group...
i don't like websites for stuff like this...
you have to depend on one person for info THEY think is important... it works better if you have lots of people with no one in charge... then, if they think it is important, they an make it a part of the group... a guide, a link, whatever...
the users should be allowed to decide what is important and be free to make a change...
every dcbg member is free to add ANYTHING they want...
but, few people ever do...
i don't see myself as being in charge of the DCBG...
i think of myself as "the most enthusiastic member" or "the most active member"...
i think everyone could do as much as i do...
but, i would be more than happy to give the group to someone who wanted to run it... i never wanted the job, it was given to me...
but, nobody else has ever wanted the job...
there have been a couple, but, they always want to change things and be in charge and all that...
just like curtis...
so, i would rather keep control than to give it to someone who wants to be in charge and change things... we have done great things doing things the way we do and i NEED that site and it's info and resources... if someone changed it, they might mess it up and it would not be as good...
DCBG does not need someone in charge... all it needs is members who help...
THE MEMBERS ARE IN CHARGE...
if ONE person wants to be in charge, he would want to take their power away...
it has happened before when curtis would mod someone...
i don't want to be in charge, but, i don't want someone like that in charge who might mess everything up...
and i will tell you all about kefka and dreamserv another time...