What's Going on at MOFIB?

[jgs240]

You should change your sig in this forum.

Sorry to here the gritty details of this Matt. If it helps you feel better, you really fired up everybody who attended "Matt Pedersons" lecture on Captive bred fish and You. Its been all the talk at all the group/club meets and people have really started to visit and join MOFIB. All because of what you contributed.

 

[jgs240]

And yes, when i say current i mean its still not in MOFIB's corp. acct.

 

[mpedersen]

Thanks for those compliments.

It's come to my attention that William Heaton (Acroporas on MOFIB) has said that "the accusations" I made here on Reefs.org and elsewhere are false, specifically pertaining to the fact that MOFIB's website and database are no longer in the corporate account. I don't take kindly to being called a LIAR anywhere.

Here are screenshots from MOFIB's coporate godaddy hosting account. William Heaton had almost top-level access in his role as the VP of the Website Committee. This gave him the access to do just about anything he wanted and was necessary during the transfer of our website. At any rate, a myriad of things aren't right, but I'll point out only the critical items.

First, this screenshot of all the current files in the MOFIB hosting account. Quite simply, look for the "phpbb" directory, which is where the forums reside on MarineBreeder.org. It is 100% absent.

Second, this screenshot of the welcome page (I have blocked out sensitive information). It clearly shows that there are ZERO MySQL databases running, which means that the MOFIB forums, and database, are not present in this account.

Now, there is one ounce of possible "truth" to calling me a liar. At best, this stuff was moved into a NEW account with the corporate information on Godaddy. Of course, I have no way of verifying that, I can noly see that they were all REMOVED from the corporate account that I was authorized by the BOD to establish and control. Of course, whatever account they were moved into wasn't paid for with MOFIB funds, because I still do have control of those and as far as I can tell, they are still all present and accounted for. I think I was pretty clear in outlining very specifically that I was only presenting the facts, and there are the facts as best as I can prove them to all of you. I'm not a lair. The files are gone from where they should be, at least where they SHOULD have been and remained during my absense, regardless.

 

[jgs240]

Craps really hitting the fan now. People are leaving MOFIB in masses, and Kathy is among them. Im working double time trying to capture as much info and data from the site before it implodes. Anyone know of a good way to contact those that have left?

 

[Morgman]

It seems since the ousting of MattP that MOFIB has officially jumped the shark and is on a downward spiral. What a shame. Now I see that they have eliminated the "Open for Discussion" forum(at least as of 3/30/09)(okay- I found it. It has been moved and renamed to "MOFIB Members" my error). Now there is no transparency at all. Seems like a dictatorship over there. I guess the answer for all the tough questions, comments and suggests is to eliminate them. :evil:

It also seems that everyday they are scrambling their forums layouts around. Talk about a mess. It is hard to navigate even with some familiarity of the former layout.

It is a sad day for a once great marine breeding site. I am hopeful for the future of MOFIB but things are not looking good.


MattP keep your head up. You are the Steve Jobs of MOFIB. You are the enthusiastic public face for the site. Thanks for all of your hard work over the last 2 years. :wink:

 

[spawner]

Some of you need to try out for The View. The open discussion forum is up and running. They have been in the middle of rearranging the forum which co-occurred in the mist of the up roar. Why not give them a few days or weeks to figure out how they can restructure and get the board back up and running before pulling the sheet over it. MOFIB is far bigger thing than a particular members ego. Maybe it will last, as it should, it's a good resource for information that was very much needed in the hobby.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh - it will last. It just could have been handled so much better.

 

[Anonymous]

Some of you need to try out for The View. The open discussion forum is up and running. They have been in the middle of rearranging the forum which co-occurred in the mist of the up roar. Why not give them a few days or weeks to figure out how they can restructure and get the board back up and running before pulling the sheet over it. MOFIB is far bigger thing than a particular members ego. Maybe it will last, as it should, it's a good resource for information that was very much needed in the hobby.

You really think this is about one persons ego?

 

[mpedersen]

FWIW Everyone, just copying a message I posted there, here. More or less, I've completely washed my hands of MOFIB, although a few things may take days or weeks to be resolved with the state. My post below, in quotes:

Neither here nor there at this point, I simply posting this public message that in the interest of seeing MOFIB move forward in some semblence of a legal fashion, I met with Mark Vera today. All the MOFIB assets that I administrated have been shared with Mr. Vera, and the process is well underway to moving MOFIB out of our home address and getting Mark the access he needs to ALL MOFIB assets including MOFIB's funds. Additionally, Mark Vera will have to become the new registered agent in the state of IL, and that process should be forthcoming as well (it's my understanding that a more "normal" BOD meeting is scheduled for this coming Friday).

The stunts pulled by the BOD in my absense were not legal, and I could have fought all of this by involving the state of Illinois. But, given that at the moment, our corporate domain, our email, and our website are held in private hands, the reality is that in bringing this dispute to the state, most likely the state would simply dissolve the corporation, seize the $2000+ of MOFIB money that generous donors contributed, and the intangible assets would have probably just sat in the hands of whomever possessed them at the moment (aka. John Lauth). In other words, being right and on the right side of the law isn't enough at this moment in time.

Therefore, in the interest of supporting Mr. Vera's efforts, and legitimizing his role as a valid BOD member, I gave my formal resignation to the BOD today. I will continue to support Mark's transition into the BOD, and am fully divesting myself of any ties to MOFIB at this time.

Good Luck to Mr. Vera, and good luck to all of you in your breeding efforts. The future of the hobby, of the aquarium industry, and possible the future of reefs themselves, depends on your efforts!

Best Regards,

Matt Pedersen

I will only add this. I do not know Mark Vera, but I have met him a couple times before. We have mutual friends. Mark's intents and interests seem sincere. People have expressed concerns that Mark's appointment wasn't in accordance with the bylaws. That is correct. People have also expressed concerns that Mark, as the lead guy at Phyto2, signals the death of MOFIB's commercial independance. I myself had those concerns. Despite these concerns, I have to say that in finding a replacement for me, the BOD was limited in its options. MOFIB needs a BOD member who is an ILLINOIS resident. That significantly narrows the field to start with. Mark appears to have the business savy required as well...and a firm grasp of the legal issues (something the rest of the BOD doesn't seem interested in). So in these respects, Mark may have been the best choice given the available options and the requirements of the role. Tendering my resignation today was to take a step closer to bringing legitimacy to Mark's position as a BOD member.

I do have my own concerns that Mark is just stepping into a trap, and could himself follow the same fate I just did. Or he could've just pulled one big swindle on me. In the end though, I fought the best fight I could, and in that respect, I fulfilled my duty to the organization and its members. I have to walk away and let Mark do what he does. Time will tell, and I can only suport Mark's effort, give him the benefit of the doubt as I did with everyone else until proven otherwise, and hope for the best.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[treeman]

Well Matt....I just think it's a bunch of horse hockey, but I hope things improve over there but I have my doubts.

Would you consider serving if a new board is voted in? Or have you had enough right now.

 

[mpedersen]

Would you consider serving if a new board is voted in? Or have you had enough right now.

I'll be blunt. It is a possibility, but a slim one. My wife would have to approve first off. 2nd, for all we know, I may get tied up doing something else (remember, fish breeding is not my only interest...I also put my fly fishing on the back burner to run MOFIB, and I have a book I want to work on). I will continue to say that under no circumstances would I function in ANY capacity on MOFIB so long as certain members are in positions of power.

It may seem harsh, or vendictive, but the reality is that a lot of what Mr. Vera says he's trying to put in place and lead MOFIB into (i.e. with regards to organizational structure, a larger BOD etc) is all stuff I put on the table with Luis and John MONTHS ago. Not to mention the personal vendetta that was enacted against me by Stephen Kennedy. The reality is that IF MOFIB actually ends up where the BOD is suggesting it is headed, it will be the exact same place I tried to push it for MONTHS, only to meet with extreme resistance, apathy, and "discooperation", and attempts to be undermined that have ultimately succeeded...not to mention the laws that were broken along the way that caused this entire situation to errupt in the first place. It's really funny to see the BOD all upity to bring the number of BOD members to 5 now, but when I proposed that back in November/December, John and Luis shot it down. It's pretty clear to me that for whatever reason, these people had no interest cooperating and working WITH me, and they were not able to keep up anyways, yet wouldn't grant the autonomy to make decisions either. That's a failure on my part. Some of my former collegues want you to believe that I was difficult to work with. Even Mr. Vera suggested the old adage "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar". The truth is that I know it all too well...the vinegar only comes out after the first tries with honey, sugar, chocolate and ice cream have failed. And if the vinegar doesn't work, there's always Frank's Hot Sauce.

If this were a company, and these people were people I'd hired, they ALL would've been fired a long time ago. MOFIB requires a certain level of professionalism and putting the organization ahead of personal interests...that didn't happen with the people involved up to this point. I would expect nothing but the same from these people in the future, so why would I want to work with any of them?

I can only hope that for whatever reason, they are willing to take Mark's advice and finally move forward to a better organizational structure for MOFIB. If a BOD was elected that would eliminate the people who were instrumental in this coup from power, maybe I'd come back, but on the flipside, maybe it's time for a third party to continue to push forward. Can MOFIB move forward with a larger BOD and a more entrenched commitee structure? Maybe? Or maybe there IS another strong leader out there...honestly I couldn't put my finger on who at the moment though. Regardless, I always said I had NO intentions of spearheading MOFIB forever, and that was genuine. I did start it to bring breeders together, to centralize info, as I saw those as crucial changes that we all collectively needed. I still very much believe in THAT, which is why you don't see me running out to start a MOFIB 2.0....

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mpedersen]

I hate to revive a dead threat to gripe, but wow.

Luis Magnasco has started posting negative comments about me on the site....that, and to put it politely, "factually inaccurate" information pertaining to my notification to the BOD of certain things. After weeks of silence, I couldn't take it, and I posted the truth and the proof. It lasted about 10 or 15 minutes before being deleted by someone...don't know who, and well, it doesn't really matter.

I founded MOFIB on the prinicpal of open communication and well, "freedom of speach". It seems that following my forced outster, the delete post, lock thread, delete thread buttons are being used ever more frequently to quell dissent. It's a sad, sad day. As I signed my deleted post...the MOFIB I founded no longer seems to exist.

I am disgusted, and each day that this continues is another day that MOFIB continues to lose respect and relevance in the greater community around it. The very people who believe they are "saving the organization from a "dictator" (me? )" are all too quick to become the phantom enemy they saw in me...all in the name of "Saving" the organization.

Sorry, I'm just appauled and once again, when I thought I had lost all the respect I had for certain individuals, I found out I in fact had even more respect that could be lost.

 

[treeman]

I can't believe all of this locked thread stuff over there. And then one of the board members says he doesn't know who deleted threads, sounds fishy to me.

Do you or anybody know how the membership can call for an election and take it back over?

 

[mpedersen]

Well, frankly, no, I don't know how that can be accomplished exactly, although I know that any vote, to be legally binding in the state of IL, would require 10% of the membership. Under the current bylaws, anyone who's registered on the website is a "member" - http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/bylaws.php

Members of MOFIB in good standing shall be those members who have completed and submitted a membership form for admission to the web forum. Initially, Board Members and Website Moderators will represent a separate tier of membership with the right of making recommendations where the expertise of experience is required.

Let me say now that I am well aware of efforts to CHANGE what entails membership with the roll out of a paid member program. Given the state laws, and the current bylaws, it amounts to needing 140+ votes for the membership to affect legal change. The MOST response we ever had on a vote of members was 100, and that was with multiple mass emailings to annouce it and remind people to participate, and that was for the photo contest (which sadly, to date the photos have not been published and therefore we don't have any winners...I'm still disappointed about that turn of events considering how generous everyone was in donating materials).

It'd be beyond an uphill battle in my opinion, because the BOD certainly won't support any member-based grassroots activism. I hate to say it, but I'm thoroughly convinced that MOFIB, for the moment, is totally lost and a waste of time, based on the public face being put forward by certain BOD members. I love how the slanderous comments directed towards me are allowed to remain, but the rebuttle and proof of the public lies being fed to the members was removed in an instant. I should have expected it, but no matter, I saved EVERYTHING, and I never make "baseless" accusations.

I suppose members could take their complaints to the State's Attorney in IL, but the truth is that still, as far as I can tell the website, database, email and main domains are sitting in John Lauth's private account at this time. I am still convinced that if the State's Attorney gets involved, they will simply dissolve the corporation and sieze the money in the bank account. The website and internet properties are of little interest to the state, so those would simply go to the person who holds them. In the end, being right, and "winning", will not restore things to the way you might want them to be. We can still only hope that long term, there IS a BOD election, and the people who care make sure to vote and vote wisely. At this point, that also may mean new people having to step up and step into roles of leadership...otherwise, if the only people who run are the people in power now, any election will just legitimize their actions to date.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[Rook]

Does anyone have copies of the breeding information from MOFIB? Assuming it is not proprietary information, could it not be posted on another site? The true value to MOFIB was the organization of all the information in one easy to access location and the ability to discuss breeding.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't believe all of this locked thread stuff over there. And then one of the board members says he doesn't know who deleted threads, sounds fishy to me.

It is worrisome, as is the idea that threads removed from the public eye because they are 'offensive' can no longer be reviewed by anyone but the BOD. It appears that the most recently moved threads are 'anti' the current BOD which makes it feel like they are protecting themselves instead of the organization. They keep asking for trust, but their actions make it hard for me to do so.

Do you or anybody know how the membership can call for an election and take it back over?

Given that dissent is often being removed from view, I doubt it.

I wish they would give us something...dates of an upcoming election would be nice.
I am also worried that they are making wholesale changes to the organization and then going to hold an election. It seems to me it should be the other way around - hold and election and let a properly elected BOD review and make changes.

 

[mpedersen]

Does anyone have copies of the breeding information from MOFIB? Assuming it is not proprietary information, could it not be posted on another site? The true value to MOFIB was the organization of all the information in one easy to access location and the ability to discuss breeding.

Rook,I was thinking about that myself on the drive in. Members own their posts, but MOFIB is granted the rights to display them in perpetuity. Which means that for every group overview that was completed, if you got permission from the authors of those overviews, you could legitimately repost them anywhere. Of course, given the notion of "centralized" information (thus making it easier to find) I again would say that such an action would be a tremendous disservice to the organization. So I'd suggest this...save them NOW, but worry about the organization first, and perhaps only worry about dismanteling the organization if/when it's clear that it cannot be saved.

Matt

 

[bookfish]

Posted at MOFIB under the members section. Title "my 2 cents"
Hello, I'm more of a lurker here being a relative newbie to the forum. I am however a professional hobbyist and have spent lots of time on BOD's. I am deeply committed to the concept of breeding MO's and I try to do my part to promote this concept through my magazine etc... I am disturbed by the lack of transparency shown by the BOD during a particularly trying time for MOFIB. There have been some questions that remain unanswered which I feel would help us all understand what is going on here. First, please explain to us how having the domain name still owned by a single individual equates to the domain being in the hands of the BOD as stated previously. Second, please explain why the legally requested BOD minutes are not being made available for member review. If Matt was removed by a legal BOD vote, it must be recorded and available somewhere.
I haven't posted on these issues prior to this point and I'm not posting in an accusatory way but I believe these 2 points still need to be addressed to the satisfaction of the membership.
Thank You in advance.-Jim Adelberg

 

[mpedersen]

FWIW Jim, I can only offer up this. I was not legally removed, and I was forced out top to bottom, and my absense during vacation was used to perpetuate the coup successfully by removing the Database, website files, and emails from the corporate accounts and placing them into private ownership. Realizing that created checkmate scenario as it pertained to the State, I officially resigned shortly after returning from my absense. That resignation was given seeing that there was no possible legal way out of the scenario that was created, that the coup was successful, and theat being right, and on the right side of the law, did not change the realities of the situation, and would not have given the members a solution I personally could condone. Therefore, I gave my resignation to serve as an avenue to legitimize Mark Vera's role on the BOD, and gave my blessing for him to step up.

So Jim, you will not see minutes of a legally binding vote to remove me because such a legal vote never occured. No matter, I am off the BOD, no longer the head of any committee, and was reduced to standard membership just like the rest of you.

Matt

 

[Anonymous]

Perhaps John is trying to get the state to seize the account and dissolve the corporation. Then he owns everything in his personal site and can set it up for profit. :?