Michaela.....Originally Posted by Scoogs
I just looked through mine a couple of months ago. I seem to have almost a full set of signed DOTT artwork. I think Karen or Mik must have put a few extras in for me at the time.
Michaela.....I just looked through mine a couple of months ago. I seem to have almost a full set of signed DOTT artwork. I think Karen or Mik must have put a few extras in for me at the time.
Yes....you are correct on all accounts RF.valtr0n is a member here. I believe he is the same guy. As I recall he was/is a 6'8" bearded redhead guy. He worked in a grocery store as a "bagger". I believe he was on staff at dt.net.
He and I did not get along...and he altered my signature because I had quoted him in it, and he did not care for that...I don't recall the details.
I do however recall his panhandling campaign of "Send 'tron to the Con"....in which he solicited donations so he could attend the convention....I guess his job at the PigglyWiggly did not pay enough so he had to ask for handouts.
I believe it was shortly after our disagreement that I was banned from .net.
FOR SALE OR TRADE
Dark Tower 7 Artist Edition n/a
The Waste Lands 1st Edition in Shrinkwrap $200
1984 Grant Gift Edition of The Talisman $400
Lisey's Story ARC $50
.
.
WANTED
Signed 1st Edition of Storm of The Century (Paperback)
You getting banned was epic.
It was wild and weird in those days. You "might" have also said something that upset Michaela. It was like a battle in the Middle East. There were shifting alliances and policies.
Stay tuned for a "blast from the past" that I don't believe has been told in the previous 1,000+ posts. It might even be lewd and lascivious.
I did not attend Palavercon, but the gift bags were available for sale in advance for anyone interested. I bought two bags. I still have all that was contained. Pics of all the artist-signed prints are in my Collection thread somewhere.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
Dibs!
Jerome, did you not buy one at the time? Or has it gone by the wayside?
Every bag's artwork was mixed, so no two bags were exactly the same. Like snowflakes.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
I did not buy one. I think I was being petulant about not going.
Ah. I simply wasn't in the financial position to take a trip to the East Coast to hang out with Internet friends. Those were the early TDT days.I did not buy one. I think I was being petulant about not going.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
I remember that Tippy, I also seem to recall Dolan (Kenny) having a bit of shennanigans with Valtr0n around the same time, some odd goings on back then.
Yes Michaela... she was going to 'publish' my sculptures through DMG, then the proverbial hit the fan and Robert said he would not be doing anything that Michaela had arranged or was involved with. I decided to go it alone.
Ahh, Palavercon and the gift bags, I didn't bother with them either.
That was Palavercon II -- Palavercon I had no gift bags.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
You're right Bev, I forgot there was Episode I & II.
#1 was in Neptune or Saturn or Jupiter or some such place -- outside of Portland.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
I got one of those bags that didn't have the prints. I asked Karen and she sent me a set. Still have it somewhere.
It's funny how many things you don't know when you're new. I only knew that Michaela and Robert were having big issues.
Wanted list:
Ubris
The bags also came with a book, so a complete set would have that, too. Not that I think anyone cares.
The mixed set of signed prints was the cool thing.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
Strictly from fuzzy memory, and apologies if something is repeated.
In 2005 (believed to be May), Michaela Weiner bought dt.net from the previous owner Tyler.
Internet Archive of announcement.
Michaela's husband, Robert Weiner financed Michaela's pet project, and was also using Josh (Co-Owner with Michaela) to redesign the DMG website. Josh received half ownership based upon future deliver of a functional website for DMG books.
Previous owner Tyler had made a desperate please for money from members to keep the site running and to help pay the "new personal PC, hosting and server" costs associated with maintaining the site. If you donated money, you became a special "Ka-Tet" member with a 19 somewhere in your avatar.
Tyler ended up spending the money on a car for himself. Staff and members felt betrayed and were outraged. Tyler justified the auto purchase by claiming that if he didn't have a functional vehicle the site would perish as he couldn't pay the costs necessary to run it (the money members raised in the first place). This was the beginning of the end for Tyler's ownership.
Initially the change of ownership was fantastic and things were peachy.
Collector's gathered and conversed primarily in the Collector part of the forum.
At some point, management made the decision that Collector's not only needed to participate in other areas of the site, but they wanted to require that Collector's contribute to the entire site. Someone else may clarify, but there was a specific plan to do so.
Enter new member "Dolan". Dolan was an abrasive, brash, openly gay, 20ish Collector from New York. Essentially crashing in much like Shannon did, but lacking all of the politeness that Shannon exhibited.
Dolan's avatar was a facial pic of himself. No big deal, except somehow tippy4 (still had the turtle avatar) and Dolan got into it. I remember tippy4 telling Dolan that (paraphrasing) "what kind of a freak uses an actual picture of his ugly face for his avatar?"
A terrible brouhaha ensued. Kenny (Dolan) was want to call anyone he disagreed with a "fucker, asshole, etc." openly in posts. He was very profane and insulting. Thus the site was a must visit. Everyone was literally sitting by hitting refresh every two minutes for the new combative post to appear. Great great fun.
In their infinite wisdom, Management and staff decided that the best way to corral Dolan was to "Promote him". They correctly figured that once in charge, Dolan would become a bossy, rule enforcing Moderator Nazi.
To be continued-hopefully another 400 words tomorrow.
<----------------------------Just had a thought.
Similar to wikipedia, anyone who remembers specifics, additions, and corrections, and wants to edit the narrative, give it a go. Just note your significant changes with a different color or font text.
It will either be wonderful, or a complete mess. either way, it contributes to the lore.
Hey, I had that "19" Ka-Tet logo. I wasn't outraged that he spent my $2 (or was it $12?) toward car repairs or whatever. I figured he had already covered the costs of running the site so long that my donation was no net profit for him anyway. I was disappointed when it looked like he might let the site die, though.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
I'll be interested to hear tomorrow's installment. It really brings back the memories.....although I was pretty new to the site at the time and wasn't privy to much of the stuff you are talking about. I've heard so many rumors and bits and pieces of stuff that I don't know what really happened and what didn't.
"Any member caught speaking in Dark Tower speak will be beaten with a stick."
- tippy4 (prior to his exile from TDT.net and still one of my all-time favorite quotes)
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
"Both" infers more than one...
Ha ha now the wood is leaching the oils and sap.
Yep The Ka-Tet of 19, again I was a fully paid meber along with Mick my husband.
The memories, amazing, amusing and crazy nuts all at the same time.
I intentionally stayed away from all the bs that was going on at the time. I was just interested in King, not in the crap.
John
At the time I was pretty much ignorant of all the behind the scenes stuff. I only knew what was going on in threads right in front of me. Occasionally this included drama. Often at those times, mods who otherwise never entered the collectors' forum got wind of a fracas and then jumped in with a lot of knee-jerk responses and made any situation a whole lot worse.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
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