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brando090
June 20th, 2012, 06:40 PM
I love FPGeeks!

Rich L
June 21st, 2012, 10:23 AM
I suppose you tried creating another account with a different email address ?? If you're successful, I'd suggest you contact an admin or moderator and copy your fpgeek post as evidence of your public contrition. Or, find someone that knows you and has FPN recognition to make the contact on your behalf. If it has really been years, I can't imagine they'd hold a grudge at this point. Don't know what you did, but maybe that's worth a try.

good luck,
Rich

snedwos
June 21st, 2012, 10:52 AM
I have a similar problem. FPN refuses to allow me to create an account, saying my IP adress is a known spammer. I have never spammed anyone in my life, and I really would like to join FPN. There are loads more people on there who will post interesting stuff, and as a guest I can't always see the photos...

Rich L
June 21st, 2012, 11:08 AM
IT guys chime in ...

Try creating the account from another IP address (friend's house) and after you're in contact the admins from that location and explain. Give them your email address so you can correspond that way from your house.

Cheers,
Rich

FP_GaF
June 21st, 2012, 11:54 AM
I have a similar problem. FPN refuses to allow me to create an account, saying my IP adress is a known spammer.

Sometimes the reason for that is that you get assigned an IP-address from your ISP that has previously been used by a spammer. This happens because IP-addresses get assigned dynamically and randomly by ISPs.

One possibility is to try to get a new IP-address assigned by turning off your router for 24 hours. You may get a new lease.

If you have this problem with more than one network contact your ISP and explain your problem. They should be able to assign a new IP-address to your router.

Good luck!

KrazyIvan
June 21st, 2012, 01:35 PM
I moderate at another non-pen forum and I have also been an admin of my own non-pen forum. It has been a while though. Based on spammers IP's I could ban blocks of IP's that were deemed spammy. Sometimes it can catch legitamate users. There are plugins that can help auto ban IP's too. (I am talking under PHPbb as that is what I used but I moderate on a Vbulletin board, but not admin). Best bet would be to email the admin and plead your case.

snedwos
June 21st, 2012, 03:07 PM
I will get round to it eventually, and if I have to use a new email account I shall. I tried at University as well and it didn't work, but I may have been using the same email address which had already been flagged. For the moment, I have found you guys :)

brando090
June 21st, 2012, 03:44 PM
Thank you,

Ive contacted WatchArt, an admin? And he never responded...

KrazyIvan
June 21st, 2012, 04:28 PM
Watch_art is a moderator. I believe you want to talk to Wim.

Rich L
June 21st, 2012, 05:19 PM
you mean "wimg" ??

Also, how does one do that without using someone else's account?

Cheers,
Rich

KrazyIvan
June 21st, 2012, 10:26 PM
Yes, I missed a "g" in that but only because he refers to himself as Wim. :)

jor412
June 30th, 2012, 08:59 PM
I have a similar problem. FPN refuses to allow me to create an account, saying my IP adress is a known spammer. I have never spammed anyone in my life, and I really would like to join FPN. There are loads more people on there who will post interesting stuff, and as a guest I can't always see the photos...

That happened to me when I first tried to register at FPN. I emailed the admin and he fixed the problem for me.

brando090
June 30th, 2012, 09:14 PM
Ive got nothing back from him yet :(

brando090
July 26th, 2012, 01:55 PM
I love FPGeeks!

Newton Pens
July 28th, 2012, 02:42 PM
Yes I do ignore your emails - you wouldn't quit begging me for free pens. Sorry - not gonna happen. I finally spammed your email in my account b/c you wouldn't quit bugging me about it after I told you several times NO I'm not giving you any pens to review on your blog. You were banned from FPN for many different reasons that I won't go into here, but anything about five years ago is absurd - you didn't have an account there five years ago. As far as I can tell you "Joined on Nov 06 2010 03:22 PM".

I won't respond to anymore of your threads here on FPGeeks, but I wanted you to know why you're being ignored.

fountainpenkid
July 28th, 2012, 03:26 PM
I had the same problem...I did deserve to be booted...but maybe someday they'll let me back on :)

brando090
July 28th, 2012, 03:56 PM
Yes I do ignore your emails - you wouldn't quit begging me for free pens. Sorry - not gonna happen. I finally spammed your email in my account b/c you wouldn't quit bugging me about it after I told you several times NO I'm not giving you any pens to review on your blog. You were banned from FPN for many different reasons that I won't go into here, but anything about five years ago is absurd - you didn't have an account there five years ago. As far as I can tell you "Joined on Nov 06 2010 03:22 PM".

I won't respond to anymore of your threads here on FPGeeks, but I wanted you to know why you're being ignored.

Im definitely not going to get in a 'brawl' with you on a competing (and much more well done website) than FPN. I hope you guys over their deeply appreciate me being gone, because when you guys are looking for a guy who knows Waterman's and scarce german pens, dont you come crying to me to have me back on FPN. I definitely wouldn't want any free pens from you, and definitely dont expect anyone to give a reviewer free anything. Everything i review, i either collaborate on design (and have made quite a name for myself in high end audio, etc) for designing very successful designs.

All FPN is, is a corporate pen site, who is looking visitors faster than people being born in the US. I really feel bad for the owner of the site, because he/she really has some rude, unappreciative, degrading, senseless moderators.

bgray
July 28th, 2012, 08:20 PM
Sorry Brandon, but I'm chiming in here also.

If you are going to publicly pronounce your youthful innocence and your good intentions, then you are also inviting the people that you've wronged to publicly give their side of the story also, which I will do now.

And before I start, allow me to be clear. My intentions are not to maliciously bash you. I'm simply presenting fact.

You've tried to scam me at least 4 times to get free pens to "review" on your website that you claim gets 1,000,000 hits a month (or was it a week?) Correct? I never delete emails completely from my server, so I can quote the date and even the text on each one that you sent to me if you wish. This was not years ago as you state.

You've also sent me numerous unsolicited emails on the behalf of www.gofundme.com trying to collect money for a "College Project".

You've also tried the same scam of "review pens" on all of the following people below. You've tried the "College Project" on at least one other that I list below that I'm directly aware of....

Chris Manning
Douglas Scott
Ernest Shin
Shawn Newton
The Goulets
Bruno Corsini

These are only the ones that I'm directly aware of and that I know are fact. I won't mention hearsay from others, but there are many others that I am aware of, but not as direct fact.

In case you are wondering, yes....retailers and manufacturers stay in close touch with each other. We keep track of, and warn each other of scam artists. It's not difficult in a little community like pen collectors.

Outside of attempting to scam retailers and manufacturers, my understanding of your being banned from forums, chat rooms, and live stream chats is due to you trying to convince fellow members to send you free pens.

So regardless of what you say your intentions are, or what your intentions truly are, you have developed and fostered a tremendous reputation among the pen community as a scam artist. And please don't tell me that this is all in your past, or that it's all previous mistakes. You just tried to scam Chris Manning two days ago.

It's that simple. Perhaps your intentions truly are not malicious. But no matter what you say about your intentions or the timing of your previous "mistakes", all arrows point from numerous retailers, manufacturers, and forum moderators directly to scam, and you'll have to deal with that before anyone will begin to trust you.

Again - if you are going to publicly pronounce your youthful innocence, your good intentions, and the fact that your "bad side" was years ago, you also invite the people that you've wronged to publicly tell their side of the story.

Silverhand
July 28th, 2012, 09:44 PM
I have to second Brian's comments. You've contacted me twice in the past year looking for free pens. I've told you both times that wouldn't happen. The most recent interaction ended yesterday. You continued to push for a free pen to "review" on your site. You only stopped emailing me after I threatened to report you to the authorities for fraud. I know of at least six other people who have had one or more similar incidents with you.

I recommend anyone running a forum to ban you for your past and current actions.

brando090
July 28th, 2012, 09:53 PM
Sorry Brandon, but I'm chiming in here also.

If you are going to publicly pronounce your youthful innocence and your good intentions, then you are also inviting the people that you've wronged to publicly give their side of the story also, which I will do now.

And before I start, allow me to be clear. My intentions are not to maliciously bash you. I'm simply presenting fact.

You've tried to scam me at least 4 times to get free pens to "review" on your website that you claim gets 1,000,000 hits a month (or was it a week?) Correct? I never delete emails completely from my server, so I can quote the date and even the text on each one that you sent to me if you wish. This was not years ago as you state.

You've also sent me numerous unsolicited emails on the behalf of www.gofundme.com trying to collect money for a "College Project".

You've also tried the same scam of "review pens" on all of the following people below. You've tried the "College Project" on at least one other that I list below that I'm directly aware of....

Chris Manning
Douglas Scott
Ernest Shin
Shawn Newton
The Goulets
Bruno Corsini

These are only the ones that I'm directly aware of and that I know are fact. I won't mention hearsay from others, but there are many others that I am aware of, but not as direct fact.

In case you are wondering, yes....retailers and manufacturers stay in close touch with each other. We keep track of, and warn each other of scam artists. It's not difficult in a little community like pen collectors.

Outside of attempting to scam retailers and manufacturers, my understanding of your being banned from forums, chat rooms, and live stream chats is due to you trying to convince fellow members to send you free pens.

So regardless of what you say your intentions are, or what your intentions truly are, you have developed and fostered a tremendous reputation among the pen community as a scam artist. And please don't tell me that this is all in your past, or that it's all previous mistakes. You just tried to scam Chris Manning two days ago.

It's that simple. Perhaps your intentions truly are not malicious. But no matter what you say about your intentions or the timing of your previous "mistakes", all arrows point from numerous retailers, manufacturers, and forum moderators directly to scam, and you'll have to deal with that before anyone will begin to trust you.

Again - if you are going to publicly pronounce your youthful innocence, your good intentions, and the fact that your "bad side" was years ago, you also invite the people that you've wronged to publicly tell their side of the story.

Well, this sure is a "lets accuse this man" type of post. But ill following along.

Trying to keep my reputation, is truly not being helped by these bashful posts.

Im very angered (not literally) that you guys are trying to 'accuse' me of scamming, as the definition of a scam is "to swindle" which to swindle means "to cheat or defraud of money or property." None of that i have ever done in my life! I am a truly legitimate person, trying to make a name for reviewing products, pens, some of which i pay for for my own collection, and other people come to me and want me to review it. From time to time, i see a product i am truly interested in showing people in a review, and i message them asking if they are interested in me reviewing a product for my site that gets x amount of views for an average review, and than i show them past reviews than have succeed very well.

Lets start with what i was going to do, a KickStarter project to show how pens have evolved in history as a history project. I was going to give away handmade, hand written cards, Parker 45's and a very nice Waterman 42 Continental Overlay pen ($500-800 MSRP) for those who would be able to participate. But since i learned later, i needed a credit/debit card which i understand is for liability reasons, but i dont own one quite yet, i do have Paypal. So thats where that other site came in, which i didn't care for, since i couldn't give prizes to those who helped, and the dumb site somehow accessed all my contacts and emailed them(only one that i know of, but BG states "several" (something i later learned, and i truly hate)).

To Brain Gray and to those who are listed in Bran Grays suggested 'scam list' i have never quote on quote asked for free pens, except once from Brian Gray when i was getting into pens and i had never held a fountain pen before. Brian said to me he'd help me out and get a few things that i could use, and recommended to me that i should start my blog, this was in 2010. That is the only time i have ever asked for free pens. And i later learned of the PIF forum, which helped me get into pens, and is why i now spend all my money in pens, and reselling,etc.

It must be, since this is such a small community, you guys never get people who want to review products or something legitimately. Well, from where im from, and ive done many collaborations and reviews for high-end audio products. Such the case, was a cable i designed and reviewed and the cable has sold already in about a year, $50,000. But, i guess in the pen community that is soo unheard of, and soo unethical (to design and review), im getting that vibe from the sense of rurality from this pen post.

To clear things up, and im sorry for those who believe (and i apologize to you for the other, illegitimate reviewers who may of put a bad taste in your mouth) i am a so called 'scam artist.' All im looking to do is collaborate, design, and review products. Along with acquiring relationships along the way, and learning things. Im always looking to pay for the product, but as a reviewer, i put many hours into reviews, and im not looking to pay for materials, $100 hourly wage, and profit. Reviews are not benefiting the reviewer as i think most people are thinking, but its mostly helping the company who gets customers to buy the product, gets repeat customers, along with a review that is pretty much set in stone.

peteyb
July 28th, 2012, 10:15 PM
I can help out here. I'm not a pen guy, I'm Peter from Double Helix Cables (http://www.doublehelixcables.com/store).

Brandon is a young guy and maybe isn't the best at expressing himself at times, but he means well. If he wants one of your pens, it's because he really does want to review it, although his site is not especially famous and a review from him may not yet equal the retail value of one of your pens. He has helped me develop my Symbiote IEM cable - http://doublehelixcables.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=39. He's tested 5 or 6 prototypes over the past year, has helped me select different wires to invest in. This cable has benefitted a lot from his testing and did get some exposure from a review he wrote on Head-fi. With all the prototypes, he sent them back to me promptly after playing with them for a while, at his own expense. I agree that he probably should not have used a project fundraising site for taking donations to fund a school project, since it's not exactly a project with a tangible finished product (like a book, album, or invention) but instead the reward was more of a thank-you item. Indeed he has a lot to learn, but he is not a scammer, he is just trying to get established as a reviewer and it is not easy to get started.

Silverhand
July 28th, 2012, 10:20 PM
Sorry Brandon, your explanations don't fly. You either have a very short memory, or you are actively lying about your interactions with people like me. I know what you tried to do with me this week. I believe others when they say you tried the same scams with them.

When I am approached by a journalist to review my work, I expect them to have basic English skills and an established forum to post that review. You have neither.

brando090
July 28th, 2012, 10:28 PM
Sorry Brandon, your explanations don't fly. You either have a very short memory, or you are actively lying about your interactions with people like me. I know what you tried to do with me this week. I believe others when they say you tried the same scams with them.

When I am approached by a journalist to review my work, I expect them to have basic English skills and an established forum to post that review. You have neither.

Chris,

(Sarcastic) You got me, me trying to collaborate with you and design a pen and trying to then review the pen, and sell them exclusively on my site for 10% off retail to gain interest.

(Reality) Sorry Chris, but in any way, shape, or form is that a scam. And sorry that i was banned on FPN, and in total i would of had several thousands post's.

Sailor Kenshin
July 29th, 2012, 06:45 AM
I am neither defending nor attacking anyone here. I am curious, though, about review protocol. In the past i have reviewed yarn, yarn equipment, cookbooks and software. In all cases i asked the manufacturers for review copies and most supplied me with any I was interested in.

I review fountain pens, too. The majority are ones I bought, but a couple of people sent me pens to review.


Is there a different procedure in the fp world for attaining review material? Is it considered illegitimate to ask for a pen to review?

manoeuver
July 29th, 2012, 06:57 AM
Is there a different procedure in the fp world for attaining review material? Is it considered illegitimate to ask for a pen to review?

Well, seems to me one must first develop either reputation or repoire with whomever they are soliciting. Your skill as such may well be superior to certain others'.

bgray
July 29th, 2012, 06:59 AM
It's this simple.

Brandon solicits manufacturers and merchants for free merchandise. When he is turned down, he persists incessantly to the point of where most have blocked his email and some have threatened him with legal action.

He solicits forum members for free items from their personal collections to the point of where he's been banned from forums.

Whether or not he personally wishes to consider this a scam is not the point.

Merchants and manufactures have labelled him as a scam artist, forum moderators have banned him, and forum members have resented him as a result of his actions.

If Brandon's intentions are true as he states, then he couldn't go about this in a more fallacious, deceitful, and persistent manner. There are multiple merchants that can produce emails to prove this.

I'm finished with putting anymore time, energy, or even thought into this. I have not bashed Brandon. I have presented only facts regarding a topic that he brought up.

If he wishes to be a respected member of the pen community, then he needs to acquire items for his personal collection and for his reviews the same way that everyone else does. Buy them.

Sailor Kenshin
July 29th, 2012, 07:15 AM
Thanks for the clarification. To me, no meant no, so if a company declined to send review material I moved on.

I can also see how asking for items from personal collections is frowned on.

brando090
July 29th, 2012, 12:02 PM
It's this simple.

Brandon solicits manufacturers and merchants for free merchandise. When he is turned down, he persists incessantly to the point of where most have blocked his email and some have threatened him with legal action.

He solicits forum members for free items from their personal collections to the point of where he's been banned from forums.

Whether or not he personally wishes to consider this a scam is not the point.

Merchants and manufactures have labelled him as a scam artist, forum moderators have banned him, and forum members have resented him as a result of his actions.

If Brandon's intentions are true as he states, then he couldn't go about this in a more fallacious, deceitful, and persistent manner. There are multiple merchants that can produce emails to prove this.

I'm finished with putting anymore time, energy, or even thought into this. I have not bashed Brandon. I have presented only facts regarding a topic that he brought up.

If he wishes to be a respected member of the pen community, then he needs to acquire items for his personal collection and for his reviews the same way that everyone else does. Buy them.

Lets clear this up, your stating im asking for "free items from their personal collections"; ive never done that, and when it comes to personal collections i hear that as being vintage pens. When it comes to vintage pen collections, i either trade or buy. I dont mean to bash that comment, but how the heck do you acquire, say a Waterman World's Smallest Fountain Pen or a Parker 27 for free from a Parker or Waterman extraordinaire? Please explain this, because anyone who thinks for a second i gain all my pens for free, are sadly mistaken.

Stating that manufactures makes nice pens, and id like to review one of their pens, in my book does not result as a scam.

dragonstail
July 29th, 2012, 01:07 PM
I have been a member of FPN since October 2006. I was participating in a thread there that was ended by a moderator, immediately before brando090 was banned from FPN. As I recall in that thread he was trying to sell old pencil stubs and old disposable pens at grossly inflated "appraised values". Since it was obvious that these were not anything vintage, antique, or otherwise valuable, labeling his activities a scam may be an overstatement. On the other hand, behavior causing him to be banned from any community is informative, and he should be given a chance to explain himself.

So brando090, can you explain why you have been banned at audiokarma.org, and head-fi.org, and also why you are no longer a registered member on ebay? Regarding ebay, why do you have 5 negative feedbacks in the last 6 months, all related to selling fountain pens? Do you have a connection to this site: 2011pen.blogspot.com?

PIBer
July 29th, 2012, 01:19 PM
Some google searching for brando090 and cifani090 turns these up:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/137748-pay-it-forward-2010/page__st__629
Posts #663 - #681, #685 - #694 are pertinent. Says he's 14-years-old in post #665. Current Age: 15-16

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93282&page=3
Posts #60 - #61 are pertinent.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/800852-College-History-Project
Whole thread is pertinent. College student? How old is he?

http://2011pen.blogspot.com/
Here he says he's a high school student. Something doesn't match.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/552380/thses-good-in-there-price-range
Questionable behavior in regards to reviewing products: Posts #4 - #11, #9 is particularly interesting

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=brando090&iid=-1&de=off&items=25&which=negative&interval=365&_trkparms=negative_365
Semi-pertinent. 5 Ebay negative feedback, 3 related to pens. All indicate dishonest selling methods, no explanation or rebuttal

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=brando090&iid=-1&de=off&items=25&which=neutral&interval=365&_trkparms=neutral_365
Semi-pertinent. 3 Ebay neutral feedback, 2 related to pens. All indicate dishonest selling methods, no explanation or rebuttal

http://www.head-fi.org/t/590486/to-tell-or-not-to-tell
Semi-pertinent. Questionable view of ethics

dragonstail
July 29th, 2012, 01:48 PM
Some google searching for brando090 and cifani090 turns these up:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/137748-pay-it-forward-2010/page__st__629
Posts #663 - #681, #685 - #694 are pertinent.

...

http://www.head-fi.org/t/590486/to-tell-or-not-to-tell
Semi-pertinent. Questionable view of ethics

Also this one:

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=93460
Post number 5

brando090
July 29th, 2012, 03:57 PM
I have been a member of FPN since October 2006. I was participating in a thread there that was ended by a moderator, immediately before brando090 was banned from FPN. As I recall in that thread he was trying to sell old pencil stubs and old disposable pens at grossly inflated "appraised values". Since it was obvious that these were not anything vintage, antique, or otherwise valuable, labeling his activities a scam may be an overstatement. On the other hand, behavior causing him to be banned from any community is informative, and he should be given a chance to explain himself.

So brando090, can you explain why you have been banned at audiokarma.org, and head-fi.org, and also why you are no longer a registered member on ebay? Regarding ebay, why do you have 5 negative feedbacks in the last 6 months, all related to selling fountain pens? Do you have a connection to this site: 2011pen.blogspot.com?

That was way back than, how was i suppose to know the value of vintage pens and pencils? Relating audiokarma.org it was because of head-fi, and head-fi was because of some stuff i had brought up to one of the moderators. The reason im not on ebay is really not any of your business, and is related to me not being old enough (18). Also ive had people scam me personally out of fountain pens on ebay, and want their money back, as they kept half or more of the pens i sent them. There were some very dishonest buyers that purchased items from me. I had some pens to pay for, and that is why i got negative feedback because i cant pay for the items now.

fountainpenkid
July 29th, 2012, 06:17 PM
I would give you some credit if you did great reviews, and were one of the only good reviewers out there. Your reviews on your blog, for the most part seem to be relatively short, with very sloppy handwriting, and a couple O.K pictures. There are some amazing reviewers out there, who provide excellent pictures, details, and some humor. There are pen magazines(at the forefront online I would say Penna Vintage) that really do a amazing job. Sites like Richard Binder's, Pen hero, Stylophiles Olnile, etc... All provide amazing online reviews. You get the point-the online world is hardly lacking in pen reviews and articles. I think there are better ways to get around here then to beg. I begged when I s on FPN, and I managed to get my way, but it creates a bad reputation for you. I am more inclined to trust the big names here, Brian, Watchart, etc are all known people that go to shows, do really cool projects, and much more. I regret ever offering my Parker Duofold that Paul Erano gave me.

Will

fountainpenkid
July 29th, 2012, 09:39 PM
Also this one:

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=93460
Post number 5

If you read the firearms topic he lies about his age. This is not trustworthy. I am done looking at this topic. Sorry I ever got into this muck.

Will

Jon Szanto
July 30th, 2012, 12:59 AM
Brando, give us a break.

You've got an amateurish blog that you use to foster your pen habit. It is apparent that your immaturity in dealing with pen and -related manufacturers carries over into other areas. The louder and longer you complain, the more it becomes obvious, and it is pretty embarrassing when seen in context next to some of the solid people in the pen community.

You'd do well to take a back seat for a while, watch and listen, and try again when you've grown up a little. And if you insist on having some kind of "review" site (ffs, anyone with a browser and a Blogger/etc account is a reviewer these days...), at least learn basic grammar skills.

Got it?

david i
October 24th, 2012, 04:36 PM
Gents and such,

David Isaacson here. Nice website here. Many of you likely know me from Vacumania.com, Fountainpenboard.com, articles in PENnant (monster run of vintage Sheaffer material just the last year), articles in STYLUS magazine, Articles in Stylophiles (print and online), profile in Penworld International (likely with articles there soon as well... just need more time to finish). I'm happy to chat with Brandon when he pops up on FPB, but I advise a bit of caution no doubt. If nothing else, his offering pens for sale he doesn't even own is of concern. Having offered me a rare pen for sale that he not only didn't own, but which in fact at that time was already owned... by me... was, I admit, entertaining, in a somewhat frightening way.

regards

-d

dannzeman
October 24th, 2012, 04:50 PM
I think David's post is a good way to end this thread. For more info about what David's referring to, head to fountainpenboard.com and look for some of Brandon's posts. And if you haven't been to fpboard you should go there just to take in some of the best vintage pen talk on the web.

-Dan