Interesting drama over at Hookups. It appears the group has been going crazy with referral links, and there are accusations that ownership is profiteering. The admins and mods have effectively risen up against ownership.

While this may be construed as calling out [I think this is more about the ethics and real mission of the group, though I guess it's hard to separate from the owner], given that many of us are members of the group and not everyone receives the announcements, I thought it was worth posting.

The ethics of the situation may make some question whether they want to continue being members there. I, for one, will be leaving the group.

Below announcement / thread for your reference:

Today's announcement posted by an upset admin

Thread discussing the problems

Mods, if this is inappropriate, please feel free to delete this thread. But I would prefer if this be kept up given the content and issues at play. Thanks.

EDIT: The above links are no longer valid, as the announcement(s) and discussion(s) have been deleted. There are links scattered throughout the replies that will provide historical screen shots. I'm reluctant to paste those here, as it almost gets to a point where it's piling on, but it has been pointed out that the situation is what it is and people can form their own opinions based on the evidence.

EDIT: Okay, I read through the chat transcript posted in the thread, and 1) I genuinely feel stupider after reading the entire thing, and 2) just because you don't like how the owner manages his site does not give anyone license to screw with his site or harass him. Since when does being an ass (some people's apparent opinion) justify disproportionate retribution? Leave him be.

EDIT: It's getting to a point where the discussion has just devolved into bashing the owner. The amount of hate just because the guy's exhibited schmuck-like behavior is a little over-the-top. I'll close this thread at ~8.30pm EST on Friday, August 30, 2013. If you have anything valuable to contribute, speak your peace before we put this thread to bed.

11 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

[Message][]()(Link)
:D

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This needs to be brought to attention,he is monetizing a freeware game made by another company without permission.He also set up an indiegogo page for it.
http://www.villian.co.nz/news/exclusive-steam-greenlight-scam/

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sad story :(

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for Dinner Date/Lonely Heart!

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

? i think you are wrong here

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for the Bachelor/Temptation Island!

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

tanks 4 conefusion.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I personally prefer websites like isthereanydeal for watching deals, as well as another webs, it might be me, i don't know.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I know literally nothing about this group.

Also, the thread you linked to is dead.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Announcement can be viewed by anyone. Discussions probably can only be viewed by group members, hence the error. You must not be a member.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That must be it, then.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

the founder deleted that announcement immediatley after he saw it. like he did with many other threads on the group, that showed his real face! luckily he cant delete anything in here and i managed to make a partial screencap of that announcement: http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6274/5pp3.jpg

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

http://www.webcitation.org/6JBgD3vAf

That is the full announcement. It was made by Toast before he left.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Wowwww. Yeah, I'll be leaving as well-- certainly won't miss the spam. Thanks for bringing it to our attention

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Not impressed.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

it was kinda expected, they provide you links with deals!!
i think this is more of management issue. as for me, as long as i keep getting the deals i dont care much about this "drama"

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Referral links is not surprising, editing users' own posts to include those links certainly is. That coupled with the abuse of staff, something I'd rather not be supporting.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm not a huge fan of referral links anyway, as most of the time the information is pulled from Reddit or elsewhere. But yeah, you really hit the point ... editing member posts to include your own referral links is sleazy.

What bothers me most is that so many people were supportive when Steam shut down the group for a while. And it turns out that the group is profiteering from its members. The two agendas don't quite seem in harmony.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

that i did not know, didn't really read the thing
editing without prior permission is low, but he probably got the deals he add from other users or website.

then there the staff abuse, i think they could just leave id they felt abused. it online thing anyway
this remind me of the story where the loot shows after the raiders fight among themselves
i don't know what to think now :/

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Is this partially why they got shut down? (I know it was also because they posted Origin deals on Steam)

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

They got shut down officially because of Origin deals and unofficially because the group owner pissed off the Steam Support.

The whole shutdown thing is not really something you can hold against the group owner even though he admitted to behaving like an asshole, it was some really shady stuff on the part of Steam Support.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Also didn't help that the group was spamming member invites at the time. But yes, c00lizz is correct.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah, I gave Sammy a permaban for a while because of the sheer amount of spam. Lifted in the end, but...

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

When I could still read the group history, he was still doing it.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The only news here is that the other admins have finally grown tired of it. This has been well known and going on since before the big group shutdowns. I'm not sure why they didn't feel that way before if they considered it an issue, unless it had to do with them not getting their cut as the profits have been increasing. Trying to make someone responsible to you for their 'books' doesn't really ever go as planned. Greed man.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That announcement is now gone too. XD

Always hated referrals but put up with the evil of them for the deal notifications, but editing other peoples' posts to add referral links? Hell no. :/

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Not really gone.

hookups-drama-01
hookups-drama-02

Just for the people who want to know what it's all about. Second img is 2mb.

Edited links.
11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nice work.

The final post from his girlfriend freaking out is just... yikes. Quite the drama.

He never ended up showing any proof of his earnings, did he?

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

no, he just showed cutted-down and faked images of his earnings, claiming that it only was a few dollars..

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

He did show one picture of his GMG earnins which was about 137 refferals at $2 each lolz...

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It doesn't let me see the images.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Same. "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage."

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Happens to me sometimes, but usually works after reloading the page.
Either F5 or CTRL+F5

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

wow, the end is the kicker

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

wow thanks for the info

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

"[His] girlfriend". Right. I HAVE heard bigger BS stories before, but not with much regularity.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The funny thing is "she" posted that when all but one of us had already left or been kicked from the group.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Doesn't bother me.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No problema

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Everything deleted :D
Like I give a shit about whats going on in there... just give me my deal info and im happy.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I second that motion.
What do i care, if someone makes a buck if i pay the same amount.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Affiliate tags always lower the quality of submission. That guy was posting "deals" out of his own greed, not out of wanting to spread good deals.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

He also wants to have as many as possible, so that's a incentive to gather all the deals he can.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Exactly. I don't want every meh deal that comes up spamming me just so he can make money off my clicks and then lie about it.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It's alright guys, I'm sure all that income was legally declared, right?

Right?

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

nope it wast, and some guy already claimed that he is reporting the founder to some US tax agency (IRS it is)

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

"I am in process of writing my resignation letter as admin"

Haha, this guy should take the interwebz a little less serious :D

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well, depending on how long he was a mod there, and what his past and future career prospects are, the admin might actually be a good job reference >.>

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That group just spews sustenance for me.

I demand moar rage!

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm only still a member there because I love watching drama unfold.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Wow.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yikes... I just see where the deals are from and go to the site myself. I never click links which take me somewhere I shop anyway...never know when scams will hit!

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You and me both :)

I see "Gamersgate doing bla bla", ctrl+t -> gamersgate.com -> search for the game :)

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

yea and everything got deleted by the faggot as kid calling himself founder of the group.

luckily i made a short screencap of that announcement! http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6274/5pp3.jpg

it doesnt show everthing that occured there, but it sums it up quite well. I already took the only consequene by leaving that group! There are many other great "deal" groups out there, so no need to support that egocentric and ignorant little brat anymore.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

clicky

[message] (url)

No space.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thx, space is always trying to make have a bad day! xD

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah I find it weird how he made an excuse of being poor repeatedly, but has well over 1000 games. What a dumbprick.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

still reading this https://anonfiles.com/file/af92439635e09e0ee4e2a856d99153c8

His responses tell the whole story, lie after lie. yowza

Edit: Thanks PE99

Edit edit: Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. He actually impersonates his girlfriend in the final post and tries to guilt everyone

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nothing new, he was doing this from the beginning IIRC.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

yeah, I don't know why everyone is so surprised. The leader of a group of cheap asses is using referral links, whoa!

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Brutal! :D

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That's not the problem mentioned in this thread actually. Admin is an asshole, he is not sharing earnings with other working staff and he is hiding how much he earns + he edits user posts to get money from their job also.

Btw. I had that guy on my blacklist, but I can't remember why exactly I added him.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm gone too. I certainly won't miss all the spam from that group.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 11 years ago by chairmankao.